DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Program (VCCAP)
- South West Climate Change Forum (SWCCF) |
- Farming Systems Scenario Development |
- Impact Modelling and Land Suitability Analysis |
- Institutional Adaptation |
- Policy Research |
- e-Resource Centre and Visualisation |
- Communications and Utilisation
| The Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Program (VCCAP) is an initiative under the Victorian Government’s Sustainability Action Statement (2006) (external site), which includes actions for understanding the potential impacts of climate change and developing Victoria’s ability to respond. In collaboration with VCCAP, the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has developed a research program called DPI VCCAP ensuring Victoria’s agricultural industries can adapt to a changing climate. The aim of the research program is to increase the knowledge and capabilities of government, the agriculture sector and farming businesses to undertake sound and informed planning and policy decision that maximise the benefits and minimise the economic, social and environmental costs of climate change. |  Logo for The Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Program |
DPI VCCAP Research and Development
| The influence of climate change on agricultural systems is very complex, requiring a multidisciplinary research approach to develop understanding of the challenges and opportunities. DPI VCCAP has six themes of research and development designed to be integrated and interdependent to ensure a systemic understanding of climate change is developed and communicated. DPI VCCAP has four key questions guiding its research:
|  Rainclouds near Maldon |
DPI VCCAP Newsletters
Newsletter # 2 September 2008
Developing an understanding of the likely impacts of climate change on Victoria’s primary industries is a large and complex task requiring a coordinated and multidisciplinary research response to ensure all relevant aspects are taken into consideration. This is the challenge that the Department of Primary Industries, Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Program, DPI VCCAP has taken up by bringing together diverse skills from across DPI Victoria including biophysical, social, policy and economic research disciplines. However, no single project can address the full spectrum of issues associated with climate change impacts and adaptation. As a result DPI VCCAP has been developing wider collaborations with complimentary work throughout Victoria, interstate and internationally.
In this our second research newsletter we not only highlight progress by the DPI VCCAP team but also some of our collaborators, including Dr Jo Luck DPI, Biosciences Research on the effects of elevated Carbon Dioxide (CO2) on wheat pathogens and DPI’s “Preparing farmers for the future climate and emissions challenge” program with Graeme Anderson from Farm Services Victoria.
DPI VCCAP has been busy in recent months meeting and developing key relationships with other programs and project teams working on climate change for primary industries including Universities, State agricultural agencies and the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship.
At this national level there are encouraging developments for a more coordinated approach through the Climate Change Research Strategy for the Primary Industries (CCRSPI), which is emerging as a national point of collaboration for both mitigation and adaptation research. There is also a forth coming announcement of a Primary Industries Climate Change Adaptation Research Network, under the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, hosted by Griffith University to further develop opportunities for collaborations and enhanced outcomes.
The challenge now is to support these initiatives to ensure we can comprehensively address this complex issue in a nationally coordinated and multidisciplinary way to benefit our collective stakeholders and end-users. I trust you find our newsletter informative. We welcome all feed back or requests for follow-up information on any of the articles presented.
In this issue
| To view the information PDF requires the use of a PDF reader. This can be installed for free from the Adobe website (external link). |
Further Information
Science Leader: Dr Richard Eckard.
DPI Ellinbank. Future Farming Systems Research and The University of Melbourne.
Email: DPI.VCCAP@dpi.vic.gov.au
Websites: Victorian VCCAP project website (external link)
© The State of Victoria, 1996 - 2008.
This document was last reviewed on 14/10/2008