Councils are taking climate change threats seriously

HIGHER sea levels, more extreme storm events, longer fire seasons and more short-term droughts.

HIGHER sea levels, more extreme storm events, longer fire seasons and more short-term droughts.

These were some of the threats being discussed at the seminar on climate risk hosted by Local Government NSW in Ballina yesterday.

The seminar was attended by councillors and planning staff from all the councils in the Northern Rivers.

Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell said there was an emphasis on council's obligations when approving or not approving new developments.

"The Insurance Council of Australia spoke on how they assess risk and we talked a bit about legal obligations... There were case studies about taking into account sea level rise and climate change when approving developments," she said.

Cr Dowell said councils may be open to legal challenges and had a duty to be informed about the risks and needed to keep detailed documentation about how they arrived at a decision to approve or not approve a new development.

She said the issue of sea level rise was the obvious risk to coastal councils, but inland councils had to assess risks to the built environment from storms, floods and fires.

Professor Andy Pitman from the University of NSW told the audience that most climate deniers are "elderly men who won't be around to witness the consequences".