How can we better prepare for drought?

Translation & Engagement

Regional Drought Resilience Planning

The Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program is a partnership between the Commonwealth Governments Future Drought Fund, Queensland Government and the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE). ReCoE will work with five regional communities in the pilot year to develop regional drought resilience plans to prepare for and manage future drought risks. 

 

Background: the Future Drought Fund

The Future Drought Fund is a Commonwealth Government long-term investment fund that provides a sustainable source of funding to help Australian farmers and communities become more prepared for, and resilient to, the impacts of drought.  From July 2020, $100 million will be available each year from the Fund to invest in drought resilience programs. The programs will support farm businesses to be better informed, more productive, profitable and adaptable, and to adopt more resilient land and natural resource management practices. The programs will also build capacity in rural and regional communities to be less vulnerable to the socio-economic impacts of drought.  

 

Regional Drought Resilience Planning (RDRP) Program in Queensland

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) is the lead agency responsible for administering Queensland’s RDRP, with the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE) identified as the appropriate delivery partner. RECoE is an alliance of four Queensland universities, focused on strengthening the economic resilience of Queensland’s rural communities. The plans will be developed in close consultation with regional local government/groups of local governments as well as community and industry stakeholders. Each plan to be developed will build upon and be supplementary to any Regional Resilience Strategy already completed or underway as part of the Queensland Government’s Strategy for Disaster Resilience, led by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.

Regional Drought Resilience Plans will be submitted to the Queensland Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities, the Honourable Mark Furner MP, and the Federal Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, the Honourable David Littleproud MP, by 30 June 2022. These plans will be publicly available.