Place-based’ planning and governance for drought resilience - Southern Queensland, Australia.

Place-based’ planning and governance for drought resilience - Southern Queensland, Australia.

The Australian Government launched the Future Drought Fund (FDF) in 2019 with an initial investment of $3.9
billion and $100 million per annum for program costs (Australian Government, 2024). Under the FDF’s core
Regional Drought Resilience Planning (RDRP) program, regional communities across Australia have been
supported to develop RDRPs including initiatives to build drought resilience through: better planning and
preparedness; more effective responses during drought; and actions to build future resilience. In southern
Queensland, the program has been jointly funded by the Australian Government and the Queensland Government,
and delivered by UniSQ’s Institute for Resilient Regions (IRR) using their participatory planning model that was:
• 'Placed-Based' - involving three levels of government, NGOs, civil society, business sector and
individuals.
• 'Holistic' - addressing impacts and proposing actions for: people & communities; regional economy;
landscape & natural environment; and infrastructure & built environment.
• 'Co-Designed' - both the process and outputs have been created with local stakeholders.
• 'Locally-Voiced': the RDRPs capture the vital stories and knowledge of people in the region as well
as data, science and advice from outside ‘experts’.
This paper describes the key learnings from IRR’s development of RDRPs in southern Queensland. It outlines:
the model; the challenges encountered; and the solutions generated to meet these challenges. Lessons from this
work should inform future drought resilience initiatives and governance arrangements.