Enhancing climate resilience with the Northern Australia Climate Program

Enhancing climate resilience with the Northern Australia Climate Program

The Northern Australia Climate Program (NACP) delivers innovative climate research, product development and targeted extension outcomes to improve the capacity of the red meat industry in managing drought and climate risk across northern Australia.

NACP research delivers improvements to multi-week and seasonal forecast accuracy by enhancing the Bureau of Meteorology's operational prediction system ACCESS-S, while the development component delivers products tailored to industry needs including Northern Rainfall Onset forecasts, climate training courses and regional climate guides.

The program's extension activities are undertaken by regionally located extension officers called ‘Climate Mates’, who are leaders in their local community with extensive networks and knowledge of the local industries. With support from the NACP research team, Climate Mates deliver workshops, field day talks, property visits, and webinars to provide the support and confidence for producers to use weather and climate information in decision making.

The integration between research, development and extension allows for the most relevant and up-to-date climate information to be used in the field to meet end-user needs, and for industry feedback to further inform the program's research, development, and extension activities for the benefit of agricultural communities.

NACP is funded by Meat and Livestock Australia, the University of Southern Queensland, and the Queensland Government’s Drought and Climate Adaptation Program. In partnership with its funders, NACP will deliver a commercial climate course with accredited trainers within the next two years, to provide an avenue for adoption and impact beyond the life of the program.