Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Recipients of the Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb grants.
Two popular cafés are among the four recipients of the Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb grants.
Each receives a share of $150,000 for projects that protect against climate change.
The four projects aim to show how living infrastructure can improve Canberra’s resilience to the heat impacts of climate change.
Healthy living infrastructure includes trees, plants, soils, and water systems. These are essential to a city’s success in adapting to the risks of a changing climate.
The four funded projects will tackle the ‘heat island effect’. Heat islands are a result of too much concrete and not enough plant life, bushland and tree canopy coverage in an urban area.
This year’s successful recipients are:
- Three Mills Bakery – Will transform an urban heat island in Woden from an expanse of concrete into an urban oasis near their new café.
- The Climate Factory – Will grow a native micro-forest in an urban heat island in Dunlop using the Miyawaki method of dense planting to ensure rapid growth.
- The Woodlands and Wetlands Trust – Will install native species trellis walls, a rainwater irrigation system for an existing green wall, and permeable paving to increase water retention on site.
- Café Stepping Stone, Dickson – Will conduct a feasibility study to gather valuable insights and data to inform the long-term sustainability and maintenance of a green wall and assess how well such a project might mitigate urban heat.
From trees to planter boxes to garden beds, simple projects can cool the local climate and make the most of rainwater, also reducing the risk of flooding.
As well as being great for the natural environment, projects like this can help reinvigorate public spaces.
“Stepping Stone Social Enterprise aims to create a welcoming and inclusive community space for our employees and customers,” Café Stepping Stone CEO and Founder Vanessa Brettell said.
“This grant will enable us to improve the comfort of our space, especially in the heat of the afternoon sun and make the most of our Dickson cafe space, both indoors and outdoors through sustainable and green building methods.”
All grant recipients engaged with the local community and stakeholders to inform their projects.
Find out more about the Nature in the City: Cooling Your Suburb grants on the Everyday Climate Choices website.
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