Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Plan

Safeguarding species diversity and critical habitats ensures the continuity of healthy ecosystem functions, and sustains fundamental services such as clean air, water, and climate regulation. However, increasing environmental instability has prompted the need to bolster our capacity for emergency response, particularly in relation to biodiversity conservation and the preservation of agricultural natural capital. A robust emergency preparedness framework enhances the resilience of these valuable ecosystems, facilitating their recovery following extreme events.

In addition, investing in emergency preparedness lowers long-term recovery and restoration costs, enhances community resilience, and strengthens regional economies, particularly in the tourism and agriculture sectors.

In 2023, at the request of the Australian Government, NRM North prepared the Plan built on lessons learned during the large statewide flood event in June 2016, the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and floods in northern Tasmania in October 2022.

Building on more than two decades of experience in implementing natural resource management programs and rehabilitation initiatives, NRM North has crafted this Plan to reinforce its commitment of supporting regional stakeholders to care for the natural resources of our island home.

With a deep understanding of northern Tasmania's unique natural assets and experience in enhancing the resilience of the region's landscapes and communities that rely on them, NRM North’s knowledge has been leveraged to increase the preparedness against the impacts of extreme weather events and biosecurity emergencies.

The Plan prioritises biodiversity natural assets that are matters of national significance. It focuses on federally-listed threatened species that are identified in the Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032, federally-listed ecological communities, Ramsar wetlands, and a small number of regional priority species and places.

The objectives of the Plan are to:

• provide an assessment of the susceptibility of priority natural capital assets in northern Tasmania to bushfire, flood, coastal inundation, and biosecurity emergencies
• identify key preparedness, response and recovery actions required to protect and restore these assets in the event of an emergency
• assess the extent to which current emergency management arrangements protect environmental assets and identify areas where these can be strengthened
• identify roles that NRM North could play in improving emergency management for natural capital asset protection within existing emergency management frameworks and the essential supports required for these roles to be delivered
• facilitate conversation between agencies and individuals involved in emergency management with the goal of identifying opportunities for better collaboration and coordination to better protect natural capital assets in northern Tasmania.

The Plan actively contributes to community preparedness and recovery efforts by identifying risks and threats associated with emergencies, and implementing strategic planning to enhance outcomes through proactive management before, during, and after emergency events.

As such, actions in the Plan are considered in three phases:

1. Preparedness (before the event): Mitigation, prevention and preparation activities aimed at building resilience in biodiversity and agricultural natural capital assets and prioritising areas for protection.
2. Response (during the event): Implementation of specific emergency responses tailored to the nature of the emergency and natural resource management priorities.
3. Recovery (after the event): Focused on supporting natural recovery and regeneration of natural capital assets after the event, restoring the condition of natural assets, and facilitating their return to a state of resilience.