A new research project is looking to boost the Australian nursery industry’s resilience when it comes to natural disasters and severe weather events.
‘Nursery industry natural disaster risk mitigation and recovery plan’ (NY18008), commenced in July 2019, as a means to identify and examine key vulnerabilities facing the nursery industry. The results will be used to develop a risk mitigation map with the assistance of independent agency, Cohga Pty Ltd.
The risk map aims to prepare production businesses for severe weather events by identifying natural hazard zones for bushfires, cyclones and flood.
This two-year project is managed by Nursery & Garden Industry Queensland (NGIQ) and funded by Hort Innovation using nursery industry levies and funds from the Australian Government.
In 2020, NGIQ is looking to work with up to 16 production nurseries identified as high risk, to develop a new suite of business continuity templates. These templates will provide nurseries with a framework to better tolerate natural disasters and extreme weather events, by recommending preparation and recovery practices.
Peter James, Business Development Manager at Cohga said the mapping component of the project would focus on a complex form of analysis called ‘spatial analytics’ which explores the relationships between different places in order to get a better understanding of natural hazard risks.
“Visualising information on a map has provided an intuitive and powerful way to produce more accessible and understandable information – something traditional analytics could not convey.”
This project aims to improve the overall sustainability and resilience of the Australian nursery industry.
The Risk Map will be showcased at the Greenlife Industry Australia National Conference, to be held in Perth, 3-5 March 2020.
To stay up to date about the project and its outcomes, regularly check the Your Levy @ Work website and e-newsletter.
For any further information about the project, please contact Kerry Battersby on 0417 767 534 or at recovery@ngiq.asn.au.
The ‘Nursery industry natural disaster risk mitigation and recovery plan’ (NY18008) project is funded by Hort Innovation using nursery industry levies and funds from the Australian Government.