Water, weeds and autumn leaves: learning to be drier in the Alpine region

Author/s: Annette Foley & Lauri Grace

Edition: Volume 49, Number 3, November 2009

Summary: Our paper explores how and what adults living and working in the Alpine region of Victoria understand and are learning about the changes to water availability, in a time when the response to water availability is subject to extensive debate and policy attention. Interviews for this study were conducted in the towns of Bright and Mount Beauty, with participants drawn from across the Alpine region. The interviews focused on what local stakeholders from the Alpine region understood about water availability in the region and how and what they had learned about living and working with climatic changes in their local area. The findings of our study see that there was evidence of a strong understanding of the direct and indirect impact of climate change on participants’ local community area. The study also sees evidence of learning through a community ‘frames of reference’ as outlined by Berkhout, Hertin and Dann et al.

Keywords: water availability, policy, climate change, community