Adaptive governance for extreme events in peri-urban areas : a case study of the Greater Western Sydney

The sustainable future of peri-urban regions in the face of increased extreme events is dependent upon the development and implementation of adaptive governance models. The case of the Greater Western Sydney region of New South Wales is used here to illustrate the need to improve legal and institutional frameworks for peri-urban governance. This is needed to ensure that decision-making at the regional level is based on science and to effectively address the issues arising in a situation of extreme events that threaten food and water security in the region. Environmental law is relatively well developed in terms of the requirements of “good governance” that should integrate participation in decision-making by stakeholders. Increasingly, the principles of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) are also being elaborated as part of governance systems. The focus of this paper is to elaborate the challenges posed by climate change and variability, and the need to fundamentally re-think the approaches on adaptive governance for food and water security in peri-urban areas. Long term trends may be relatively well understood, but strategic planning and responses must be undertaken in the face of considerable uncertainty about exactly when, and how, extreme events will occur.