August 10, 2026
When a regional research project set out to help conservation practitioners and biodiversity managers across the Northern Rivers prepare for the impacts of a rapidly changing climate, one thing quickly became clear: they were going to need a lot of different voices in the conversation!
The project, led by a team from Griffith University and the Jagun Alliance from the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Resilient Landscapes Hub, brought together around 40 representatives from local government, First Nations organisations, Landcare groups, conservation bodies and other environmental organisations for a series of six-workshops to develop capacity and explore options for climate adaptation planning for biodiversity. To help workshop participants understand future climate impacts on the region and how to respond, the NESP Climate Systems Hub provided specialist expertise, research, and facilitated access to high-resolution climate projections developed by the NSW Government, to help turn climate information into practical planning tools.
This collaboration is a powerful example of what can happen when different areas of expertise are brought together. For Professor Brendan Mackey from Griffith University, the project co-lead, the Climate Systems Hub’s contribution in providing the latest high resolution climate hazard data was a game changer in getting participants to come to terms with the reality of climate change, and having the NSW-based Hub knowledge broker, Heidi Evans, supporting the project was key to the successful translation of the science.
“Providing us with the most up-to-date, dynamically downscaled estimates of current and future climate meant the workshop participants could readily understand where in the region climate risks are likely to be worse and what kinds of actions should be taken,” he said.
This information formed the foundation of the Northern Rivers community’s understanding of how climate change may affect species, habitats and ecosystems across the diverse Northern Rivers landscape. Participants worked through a structured process examining climate hazards, vulnerability assessments, adaptation options, future scenarios and spatial planning priorities.
A major part of the project’s success came from the people involved, however securing community participation and buy-in could not be assumed. The workshops were not one-off individual events, but six full-day sessions spread across the life of the project. Before they began, the project team undertook extensive stakeholder mapping, interviews and briefing sessions to identify organisations that could contribute local knowledge, practical experience and regional perspectives.
Behind the scenes, supporting the project team in ensuring they had access to the best available information about future climate impacts in the region for the workshops, was Climate Systems Hub knowledge broker Heidi Evans.
Brendan Mackey and Research Engagement and Planning Manager, Pazit Taygfeld, describe Heidi as someone taking on multiple roles, helping the team access the people, information and datasets they needed as the project evolved.
When suggested that Heidi’s role was akin to a “research matchmaking service”, Pazit said, “That’s exactly the right term to use.”
“Heidi was always keen to respond to our project’s needs and connect us with the right people who could help. Her networks across the Climate Systems Hub and State Government were extremely valuable”.
Through her networks within the Climate Systems Hub and NSW Government, Heidi connected the project team with climate researchers, data specialists and government experts. Those connections facilitated access to the NSW Government’s high resolution dynamically downscaled NARCliM climate projections, to inform the climate hazard maps used across the workshops.
The climate hazard maps themselves became one of the most valuable project resources. Produced at a hitherto unavailable four-kilometre resolution, they allowed participants to examine projected climate impacts at a scale that was meaningful to the places they managed and cared about.
For many participants, this was the first time they had been able to connect future climate projections with local biodiversity values and management decisions. Instead of discussing climate change in broad terms for the region as a whole, they could consider specific locations, species and ecosystems and explore practical adaptation responses, including areas suitable as climate refugia. Climate scientists, biodiversity researchers, government practitioners and local community members each brought different forms of expertise. Together they created a stronger evidence base for decision-making, one that considered climate risks alongside biodiversity priorities, local knowledge and on-ground management realities. The result was a richer planning process than Resilient Landscape Hub team could have delivered alone.
