Adapting water systems to climate change: A multi actor-multiple criteria decision analysis in South-east Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Australian water systems face a host of threats under climatic change derived from the predicted increase in extreme events. This has been exemplified in the South-East Queensland region, where drought and high volume precipitation events have led to negative social and economic impacts over the last decade. These events, and how they were initially responded to, can provide information and enhance knowledge on how to improve climate change adaptation in the future. This research employs a multiple criteria decision analysis, the analytical hierarchy process technique, to analyse the opinion of decision makers in South-East Queensland on how best to adapt stormwater systems to climate change. These infrastructures are one of the most at risk and potentially costly components of water systems under a changing climate, while these stakeholders have experienced firsthand the types of extreme events that are expected to increase in frequency. The technique has been effective in identifying clear preferences for climate change adaptation among stakeholders in three municipal bodies, elicited from a range of departments. Changes to land use control and design standards were the primarily preferred actions, suggesting an underlying belief that fundamental change is required to combat to climatic change.