In Townsville, citizen engagement goes hand-in-hand with sustainability efforts. From adaptation programs to disaster management to resiliency planning, the municipality ensures that the public is aware of and educated on future risks and current initiatives.

At a city-sponsored sustainability center, school children and the general public can see demonstrations of things like composting, gardening, solar panels, an electric car station, permeable paving options, and how different roof materials to have an effect on temperature of a structure. Through collaboration with James Cook University, Townsville has been tapping into student work in the University’s eResearch Center to record data around many of their climate change efforts.

Another initiative educates citizens on the importance of vegetation on the beach to combat erosion. To satisfy public demand for aesthetically pleasing beaches without jeopardizing crucial vegetation, the city compromised by clearing designated swimming areas and manicuring much of the beach vegetation in public areas. Other coastal protection measures include mangrove restoration, geo-textile bags, set-back lines, and beach re-nourishment.

As part of its disaster management and resiliency efforts, the city runs yet another program capitalizing on civilians. A volunteer corps provides emergency services during cyclone and flooding events.

Programs like these are what a delegation from Portmore spent five days learning about in July when they arrived on the second exchange trip of their CityLinks Climate Change Partnership Program.

As part of the technical assistance Townsville is providing to Portmore, municipal staff from Townsville demonstrated a collective social learning exercise the city has been implementing over the last decade. It is a workshop that helps stakeholders create realistic outcomes and solutions to public challenges through a visioning process. A delegation from Townsville will replicate this process in Portmore on the third exchange trip slated to occur in early 2016.

Townsville also demonstrated how climate data has informed future land use and infrastructure plans and been integrated into its planning process through different modeling techniques for flood plain analysis, storm surge, and sea level rise. Just as with the aforementioned programs, these plans have been made as transparent as possible for the public. The municipality even provides an interactive mapping function for residents so they can gauge current and future flood risks.

The trip was rounded out with site visits to a cyclone testing center, Magnetic Island, and Castle Hill.

The afternoon spent on Magnetic Island highlighted current conservations efforts being undertaken as well as the coastal management challenges, failures, and successes Townsville has seen over the last twenty years.

From Castle Hill, the team was able to see vulnerable low lying areas, areas susceptible to bush fire, and the city’s white roof initiative. White roofs are painted with solar reflective white coating that can reflect up to 90% of sunlight, helping to significantly curb urban heat island effect and reduce energy use.

The Portmore delegation returned to their home on the other side of the globe brimming with ideas on how to apply what they’d learned in Townsville to their own community.