Page 1212 - Week 04 - Friday, 23 April 2021
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• As this was clearly a concerning outcome for the ACT and one which required further investigation, Mr Braddock MLA’s office were able to contact the researchers from RMIT.
• Through these discussions I can confirm that an error was identified in the ACT results reported in the national assessment of urban tree cover. This has arisen due to the characteristics of the ACT, which differs from other Local Government Areas in Australia. This means that reported land-cover average results for the ACT are incorrect, as there was no calculation step in the workflow to allow for the different areas of the sub-regions, an issue not present in any of the other 130 LGAs covered.
• The RMIT researchers are confident that this is an isolated error, affecting the ACT data only and have now recalculated the ACT-wide results published in the report.
• The recalculated results indicate that the combined tree and shrub coverage in the ACT in 2013 was 61.7 per cent, declining to 50.1 per cent in 2016 and increasing again to 67.4 per cent in 2020. Canberra and Hobart are the only capital cities that had more vegetation in 2020 than in 2013.
• Accordingly the ACF and Monash University have updated their report, “Temperature check: Greening Australia's warming cities” which is available at the following link:
https://www.acf.org.au/natural_solutions_needed_for_our_overheating_cities
• While it is encouraging to see the tree and shrub cover increase, the methodology used by RMIT for this study may not be appropriate for large Local Government Areas or where there are large non-urban areas such as we have in the ACT.
• The ACT Government uses advanced remote-sensing technology (known as LiDAR) to measure and track Canberra’s canopy cover in an accurate and repeatable manner.
• In 2015, overall urban canopy cover was calculated at 19.08% using LiDAR data. The Government has acquired updated 2020 LiDAR data and is currently analysing this using the same methodology to ensure results are comparable. Results are expected to be available in mid-2021.
• For the purposes of the canopy cover target, Canberra’s urban footprint is taken to be the ACT urban Divisions.
• The ACT Government is committed to achieving sustainable development outcomes that meet the needs of the growing population, while retaining the values, features and landscape setting that make Canberra unique.
• A range of actions are already underway, such as the Whitlam Display Village demonstration project which trials innovative living infrastructure solutions such as passive irrigation, permeable driveway surfaces and advanced street tree planting.
• The ACT Government is also planting 54,000 trees in Canberra between 2020-21 and 2023-24 to contribute to the 30% canopy cover (or equivalent) target for Canberra’s urban footprint.
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