Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research and Practice

184 The decline in social networks during drought can exacerbate feelings of isolation for people on rural properties. As a consequence landholders socialise less frequently as the drought progresses—often at a time when they are most in need of support. Landholders reported that those most in need were often likely to be isolated before the drought, and therefore even less likely to seek any social assistance or counselling services. Unlike bushfire, where communities come together to “fight” and organisations such as the RFS provide a social focus around action, drought erodes family and community structures. Drought-induced suicides among landholders are disproportionately common, having a huge impact on both families and the wider community. Communities do attempt to alleviate the isolation through social events such as drought buster parties (“a reason to have a drink when there’s no reason”, Monaro landscape). Participants emphasised the need to have healthy and alert farmers able to act on signs of recovery. Community mental health was considered a largely hidden aspect of extreme droughts and a depressed community was thought to be much slower to act and less innovative in response and recovery. Extensive grazing is the major agricultural activity in the Southern Tablelands and Alpine regions of the South East. Declining terms of trade have severely eroded the profitability of grazing enterprises, particularly on more marginal land. One Alpine (Monaro region) grazier explained: ”I’m running out of corners to cut”. Drought further reduces landholders’ financial reserves and can leave them with a burden of debt that remains long after the drought has ended. This in turn means that landholders are unable to afford to finance prevention measures. There is reportedly a lack of funding for NRM activities for limiting the impact of drought and when drought assistance is provided it is often “too little too late”. Where funding is available, applications have to be very detailed in order to justify a grant, requiring extensive administration, monitoring and very-technical reporting. This is often beyond the capabilities of volunteer organisations or single landholders already experiencing stress, andmany are discouraged by the conditions or lack the time or expertise to submit a funding application. 2.4.3. Recover As with bushfire, the biophysical, financial and psychological aspects of communities recover at different rates. Some participants noted that recovery starts when you “get good pasture growth, not just good rain” (biophysical) but others said that recovery does not begin until stock levels have returned (financial) and the communities have recovered from the shock (psychological). Depending on the extent of the drought, recovery can proceed for several years rather than months, and some communities undergo permanent changes from which they never “recover”. In some landscapes graziers believed that they did not recover fully from a drought in 1982, because it marked a step-decline in rainfall that permanently lowered productivity. While returning stock to paddocks is a matter of urgency for financial recovery this is often difficult because stock prices are high during recovery. Landholders believed that the South East’s unpredictable climate means that there is not really a well-defined recovery phase: “It’s more of a respite from the next drought than a recovery. You cannot be confident you are in a recovery phase”. (Drought workshop—Boorowa-Yass landscape) A bank of moisture in the soil can provide some confidence that the drought is ending but loss of vegetation cover results in poor rainfall retention, lower infiltration and high levels of run-off. Erosion is a problem in the Recover phase and is worsened by past clearing of native vegetation, poor agricultural management practices unsuited to the region’s soils and overstocking. Invasion by new species of weeds can be problematic as the lack of ground cover provides little competition for species introduced through imported feed or purchased replacement stock. Smaller landholders reportedmaintenance of ground-cover through composting, re-seeding paddocks with legumes, encouragement of native perennial grasses and planting fodder such as lucerne. Both large and small-scale landholders reduce erosion through improved grazing management and fencing of riparian and woodland zones from livestock. They recognised the importance of allowing bare soil to re-cover, providing protection from wind and rain. Recurring drought is reportedly influencing the range of some native animal species. For example, landholders reported higher numbers of wombats in areas not previously observed. Workshop participants feared permanent changes to the region’s ecosystems as a result of frequent drought and agreed on the need for a more holistic view of landscape management that considers native flora and fauna. 2.4.4. Prevent As with bushfire, the activities undertaken to protect NRM in the Prepare and Prevent phases are similar. Landholders focus on trying to “drought proof” properties by planting trees to form windbreaks, and block plantings of native drought resistant species and deep- rooted perennials. Some landholders have trialed plantings of tree-fodder species (such as Tagasaste or “tree Lucerne”) but were unable as yet to report on its efficacy as drought fodder (however, one grazier emphasised that “you would need a lot of tree lucerne to provide anything more than a minor supplement to forage supply in a drought” (Boorowa-Yass landscape). Retaining water in the landscape is an important way to reduce exposure to the impacts of drought. Participants noted that direct drilling technology can improve the condition of soils and reduce land degradation by avoiding the compaction associated with repeated passes of heavy machinery. Soil condition and ground cover can be maintained also by sound rotational grazing management, although in some areas changes in property ownership, an influx of absentee landholders and smaller-scale holdings often see farms over-