Episode 8 - Is raising dam walls an effective strategy to manage climate change impacts?

Take me to the River

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In this episode, Siwan and Professor Jamie Pittock discuss whether raising dam walls is an effective management strategy to address our changing climate. They discuss the current proposal to raise the Warragamba Dam wall in outer Sydney, and whether the stated aims of it being to address flooding and protect downstream communities, will actually be achieved. Jamie has worked for the World Wide Fund for Nature, and is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and World Commission on Protected Areas. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Nature Conservancy. He is now based at the Fenner School at the Australian National University where he teaches and writes across environment, society and climate change adaptation topics. In their conversation, Siwan and Jamie discuss the ecological and cultural consequences of the proposal to raise the dam wall, and highlight how a multi-million dollar ‘flooding’ solution is likely to fail.

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