Climate Change and One Health

SAVEM’s contribution to adaptation and mitigation

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 is the international roadmap by which we make our communities safer and more resilient to disasters. The Sendai Framework advocates for:

The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2022).

Sendai recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector, other stakeholders and communities. 

This is an ethos shared by all emergency services. The more that is done to adapt and mitigate the frequency, severity and duration of emergency events – the greater are the accrued benefits in human social, environmental and financial measurable terms – the triple bottom line. Positive human health outcomes are evident when human, animal and overall environmental health functions as a complementary whole. 

The Sendai Framework is closely linked to the One Health concept. One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach – working at the local, regional, national, and global levels – with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes, and recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment (Center for Disease Control, 2022).

SA Veterinary Emergency Management (SAVEM) Inc. deploys in the South Australian jurisdiction as a formal Tier 2 emergency service within the State Emergency Management Plan. SAVEM’s foundation remit is to provide all species animal welfare in all hazards emergency events. Twelve years on from inception, SAVEM’s mission operates across the continuum of Emergency Management (EM) phases: Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery (PPRR).  

SAVEM’s state-wide, regional, local or community activities benefit people and the environment in terms of real-world experience and practices based on solid ethical principles. An example is SAVEM’s written and video evidence given to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements – SAVEM being one of only two non-government animal welfare agencies to be subpoenaed to appear at the Commission. The Commissioners commended SAVEM’s plans and operations, and strongly encouraged dialogue with likeminded organisations regarding ways to collaborate beyond existing arrangements, optimising contributions to PPRR, including to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

 

Strategic adaptation

SAVEM continues to upskill and upscale in a planned strategy of continuous improvement. Training takes place in peacetime, that is, times of the year with a lower expectation and probability of emergency incident occurrence. In southern Australia, this is from April to October – although serious fires have occurred in May and in September.

Every SAVEM activity is followed by a debrief. Lessons are learnt from each deployment or outreach activity, and from broader experiences by emergency services across the continent. SAVEM participants are trained according to Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System™ (AIIMS™) and upskilled in line with increasing emergency events. SAVEM’s support resources are strategically upscaled so that deployments and other activities achieve high levels of efficacy. Dynamic review, revision and expansion of SAVEM systems and processes occurs proactively and organically in line with all of the above. As a result, SAVEM is able to be effective even as emergency events become more frequent and intense, of longer duration and greater impact.

 

Mitigation

SAVEM’s operational strategy and processes aim to meet climate change challenges by adopting plant, equipment and processes that reduce carbon emissions and environmental footprint. Training courses mix online and locally based face-to-face events. Plans are in place to move SAVEM’s physical base towards on-site renewable energy generation, capture and efficient use.

Wildfire generates carbon emissions. Emergency services contribute more emissions during the physical process of firefighting using diesel fuelled field vehicles. Use of alternate fuels and bio-fuels are options that need to be considered, especially where supply and purchase could be readily sourced locally in an emergency response, thereby supporting local communities.  

SAVEM’s forward strategic expansion includes adoption of resources capable of mobile electricity generation for emergency services use, and for electric vehicle recharge. SAVEM has a medium-term plan to transition its vehicle fleet to full electric.

This is envisioned in SAVEM’s current major project – the SAVEM Mobile Care Centre (MCC). Please see the infographic below. The purpose of the MCC is to:

  • To provide safe, efficient and effective best-practice support for SAVEM volunteers in a SAVEM deployment 
  • To provide a readily visible presence on incident ground for impacted communities over an extended timeframe, and to act as a conduit for Recovery information 
  • To provide immediately accessible temporary internet access to whole of incident ground 
  • To provide peacetime outreach and reliable all hazards education to communities 

 

Precautionary Principle

For emergency services there is no value in waiting until the fire starts to build the fire truck. Responders need to have their resources to hand in advance – to test and debug, to train and be able to utilise the equipment to best effect at the time of need. This is the core of resource secured as precautionary.

There is a natural reluctance across the community to expend funds on something that may never be used. This view misunderstands the reality of worsening emergency events. The MCC may not be mobilised in a deployment every month of the year, but the call for its presence will become more frequent as emergency incidents increase. The SAVEM MCC is a multi-purpose, multi-functional Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery (PPRR) asset. It’s embedded flexibility, versatility and interoperability mean it will be as useful year-round for training and peacetime community outreach and education as for field operations. It is clear from past experience that SAVEM’s presence on an incident ground – for many weeks after Tier 1 emergency services have stood down – reassures people they are not forgotten. The MCC will be a further visual signpost of extended care to impacted communities, providing reassurance and support in times of need ahead.

Emergency management is at its best when government, non-government organisations and the community work effectively together. The strength of community-led recovery sometimes needs the resources of government and legislation, but local knowledge and understanding of local issues is critical – and may be misunderstood by bureaucracy. Best outcomes stem from melding the shared attributes of all groups.

Precautionary principle resourcing means all parties are made effective, including their contribution to on-going adaptation and mitigation of climate change.   

 

References

Center for Disease Control. (2022). One Health Basics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 8 August from https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/index.html

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. (2022). What is the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction? United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Retrieved 10 August from https://www.undrr.org/implementing-sendai-framework/what-sendai-framework