Living Firebreaks: Can we have our cake and eat it too?

Into our hearts Into our hearts

Welcome to Wildly Southwest, a podcast by Southwest NRM and the show where we dive deep into the landscapes, ecosystems and people shaping the environmental future of our region in this corner of Western Australia.

But first, we recognise Noongar people as the traditional custodians and the first natural resource managers of this country on which we live and work.

We pay our respects and acknowledge elders of this land, past and present.

we are committed to working with traditional custodians to protect and care for country for the benefit of future generations.

Today we're talking about a very hot topic, so to speak.

The southwest of Western Australia has been identified as one of the most fire-prone regions in the world, and climate projections suggest we'll continue to experience harsher fire weather in the future.

At the same time, the South West is internationally recognised as a biodiversity hotspot.

But bushfire represents a significant and growing threat to plants and animals here, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth, but also sit on the cliff edge of extinction.

It's what we might call one of those wicked problems that governments, policy makers, researchers, land managers and communities are all grappling with.

Today we're exploring an innovative project being delivered by Southwest NRM that could help communities adapt to increasing bushfire risk while also supporting biodiversity.

The project is called Living Firebreaks and joining me today to talk all about it is Southwest NRM's Sustainability and Environment Lead Linda Metz and Murdoch University PhD candidate Nikki Maher.

Thank you both for being here.

Thanks.

Thanks for having us.