Forum - Transforming the City into a Carbon Sink
The aim of this forum is to raise awareness and facilitate discussion around the concept of using a circular / regenerative urbanism approach to transform urban food and woody waste into carbon rich products such as compost and biochar and sinking this back into the soil to provide a range of benefits such as reducing irrigation demand, improving plant growth and canopy cover, reducing flooding, improving water quality and reducing energy use.
Figure – Transforming the City into a carbon sink using a regenerative urbanism approach.
Date: Thursday 1st May
Venue: Floreat Athena Soccer Clubrooms, 41 Britannia Road, Leederville (this is part of the Community Circularity Hub).
Objectives:
- Raise awareness of the benefits of transforming the city into a carbon sink with an integrated approach using biochar, compost and microbes.
- Foster further discussions and partnerships e.g. in research.
Outcomes
- Increase understanding by decision makers, planners and natural resource managers of the multiple benefits achieved by incorporating organics into soil using a circular, regenerative approach.
Target audience:
- Decision makers
- Planners and policy makers
- Natural resource managers
- Community advocates
- Government and private sector
Speakers (Preliminary – Confirmed)
| Who | Theme |
| Noongar elder | Welcome to country but also history of Lake Monger (Galup) |
| Alison Xamon, Mayor City of Vincent | Opening and ?? |
| Keith Pekin? Perth NRM | Regen WA and application of regen principles to an urban context |
| TBC | Carbon uplift in Community Gardens around Perth. What are the benefits. |
| Prof. Stephen Joseph (confirmed) | Qualities of biochar and potential urban applications for soil water management |
| Prof. Lyn Abbott (confirmed) | Application of organics to improve soil health. Plant soil interactions. |
| Dr Mike Mouritz (confirmed) | Water Sensitive Urban Design opportunities |
| Steve Meerwald, Fasera (confirmed) | Using biochar to offset emissions and reduce emissions in the urban context |
| Andy Gulliver C-Wise or CEO? (TBC) | Benefits of using a circular approach to applying compost in an urban context. |
| Dr Grey Coupland (TBC) | Reducing the urban heat island impact. How we are doing it with school communities. Talk about the Black Cockatoo Forest and use of compost/biochar/microbes? |
| Professor Rachel Standish or Dr Alexandre Pedrinho – Murdoch University (TBC) | Improving soil carbon to restore degraded soils and enhance plant establishment and drought tolerance. |
| Others | |
| ??? | Synthesis |