Part of the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the Regional Drought Resilience Planning (RDRP) Program aims to help communities across Australia be better prepared for and resilient to the impacts of future drought and climate variability events, through the development of regional drought resilience plans. Being better prepared will mean droughts and other climatic events will have less impact and will ensure we continue to thrive.

In Tasmania, three regional plans have been developed for the north, north-west and southern areas of the state. Plans are based on your stories, feedback and ideas, providing a roadmap of actions to prepare for and manage future drought and climate variability events.

Regional Drought Resilience Plans have been developed by communities, key stakeholders and government working together. Now finalised, plans aim to help Tasmanian communities strengthen resilience to drought and climate events and provide a roadmap of actions individuals, communities and organisations can take.

Our drought resilience plans are for everyone. Community groups, businesses, not-for-profit organisations and all levels of government can use the plans to understand how they can make a meaningful difference to drought resilience. In each region (southern, northern and north-west Tasmania), the plans can be used to guide future effort and investment across all areas and sectors.

Plans are living documents that will be reviewed and updated over time to reflect progress, insights and new priorities as they emerge. 

Consultation with Tasmanian communities to shape the regional drought resilience plans started in 2023. The plans have been finalised and are currently awaiting formal approvals.

The first round of the Drought Ready Tasmania grants program, ‘Quick Wins’ was open from Thursday 22 May to 2pm Wednesday 25 June 2025. The program aims to help communities kickstart priority actions that support regional drought and climate resilience goals. 

Applications are currently being reviewed. 

Register your interest on this website to stay up-to-date on implementation and future grant opportunities.

Currently, the Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program runs for the life of the Future Drought Fund.

There are lots of ways you, your organisation and community can be part of implementation. One of them is through the first round of our grants program (Quick Wins), that closed on 25 June 2025. 

Community groups, not-for-profits, private sector and government organisations can also use the plans at any time to help shape their policies and projects so that we are all working towards shared drought resilience goals.

Register your interest on this website to stay up-to-date on implementation and future grant opportunities.

Drought can impact many layers of the community and different industries in varying ways. An important feature of drought resilience planning and preparedness is enabling community led actions – this is what the Quick Wins grants program is all about.

Examples of projects that might be suitable for the Quick Wins program include:

• learning resources and toolkits to help others understand drought and a changing climate, including resources for vulnerable groups
• small events focussed around educating community members about drought impacts and actions we can take now to lessen the impact
• projects that explore how local economies could diversify
• projects that help strengthen and expand local food networks
• drought resilience projects for community spaces and gardens, including water efficiency
• opportunities for community members to build and transfer skills related to a more drought resilient community, such as species selection and water efficient practices
• research projects to help us understand how to adapt to changing drought and climate conditions. These might focus on agriculture, biodiversity, water and fire preparedness, as well as innovative solutions to identified challenges.  
• initiatives to strengthen community networks, such as regular get togethers to talk about the actions we need to take to build a more resilient community
• projects that help restore and protect biodiversity and eco-systems, such as research programs or restoration programs.

Funded projects will also need to align with the Future Drought Fund's mandatory funding principles. 

Remember, these are just a few ideas. Use them to spark your thinking about what project you might like to deliver. 

Yes, you can. While the Quick Wins grants are designed to support local projects that benefit individual regions (North, North-West or South), you can apply with one project that spans two or all three regions.

If you do this, make sure your application clearly shows:

• The activities, goals and benefits for each region
• A separate budget for each region (you can apply for up to $20,000 per region — up to $60,000 in total)

Your application will be split and assessed region by region by the relevant assessment panels. This means you may be successful in one region but not in another.

If your idea is more suited to a larger, long-term, or state-wide project, another grants round will open later this year, which may be a better fit.

Currently, there is $1.3 million available for the implementation across all plans. This includes $330,000 ($110,000 per region) from the federal government, and a further $1 million from the state government, to be rolled out later this year. Further information on other grant opportunities will be provided in the coming months.

Key goals and action areas detailed in the plans will be used to guide how implementation funding is spent.

Communities and organisations are also encouraged to source other avenues of funding to help in the implementation of projects identified by the plans.

Everyone! The plans do not specify how each action will be resourced or who is responsible as the actions are far-reaching across different sectors and types of change. We all have a role to play.

The plans are intended as guides for community, government, not-for-profits and the private sector to coordinate and align efforts, so that we are all working in the same direction.

Drought is a recurring feature of the Australian landscape. It is forecast to become more frequent, severe and longer lasting in many regions as the climate changes.

While there is no one definition of drought, for the purpose of Tasmania’s regional drought resilience plans, drought is defined as ‘a prolonged, abnormally dry period when the amount of available water is insufficient to meet our normal use’ (Bureau of Meteorology 2024). Because of this, drought means and look different depending on the region.

As drought is a major risk across all of Tasmania, we need to plan so that we can reduce the negative impacts of drought. It causes significant financial, social and environmental impacts for people, primary producers, other businesses and the community. 

For drought resilience planning in Tasmania, community drought resilience means how well we can come together to address our vulnerabilities and use our strengths to prepare for, adapt to and recover from challenges while maintaining or even improving our overall collective wellbeing. 

The plans identify community connection and cooperation among people and organisations as important elements for achieving resilience. A strong economy, well cared-for landscape and well-planned infrastructure also contribute to drought resilience. The plans aim to set out practical steps to work towards achieving these.