How It Began - The 2008 Nimbin Solar Packaging Scheme
In 2008 NNIC in partnership with Rainbow Power Company facilitated the uptake of 56 x 1 kW grid interactive solar systems by local residents. A 2 kW array was also installed at NNIC's premises and another at the Nimbin Town Hall/School of Arts. For the latest info on rebates available for residential solar arrays, see RPC's website.
To date those arrays have generated an estimated 460,000kWh = 432 tonnes CO2-e (as at July 2014).
In February 2009 we celebrated the successful completion of this project, followed by a day and a half of community planning around sustainability, which led to the first Sustainable Nimbin Community Plan.
The Sustainable Nimbin Community Plan
Sustainable Nimbin Community Plan 2024 Edition
A series of 8 workshops were held between February and August 2024, at which community members revised and renewed the SNCP by each Focus Area. Water was added in as the 10th Focus Area.
91 individual community members attended the workshops - some people attended more than one, and 6 people added their feedback via the online surveys.
For regular updates on progress under each Focus Area see the Focus Area tabs.
You can view or download the current version of the SNCP here.
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What is the SNCP? The Sustainable Nimbin Community Plan (SNCP) was first developed by the Nimbin community in 2009, and incorporated many of the goals and strategies from previous plans developed by Nimbinites since the 70s. It has been revised and updated by the community three times since, with the current version renewed in 2024. Over 900 Nimbinites have been involved in the development and implementation of the SNCP to date.
Who owns the SNCP? The SNCP is our community’s own plan and the focus has always been on what we the community can do for ourselves to shape our community and bring our visions into fruition. It has won Awards and has attracted funding and support to many community projects and activities.
Most importantly, it builds on our proud DIY history and has enabled us to maintain focus and work together towards collective goals that we as a community identify as being important.
What has been achieved under the SNCP? The first community-owned solar farm in Australia, the Nimbin Farmers’ Markets, the Nimbin Food Co-op, 7 Sibley Street, the Rainbow Road Walking Track (now renamed the Rainbow Walk), the acclaimed Nimbin Community Disaster Plan and much, much more has been achieved under the SNCP. For a full Report on the Achievements to date (until 2023) click here.
What is the format of the SNCP? The SNCP currently consists of 10 Key Focus Areas: Arts and Culture, Economic Development, Energy, Ecosystems and Biodiversity, Food & Farming Security, Health and Wellbeing, Housing and the Built Environment, Social & Political, Transport, and Water - with sustainability and climate change mitigation/adaption underpinning the whole Plan. Each Focus Area has an overall Vision (see above graphic) which the community has broken down into Goals and strategies for working towards those Goals.
Sustainable Nimbin Community Plan History
The Sustainable Nimbin Community Plan (SNCP) is the result of community planning workshops held in February 2009, then on Saturday 4th June 2011, then on Sun 22nd Nov 2015 and then again revised and updated in 2024 via a series of community workshops.
The outcomes of the SNCP are monitored in a number of ways, including the Sustainable Nimbin Community Surveys of which four have been undertaken to date. You can find the results of these surveys here.
The 2009 Community Planning Forum emerged from the successful completion of the Nimbin Solar Packaging Project.
Around 100 people came along to the June 2011 Planning Workshop (95 registrations).
Around 70 people attended the recent Nov 2015 Planning workshop.
The Plan is now made up of 9 Key Focus Areas: Transport, Energy, Food Security, Housing/Built Environment, Economic Development, Health & Well Being, Social & Political, The Natural Environment, and Arts & Culture.
The Sustainable Nimbin Community Plan is a living document and work is happening throughout the community to progress the strategies in the plan. Regular updates are posted on this webiste and via social media and the Nimbin Good Times.
The Role of NNIC - NNIC has a stewardship role over the SNCP.
Since the Aquarius festival in 1973, Nimbin has been driven by a vision of sustainable living, and as this vision now reaches into mainstream Australian society, there are opportunities for the Nimbin community to provide a leadership role as well as derive economic benefits from the inevitable shift towards a lower carbon economy.
Accordingly, NNIC's community development platform since 2008 has been sustainability in the face of economic downturn, peak oil and climate change.
Our aim is to increase the sustainability of the community and build Nimbin's community profile and capacity around sustainable initiatives.
The commitment of the Nimbin community to sustainability is reflected in many things, including the very high uptake of stand-alone solar systems in the Nimbin catchment area.
There is still much work to be done, however, if we are to fortify ourselves against the challenges ahead brought by the social, economic and environmental challenges of peak oil, climate change and the transition to a non-fossil fuelled society.
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NNIC takes out the Green Globe Awards! We won our own category - the Community Sustainability Award AND we also were the joint overall winner of the Premiers Award for Environmental Excellence! The winners were announced at Parliament House in Sydney on Tuesday 24th September. Click here for more info about the Green Globe Awards and to see all the finalists in the 14 categories. (Note they included things like the Sydney Opera House and Olympic Park!)
Click here to see the article in the Daily Telegraph on 25th September 2013.
Pictured with our trophies and the NSW Minister for the Environment, the Hon Robyn Parker, is Guy Stewart, NNIC Community Development Worker, Paul Le Bars, NNIC Chairperson, and Natalie Meyer, NNIC Team Leader.
Community Sustainability Survey In order to measure the outcomes against the Plan, as well as to capture some new additional baseline data, we recently conducted the 3rd Community Sustainability Survey. Click here to see the Report on the Survey.
What is Sustainability?
Principles of Sustainabilty have been developed throughout the world since at least the 1990s, and are increasingly being adopted by government and non-government agencies in various forms, all of which are similar and have common threads. All levels of Government in Australia formally adopted principles of sustaiinable development in 1992...