Woods, Brett ORCID: 0000-0003-1580-4258, Danks, Nicole, Gorman, Jamie ORCID: 0000-0002-5153-2045, MacDonald, Fiona ORCID: 0000-0003-1966-0810 and Corney, Timothy ORCID: 0000-0002-1980-6835 (2025) Climate-Related Perceptions of Young People with Lived Experience of Disasters in Regional and Rural Victoria, Australia. Journal of Applied Youth Studies. ISSN 2204-9193

Abstract

The experiences of young people, particularly young women, in regional and rural communities and their perceptions of, and responses to, the climate crisis are under-researched. This research focuses on young people outside of urban centres. These young people are largely absent from the broader climate conversation, despite the impact of climate-related disasters in their everyday lives. Their experiences sit within the concept of rural as being deficit, disadvantaged and backward when contrasted with the experiences of urban young people and emerging calls to challenge this bias. This paper reports on a small-scale study investigating how young people who have experienced climate-related disasters in regional and rural Victoria perceive the climate crisis, the relationship between climate change and climate-related disasters, and climate action. Qualitative data was collected from interviews with young women aged 18–23 (n = 7) from six different councils/shires in rural and regional Victoria, Australia, which were impacted by bushfires in 2019–2020. The analysis is attentive to the particularities of “place”. The findings provide insight into regional and rural young people’s perceptions of the climate crisis, the connection (or otherwise) to climate-related disasters and climate action. They also reveal their perception of an urban/rural divide concerning climate action tactics and climate mitigation policy. The research highlights the social and material realities of young people’s everyday lives and feelings of stigma and fear, particularly where they perceived a conflict between climate action and the social and economic relations that shape their regional and rural communities.

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