The main objective of this study is to amend the existing Lower Shoalhaven River Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan to incorporate the predicted impacts of climate change. Climate change has the potential to influence flood levels and floodplain management for the Lower Shoalhaven River floodplain as a result of:

1. Increased ocean level rise,
2. Increased design rainfall intensities,
3. Changes to the ― "breakout" mechanism at Shoalhaven Heads (although this is to some extent dependent upon Council’s Entrance Management policy – this could be modified to mitigate the potential impacts due to sea level rise and rainfall increase),
4. Changes to the morphologic regime of the Lower Shoalhaven River. For example; ― "will climate change affect the dimensions of Berry’s Canal or the build-up (or erosion) of sediments?",
5. Changes to the wind wave action on the coast may influence the morphology of the two entrances and potentially the storm surge and wave setup component adopted in the design flood analysis.