Southland's regional council has applied for almost 18 million dollars' worth of upgrades to its flood protection infrastructure,

Environment Southland's hoping to get the funding under the Government's "shovel-ready" infrastructure initiative.

Chief executive Rob Phillips says the investment would improve resilience to floods - Southland's highest risk natural hazard - and the threat of climate change.

He says stopbanks proved their worth in the February floods in Gore, Mataura and Wyndham.