Communication of information for adaptation

M T Boykoff and E G K Boyd
University of Colorado-Boulder
Leeds University

This paper seeks to address the conference themes of:
a. adapting to climate change in cities, b. risk communication and behavioral change, and c. communication of information for adaptation. This paper approaches these intertwined and challenging
subjects by exploring four critical, dynamic and intersecting features as they manifest in Mumbai, India.These are:
1. the continually fraught nature of global North-South relations on climate change,
2. the rise in attention paid to climate adaptation,
3. the increased presence and importance of city-level actors in climate adaptation governance, and
4. the intersections between formal climate science-policy negotiations and everyday culture, political economy, and society.

Mumbai, India is an illuminating case study for four reasons related to those above:
1. India is a fast-growing global economy, yet it remains a developing country (non Annex I). Thus, India has become a key player in ongoing climate negotiations and a key voice in the ongoing North-South dialogues regarding climate governance and action
2. In a changing global climate, coastal India is a region particularly at risk from climate change. Through intertwined issues of human vulnerability, urban inequalities and geographic hazards, Mumbai is a place facing particularly amplified climate-related impacts.
3. Mumbai city proper is considered the most populous city in the world with about 13.6 million people, and is the fifth most populous by metropolitan area (19.2 million). Mumbai is also one of the more densely populated large cities in the world. These factors make it a fascinating space for analyses of urban adaptation to climate change
4. Mumbai is considered the financial centre for India. A natural deep water port contributes to considerable economic activity and makes the city one of the world’s top centers of commerce, measured by global financial flow. Similarly, Mumbai is a central hub for Eastern popular culture, home to the Bollywood film industry and associated celebrities. These historically-developed, yet currently salient and intersecting factors in Mumbai make it a case-study that will provide insights for urban climate adaptation challenges and cultural engagement in other spaces and contexts in the years to come. The larger project “contextualizing this paper” pursues how city-level groups, organizations and actors are emerging as key figures shaping formal post-Kyoto climate treaty negotiations “particularly Adaptation Fund discussions” and as important links to informal cultural and societal engagements among urban populations. The paper that Boykoff would like to present at this 2010 International Climate Change Adaptation Conference endeavors to provide a more textured understanding of the interactions between climate adaptation decision-making and stakeholder understanding via media representations of climate change. This project will help ongoing investigations to make sense of emergent architectures of climate adaptation initiatives and programs in Mumbai. The research seeks to help researchers, and practitioners understand how public perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors influence multi-level climate adaptation governance.

To do this, we employ a mixed-method approach:
1. semi-structured interviews with Indian journalists, and
2. critical discourse analyses and content analysis of media representations of climate change. Piloting work has involved interviews with Mumbai-based environmental journalists, and examinations of coverage in the Hindustan Times, the Hindu, Times of India, and the Indian Express. These multi-scale data points seek to better understand climate adaptation strategies in Mumbai, in the context of Indian climate governance. To date, Boykoff has co-authored many articles, book chapters, opinion pieces and reports, and has convened workshops on media representations climate change. However, these analyses have been limited to examinations of Western media representational practices. This paper uniquely then extends into the combination of examinations of media portrayals of climate adaptation, and links between city-level governance, risk communication and behavioral change. How communications on climate adaptation between Mumbai leaders and citizens “in this paper via media representations” confront the formidable challenges and robust possibilities associated with these issues will illuminate the spectrum of possibility for coordinated and substantive action to address threats associated with anthropogenic climate change.

Presentation (PDF)

L Dilling
University of Colorado, USA

As the dimensions and reality of climate change have become more evident in recent years, attention is now beginning to focus on the issue of adaptation. While much attention has been focused on estimating future impacts from climate change on various sectors and parts of the world (e.g. WGII IPCC 2007), much remains to be understood about the barriers to successful adaptation. These barriers include lack of knowledge about what to do and lack of capacity (whether financial, institutional or human) to act (Adger et al 2007).

However, many may assume that given knowledge about how to reduce negative outcomes, and given sufficient societal capacity, society will take action to adapt to the risks of climate change. From existing research about the response to hazards, even without the prospect of climate change, we might have reason to doubt this assumption. As Mickey Glantz and colleagues wrote, “lessons learned” might more appropriately be called “lessons identified”– only until someone actually applies the knowledge to reduce the risks associated with future hazards do they actually become lessons truly learned (Glantz et al. 2009).

White, Kates and Burton published an important review of where hazards scholarship stands on the “situation in which more is lost while more is known” (White et al. 2001). While the good news is that losses of life are decreasing, property damage is increasing, in both developing and the developed countries. Losses of life, while declining, also remain unacceptably high given the number of preventable deaths especially in developing countries.

With respect to the role of knowledge in improving outcomes with respect to hazards, White et al. (2001) briefly review five potential explanations for why, in face of ever-growing knowledge about hazards and their natural and social causes, losses continue to mount. The possible explanations they offer include:
a. knowledge is still lacking;
b. knowledge is available but not used;
c. knowledge is used but ineffectively or with unintended consequences;
d. there is a lag time between the effective use of relevant knowledge and improving the situation; and
e. all best efforts to use knowledge have occurred but background increases in vulnerability swamp any positive gains.

White et al. conclude with a plea for more appraisal of the “actual results of applying the best available knowledge in the best possible way” and better integration of knowledge of hazards into the practice of sustainable development.

One of the key barriers to successful adaptation that must not be overlooked, therefore, is the uptake and use of knowledge about reducing vulnerability in decision making processes. Otherwise, as Mickey Glantz has written, we reach the situation where “lessons have been identified, but not learned” meaning that knowledge gained even as a result of disaster or tragedy, is not acted upon to improve future outcomes. This paper sets forth a theoretical framework to underpin case studies examining three related questions for adaptation:
1. Is lack of information a barrier for successful adaptation measures?;
2. What are the barriers to the successful uptake of information for adaptation in policy?; and
3. Are there limits to the use of information for improving outcomes?

Presentation (PDF)

B Smith1, A Taylor and T Devisscher
Stockholm Environment Institute, Oxford Office, United Kingdom

The rapidly expanding volume of guidance, advice, methods and tools for adaptation represents both an opportunity and a challenge for communicating information on adaptation. The problem is often not a lack of information, but navigating and assessing the quality of sometimes-conflicting information to distil useful lessons and source information most appropriate to the context in question. We review lessons learned through our efforts to develop and share information and knowledge relevant to climate adaptation, and focus on exciting developments to overcome the obstacles we have encountered.

An increasing number of Internet based adaptation ‘platforms’ or ‘portals’ exist which aim to help users find relevant information on adaptation and share their practices and experiences. While some have the potential to provide an empowering space to articulate local needs, exchange advice and engage with a wide community of people working on adaptation, experience has shown that there are significant barriers to be overcome if they are to fulfil such a role. Since early 2007, SEI

Oxford has led the development of one such platform – weADAPT – aimed at fostering communication and collaboration on climate change adaptation by building a set of socio-institutional relationships, developing a suite of computer-based tools, and using innovative technologies, to support the generation and exchange of relevant data, information and knowledge.

Initially, the main focus was on using a wiki to facilitate collaborative writing and try to encourage communication and partnership between users – rather than simply providing information in a top-down way. This worked to an extent, however we encountered both technological constraints (the difficulty of editing and engaging with other users) and also social problems as we found that while inter-organisational collaboration is an aspiration held by many in the adaptation field, in practice it is not always a priority, falling victim to busy schedules and institutional barriers.

We have also learnt that there strong and pervasive desire for ‘easy answers’ or ’simple solutions’ to adaptation. It is not easy to communicate complex, nuanced messages, for example the confidence or uncertainty associated with climate projections in data-sparse regions, in ways that allow users to move forward in their understanding and work. Failure to do so can encourage people to look for simpler (and in most cases scientifically less
credible and defensible) sources of information and answers, which may lead to mal-adaptation.

Based on experience from the initial phases of weADAPT, and feedback from several practitioner communities, we are now using innovative technologies coupled with an intensified focus on building partnerships in order to generate, store and communicate data, information and knowledge relevant to climate adaptation. Semantic technology allows intelligent links to be made between each piece of information in weADAPT. This increases the efficiency of a search, presenting users with additional resources they may need to make sense of and apply newly acquired information – thereby facilitating knowledge integration and ultimately learning. For example a search on ‘water Lesotho’ might return case studies of water management in Lesotho, tools for water planning and users working in Lesotho. In an attempt to reduce fragmentation of the broader knowledge base, the site has the potential to provide dynamic links to other web resources relevant to the topic being displayed – harnessing the power of the semantic web.

Responding to a commonly expressed need to know who is doing what type of work on adaptation, we have developed a system for users to browse and add project descriptions, videos, data animations and images to Google Earth in order to be able to quickly access locally relevant information. This visual tool for sharing information has found immediate appeal and we are working with a number of new Knowledge Partners to increase the content and integrate the use of the tool into existing activities.

Technology helps, but we have found that the only reliable way to provide effective information to support adaptation is through an intense and iterative process of direct communication with partners involving understanding needs, establishing common goals and working out how to bring relevant information into existing frameworks and protocols. We have found that collaboration between organisations working in different fields leads to the most innovative and useful means to support climate change adaptation.

Presentation (PDF)

J King and W, Gray
Ministry for the Environment, New Zealand

Understanding of the local impacts of climate change enables decision makers to consider the consequences of climate change, manage their risks and take advantage of any opportunities. Information and guidance on preparing for climate change that is both useful and used is essential to ensure better decisions are made about planning for the future.

Different audiences require information in different forms of media and even within one audience people have different ways of taking on board information and making use of it. This is why it is important that information is provided in many forms including oral presentations, workshops, printed publications, technical manuals, maps, fact sheets and web pages. Celebrating examples where community and local government have taken steps to prepare for climate change through published case studies is also a powerful way of showing that adaptation does not have to be hard and we have the information and ability to take action now.

The NZ Ministry for the Environment has developed a range of information material and guidance to help New Zealanders become informed about what climate change means for us and what we can do to increase our resilience. Many different types of New Zealanders have an interest in learning about climate change and so the Ministry has developed material for the general public, libraries, schools, planners, hazard analysts, local government staff and engineers. This paper will present examples of the different information available and discuss the purpose and audience of the material, as well as the rationale behind it. For example:
• New guidance on incorporating climate change in to flow estimation, to be published later in 2010
• New web-based, decision-support tool (a “toolbox”) for local government and land managers to help users understand how climate change could affect them and what they can do to adapt
• Maps showing projected changes in regional rainfall and temperature
• Technical guidance on the impacts of climate change on drought, coastal hazards, flooding and fire risk
• Local government guidance manuals and summary publications detailing expected changes to the NZ climate, the relevant legislation and how to incorporate climate change into a risk management approach to decision-making
• Web based ‘Quality Planning’ guidance notes for planners • Case studies highlighting examples of climate change being incorporated into local government planning
• A stylised climate change impacts map indicating the potential regional impacts of climate change in New Zealand

For informed decision making to succeed, the information needs to get out to the people who will use it. Stakeholders can play a vital role in encouraging the use of guidance and disseminating information throughout their own networks to reach an even larger audience. They can also advocate within their own sector to raise awareness, give weight to government guidance and encourage adaptation and better decision-making. The use of stakeholder networks to lend support to government guidelines on planning for sea level rise will be discussed as an example of the power of stakeholders as part of your communication and dissemination plan.

Presentation (PDF)

E Woodward
Sustainable Ecosystems, CSIRO, Australia

Indigenous people in remote regions of Australia comprise a unique group within the adaptation-response community. With strong socio-cultural ties to ancestral lands, habitats and wildlife, and with livelihoods that are highly dependent on natural resources, they are among those most vulnerable to climate change. Indigenous peoples’ engagement in discussions about climate change adaptation requires a concerted effort because many do not have access to the communication technologies, products or social networks favoured by national governments when providing information to the ‘public’. This has lead to inequities in the delivery of climate change-related information in Australia.

Around 20% of Australia forms part of an Indigenous estate with many communities situated in coastal and floodplain areas or along river banks. Most of these communities are also remote, isolated and face significant socio-economic challenges driven by poverty, poor health, low literacy and high unemployment. The ability of Indigenous groups to adapt to climate change impacts will be challenged by the same factors that have contributed to their marginalisation. For remote Indigenous communities in northern Australia to be equipped to discuss and debate climate change adaptation options and avenues for reducing vulnerability they need access to locally relevant, easily digestible climate change information delivered in socially and culturally appropriate forms. In this presentation I will draw on experiences in northern Australia to provide guidelines on the equitable communication of climate change-related information.

Effective communication is a skill that requires thought, preparation and often trial and error to get right. A climate change travelling ‘road show’ is effective in initially providing information to Indigenous communities about climate change. Institutional structures that currently facilitate the bringing together of community members from wide geographical areas, for meetings of Land Councils, catchment management groups, planning and policy reference groups, and language group/land claims meetings should be tapped into for information delivery. Further, Indigenous social networks exist that are founded on extensive family relationships, and form part of a complexity of social and economic ties based on exchange and reciprocity. These networks will play a key role in adapting to environmental variability and stress, and are important networks to incorporate in the distribution of climate change information.

As well as face-to-face discussions, materials need to be provided so that information can be taken away and shared within extended family networks. The design and delivery of communication materials need to be cognisant of low literacy levels, and should be undertaken with input and consistent feedback from those with on-ground experience in the communities in question. Products should be trialled in conjunction with community members and local people can be engaged to seek independent feedback from community members as to whether information was understood. It is vital that communicators work in accordance with local networks and processes and seek local advice as to which situations are appropriate to present in and whether translators will be useful.

Presentation (PDF)

S Nicholls and S Cork
Australian Institute for Sustainable Communities, University of Canberra, Australia
Resilience Australia, Australia

Traditional emergency management theory refers to the four stages of emergency: prevention, preparedness, response and recovery; but recent thinking suggests that resilience and adaptability need greater focus for both pre-disaster strengthening of communities, and for the longer term psychosocial welfare of communities affected by disasters. In this context, governments are rightly concerned with the maintenance of a robust and fully functioning society that is able to withstand the shock of disaster, whether caused by nature or human intervention. However, the problem for government agencies is how to communicate with 3 people at risk – which, given recent extreme weather events, is virtually the entire population – initially to foster preparedness (the recent development of new colour-coded warnings following the “Black Saturday” bushfire disaster in Victoria is an example of this); to encourage mitigation activities; and to assist with recovery following disaster. Communication strategies for each of these stages are difficult to implement well and can be politically risky. This paper examines the components of resilience in the context of disaster, the role communication can play in promoting resilience and, using case studies from the ACT bushfire of 2003 and the 2009 Victorian bushfires, proposes some pointers toward the use of communication to assist in building and maintaining resilient, adaptable communities.

Presentation (PDF)

S McCormick
American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA

While a growing body of research is discovering the barriers to effective communication about climate risks, little work has attempted to implement solutions to these problems through the creation of new, evidence-based communication tools. Consequently, there is a great need for communication regarding climate adaptation that moves beyond these barriers to make risks tangible, place-based, and actionable. This project offers a model in which video tools can be used to communicate climate risks and stimulate behavior change. I develop and test participatory, place-based, risk-specific video segments for fostering climate adaptation. I hypothesize that:
• Participatory video can uniquely facilitate learning across diverse perspectives and experiences of stakeholders.
• Participation in cross-stakeholder video production results in feelings of accountability
and connection with others addressing a particular risk.
• Perceived shared experience is more likely to lead to behavioral change than knowledge-deficit approaches.
• Viewing a video that relates to an individual’s localized or regional concerns facilitates behavior change about localized risks.

To test these hypotheses, I incorporate affective and analytic information in video production. It includes engaging multiple perspectives in a participatory manner, a focus on a particular risk, and is place-based. I develop documentary video segments that address climate risks and adaptation strategies in three test cases: 1) heatwaves in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2) coastal flooding in Mississippi, and 3) wildfires in California.

The development of these documentary segments and the selection of participants involves three steps. First, background research is conducted on each case, as well as on stakeholders critical to mitigating risk and creating adaptation. Stakeholders are selected from four categories of central decision-makers that shape adaptation processes: regional EPA officials, city officials, non-governmental organizational leaders, and community residents. Additional interviewees may include experts and federal-level decision-makers. Each interviewee is selected to represent a set of experiences on the part of the group from which the specific stakeholder is selected. Second, subsequent to the collection of background information on each stakeholder, the stories of four people are filmed. Narratives are based on their experiences with the particular risk and any additional relevant experiences, such as perceptions, experiences, capacities, and obstacles that each stakeholder faces. Finally, footage is edited into short video segments based on narratives of individuals in each location. Narratives of stakeholders are interwoven with one another in order that perspectives can be shared and a collective identity of those managing risks at diverse scales is created. As such, the final video product also addresses challenges to bridging stakeholders to find consensus on adaptation strategies.

The central aims of this work include: addressing the barriers to effective climate communication, fostering the collective action on adaption, and filling the gap between research on communication and the creation of communication projects that implement these findings. An evaluation component is implemented before and after participation in or exposure to the video segments in order to measure the achievement of these aims. This includes a short survey regarding beliefs, opinions, and intentions to take particular kinds of actions. The survey is administered to those who participate in each project. The survey will also be re-administered at a later date to better measure behavioral change.

Preliminary conclusions in this project indicate that stakeholders are often unaware of the needs, perceptions and possibilities of other stakeholders, resulting in misunderstanding and even controversy in the selection of adaptation practices. Second, bridging these differences can stimulate new thinking about the risks of climate change and create relationships that lead to improved conceptualizations about adaptation.

S Adams, C Corpé and J Matthews
Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Societies are coordinating efforts across multiple scales – international, national, regional, community, and individual – to adapt to the changes precipitated by climate change and large-scale problems like peak oil, pollution, and food and water security.

High-level initiatives set targets, enact legislation, and establish frameworks for action, and are led by governments and supra-national organizations such as the United Nations. Regional and community initiatives inform and/or develop policy and legislation, and translate policies into actions that encourage (and/or compel) governments, businesses, communities and individuals to modify behavior. The challenges facing societies are heavily entwined in their economic, social and cultural fabric, and require a holistic approach.

The ‘Transition Towns’ initiative is a grassroots movement that espouses a holistic adaptation strategy to address the changes arising from climate change and peak oil. This initiative considers the key areas of a community – food, energy, transport, health, and economics – and aims to inform and engage motivated individuals and small groups to develop creative solutions to building sustainable communities. Conceived in 2005, Transition Towns have spread throughout the United Kingdom and into twelve countries by word of mouth, traditional media, and the Internet.

Websites can be an effective and low-cost way for individuals, groups, businesses and governments to provide information to global audiences 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Web-based communication has evolved rapidly as the Internet has grown in sophistication and importance, and now supports interactivity and user-generated content through blogs, wikis, established and viral media, file sharing, and social networking applications. The proliferation of inexpensive web design and publishing tools means the cost of ‘getting on the web’ is relatively low compared to traditional media like newspapers or television.

However, it is no longer sufficient to have a simple website that displays static information. Instead, organizations strive to create a web presence that engages people, and motivates them to participate in the organization’s activities, whether commercial, recreational, social, and/or political. While visual design is important, usability, content quality, and interactivity are important factors in successfully establishing and maintaining a web presence.

The main TransitionTowns.org website provides information such as guiding principles for community groups, criteria for becoming a transition town, and a registry of transition towns. As of 4 February 2010, there are 277 officially registered transition towns. Twenty-eight are in Australia, the third largest concentration of Transition Towns after the United Kingdom and the United States.

While the main website acts as a hub, each Town’s website is designed and maintained separately by individuals or community organizations, creating a highly distributed web presence. This poster presents an evaluation of the Transition Towns web presence and highlights successes and challenges in the initiative’s web-based communications. The analysis uses a stratified sample of websites drawn from the Transition Towns registry, and evaluates the appearance and function using criteria drawn from best practices in web communications. Informed by Foucauldian analysis the poster identifies discourses and power dynamics relating to jurisdictional and organizational overlap, resourcing, credibility and legitimacy.

A Baez-Gonzalez, J Ramos-Gonzalez, M Gonzalez- Gonzalez, J Collazo-Gonzalez and M Torres-Meza
Laboratorio Nacional de Modelaje y Sensores Remotos, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricola y Pecuarias, Mexico

A national network of over 800 automated meteorological stations strategically located in agricultural areas in 29 Mexican states has been established by INIFAP (Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias) in collaboration with the Mexican Department of Agriculture, state governments, farmer groups, and other agencies in order to service Mexican agriculture. The objective is to provide near real-time meteorological data for application in agricultural processes and in the planning of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the face of severe weather. Data collected automatically every 15 minutes from the stations are processed and stored in the central database at the Laboratorio Nacional de Modelaje y Sensores Remotos of INIFAP and transmitted nation-wide to farmers and other users in near real-time, free of charge, on the internet through the website http:// clima.inifap.gob. mx. The data have been used to develop pest and disease models for sugarcane, orange, apple, pecan, avocado, strawberry, lemon and other plants. The weather data have also been used for frost alerts, calculation of water needs of irrigated crops, regional climatic characterization, and assessment of damage to crops due to severe weather. Other high-impact uses includeclimate prediction and national yield prediction of basic food crops such as maize, dry bean, sorghum, wheat, barley and sugarcane. Additional farmer training programs, website improvements, and research on applications are needed to ensure that the information generated by the national network of agrometeorological stations will truly help farmers and decision-makers in government and agri-business cope with the challenges presented by climate change.

L Coulter
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Climate Adaptation Flagship, Australia

While the consequences of human action on climate change has been the subject of much time money and energy, much less has been done to understand how we can stimulate the behaviour change needed to adapt to the outcomes of global environmental change. It is a common belief of people in developed nations that only those in less developed countries are truly vulnerable to the effects of climate impacts while they underestimate the risk to themselves. In a 2004 study, 52% of British respondents said that climate change would have little or no effect on them. There is a tendency for the public to distance themselves from the causes, impacts and responsibility for tackling the problem.

Communication of climate adaptation issues is marked by four significant factors. Firstly, Climate and adaptation are contested spaces with reactivity to disinformation a drain on resources and focus. Secondly, the climate adaptation concept is not strongly framed in the Australian dialogue. This is both opportunity to develop a positive context for discussion and decision making and offers the danger of having misinformation lobbies exploit this gap first and set the agenda. Thirdly, the complexity and breadth of systematic adaptation makes research synthesis difficult to convey without an over-arching narrative. Will a compelling narrative emerge within a short time frame? Finally, the need to accept increased uncertainty in future conditions is a fundamental issue. While reducing scientific uncertainty is a clear research goal, unpredictable and nonlinear responses in many adaptive systems are expected to increase.

Despite these communication barriers some early adaptors are planning for a new tomorrow through changes ranging from incremental shifts in behaviour to transformational relocation. Groups in Agriculture, emergency services, regional planning and natural resource management have begun to adapt.

Common factors in these groups include acceptance of climate disturbance, access to relevant research information and awareness of their vulnerability. Better understanding the communication patterns that foster this acceptance, access and awareness may be useful to foster additional communities who are adapting to inevitable climate change.

S Etti
Environmental Resources Management, Australia

Environmental Resources Management (ERM) is one of the world’s leading providers of environmental consulting services, delivering innovative solutions for eminent business and governmental clients. In 2007, ERM invested in and implemented a knowledge sharing program to improve global knowledge dissemination in order to help meet clients’ needs more effectively. ERM’s knowledge sharing platform, Minerva, uses Web 2.0 technology to provide a flexible intranet and collaboration platform.

ERM recognized that provision of Climate Change services represented a major opportunity for the company, given the scale of the Climate Change crisis and the need for the international community to take action. ERM has accelerated and supported the growth of the Energy and Climate Change (E&CC) practice by investing in training, service offering development, sales support, and knowledge management. The innovative approach to proliferating knowledge sharing across the E&CC community of practice over the last three years has helped to accelerate growth.

ERM addresses many of the emerging Climate Change mitigation options and adaptation strategies. Within the E&CC community of practice, an adaptation network amongst staff world-wide has been established to link up practitioners across different regions and countries. This has helped ERM to reduce the degree of separation between consultants by encouraging them to work together across geographical boundaries.

The objective of knowledge sharing in the adaptation community of practice is to ensure that practice members have access to high quality, reliable information in order to provide sales support and to build ERM’s capabilities and market position around Climate Change and adaptation strategies. ERM is doing this through a combination of:
• Expert list management,
• Facilitating communication between members (and beyond),
• Proactive content management,
• Training and learning.

An expert list in the form of an adaptation member directory ensures that members can share their knowledge, experience and skills within ERM. The directory acts as a kind of expert “yellow pages” for the network. Each member contributes key information summarising their individual knowledge, experience and skills.

A bi-monthly global adaptation forum ensures a global platform to share the latest developments and opportunities, and to explore lessons learned through case studies for members.

A comprehensive document library, which increases the visibility of local work, good practice, project experience, winning proposals, background information, and internal/external presentations is available to all practice members and is continuously kept up to date.

Various learning activities are in place across the practice in order to improve access to and enable faster connectivity with experts globally. Participants can gain insight into project experience, allowing them to relate it to future opportunities. The learning activities help to drive sales and enable practitioners to expand their knowledge on an ongoing basis.The adaptation network helps the organization to remain at the forefront of opportunities associated with different Climate Change threats. By using the outlined organization design, technology design, content design and training design, an integrated knowledge management approach is achieved that aligns with business goals, strategies and opportunities.

D Eversole
University of Hawaii, Sea Grant Program, USA

Hawai’i sits at the hub of the Pacific’s climate change intersection, serving to illustrate climate change impacts and an example of progressive climate adaptation policy. Since voyaging to the islands, native Hawaiian culture has closely studied the flow of water, the patterns of waves and winds, and the nature of our island climate. Using this knowledge, islanders adapted their use of the land and ocean to the perpetually changing conditions. However, climate trends are shifting. Climate change impacts are widespread and now islanders are faced with a new set of climate challenges. This distinct combination of cutting-edge science and traditional knowledge highlights the strength of solutions that Hawai’i brings to the uncertain future climate change poses for small islands.

Established in 2009, the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy (ICAP) facilitates a sustainable, climate-conscious future for Hawai’i, the Pacific, and global island communities. The Center emphasizes effective communication of climate adaptation information through innovative, interdisciplinary research and real-world solutions. This information is directed towards island decision-makers and focused on practical adaptation solutions and strategies with relevant science-based policy implications. As a focal point for University of Hawai’i climate expertise, the Center serves as
a two-way conduit between the university and island communities to catalyze climate change adaptation and resiliency.

The Center strives to identify opportunities to harness traditional knowledge and utilize new or existing strategies, tools, partnerships and projects that can be used to support the communication of information for adaptation. An example of this approach is illustrated in the revitalization and application of the traditional Hawaiian resource management practice known as the Ahupua’a watershed management. This traditional Hawaiian watershed concept is characterized by sustainable watershed mangement and encompasses land use and resource allocation within the entire watershed from the moutaintop to the reef.

This kind of project is illustrative of ICAP’s larger mission and real world results. The Center offers original work products in the areas of science, policy, and planning to mitigate and adapt to climate change while embracing the wisdom of local, traditional cultures. ICAP also addresses barriers and challenges to the communication of climate adaptation information by identifying the viable science-based policy approaches and offering extant models from other jurisdictions that are successfully implementing climate adaptation strategies. The focus areas for ICAP fall into the following categories:

Policy. Research and develop innovative policy solutions to climate change that fit the unique needs of island communities through white papers for legislative bodies, government resource agencies, and private entities to address climate threats and other climate change issues.

Projects. ICAP improves island community climate change resiliency through partnerships that improve our adaptive capacity with emphasis on communicating these results as decision-support tools to local planners and government officials. Other revelent ICAP accomplishments include a suite of reports, white papers and briefings related to climate adaptation and coastal hazard mitigation for the Pacific region. ICAP offers a number of climate adaptation case studies that that can be used as examples to support the communication of information for adaptation in other coastal and Pacific Island regions.

Extension/Education. Public outreach activities that link UH expertise directly to climate adaptation opportunities and challenges. ICAP offers graduate education opportunities that prepare future island leaders for roles in the growing field of climate adaptation, resiliency, policy, and planning. Through the development of a library of “best-practice” mitigation and adaptation solution-sets, the Center increases its ability to craft tailored policy responses for individual island communities at national, state, and county levels. The extension and education components serve a critical function of communicating adaptation information to increase the resilience of communities most vulnerable to climate change.

Next Steps: ICAP recognizes the need to identify the roles and responsibilities for the communication of information for adaptation as well as the need for strong leadership to implement appropriate adaptation strategies. The identification of leadership and adaptation responsibilities is an inherently political process but needs to be well-founded in scientific and economic principles. ICAP serves as an independent non-governmental institute that provides interdisciplinary climate adaptation support for the Pacific region and serves as a portal for international collaboration on regional climate adaptation information of mutual interest.

C Harris and A Leitch
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Climate Adaptation Flagship, Australia

Humans are adaptable. As a race, we have adapted to many changes including the invention of the motor vehicle, modern sanitation and using the internet to search for information. However, the concept of adapting to climate change is arguably not getting as much traction as it could be in regards to engagement with the science.

According to Google Trends, terms such as ‘climate change adaption’ registered as significant in worldwide online search traffic in 2007. Although this only acknowledges Google search traffic and there are many other channels of communication, it is valuable to explore this statistic as roughly 1.7 billion people were using the internet by 2001.

Add to this the fact that the term ‘global warming’ gets almost three times the number of searches for ‘climate change’ in countries like India, United States and Canada.

If dialogue around the topic of ‘adapting to climate change’ is still in its infancy, how should scientists, policy makers and communicators talk about the work they are doing? If adaptation decisions need to be made, how can scientists engage with audiences in a meaningful way to highlight adaptation options?

This poster will examine the framing of adaptation science to be relevant to general audiences.

Applying a lens of adaptation science to climate-related events and consequences that all people can relate to provides a fruitful way to progress the discussion from impacts to adaptation research and adaptation options. However, taking this approach can arguably be a tricky path as society can judge harshly an organisation or expert who is seen to be taking advantage of a traumatic situation, like a disease outbreak or a cyclone.

In February 2009, devastating bushfires occurred in Victoria. The extreme fire weather conditions that occurred during January and February were partly due to very high temperatures following a 50 year warming trend, and very dry conditions following 12 years of below-average rainfall. Research done by CSIRO shows that by 2020, it is expected that Australia will see a greater number of extreme fire weather days, longer fire seasons and a greater potential for multiple fire events like those seen in the Victorian fires.

CSIRO’s work in the area of climate projections, bushfire behaviour and bushfire effects on urban areas featured in the media. Information was sought by a range of audiences including the general public and policy agencies. This communication activity will be examined to draw out how climate change and adaptation concepts featured in the discourse.

How can science organisations encourage engagement with adaptation information? Can acute events, like the Victorian bushfires, help to encourage attention to the science and implementation of climate change adaptation options?

A Leitch
CSIRO, Davies Laboratory, Townsville, QLD, Australia
James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia

Resilience to sea level rise depends on being able to adapt/transform from situations when they become untenable and this is determined by the ability of the community to take advantage of new opportunities. Local councils in coastal communities need to manage transition to new types of institutions that are flexible enough to manage a dynamic sea level. Yet there are few empirical examples of how this can happen. This case study looks at one local community in New South Wales, Byron Shire which has had a policy of ‘planned retreat’ since 1988. This policy has been mostly latent until 2009 when erosion from storm across the region directly threatened a number of private properties in the beachside suburb of Belongil Spit and triggered the implementation of the planned retreat policy.

To investigate the community response to the policy of planned retreat this study looks at community discourse in the two local newspapers. The power of news media in portraying public issues and being able to both inform and shape public opinion is well documented. Community discourse in the local media provides a window on local framing of issues and focuses on the actual impacts on people lives and can influence action. It can also reveal the local understanding of the phenomena, evidence/knowledge and associated issues, different expectations of authority and action, and normative judgements of values, concerns, risks and uncertainties. Major themes that emerge from this analysis of more than 100 news articles published over eight months include issues around: problem framing, risk perception, equity, parochialism, sense of place and identity.

The discourses that are examined in this case study will assist local governments that are considering the option of planned retreat as it can help them to better engage with their community over issues of risk and uncertainty with the goal of developing more robust and equitable planned retreat policies and so transition to more resilient coastal institutions. However the conclusions drawn also raise questions about the current capacity of local governments to manage issues of high levels of risk and uncertainty and heightened community conflict. Community discourses at this scale are likely to focus on the small scale spatial and temporal perspective and so limit the potential to transition to more robust and dynamic coastal institutional arrangements that will build resilience to sea level rise in the longer term.

S Losee
AECOM, Australia

Climate change practitioners working with organisations to plan adaptation invariably encounter sceptics. Undoubtedly, the very use of an expression like ‘climate change practitioners’ has the potential to raise the ire of die hard sceptics. This is a fundamental problem in engaging with groups of people who must be involved for effective adaptation planning.

If one ignores or mishandles scepticism, it can undermine group efforts on adaptation planning and potentially set back an adaptation agenda in an organisation for years (e.g. if the social dynamics of an organisation force an alignment with a sceptical view).

The purpose of this poster is to share approaches that have proven to be effective in acknowledging scepticism and then moving forward with collective risk assessment and adaptation planning. It is based on the view that it is imperative for organisations to undertake adaptation activities to respond to the climate change impacts identified through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) processes as a minimum.

The first step is to acknowledge scepticism and the likelihood that any room of people is likely to include at least one person who sees themselves as a climate change sceptic. Nobody readily accepts the idea, upon first hearing it, that human beings can have such an immense impact on the planet that they could actually alter its climate. This means that everybody starts from a position of scepticism and that people who currently hold these views in good faith must be respected.

Nonetheless, accurately presenting locally relevant scientific information, together with a proper interpretation of the meaning of uncertainty in science, is an essential step in gaining group engagement and understanding. The climate change practitioner should be versed in the dominant challenges to climate change theory (e.g. attribution to changes in solar radiation) as well as popular press themes (e.g. the pre-Copenhagen email controversy).

It is then useful to introduce the notion of a scepticism-acceptance continuum. The continuum ranges across ‘denial’, ‘informed scepticism’, ‘accept there is a risk’, ‘IPCC consensus view’ and ‘IPCC is too conservative view’. The practitioner’s goal should be to educate those who are at the sceptical end of the continuum, or who perhaps have not given the question much considered thought, to at least the level of accepting there is a risk. When a group obtains consensus on the need for risk management in the face of uncertainty, it has reached the minimum level for proceeding with adaptation planning without disenfranchising those who might otherwise see themselves as sceptics.

Finally, there is a need for practitioners to be able to deal with ardent sceptics who can negatively affect adaptation planning. Some people have a contrary nature and others have a conviction that either climate change is a conspiracy or an undue distraction from more pressing global concerns.

This poster will illustrate a range of experiences that AECOM climate change practitioners have encountered and some practical strategies for continuing sensible adaptation planning amidst a highly contentious public debate.

C Naum
James Cook University, Australia

Global climate change is cited as being one of society’s greatest challenges that is threatening the future sustainability of vital ecosystem services. Despite mounting evidence for anthropogenic climate change and corresponding empirical evidence to support the degradation of valuable ecosystems in Australia, most notably the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA), inaction is pervasive. This may in part be attributed to communication of the phenomenon.

Climate change communication is a burgeoning field of research. The growing body of literature reveals numerous challenges to communicating the issue of climate change. These include lack of immediacy, remoteness of impacts, and time lags.Compounded by these, is the need for dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases to below 350 ppm if the future of the Reef is to be secured. To achieve this will require sweeping change. How can communication play a role in making this possible?

Therefore, the current research aims to explore: 1) how the impacts of climate change on the GBRWHA are currently being communicated by practitioners; 2) climate change communication perceptions of Australian leaders with expertise and experience relevant to climate change; and 3) potential communication strategies to bridge the gap between knowledge and action in target audiences, and facilitate the kind of change that is required to respond to Reef protection.

The present study follows a qualitative research design utilizing a constructionist approach to define parameters of the problem and solutions through semi-structured interviews with experts in the fields of climate change, coral reef ecology, education and communication. The interviews will be transcribed and thematically analyzed in efforts to identify central themes. Ultimately, analysis of interview data will be reviewed by a cross section of communication practitioners through a series of focus groups to determine feasible communication strategies. Preliminary findings of an exploratory pilot study with key informants will be presented here and discussed within the theoretical positions of communication theorists.

A Nicholson and N Kimball
Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE), QLD Australia

If you spend time with community groups and communities active in combating climate change, you’ll soon understand that they know what they are talking about. They are alarmed by the rapid impact that climate change is having on our environment and communities. They are frustrated that actions to immediately reduce emissions are not being taken and that emissions continue to rise. And they are frightened that without urgent action, our future will be full of drought and devastating bushfires, record temperatures and lost lives. But they fight on anyway because the scale of change needed to transform our country to a low carbon economy is large.

Combating climate change cannot be achieved without extensive community leadership and engagement, a point well recognised and made often in government strategies and programs engaging communities around climate change and sustainability, but seldom acted upon.

In this paper, the authors draw upon the historical experience of HOPE, the voluntary community environmental NGO of which they are members, to explore how community based processes are currently faring in combating climate change, arguing that participatory strategies and actions must improve in order for communities to move beyond the realm of ‘response’ to undergoing a ‘transition’. Focus is placed on what present challenges are faced by community groups such as HOPE to harness communities in working towards fostering a movement for change.

Presenter, Andrew Nicholson undertakes this exploration from the position of someone who is involved at the grass roots level – as a volunteer climate change educator within Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment (HOPE).

HOPE, recently celebrated its 21st birthday, and is a politically unaffiliated group of concerned householders from around Australia who wish to see immediate & decisive action on anthropogenic climate change. The organization was founded on a vision of a society which is sustainable ecologically, economically and socially. The core idea of HOPE is that, while we have to think about the environment as a whole – on a planet-
wide scale – we need to act locally, in our own communities in a way that’s effective and meaningful.

And so, putting its money where its mouth is, HOPE undertakes local community-based projects to address climate change as well as a range of other initiatives to promote the cause of sustainable development generally.

C J Pettit, J P Aurambout, S Sharma, F Sheth and A B M Russel
Victorian Department of Primary Industries, Melbourne Australi
Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative, Melbourne Australia

Climate is a powerful driving force of change which effects our environment, society and economy now and in the future. The impacts of climate change need to be better understood so that society can develop both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Our research is focused on developing an eScience platform to support climate change adaptation in Victoria. A multi-disciplinary, cross-organisational approach is taken to developing adaptation strategies to deal with the ‘diabolical’ policy problem of climate change. In this paper we present a platform for collboration as part of the Ecoinformatics Climate Change Demonstrator Project lead by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Victoria. The project partners include: the Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative (VeRSI), University of Melbourne, Monash University and La-Trobe University. The platform initially focuses on the theme of climate change to support the DPI Victorian Climate Change Adaptation Program (VCCAP). The aim of the broader VCCAP research program is to increase the knowledge and capabilities of government, the agriculture sector and farming businesses to undertake sound and informed planning and policy decision that maximise the benefits and minimise the economic, social and environmental costs of climate change.

Ecoinformatics is defined as the science of information, data management and analysis within the fields of ecology and environmental science and falls within the scope of e-Science. The term e-Science (UK), synonymous with cyber-infrastructure (US), e-infrastructure (EU) and e-Research (Australia), refers to advances in information and communication technology (ICT) which have enabled the development of tools to access and share large datasets between organisations, promoting collaborative science on a global scale. The initial focus of our ecoinformatics platform is climate change as a subset of ecoinformatics, climate informatics.

To support the sharing of research across organisations and disciplines a platform for collaboration known as the e-Resource Centre (e-RC) has been established. The e-RC is a virtual organisation (VO) developed to support the DPI VCCAP and its research partners. The e-RC enables collaboration and the efficient exchange of information and knowledge between institutions, researchers, extension providers, the primary industries sector and policy- makers. The e-RC provides access to regional climate change scenarios, maps, models and model outputs, decisions support tools, research reports and communication material. This enables researchers working on a range of models including: downscaled climate models, hydrological models and land suitability analysis to share data inputs and outputs. Online collaboration environments such as the e-RC for climate change adaptation research provide a powerful toolkit for researchers to collaborate across organisations and disciplines.

The ecoinformatics climate change demonstrator project also incorporates the application of a number of visualisation technologies such as digital globes, visual animations, computer game engines that can be accessed via an interactive touch table interface. Such a suite of tools enables the exploration and communication of climate and risk model outputs and scenarios to farmers, industry, communities and government. Geographical visualisation products such as virtual globes and photorealistic representations of climate change data and related biophysical modelling outputs to industry and farmers so they more clearly envisage the likely impacts and adaptation options at the regional and farm scale.

E S Poloczanska, A Hobday and A J Richardson
Climate Adaptation Flagship, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

Effective communication is a key issue in developing adaptation strategies. This presentation will describe the process undertaken in Australia to produce the first Marine Climate Change Report Card of Impacts and Adaptation for Australia in 2009 and supporting website www.oceanclimatechange.org.au. The Report Card was guided by the Moreton Bay Healthy Waterways Report Card (south-east Queensland) which is produced annually since 2000 and by the more recent UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Report Cards (2006 and 2007/08).

The first Report Card of Marine Climate Change for Australia reported on a number of key climate variables (e.g. temperature, sea level) and key biological taxa (e.g. mangroves, pelagic fish and sharks). To promote accurate, insightful information, we engaged the leading experts within each field to review and assess impacts and adaptation options. Over 77 authors and co-authors from 35 institutions and organisations contributed their time and efforts to this scientific assessment. The aim of the Marine Report Card is to connect science and policy, to communicate information in an efficient and user-friendly format, and to highlight adaptation key knowledge gaps and adaptation responses. The Report Card also served to concentrate fragmented knowledge on climate change in Australia, so benefiting the science community as well as policy and decision makers and the general public.

The biggest challenge in producing the first version was assigning confidence levels to statements and standardising expert perceptions of knowledge availability in their fields. For example, which fields are data-rich relative to others? How does this affect our confidence in statements? This aspect warrants further exploration. Confidence assessments are indicative only because of the problems with standardisation. Opportunities for discussion and interaction between the different experts were highlighted as vital for issues such as assigning confidence levels and we recommend adequate resources be made available for such projects.

The printed Report Card and website proved to be a highly successful communication tool with 210,000 hits on the website within the first week and extensive media coverage. It became clear that for biological systems, Australia is lacking in long-term baselines compared to other countries and our knowledge of many biological taxa such as zooplankton and macrolagae is poor. Our vision is to elaborate on this first Report Card with biannual Report Cards. The National Report Card will be extended to include sectors, such as tourism and fishing, and to include greater investigation of adaptation options. Information at regional scales is urgently needed for adaptation planning. Producing versions for States and Territories will allow a focus on the key issues for each.

R Rakshit
AIT/UNEP Regional Resource Center for Asia & the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand

The science is clear: climate change is here and will be challenging us for the coming decades. It is therefore necessary to adapt not only to these specific changes, but also to the new uncertainty about our future climate.

To be able to take decisions on how best to adapt, it is essential to have access to reliable information on likely climate change impacts, the associated aspects, the choices, approaches and benefits of different adaptation options. Adaptation is dependent on customized solutions and formulation of effective adaptation solutions is possible only through effective management of knowledge from various domains (science, policy, financing, indigenous knowledge, experiences, etc.). There is a need for knowledge generation, assimilation, management and dissemination to support adaptation across all stakeholders.

The Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia (hereinafter, referred to as the Adaptation Knowledge Platform) aims to respond to demand for effective mechanisms for sharing information and knowledge on climate change adaptation and developing adaptive capacities in Asian countries, many of whom are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Adaptation Knowledge Platform focuses on three pillars:
• Establishing a regional system for sharing knowledge on climate change adaptation, making it easy to understand and available to those who need it;
• Generating new knowledge about adaptation that national and regional policymakers can use as they plan for climate change; and
• Promoting the application of new and existing knowledge about climate change in Asia.

Through its work, the Adaptation Knowledge Platform is working towards building bridges between existing knowledge on adaptation to climate change and the governments, agencies and communities that need this information and knowledge to make better informed decisions and responses.

In its first phase (2009-2011), the Adaptation Knowledge Platform will actively engage in 13 countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia. China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.

The Adaptation Knowledge Platform’s approach towards enhancing and sustaining information and knowledge management for climate change adaptation at regional and national level aims to blend and bring synergy between people, processes and technology. The focus is on activities supporting three pillars: networking, developing knowledge products and capacity development.

The Adaptation Knowledge Platform is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Initial partners are the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia (SENSA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)/UNEP Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP), which also hosts the Adaptation Knowledge Platform Secretariat.

The Adaptation Knowledge Platform collaborates with the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network, working closely in implementing activities in South and Southeast Asia. It also provides technical support on climate change adaptation knowledge to the South East Asia Network of Climate Change focal points.

The online portal, Climate Change Adaptation in Asia and the Pacific (www.asiapacificadapt.net) is supported by the Adaptation Knowledge Platform and the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network. The online portal uses the weADAPT Platform to share knowledge and experiences. This includes a Google Earth function where information on climate change adaptation is geo-referenced and can be visualised on a globe. The poster presentation will highlight strategies, approaches, activities undertaken for effective creation, capturing, sharing, and managing knowledge in climate change adaptation.

Invitations will be extended to the Asia-Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum, 21-22 October 2010, Bangkok, Thailand. The Adaptation Forum 2010 will provide opportunity to share practices, knowledge and experiences on mainstreaming adaptation to climate change into development planning in Asia and the Pacific.

L D Rosentrater, T R Carter, K O’Brien, L Simonsson, S Fronzek, A Inkinen, H Mela, I Lahtinen, I Skivenes and C Ruud
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Helsinki, Finland
Department of Sociology and Human Geography University of Oslo, Norway
Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden

With their commitment to universal, tax-funded public services, the Nordic countries are often perceived as relatively “safe” from climate change. However, high national levels of adaptive capacity can mask potential barriers and constraints to adaptation at local scales. For instance, rural areas are gradually becoming depopulated, creating an ageing population that is increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events as rural services are run down. The Nordic countries therefore provide an interesting example of how adaptation to climate change is likely to take on different significance at regional, national, and local scales. CARAVAN (Climate change: a regional assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity for the Nordic countries) is a two-year collaborative project (2008-2010) funded from national sources in the Nordic-Call of the EU CIRCLE (Climate Impact Research Coordination for a Larger Europe) project. CARAVAN aims to explore alternative approaches for estimating and mapping vulnerability to climate change at the municipal scale across the Nordic region. The project has developed a tool for visualizing vulnerability to climate change by incorporating approaches used in Norway, Sweden and Finland for assessing climate vulnerability in social and environmental contexts. The basic premise of the tool is that the vulnerability of a system or population can be described as a function of its exposure to climate change, its sensitivity to the impacts of that climate change, and its adaptive capacity to cope with the impacts. To map the vulnerability to climate change across the Nordic region, methods were developed to describe exposure to climate change based on a consistent set of climate observations and scenarios from a range of sources, including gridded climatologies, global and regional climate model projections, and statistically downscaled data. Impact models and indices were then used to evaluate sensitivity to climate change, and indicators of adaptive capacity were analyzed, based on statistical data at the municipal scale. Each of these elements are represented spatially in a web- based system and combined to visualize climate vulnerability at the present and for 2030. Rather than the research team making academic choices about how to combine the indicators into an index of vulnerability, the interface is designed to allow end-users to make informed choices about those combinations themselves. The tool is intended for high-level planners wishing to identify focal points (regions, sectors or communities) that may have difficulties in meeting the challenge of climate change through high exposure, enhanced sensitivity, limited adaptive capacity, or a combination thereof. Once identified, these focal points can then be analyzed in more detail to assess the need for policy interventions to enhance their adaptive capacity and to examine the possible barriers in implementing such measures. Two cases studies will be presented: agriculture and human health.

C Sullivan and L Walsh
Southern Cross University, Australia 2Regional Futures Institute, Australia

There is no doubt that climate change has become one of the most pressing issues of our time, and that there is a need for more effective communication about potential adaptation strategies. Despite ongoing political debate, there is no clear path for the nation to follow. As Moser and Dilling said (2004 p.46) ‘finding ways to engage previously unconcerned audiences and – maybe even more problematically – re- engaging audiences previously turned off by the controversial and confusing discourse… is vital’.

To increase the ability of local authorities and governing bodies to adapt to climate change local level information is needed to support behavioural change. A booklet has been produced to contribute to this information transfer process which aims to make sense, on a local level, of the large amount of generic climate adaptation information available. At the local scale building confidence is important to ensure that sound knowledge is used to deliver more informed, effective and efficient practices and decisions.

In this paper, we present the booklet ‘10 Top Tips for Adapting to Climate Change’, which has been designed to raise awareness about the scope for adaptive capacity. It is targeted towards staff in local government institutions to enable them to appreciate how they can play a proactive role within their existing mandates. There is already a myriad of documentation on climate change adaptation and this project does not attempt to provide yet another one. This booklet has been designed to act as an ‘aide memoire’, providing a summary of key issues which need to be considered when taking action on climate change, including: determining responsibilities for managing adaptation; identifying key issues within local government mandates; local constraints to adaptation; benefits from integrating strategies; importance of stakeholder involvement, and promoting efficiency and effectiveness through working as a team.

The creation of this booklet comes at an apt time, within the UNESCO decade of Education for Sustainable

Development (2005-2014). The aim of this program is to aid the development of knowledge and skills to enable more informed decision making to address economic, environmental and social challenges. The principles of the Australian Government’s Components of Education for Sustainability (DEWHA 2009) have been taken into account in the project design. On the basis of these principles, we hope this booklet will help those engaged in envisioning a better future, though reflection, participation and critical systems thinking, to build meaningful partnerships for adaptation to change. We hope that this booklet can contribute to building capacity in our institutions to support the adaptive strategies that are needed to ensure the future security of this nation.

H Whitehouse and R Hickey
School of Education, James Cook University, Australia

Almost 20% (one fifth) of the population of the state of Queensland go to school everyday as students, teachers, ancillary and management staff. Therefore the formal schooling sector represents a significant community resource point for communicating climate change adaptation. It is our view that the school sector (and the related early childhood education and care sector) need to be included in national and state planning for communicating environmental change and response strategies. The situation would be equally valid internationally. Schools in Australia are taking up the challenge of educating for sustainability through government supported policy and programs, which, while certainly well intentioned, are not yet very well funded. Teachers are professionals who work with their eye on the future. As EfS is progressively taken up across the school sector it has the effect of creating an environmentally aware teaching workforce and educating students how necessary it is to think about climate futures. Capacity for resilience to environmental change is slowly being built by the sector. But whether this resilience can translate into sector adaptation in the face of abrupt climate change is a discussion educators still need to have. We argue schools can play a more active role in promoting action for reversal of deteriorating environmental conditions. Present education policy frameworks focus on sustainability rather than adaptation, however, education adaptation could readily be integrated into formal education. The capacity to address these challenges is developing within the school sector.

C Xu and J Ribbe
University of Southern Queensland, Australia

To ensure that climate adaptation research will quickly be disseminated to the public, it is essential to integrate the measures of sustainability and adaptation into the education. It is indisputable that climate change will have far-reaching consequences for a range of professions, so many professional activities will require knowledge of the climate science and adaptation in their decision making processes for long-term planning to cope with the impacts of climate change. The required adaptation skills are discipline dependent, so the need of tertiary, post-graduate, and professional curricula of climate change adaptation is expected.

Recent market analysis commissioned by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has identified the sustainability sciences, including the field of climate change science and climate change adaptation, as an area to focus and expand on. USQ has developed the only Australian undergraduate Bachelor of Science (Climatology) available in Australia since 2001. Supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change, the university is working on to redesign its programs in science for communicating climate science to a broad clientele, and to introduce curricula on the application of adaptation skills to issues affecting Australia. Three new programs have been established in USQ: Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sustainability, Master of Science in Climate Adaptation, and Graduate Certificate in Climate Change Adaptation (in partner with Australia National University).

The major aim of the bachelor program is to provide students with the skills and capabilities to respond by working within their professions to the challenges and opportunities that arise from global and regional environmental changes. These include a thorough appreciation of climatic changes and variability which pose one of the most important and complex issues society is dealing with. It requires the skills and raises awareness of the importance to work across the traditional scientific disciplines and communicates an understanding of how scientific knowledge integrates with diverse socio-economic and political systems in order to achieve sustainable economic prosperity.

The master and the graduate certificate programs are designed with similar initiative, but these programs further emphasize on the appreciation of the impact of climatic changes and variability on natural and human systems, such as the built environment, agricultural production systems, regional, national, and global economies, and the approaches of adapting and mitigating these impacts.

These programs will provide students with the skills and knowledge basis that will empower their employees to achieve sustainable business practice in a rapidly changing world. On completion of the award, students will be able to practice the principles of sustainable development, adopting and mitigating the risks of environmental change including climate change and climate variability while responding to opportunities, and contribute to environmentally sustainable natural resource management.

Courses in these programs associated with climate change adaptation are under development. Core courses of these programs include Climatic and Environmental Risk Analysis, Adaptation of Climate

Change, and Climate Change and Sustainable Development. These courses are also open to other cross-Faculty programs, and aims to integrate our knowledge of climate change issues and adaptation skills into other professional programs offered across the university. In addition, State Government departments and policy makers who need scientific basis for future policy are seen as key clients.