Preparing to manage the impacts of a changing climate on our natural, social and economic systems requires a ‘whole of society’ approach. Individuals, communities, businesses and governments must work together to adapt to uncertain conditions.
From 2013-2018, ISF researchers engaged in a large-scale project, delivered in two distinct phases – that provides support for communities and other stakeholders planning an approach to climate change adaptation.
The NSW Adaptation Hub: (2013-2018)
In 2013, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (now Department of Planning, Industry and Environment) established the The NSW Adaptation Hub (the Hub), to conduct a broad range of multidisciplinary research on climate change that would inform NSW Government policy and engage stakeholders in adaptation.
Initial investment by NSW OEH of $2.7 million into the Hub, which was matched by contributions from its three research partners, Macquarie University, the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures.
Initially, the Hub featured three ‘research nodes’:
- The Biodiversity Node – Led by Macquarie University, in collaboration with CSIRO, Taronga Zoo and the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Coastal Processes and Responses Node – Led by the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, in collaboration with the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Settlements and Infrastructure. - The Adaptive Communities Node – Led by ISF, in collaboration with the CSIRO.
In August 2016, the Hub was extended with additional funding to December 2018, and The Human Health and Social Impacts Node, led by the University of Sydney in collaboration with NSW Health and Edge Environment was added.
The Adaptive Communities Node
Many of the impacts of climate change and variability have or will be felt at the local level, affecting communities, governance structures and key natural and physical assets.
Over two phases of funding, ISF and the CSIRO researchers explored ways to increase the capacity of communities to adapt and inform how government can service the changing and ongoing needs of adapting communities.
The research aimed to:
- expand knowledge of how communities adapt and respond to current climate variability and future climate change;
- understand what communities need from government to become more resilient to the impacts of climate change; and
- identify ways in which government can engage with communities and support community action.
The research adopted a demand-driven approach to research, allowing for research to emerge from the complex interplay of climate events, knowledge demand from government, and the broad array of theoretical approaches supporting adaptation research under to three key themes:
1. Understanding and improving the science-policy-community interface in NSW to promote the uptake of climate adaptation options
For this, ISF worked with target communities, decision-makers and scientists to establish the most effective options for improving climate change adaptation action. This research looked at the relationship between community values, existing knowledge (formal and informal) and current/future policy.
Researchers conducted three social network analysis case studies in regional NSW to begin development of a typology of community information networks to inform Government’s community engagement efforts.
2. Pathways to transformational adaptation and meta-learning for community adaptation
ISF explored the pathways and tools needed to enhance community-level adaptation in NSW, focusing on what theory tells us about systems that are resilient, in transition or transforming and the applicability of theory to social systems.
Under this theme, ISF assessed existing tools for stimulating, monitoring and evaluating community adaptation, gauging their utility and robustness when applied to multi-stakeholder/multidisciplinary contexts. A key project in this theme was the Enabling Regional Adaptation (ERA) program, for which ISF researchers developed a process for engaging local government, NSW government agencies and other local stakeholders to identify and understand regional climate vulnerabilities and plan transitions to a more resilient future.
3. Regional innovation systems and business adaptation to climate change
A Regional Innovation System (RIS) is a group of organisations – enterprises, research centres, development agencies, higher education institutes, for example – and individuals producing knowledge, through research and development and collective learning activities.
This theme focused on the analysis of businesses and organisations and worked with select communities in NSW to investigate local RIS and assess the pre-conditions within these communities for transformative change.
The research of the Node was underpinned by six theoretical approaches: vulnerability assessment, transformative adaptation, adaptation pathways, transition management, regional innovation systems and operationalisation, which informed a number of projects:
1. Towards a Resilient Sydney (TaRS)
ISF staff facilitated a series of workshops that brought together NSW and local Government decision makers to assess the Greater Sydney’s vulnerability of government services to climate change and identify responses and opportunities to adapt. This participatory learning process engaged over 270 government participants, from 31 Metropolitan Local Government Areas, 37 State agencies and seven Commonwealth agencies. The process sought to improve resilience and minimise impacts in climate change local communities by building adaptive capacity, influencing decision making, and promoting collective actions. Among the climate vulnerabilities identified through TaRS, the loss of green space and flow on impacts of this for Sydney’s environment and liveability were viewed as critical issues to be addressed in response to climate change. In addition, TaRS created a network of public sector, climate change actors with a cross-sectoral understanding of the implications of climate change for Sydney and a commitment to action on adaptation. Read the report.
2. Where are all the trees?
‘Where are all the trees?’ was funded by Horticulture Australia Limited (now HortInnovation) for the 202020Vision initiative. ISF provided maps of tree cover for every urban local government area in Australia, cemented links with CSIRO green space researchers, and raised the issue in the popular media through multiple print and radio interviews of tree canopy loss as a contributor to urban heat islands (UHI).
3. Sydney’s urban futures
This final stage in ISF’s ERA process builds on our Towards a Resilient Sydney project. For this, researchers collaborated with ISF disciplinary experts in landscapes and ecosystems, food systems, resource futures, water, energy to develop a suite of change models for Sydney systems that need to transform in order to continue to service the community.
4. Innovation in the governance of climate change adaptation
In this work, researchers sought to identify the modes of regional governance that might best enable transformational adaptation. They examined current thinking on governance adaptation through four reviews and two case studies on relational forms of governance drawn from NSW Government programs.
5. Economics enabling regional adaptation
Information gathered through the ERA project was interrogated to explore how economics features in considerations of system transitions to answer three questions:
- To what extent was ‘economics’ identified as a driver of change in regional transition models?
- Were adaptation actions identified through ERA seen by regional decision makers as requiring action by government or by ‘the market’?
- If action by government was required could it be ascribed to market failure and what types of market failure were most commonly represented?
A case study examined how innovative economic techniques might improve decision-making and make better use of scarce maintenance budgets under a changed climate. The study used existing expenditure data on local road maintenance to assess the cost impact of rainfall and temperature on road infrastructure in the Riverina Murray and present the data as an interactive dashboard to inform adaptation by local government.
6. Forced innovation: business preparedness and recovery after extreme weather events
Researchers investigated how small and medium-sized businesses prepare for and respond to extreme weather and climate events such as flood and bushfires. A series of case studies (bushfires in Katoomba; floods in Lismore, Picton and Cowra) showed that the pre-existing strengths and weaknesses of the communities’ socio-economic fabric reflected the performance, vitality and investment activity of the business community, and appeared to underpin the ability of the business community to recover and subsequently thrive.
7. Sectoral transformation case studies
ISF conducted three sector-based case studies – wine, Alpine ski resorts, and community energy – applying the RIS approach to detail how the innovation system currently supports transformational adaptation, and what further augmentations and assets are required.
8. Analysis of the Agricultural Enterprise Credit Scheme (AECS)
ISF conducted a review of the proposed AECS, a world-first production-based financial incentive for farmers to encourage continued agricultural production on under-producing agricultural peri-urban land.
Insights from outcomes – Adaptive Communities Synthesis
This work consolidated ISF’s research from the two phases of the Adaptive Communities Node. One key finding from this synthesis was that a demand-driven model has intrinsic challenges and advantages over more traditional approaches to the research-policy interface.
Project impact
The Adaptive Communities Node delivered adaptation information through a diverse range of communication products targeted to specific audiences, from traditional peer-reviewed publications to adaptation case studies and online engagement tools. As at 2020, the Node has engaged more than 2,000 people, and a number of local council staff have undergone capacity building in the area of climate adaptation.
The Adaptive Communities Node had direct influence on government policy, as evidenced in Penrith City Council’s Cooling the City Strategy and Leichhardt Municipal Council’s resolutions on mitigating urban heat. It also was used to support Government agencies, such as the Australian Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry in conducting their own adaptation research.
Additionally, the findings directly fed into local government adaptation initiatives such as the Urban Network of Councils’ Sydney’s Food Future project and website.
Resources:
NSW government website
NSW Adaptation Research Hub
Researchers
-
Associate Professor and Research Director -
Research Director -
Adjunct Fellow -
Research Principal
Years
- 2013-2016
- 2016-2018
Funded by (phase 1)
- NSW Office of the Environment and Heritage
Partners
- NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (now Department of Planning, Industry and Environment)
- NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet
- CSIRO, Office of Small Business Commissioner
