The challenge of governing adaptation in Australia

Abstract

Adaptation to climate change is work in progress. The focus of much adaptation research, policy, and practice is on reducing the “adaptation deficit” of the highly vulnerable in the developing world (Moser and Ekstrom 2010). Nevertheless, developed countries, although assumed to have a high adaptive capacity, are still evolving the institutions to govern and guide adaptation. The relative youth of these institutions, along with the novelty of adaptation as an object of governance, undoubtedly influences the lack of coordination and purpose noted in many developed country adaptation strategies. Indeed, if strategy is defined as the “pattern in a stream of decisions,” then current adaptation a..