The Significance of Adaptation Framing in Local and Regional Climate Change Adaptation Initiatives in Australia

Abstract

A number of commonly used approaches have emerged in local climate change adaptation planning, which can be considered as different ways of framing the meaning and purpose of adaptation. The significance of framing in adaptation planning is to date largely unexplored in adaptation research and practice. Yet both social and institutional drivers of adaptation framing can set the course for adaption planning for local or regional governments. This chapter examines the concept and social drivers of explicit and implicit adaptation framing and also draws on the relevant findings from 20 regional and local adaptation projects and initiatives across a wide range of sectors, scales and locations in Australia. The results from this analysis confirm the significance of transparent adaptation framing for effective project scoping. In particular, they point to the likelihood of needing to adjust the project scope throughout the lifespan of an adaptation initiative as the underpinning frames change, and additional climate change implications, as well as non-climatic factors influencing the project, emerge. Building on these findings, future studies into the framing of local adaptation processes can further contribute to both adaptation theory and practice.