SEMINAR: Beyond Vulnerability Assessments: Defining Objectives for Adaptation Research and Practice

The next Climate Change Conversation Seminar will feature VCCCAR Director Rod Keenan and VCCCAR Visiting Fellow Ben Preston. They will host a discussion titled: Beyond Vulnerability Assessments: Defining Objectives for Adaptation Research and Practice. 

Climate adaptation in Australia has been framed as a process of managing risk, reducing vulnerability, or increasing resilience. As such, practical adaptation efforts to date have been dominated by assessments of vulnerability and risk. While a useful point of entry into adaptation, it’s unclear to what extent adaptation efforts are progressing beyond assessment toward policy and practice.

Eventually, Australia’s adaptation community must start looking beyond assessment toward the outcomes adaptation seeks to deliver. The objectives of climate adaptation are often poorly defined by researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders, which poses challenges to identifying criteria for success and pathways in policy and practice that can lead to success. Without explicit understanding of desired outcomes, it also will be difficult to determine the conditions under which incremental adjustments may suffice in managing risk versus those where more transformational changes may be required in order for society to adapt.