Ben Harman

Improving cross-sectoral climate change adaptation for coastal settlements: insights from South East Queensland, Australia

Climate change impacts affecting coastal areas, such as sea-level rise and storm surge events, are expected to have significant social, economic and environmental consequences worldwide. Ongoing population growth and development in highly urbanised coastal areas will exacerbate the predicted impacts on coastal settlements. Improving the adaptation potential of highly vulnerable coastal communities will require greater levels of planning and policy integration across sectors and scales. However, to date, there is little evidence in the literature which demonstrates how climate policy integration is being achieved. This paper contributes to this gap in knowledge by drawing on the example provided by the process of developing cross-sectoral climate change adaptation policies and programmes generated for three coastal settlement types as part of the South East Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative (SEQCARI), a 3-year multi-sectoral study of climate change adaptation options for human settlements in South East Queensland, Australia. In doing so, we first investigate the benefits and challenges to cross-sectoral adaptation to address climate change broadly and in coastal areas. We then describe how cross-sectoral adaptation policies and programmes were generated and appraised involving the sectors of urban planning and management, coastal management, emergency management, human health and physical infrastructure as part of SEQCARI. The paper concludes by discussing key considerations that can inform the development and assessment of cross-sectoral climate change adaptation policies and programmes in highly urbanised coastal areas.

Perspectives on tradable development rights for ecosystem service protection: lessons from an Australian peri-urban region

Competition for land between agriculture and urban uses is a global problem. Until recently, planners and policy makers have relied on regulatory ‘command and control’ planning approaches; however, there is growing interest in the use of market-based instruments to address natural resource management issues in complex and highly contested peri-urban environments. Tradable development rights are one type of market-based instrument. While tradable development rights have been used extensively in the United States, their application in Australia has been limited. Yet, in Australia, population growth and development in peri-urban areas is placing extensive pressure on natural resources and productive agricultural lands. These pressures are particularly acute in Australias fastest growing metropolitan region, South East Queensland. By using a case study approach we explore stakeholder perspectives on the value of this tool to protect peri-urban landscape values. Whilst current planner and stakeholder perspectives suggest there is considerable support, there are substantial political, institutional, knowledge, resource and legislative barriers that need to be overcome before this tool can be a viable, realistic and acceptable option for land use planning in peri-urban regions such as South East Queensland.

Global Lessons for Adapting Coastal Communities to Protect against Storm Surge Inundation

ABSTRACT Harman, B.P.; Heyenga, S.; Taylor, B.M., and Fletcher, C.S. 2015. Global lessons for adapting coastal communities to protect against storm surge inundation. Coastal inundation as a result of global sea-level rise and storm surge events is expected to affect many coastal regions and settlements. Adaptation is widely accepted as necessary for managing inundation risk. However, managing inundation risk is inherently contentious because of many uncertainties and because a large number of stakeholder interests and values are mobilised. For these reasons, among others, adaptation progress in many countries has been slow. Despite progress in adaptation research, a critical knowledge gap remains regarding the appropriateness and applicability of various adaptation options, including their transferability between different coastal settings. We review the international literature on coastal adaptation options (including options to defend, accommodate, or retreat) to manage inundation risk, focusing on developed, liberal economies of Western Europe, North America, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. In doing so, we identify the favoured strategies adopted by these nations, probe the influence of physical and institutional context on the selection of these options, and identify what lessons might be exchanged or future directions inferred. The review places particular emphasis on the Australian experience as a comparative device to highlight some important distinctions. These distinctions focus on how government responsibility is exercised, including the degree of centralisation; the “fit” of options to local coastal environments and social values (i.e. their suitability and acceptability); and the transferability of different adaptation options in international contexts.

Scaling-Up, Scaling-Down, and Scaling-Out: Local Planning Strategies for Sea-Level Rise in New South Wales, Australia

Globally, sea-level rise is expected to impact on many coastal regions and settlements. While mitigation of global greenhouse gas emissions remains an important task, adaptation is now seen as a critical component of the policy equation. Local government is a key player in adaptation planning and managing risk through their mandated role in land use planning and development control. Yet, managing the predicted impacts of climate change is proving to be a complex and difficult task for planners and policy makers. This paper reports on a case of local government deliberation on possible planning responses to address future sea-level rise impacts in New South Wales, Australia. Using structured, expert opinion of planners and other technical experts engaged in a collaborative network in the Sydney region, we explore the feasibility of implementing planning and policy measures at the local and regional scales to respond to inundation risk as a result of sea-level rise and storm surge events. Our research shows how local governments employ specific scale-oriented strategies to engage private and public actors at different scales to manage legal, financial, and technical risks in coastal adaptation.

Property Developers and Urban Adaptation: Conceptual and Empirical Perspectives on Governance

Adaptation to climate change in urban areas requires public and private actors to engage in governance of complex problems in conditions of uncertainty. The property development ‘industry’ consists of diverse private actors with considerable financial, political or technical resources. However, there is no empirical research to date on the potential contribution of these actors, and particularly property developers, to climate adaptation, in terms of their preferences, capabilities and perceptions. This article reports on findings from a survey of, and discussions with, Australian property developers, their representative industry bodies, and technical and advisory service providers to developers. Amongst other themes, we focus here on: participation and capacity; effectiveness of current polices; risks and opportunities; and cost-sharing considerations as perceived by these groups. Results indicate that developers and their interest groups are seeking greater levels of participation and joint decision-making in public-adaptation policy and its implementation. The results also suggest that while developers and their service providers recognise a shift towards greater levels of responsibility and cost sharing for adaptation, perceptions of operational ambiguities and financial risks hinder progress in this area. Given this, the authors point to the need to further examine the potential of new deliberative arenas that can balance and complement existing regulatory controls in the governance of urban adaptation.

Public engagement and climate adaptation: insights from three local governments in Australia

Public participation in decision making is a central component of the planning process; however, implementing effective engagement initiatives to resolve complex planning and policy problems, such as climate change, is challenging for planners. These challenges are particularly acute in coastal communities throughout Australia, where many settlements are at risk of future climate perturbations. Using the International Association for Public Participation framework for public participation, we analyse three local government led public participation initiatives in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. Our analysis suggests there are three critical factors that can influence the level of public participation in the context of climate change adaptation: the technocratic approach to decision making; absent high order government support; and the lack of evaluation mechanisms for public participation.

Tradeable development rights to protect peri-urban areas: lessons from the United States and observations on Australian practice

As population growth continues there is greater pressure to manage cities and regions sustainably. These pressures are particularly acute in Australias fastest growing peri-urban regions. Despite efforts to contain and consolidate urban growth, pressure on the peri-urban interface remains a key challenge. The reliance on traditional regulatory approaches to manage land use change in high growth peri-urban areas is proving to be ineffective. The use of market-based instruments (MBIs) are among the many options available to planners and policy makers to manage growth and development. Tradeable development rights (TDRs) are one type of MBI that have been used widely throughout the US to preserve open space and agricultural lands; however, their application in Australia has been limited. This paper uses a simple case study approach to review two Australian peri-urban TDR cases based on the findings of a large-scale US TDR study. The findings suggest that any attempt to implement TDR programmes in Australia should have regard for the key factors found in successful US TDR programmes. Planners also need to develop an intricate understanding of the internal and external factors that influence peri-urban areas.

Urban Growth and Climate Adaptation in Australia: Divergent Discourses and Implications for Policy-making

Managing urban growth is inherently contentious. Government policies seek to facilitate and spatially contain growth, while balancing public and private interests. The need for climate adaptation strategies in the urban context is recognised but arguably poorly institutionalised in growth management policies or in urban governance more broadly. This paper considers how debates around urban adaptation and growth management are structured in the discourses of local government, private developers and other actors. A discourse analysis of written submissions and media releases from four urban policy debates in Queensland, Australia, is presented. The analysis highlights the discursive strategies employed by different actors and the way their arguments have been consolidated in the practices of urban policy-making. The analysis suggests a divergence of growth and adaptation storylines, contributing to maintaining the gap between these policy agendas. Progress may be made, however, in the pragmatic discourses of actual policy implementation.

Engaging communities in climate adaptation: the potential of social networks

There has been a growing recognition regarding the use of social networks to engage communities in government actions. However, despite increasing awareness of social networks, there is very limited evidence for their application in relation to climate policy. This study fills this gap by assessing the potential of social networks for engaging local communities in climate adaptation policy, drawing on a case study of the Shoalhaven region in Australia. Participants from key representative groups were recruited using a purposive snowball sampling technique (N = 24). By mapping knowledge acquisition and diffusion networks in relation to climate adaption at the local scale, this study identified key nodes within the networks. Findings demonstrate that although climate adaptation information was acquired from a diverse range of sources, the sharing knowledge networks were far more dispersed. Furthermore, although 165 knowledge sources were identified, three nodes had coverage cross the entire network, and as such acted as boundary spanners within the sharing network. This research demonstrates the utility of social network analysis to reveal the underlying knowledge networks and structures that influence community engagement pathways and in doing so outlines key implications in relation to engaging local communities in climate policy and action. Policy relevance The rapid development of adaptation as a mainstream strategy for managing the risks of climate change has resulted in the emergence of a broad range of adaptation policies and management strategies globally. However, the success of these initiatives is largely dependent on their acceptance and uptake by local communities, which to date remains a significant challenge. Accordingly, policy makers require novel approaches to overcome barriers to community engagement so as to enhance the likely success of community engagement pathways. This article demonstrates the value of using social network analysis to reveal the underlying knowledge network structures. This approach makes it possible to identify key individuals within a community who can disseminate adaptation information quickly across broad geographic ranges. By utilizing this approach, policy makers globally will be able to increase the extent to which adaption initiatives are accepted and adhered to by local communities, thus increasing their success.

The Role of Anticipatory Governance in Local Climate Adaptation: Observations from Australia

Anticipatory governance is emerging in the literature and practice as a form of decision-making which attempts to deal with climate change complexities and uncertainties. Underpinning the anticipatory governance approach to decision-making is a three-step process which includes future analysis, flexibility of strategies and monitoring and action. This paper adopts the anticipatory governance and its three-step approach as a framework to investigate two Australian local government adaptation initiatives. It discusses the challenges local governments face in taking the lead through anticipatory governance to address climate change adaptation in their planning efforts. The paper aims to contribute analytical insights into adaptation planning at the local scale through anticipatory governance.