The National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility is holding an event in Canberra to launch the first in its series of policy guidance briefs on adaptation, and to hear presentations by two leading thinkers in climate change.

NCCARF’s policy guidance briefs seek to deliver evidence-based guidance to decision makers in key areas of climate change knowledge. NCCARF works with adaptation practitioners and researchers to develop and communicate the knowledge needed to successfully adapt Australia to climate variability, risk and change. NCCARF has brought together this knowledge to address the needs of decision makers at all levels of government and in the private sector. The first five, of twelve, policy guidance briefs will be delivered on: 

• managing coastal communities and ecosystems; 
• supporting local governments; 
• adapting agriculture;
• managing water resources under climate change; and,
• supporting decision-making for effective adaptation.

At this event, we are delighted to host talks from two leading thinkers in climate change adaptation, Martin Parry and Will Steffen. They will compare and contrast their experiences working in climate change and adaptation at international and national levels.

National climate change adaptation efforts: some lessons from the Northern Hemisphere
Martin Parry
In Europe we have had, at best, mixed success in our efforts to formalise concrete national actions on adaptation to climate change.  But we can learn from these.  My presentation will look at some of these efforts, and I hope this will spark discussion of similar and different activities in Australia.  I will touch upon: the use of statutory powers [e.g. ‘Climate Change Acts’]; trying to create informative National Risk Assessments; trying to measure compliance (e.g., use of compulsory ‘Reporting Powers’); establishing National Adaptation Plans; setting targets and developing national indicators of progress (e.g., the role of the UK Adaptation Sub-Committee).

Martin Parry is visiting professor at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change research at Imperial College London. He was Co-Chair of the IPCC Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability) Fourth Assessment, and coordinating lead author in the First, Second and Third Assessments.  He has held positions as Professor of Geography at the Universities of Oxford, University College London, Birmingham and East Anglia.  His latest publications include Assessing the Costs of Adaptation to Climate Change (2009) and Climate Change and Hunger (2009).

Responding to climate change: perspectives from Australia
Will Steffen
Australia has been a global leader in climate change action, and at home has sought to respond to the challenge through a range of innovative policy actions.  Most recently, through my role as Climate Commissioner, I have been able to witness first hand community perspectives on these actions. I will reflect on successes and failures, possible future pathways to meet the climate change challenge, and compare activities in Australia with what is happening elsewhere.

Will Steffen sits on the Australian Climate Commission, and is the chair of the Federal Government’s Antarctic Science Advisory Committee. He previously was scientific adviser to the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Australian Government, and served as an independent expert adviser to the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee. He is honorary professor at the Copenhagen University’s Department of Geography and Geology and visiting researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre.