Foster flexible and collaborative individuals and organisations as it is the people who will be adapting.Plan for future decisions not all decisions need to be made now.Be flexible and incorporate new information when it becomes available.Consider multiple likely futures to make good decisions regardless of what eventuates.What do we need to do to transition from traditional, static processes of planning to adaptive planning for dynamic futures? The research team has distilled the challenge into four main aims:

The AdaptNRM project is focused on weeds, biodiversity and the planning process itself. But rapid global change means that is no longer true.Ī research team at CSIRO has teamed up with the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility to develop nationwide tools, datasets and planning approaches aimed at assisting natural resource managers to consider the impact of and plan for global change, particularly climate change. This was a useful approach when it seemed like change could only occur on vast time scales – longer than we would need to worry about in our lifetimes. For example, vegetation maps are a key tool, but they implicitly assume that communities and the species within them will always be found where they are now. Yet the way planning is done and the tools traditionally used treat the world as static, rather than constantly dynamic. Natural resources are affected by most types of global change. But the idea of planning for a future we can’t exactly predict is broadly useful for the modern world, which is highly dynamic and involves many types of rapid global changes including climate, urbanisation, and technological innovation. Adaptation is frequently talked about in the context of climate change. What will the future look like in 10, 50 or 100 years? Are our human and ecological systems prepared for the changes to come? What invasive species should we be on the lookout for? These questions are difficult to answer straight up, but thinking about adaptation can help.Īdaptation is about people doing things differently to plan for a better future – one that may undergo rapid change in ways we can’t always predict. Image: Alison Pouliot, North East Catchment Managment Authority.

Bushfires might become more frequent as the climate changes. Burnt hardwood forest in north east Victoria.

Jack be nimble jack be thin