Abstract

The impacts of climate change do not adhere to conventional governance boundaries. Floods for example do not stop at the state border, nor are storm surges contained within local government jurisdictions. Whilst this may appear self-evident, this 'inconvenient institutional truth' poses considerable challenges to existing and deeply embedded governance frameworks. Despite growing recognition that implementing effective adaptation initiatives will require transcending artificially imposed bureaucratic and/or administrative boundaries, the cross-boundary implications of climate change adaptation have been largely ignored within the Australian context (partly as a result of the historical context and nature of Australian federalism). There are significant implications for the evolving national role in climate change adaptation, and the relationship to cross-border state issues that this project identifies and highlights. This project focuses on learning from existing cross-border regulatory mechanisms with a view to strengthening and improving cross-border climate change adaptation practices in Australia.

Please cite this report as:
Steele, W, Eslami-Andargoli, L, Crick, F, Serrao-Neumann, S, Singh-Peterson, L, Dale, P, Low Choy, D, Sporne, I, Shearer, S & Iotti, A 2013, Learning from cross-border mechanisms to support climate change adaptation in Australia, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 87 pp.

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