TOOL NAME: ICLEI Oceania - Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit
OWNED/DEVELOPED BY: ICLEI Oceania
- Form of the CAT – whether it is a rating tool, strategic framework, guidelines etc. – and capacity to link with other tools.
Toolkit is a comprehensive set of guidelines for decision-making around climate adaptation risk-assessment within local government organizations, via an adaptive management process.
- Governance/administration of the CAT – its purpose and the organization behind it, the jurisdiction or scale of influence/application.
Toolkit was developed with funding from the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and has been piloted with five local councils from around Australia. The purpose of the toolkit is to build councils’ capacity to make decisions using, (rather than to generate), scientific data/projections or climate change impact models. Councils using the Toolkit are advised to access scientific data/projections and climate change impact models that are relevant to their municipality through other initiatives, such as the Australian Government’s Integrated Assessments.
- Sector or phase of development to which the CAT is applicable – e.g. planning, design, construction – residential, commercial, infrastructure etc. – including capacity to influence urban renewal and retrofitting outcomes.
Toolkit is applicable to planning decision-making. This toolkit is organised according to the adaptive management process. It outlines how and when to use each of the included tools as a complement to the adaptive management process. As the tools are voluntary components of the adaptive management process and each tool is designed for specific needs, individual councils will need to determine which of the tools are appropriate for their particular use.
The tools range from simple and self-directed templates to more complex exercises that are best delivered by an experienced facilitator, whether within or external to council. Thus the capacity of the tool to influence urban renewal and retrofitting outcomes is largely dependent on the motivation and available resources of the council applying it, including capacity to access appropriate external resources where recommended.
- Ability to promote systems thinking – how well the CAT encompasses and integrates the component factors and measures of urban sustainability.
The adaptive management process is designed to facilitate an appreciation of the interrelationships between multiple sustainability factors. Individual parts of the toolkit (e.g. the Conceptual Modelling Exercise) directly focus on systems-thinking approaches and how to build capacity in decision-making using such strategies.
- Capacity to inform design decisions – how well the CAT is able to derive and test alternative design strategies to inform decision-making.
This is not the purpose of the tool. It is intended to build organizational capacity to incorporate adaptive management processes in decision-making at local government level.
- Capacity to encourage collaboration – how effectively the CAT integrates input from multiple stakeholders in the context of its implementation and use.
Various components of the toolkit require input from multiple stakeholders – including building effective stakeholder representation and engagement as a central part of the adaptive management process. The toolkit itself has been developed within a rigorous collaborative framework, with the involvement of multiple stakeholders.
- Adaptability of the CAT to differing local environmental contexts
The toolkit is well suited to adaptation to a range of different local environmental contexts – this is a key component of adaptive management.
- Ability of the CAT to drive innovation in urban planning and development.
An important part of adaptation response is the recognition that adaptation is not just about the risks to be endured due to climate variability. As the climate is changing, so too is the operating environment for councils. Council decision-making processes need to support and strengthen the capacity of staff to identify inherent opportunities that arise from change, as well as the risks – i.e. to ensure that council staff are not passive observers with reactive responses to emerging climate change impacts, but are proactively building capacity to harness opportunities and mitigate risks.
This includes development of action plans which can put in place incentives to proactively drive innovation at local level.
- Flexibility of the CAT to adapt and evolve over time to changing understanding and measures of urban sustainability – including review processes and systems for ongoing monitoring, evaluation and reporting of outcomes.
Toolkit is strong in this regard. A core aspect of any adaptive management process is the capacity for establishing strategies for monitoring the implementation of adaptation action plan(s) and reviewing outcomes.
Specific components of the toolkit – e.g. the action planning workshop – deal with this concept in detail, but it is intrinsic to the whole adaptive management process.
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