Mobilising adaptive capacity in critical infrastructure providers | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

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Mobilising adaptive capacity in critical infrastructure providers

Why did we undertake this study?

The impacts of climate change in the coastal zone (e.g., erosion and inundation) threaten critical infrastructure, with implications for the health and wellbeing of many coastal communities in Australia and New Zealand. The ability to adapt critical infrastructure is imperative to responding to these impacts. While critical infrastructure providers have the capacity to adapt, there is a concerning lack of adaptive action. This study sought to understand the barriers to mobilising adaptive capacity to take adaptive action.

How was it done?

A selected sample of critical infrastructure providers from Australia and New Zealand were interviewed. All interviewees were in a leadership role, whether that be a senior engineer or a department lead. Participants were asked about their existing processes to respond to the impacts of climate change and their views on perceived barriers and enablers to climate change adaptation.

What did we find?

Implications

Critical infrastructure providers with coastal assets are at the forefront of climate change impacts. Limited climate change adaptation is the result of past and contemporary decisions and values that have constructed rigid systems and a reliance on the status quo. Embedding more adaptive attributes, such as autonomy to change and innovate, within the critical infrastructure sector will give providers more autonomy over their organisational cultures and functions. This may be the catalyst to take providers to the leading edge of climate change adaptation.

Learn more

The full paper is not currently available.

Citation: Huddleston P, Smith TF, White I, Elrick-Barr C (forthcoming), Leading edge or bleeding edge: mobilising adaptive capacity in coastal critical infrastructure providers, forthcoming.

You can download a pdf version of this summary.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects Funding Scheme (Project FT180100652). This work contributes to Future Earth Coasts, a Global Research Project of Future Earth. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government, Australian Research Council or Future Earth Coasts.