Announcing the winner of the International Award for Excellence

Congratulations to David Wood and Laura Stocker the winners of the International Award for Excellence in the area of science in society  with their paper Coastal Adaptation to Climate Change: Towards Reflexive Governance.

Abstract: We describe an action-research methodology designed to generate a model for reflexive coastal zone governance in Australia that is collaborative, capable of responding to new information, capable of higher order learning, adaptive, anticipatory, and able to innovate trials. In Australia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has been responsible for interpreting and generating science about climate change impacts and the coastal zone, with a view to enabling coastal adaptation. However, while some progress has been made, our policy-makers, planners and stakeholders have been slow to develop and implement effective strategies for the coastal zone. In order to investigate the implementation gaps between science, policy and practice, the CSIRO commissioned an Australia-wide project, an aspect of which we frame in this paper. First, we examine the broad biophysical and socio-cultural context for coastal governance in Australia, then proceed to frame a novel methodology designed to enhance the knowledge-policy dialogue about coastal adaptation to climate change in Australia’s Southwest. Our action-research methodology derives from the Dutch transition management approach. It features: deliberative workshops using Google Earth as a stakeholder engagement platform; visualisation exercises using Google Earth; the development of scenarios for trials in coastal governance; and the prioritisation of these by the stakeholder groups.