Smith, T. F., Brooke, C., Preston, B., Gorddard, R., Abbs, D., Mcinnes, K. Withycombe, G. and Morrison, C., 2007. Managing for Climate Variability in the Sydney Region. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 50 (Proceedings of the 9th International Coastal Symposium), 109 – 113. Gold Coast, Australia, ISSN 0749.0208

Coastal research and management often has an issue-specific focus, with little attention paid to the interdependencies between those issues. Climate variability is one such issue that is impacted by, and impacts on, several other areas (e.g. coastal processes, infrastructure, health and regional economies). These interdependencies create challenges for local governments to scale-up so as to tackle these issues at a regional scale. Critical to this process of scaling-up is the adaptive capacity of local governments. A method to assist local governments deal with climate variability in the Sydney region is being developed by CSIRO and the Sydney Coastal Councils Group through the Australian Greenhouse Office National Climate Change Adaptation Program. The method consists of: (i) creating vulnerability mapping templates; (ii) working with local governments to determine collective and local vulnerabilities; (iii) analysis of local government priorities and capacity for adaptation; and (iv) assessment of transferability of the method to other regions.