AdaptNet New Version 2010

AdaptNet New Version 2010

As many of you know AdaptNet has been operating since December 2006. It is published in three languages: English, Bahasa Indonesian, and Vietnamese. There are RSS feeds for all three languages and mailing lists for the English and Vietnamese editions. There are currently more than 1000 subscribers to the English edition of AdaptNet, from more than 50 different countries.  

In the three years since AdaptNet was created, the field of climate adaptation has changed significantly. The need for urban areas to adapt to climate change is now recognised as imperative; and countries, regions and cities are grappling with the complex issues of planning for and dealing with the unavoidable impacts of an already changing climate. The debate around what to do and how to do it has become more sophisticated as we learn from each other – from our shortcomings as well as our successes.  

It is time for us too, to consolidate some of the learning of the past years. AdaptNet is entering its 4th year of publication with some significant changes: we have refined the content parameters, revisited the publishing schedule and invited a number of experts to provide us with additional support in order to continue to improve the quality of the reports and research that we list. These changes are being made under the guidance of the new leader of the climate change adaptation programme at RMIT – Associate Professor Darryn McEvoy, who is also acting as the Deputy Director of the newly established Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research (VCCAR). Professor Peter Hayes continues as the foundation project advisor of AdaptNet.  

We will retain and strengthen our focus on urban climate adaptation in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as taking into account the most salient research and reports coming from the wider international arena. To this end, we will bring you a free email bulletin listing six items, including five reports or papers and one event. These will be structured according to:

  1. A publication focusing on the Australian context
  2. A publication focusing on the Asia-Pacific region
  3. A publication of global relevance
  4. A publication looking at adaptation as an ‘outcome’ (technological, financial, planning etc), including methods of evaluation
  5. A publication looking at adaptation as an institutional process, including community-based adaptation
  6. Dissemination of a conference, workshop or event of international significance, though the predominant focus will be on the Asia-Pacific region  

Finally, we are altering the publishing schedule of AdaptNet to fortnightly. The new version of AdaptNet will be available to all AdaptNet subscribers on January 26th 2010.  

We hope that you will find the new version of AdaptNet useful, and that you will also help us expand our outreach by sending this link to your friends and colleagues: http://www.globalcollab.org/gci/adaptnet

As always we welcome and encourage feedback, so if you have any comments – of any nature – please do not hesitate to let us know by sending us an email at: adaptnet@rmit.edu.au

Saleem Janjua, editor