Table 7.

Working table 7: Potential adaptation strategies for extreme events (excluding heatwaves).

Categories of Adaptation	What Is Our Capacity *—In General and for Vulnerable Regions and Groups?		Suggestions for Implementation or Upgrading	Sectors Involved
1. Legislative or Regulatory
• Cost sharing mechanisms for compensation and adaptation initiatives.	N	Only private insurance	Appropriate upgrades of procedures and assessments as climate change projections and assessments dictate.	Treasury, Insurance Planning, Housing Consumer Affairs, Emergency Services
• Regulations for minimum building standards to withstand extreme events in vulnerable regions.	A	Amend regulations as required
• Regulations regarding fire management, property management to reduce risk of injuries.	A	Amend regulations as required
• Mid to long-term strategies for land use planning that accounts for likely impacts	N
2. Public Education & Communication			Wider community engagement needed Modern communication should be available to all (e.g., broadband)	Communication Health Local Government
• Improvement in communicating risks of extreme events to vulnerable regions and groups.	I/D	Continued improvement and greater investment required.
• Education of measures to reduce risk of damage or injuries	D	Coordination with Federal government is required.
• Evaluation of the effectiveness of educational materials.	I
3. Surveillance and Monitoring			Access to GP data Up to date environmental and population forecasts Monitoring needs upgraded as required	Health, Planning, Environment, Climate Research Emergency Services Insurance industry
• Standardization of information collected after disasters to more accurately measure morbidity and mortality.	I	Long-term follow up is not adequate Hospital morbidity data is okay
• Evaluation of responses and health outcomes of extreme events.	I
4. Ecosystem Intervention			Upgrade as needed Mostly mitigation but needs to address adaptation and prediction	Environment Agriculture Research Water, Planning
• Monitor the effects of altered land use on vulnerability to extreme weather events.	A	-
5. Infrastructure Development			Emergency system needs to expand to cope with more frequent and more severe extreme events	Emergency Services, Health, Local Gov’t Planning, Water Energy, Transport
• Create or enhance emergency management—communication, preparation, training, volunteer recruitment, emergency response coordination, resource allocation.	I/D	North-west seen as vulnerable
• Mapping of potential risks from extreme events—location of hazardous facilities, vulnerable properties/people.	I/D	All understood to some extent
• Land use planning and management to minimize impacts from cyclones, flooding and fire (protective structures, controlled burning).	I/D	Need to highlight the necessity to Treasury to upgrade infrastructure as necessary.
6. Technological or Engineering
• Improvement of systems to provide early and accessible warning to the populations most likely to be affected.	D/A	Systems are in place The main issues are access to information and the community response to early warning systems.	Expand resources as required	Climate Research Building Health
• Modification of building codes for structures in vulnerable areas.
7. Health Intervention
• Improved training programmes and information on emergency management.	A	Enhance responses to rural and regional areas	Continue development	Health Emergency Services
Research/ Information
• Regional assessments of vulnerability to extreme events.	All either I or D	-	-	Whole of Government Health Research Climate Local Gov’ tIndigenous
• Regional identification of vulnerable communities and individual.
• Evaluate effectiveness of early warning systems.
• Further development of early warning systems—tropical cyclones, fires, droughts.
• Modelling of affected regions

Notes: * A = adequate, I = inadequate, D = developing, N = not in place. Excerpt from [12]