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Climate change adaptation needs to be a highly social process as it requires a systemic change in human behaviors at various scales. Planning for climate change adaptation, however, has only recently begun to explore and adopt approaches focused on building the resilience of social assets as a strategy for effecting change and adaptation. To date, partial or peripheral approaches to planning for social adaptation have been the norm. This chapter considers a social adaptation approach established in Tropical North Queensland (TNQ), a diverse Australian metaregion vulnerable to climate change impacts typical of a range of tropical countries. We (1) outline the methods used in a socially oriented approach planning applied in TNQ, (2) explore a range of social adaption measures emerging from this approach, and (3) evaluate how these measures could be applied in different tropical regions around the world. Because of the diverse nature of the TNQ region, this work provides insights into typical social adaptation measures that may emerge from such planning across the tropics.

The need for emergency and disaster professionals with multidisciplinary knowledge and holistic understanding is widely recognised. Despite this, there is currently no international nor an Australian consensus on a set of common standards for higher education that could ensure graduates possess knowledge and skills with sufficient commonality to facilitate interoperability in all facets of disaster management cycle. Thus, this research project aimed to develop a standards and an associated conceptual framework for higher education programs in emergency and disaster management. The Generic Emergency and Disaster Management Standards (GEDMS) were developed through a mixed qualitative research approach involving a systematic literature review, mapping of current course content offered in Australia and New Zealand, focus groups of experts and consultation with policy makers, industry representatives and other relevant stakeholders. The Standards consist of three main domains: knowledge, skills and application. Governance and policy frameworks, theoretical and conceptual basis for practice, and contemporary disaster management were identified as underlying themes for the knowledge domain. Leadership, communication, and collaboration were fitted under the skills domain. The professional practice, together with critical thinking, were considered the means by which knowledge and skills are applied.

Regional and remote communities in Tropical North Queensland (TNQ) are among Australia's most vulnerable in the face of climate change. They face sea-level rise, more intense dry spells, increasing temperatures, more extensive coral bleaching and the risk of more intense cyclones and floods. Consequently, sociologically and economically diverse subregions such as the Northern Gulf of Carpentaria, the Torres Strait, Cape York Peninsula and the Wet Tropics face an uncertain future. Together, these four subregions represent a social diversity typical across the tropics. With its cultural and social complexity, Queensland's tropics present an ideal case study for operationalising an indicators-based approach for building regional and subregional-scale resilience. The assessment of social resilience in the four TNQ subregions has reinforced the theoretical conclusion that a purist approach to measuring and monitoring social resilience, driven by defining and populating perfect sets of indicators, is neither practical nor feasible.

This book represents a landmark effort to probe and analyze the theory and empirics of designing water disaster management policies. It consists of seven chapters that examine, in-depth and comprehensively, issues that are central to crafting effective policies for water disaster management. The authors use historical surveys, institutional analysis, econometric investigations, empirical case studies, and conceptual-theoretical discussions to clarify and illuminate the complex policy process. The specific topics studied in this book include a review and analysis of key policy areas and research priority areas associated with water disaster management, community participation in disaster risk reduction, the economics and politics of ‘green’ flood control, probabilistic flood forecasting for flood risk management, polycentric governance and flood risk management, drought management with the aid of dynamic inter-generational preferences, and how social resilience can inform SA/SIA for adaptive planning for climate change in vulnerable areas. A unique feature of this book is its analysis of the causes and consequences of water disasters and efforts to address them successfully through policy-rich, cross-disciplinary and transnational papers. This book is designed to help enrich the sparse discourse on water disaster management policies and galvanize water professionals to craft creative solutions to tackle water disasters efficiently, equitably, and sustainably. This book should also be of considerable use to disaster management professionals, in general, and natural resource policy analysts.