Supporting Governance Institutions for Adaptive Capacity to Environmental Change

The capacity of societies to adapt to environmental change can be constrained by conservative and reactive governance institutions. Many pressing environmental change problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and coastal development are also governance problems. The complex nature of environmental change requires governance institutions that facilitate adaptive capacity, enabling societies to respond and adapt to environmental change and its impacts. This article reports the rationale for understanding adaptive capacity to environmental change through an institutional lens. The project seeks to (1) investigate the potential of existing governance institutions to facilitate adaptation to environmental change in the context of coastal Cambodia, Viet Nam and Australia, and (2) support the design, reform and implementation of institutional arrangements to respond to current and future impacts of such change