Adaptation is the poor cousin of the climate change challenge - the glamour of international debate is around global mitigation agreements, while the bottom-up activities of adaptation, carried out in community halls and local government offices, are often overlooked. Yet, as international forums fail to deliver reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the world is realising that effective adaptation will be essential across all sectors to deal with the unavoidable impacts of climate change. The need to understand how to adapt effectively, and to develop appropriate adaptation options and actions, is becoming increasingly urgent.

This book reports the current state of knowledge on climate change adaptation, and seeks to expose and debate key issues in adaptation research and practice. It is framed around a number of critical areas of adaptation theory and practice, including:

• Advances in adaptation thinking,
• Enabling frameworks and policy for adaptation,
• Engaging and communicating with practitioners,
• Key challenges in adaptation and development,
• Management of natural systems and agriculture under climate change,
• Ensuring water security under a changing climate,
• Urban infrastructure and livelihoods, and
• The nexus between extremes, disaster management and adaptation.

It includes contributions from many of the leading thinkers and practitioners in adaptation today. The book is based on key contributions from the First International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation 'Climate Adaptation Futures', held on the Gold Coast, Australia, in June 2010. That three-day meeting of over 1000 researchers and practitioners in adaptation from 50 countries was the first of its kind.

Readership: The book is essential reading for a wide range of individuals involved in climate change adaptation, including:

• Researchers,
• Communication specialists,
• Decision-makers and policy makers (e.g. government staff, local council staff),
• On-ground adaptation practitioners (e.g. aid agencies, government workers, NGOs),
• Postgraduate and graduate students, and
• Consultants.

Jean Palutikof is the Director of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) where she has built a national program of adaptation research, communication and partnerships. Prior to joining NCCARF she managed the production of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report for Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability). Her research interests focus on climate change impacts, and the application of climatic data to economic and planning issues.

Mark Stafford Smith is Science Director of CSIRO's Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship, where he oversees the science in a highly interdisciplinary program of research on many aspects of adapting to climate change. His disciplinary background is in drylands systems ecology, management and policy.

Andrew Ash is the director of CSIRO's Climate Adaptation National Research Flagship, overseeing a nationwide portfolio of research projects, partnerships and collaborations. He works closely with government agencies, businesses and communities on the need to adapt to unavoidable climate change.

Sarah Boulter is a Research Fellow with NCCARF where she works on synthesis and communication of adaptation research. Her research background includes studies of biodiversity and reproductive ecology of forested systems and the impacts of climate change.

Daniela Guitart is a Research Assistant with NCCARF. She has conducted research on climate change adaptation measures for terrestrial biodiversity, and on community gardens including their contribution to food security and agro-biodiversity conservation.

Martin Parry is a visiting Professor at The Centre for Environmental Policy and visiting Research Fellow at The Grantham Institute, Imperial College London. Previously he was Co-Chair of Working Group II (Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability), of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and has held several Professorial positions at University of East Anglia, University College London, the University of Oxford and the University of Birmingham.

Marie Waschka is the former Knowledge Communication Manager with NCCARF and in this role established a range of mechanisms to promote and enable the exchange of information to support climate change adaptation. This included the establishment of eight Australian Adaptation Research Networks, and organisation of the Climate Adaptation Futures Conference.