Adaptation to climatic change: its future role in Oceania

Adaptation is a straightforward, highly robust and all pervasive strategy for coping with change. As climate varies very much more rapidly with geography and season than through time, the success and variety of human and natural adaptation to different climates is self-evident around the world. Adaptation does not require definition or explanation; it is well understood and its benefits and costs appreciated if not fully quantified or evert quantifiable. Since adaptation is clearly feasible and potentially beneficial, why has it become the neglected 'Cinderella' of climatic change? The perceived reasons include lack of economic evaluation, failure to identify sources of funds, lack of motivation, the desire not to lose impetus towards mitigation, the need to await impact (or integrated) assessment, and the lack of agreed criteria for selection of adaptive strategies. I believe that most of these 'arguments' are more apparent than real. In this paper I argue that most of the mystery surrounding adaptation is bunkum or camouflage. I put the case for a positive approach to adaptation. In Oceania 'climate proofing' is a no-cost adaptive strategy offering enormous benefits.