Under the Act, these sectors must develop Adaptation Action Plans (AAPs) every five years, with the first due in October 2020. The aim of a sector-based approach is to develop coordinated and coherent sectoral policy responses in anticipation of the complex challenges of adapting to climate change. Sectors must also work with each other to address climate change risks and vulnerabilities, identify trade-offs, and realise potential opportunities. The need to work both within and across sectors presents many governance challenges. These include crossing conventional boundaries and bringing together policy makers and stakeholders with different objectives, interests and ways of working.

As part of this process we are providing expert advice to Department of Land, Water, Environment and Planning (DELWP) who are coordinating the AAP process. Our approach is based on systems thinking and adaptive governance research and practice. The project involves three main deliverables.

• A background research report tailored for sector-based policy makers responsible for developing AAPs. DELWP identified four topics of climate change adaptation research for the report. These are: sector-based adaptation planning; maladaptation; risk and vulnerability assessments; and monitoring and evaluation. A number of questions were set by DELWP under each topic to address knowledge gaps and where specific guidance was needed.

• A framework to identify sector-based and cross-sector risks and vulnerabilities. The framework will be designed to take participants through a collaborative and learning-based process to understand their system and its interactions. The framework is intended for use both within government and in collaboration with stakeholders.

• Workshops to present the research and framework. The workshops are designed to familiarise policy makers with adaptation issues and challenges and to start to put the framework into practice.