Adaptation planning should include both the impacts of climate change as well as broader drivers of vulnerability to build general resilience.  Planning needs to account for the social, political, economic and environmental context.  When this strategic approach is adopted, more pragmatic and diverse range of actions are identified because the stakeholders focus on shared Outcomes from their various  perspectives. 

The Torres Strait adaptation plan adopts this approach. The region is recognised as being a front line region in relation to its vulnerability to climate change impacts, especially sea level rise. The Torres Strait Regional Authority with key partners in CSIRO and Local Government has developed an adaptation plan for the region that prioritises both adaptive responses as well as building general resilience. The Plan assesses risk and vulnerability in relation to the five capitals that underpin any vibrant and functional society, identified by The Forum for the Future. Desired outcomes are expressed for three priority climate risks and six resilience themes.  Actions for these headings have been categories in relation to priority, timing for implementation, contribution to management cycle, type of system leverage (events, adaptation or transformation) as well as what part of vulnerability is targeted by the action (sensitivity, exposure or adaptive capacity). The plan features pathways maps for each desired outcome which illustrate a staged approach to implementation that highlights dependencies, costs, triggers and thresholds.  Planning is focused on adaptation and resilience at both the top-down regional scale and bottom-up local community scale and benchmarking local scale resilience.