Framings of transformation in the Australian Regional Drought Resilience Plans

Funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, many regions in Australia have developed Regional Drought Resilience (RDR) plans to help plan proactive adaptation actions to prepare for more frequent, severe and longer-lasting droughts due to climate change. Through qualitative coding and frame analysis of 64 Australian RDR published plans, this paper explores how transformation is framed, and how it is not, and what the implications are for adaptation pathways. Our analysis of how local regions across Australia are planning and imagining transformation in their regions is an important contribution to how stakeholders think about, and are implementing, transformation. We find that almost all of the plans discuss the necessity of transformation, but very few go on to describe specific implementable actions for transformation. Stakeholder perspectives are rarely incorporated into theoretical understandings of transformation, or practical applications of regional drought and transition policy. These first-hand accounts of stakeholder engagement with transformation in regional resilience plans highlight gaps and opportunities to better equip communities to implement systemic change, when necessary, in response to drought and climate change.