Policy adaptability in practice Lessons learned in the application of the Adaptive Design and Assessment Policy Tool (ADAPTool) to examine public policies in Canada in the context of climate change

Designing public policies to effectively address comingled economic, social and environmental issues is a fundamental challenge facing sustainable development policy-makers in the twenty-first century. Raising the stakes is the added challenge of doing so in today's complex, dynamic and uncertain conditions. Policies that cannot perform under such conditions run the risk of not achieving their intended purpose and hindering the ability of individuals, communities and businesses to cope with and adapt to change. To explore the principles of adaptive policies, a four-year empirical investigation was launched in Canada and India to extract practical insights from complex adaptive systems literature and to study the characteristics of policies that have been effective under changing socio-economic and environmental conditions. Seven core principles for creating adaptive policies were identified and a practical policy analysis tool was developed to help policy-makers translate the principles into tangible recommendations. This paper presents the results of applications of the ADAPTool (Adaptive Design and Assessment Policy Tool) by four provincial governments in Canada on policies aimed at supporting climate change adaptation efforts. Lessons learned from the applications are discussed.