The Climate Adaptation Platform (CAP) is a site that curates research, papers, case studies, work, and recent developments related to infrastructure adaptation and resilience in the context of climate change. 

CAP is owned and operated by the Inframanage Trust, a trading trust founded by Ross Waugh.  

I took the opportunity to work as a researcher at CAP in July 2019.  My task also involves uploading the blog posts and articles I have written to the website. 

The site will also serve as an online portal for individuals seeking to learn more about climate change adaptation and its impacts, as well as those who wish to share their work. From individual people to communities, the private and public sectors, practitioners, researchers, academia, funding, and environmental organisations worldwide.  

Through knowledge and resource sharing, CAP also aims to help developing countries in the Asia Pacific and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in their efforts to adapt to climate change. 

The Climate Adaptation Platform’s vision, as stated on the website, is to be a portal for recent, relevant, and robust information, showcase New Zealand practices, disseminate the world’s best practices, connect leading thinkers, build educational and training capabilities, host expert webinars, seminars, and conferences, and provide networking opportunities.  

Its vision is guided by the principles of sustainability, transparency, independence, trustworthiness, political neutrality, respect for each country’s and individual viewpoints, collaboration, and avoiding duplication of others’ efforts. 

Since CAP was launched in August 2019, it has continued to grow in content and links from quality sites, including the Science Media Centre, The University of Auckland, University of Canterbury, Western North Carolina Climate Action Coalition, the CO2 balance of the UK, dosi-project.org (Switzerland), and ilearn.bond.edu.au (Australia).  

The platform’s number of visitors has grown steadily, coming from all over the world, with visitors from 114 countries as of the moment. The United States, New Zealand, and the Philippines are the top three countries that brought the highest traffic (visits) to CAP. 

At the time of writing, CAP has published 303 blog posts and 25 events. 

On 25 November 2020, CAP achieved a milestone when it hosted and conducted its first webinar, Climate Change Adaptation Roadshow Webinar #1, the first in a series of many.  

The webinar featured speakers from the University of Auckland – Dr Theuns Henning as the main speaker and Dr Sandeeka Mannakkara, who both lead the CAP Team. Other speakers include Dr Asaad Y. Shamseldin and Dr Conrad Zorn. Mr Roger Fairclough moderated the webinar and is CAP’s chair of the participants group.  

The webinar is well attended. There were 305 who registered, coming from 36 countries. The Philippines had the highest number of participants (150+), followed by New Zealand (70+).  

The webinar has resulted in a significant increase in CAP visits, which will enhance its online visibility.

What CAP has achieved in just over a year is quite promising, and I hope that many more opportunities will arise for the project in the years to come.  

Achieving the Toitū Envirocare Carbon Zero certification and the Climate Adaptation Platform are among the many environmental advocacies that Waugh Infrastructure Management Ltd. is undertaking to address climate change.