Twenty-eighth Report Adapting Institutions to Climate Change Cm ...

Chapter 4
FRAMING
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FIGURE 4-II
Schematic illustrating framing, implementing and learning
Framing, implementing and learning are components of a fl exible, iterative, non-linear framework. Organisations
will typically start by framing the problem. The components will often overlap, for example organisations
will learn throughout their framing and implementing. Public engagement should support all three components.
Framing
Implementation Learning
Framing a problem involves recognising its existence, and understanding its nature and its direct
and indirect implications for the particular institution. This is perhaps the most challenging aspect
of building adaptive capacity.
Because adaptation is hard to frame, it is diffi cult to determine the actions to be taken and the
capacities which should be built. It is easy to frame wrongly (for example by using the wrong
timescales), incompletely (for example by thinking solely in terms of fl ood defence instead of
fl ood risk management) or not at all. Because adaptation is hard to frame, it is also diffi cult to
defi ne ‘successful’ adaptation or metrics for measuring progress or outcome.
The Commission identifi ed a set of issues to do with framing, relating to how institutions recognise
the challenges of adaptation, the factors involved, and how institutions recognise what they must
do to build their adaptive capacity.
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