The focus of the paper is the use of data that informs adaptation – how it can be collated, updated and disseminated, and how it can be incorporated into instruments to affect adaptation by governments, communities and individuals.

Private activities and government regulatory actions or inaction can have impacts on the environment and on human health. Scientific uncertainty about such impacts compounds the problems that confront policymakers. In environmental and natural resource management areas subject to scientific uncertainty, policy development can be enhanced...