General Considerations.. (contd) Strongly
Agree
Agree Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Don’t
Know
All engagement activities have been fully documented
and the consultant has demonstrated how any feedback
received has been incorporated.
• Has the consultant provided a list of everyone who was consulted?
• Have the approaches used to undertake consultation been recorded e.g.
interview/workshop notes, site meetings, briefing papers etc.
• Does the client have copies of all consultation material prepared e.g.
questionnaires, newsletters etc.
• Has the consultant documented how any feedback received has been
incorporated?
• Is there a plan in place for ongoing communication/consultation?
Was an external peer review undertaken? If so, has the
feedback received been considered and responded to?
• Has a suitably experienced person independent to the consultant undertaken a
review of the content? If so, has a copy of the review been provided to the
client? Has the feedback been incorporated?
Does the client feel that his/her internal capacity to
undertake similar projects has been improved?
• Has the consultant effectively shared knowledge and tools with the client
organisation and its staff?
• Has a formal handover been held with the consultant, so that staff have an
opportunity to ask any questions they may have?
• Is there a need for some formal training to be provided to staff?
Has feedback been provided to the consultant on overall
performance?
• Has formal feedback been provided to the consultant on performance against
project objectives?
Considerations relevant to Climate Change Studies
Strongly
Agree
Agree Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Don’t
Know
All data sources used for the study have been fully and
clearly documented i.e. source, year, climate change
scenarios, projections, models etc.
• Has the consultant outlined which climate change projections were used for the
study?
o How were data sources chosen? Were they based on national, state or
local policy requirements? Do they depart from these standards and if
so why? Do national, state or local policy requirements specify data
sources? CoastAdapt provides
a summary of relevant state legislation
and planning policy. Information on present-day climate data sources
is also available.
o What climate change timeframes and scenario(s) were used? e.g.
2030, 2100, High or Low Emission RCPs, etc. Coast Adapt provides
information on understanding, accessing and using
climate scenarios.
o What was the source of the projections? e.g. Climate Change in
Australia, NARCLiM, research paper, etc. Information on future sea-
level rise and climate extremes is available on CoastAdapt.
o What climate change parameters were used? e.g. maximum
temperature, evaporation, sea level rise, storminess, etc. Were these
comprehensive and appropriate?
Any uncertainties in data and methodology have been
documented and any assumptions made clear.
• Has the consultant identified the uncertainties in data or projections used for
the study? Coast Adapt provides information on using
climate scenarios,
including how to deal with uncertainties.
• Has a confidence level or similar been placed on the use of these data? Some
climate variables are better simulated by models than others and have a higher
degree of confidence. For example, there is a higher level of confidence in sea
level rise projections, than changes to cyclone frequency in Australia.
Projections should be accompanied by an estimate of data confidence levels.
• Has the consultant highlighted the limits of the modelling approach used?
Coast Adapt provides information on understanding
climate change scenarios
and modelling approaches.
• Has the consultant described how any uncertainties in data have been/could be
addressed? Have a variety of different approaches/techniques been used to
deal with identified uncertainties? E.g. risk assessment approaches,
consultation, probabilistic scenarios, sensitivity analysis?
• Have all assumptions been documented?