The entire Australian coastline will be mapped to prepare for projected flooding from rising seas under a government project to be launched at the Paris climate summit that could lead to national standards for how close homes should be built to shorelines.
It is part of a new climate change adaptation plan to be unveiled by Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday, amid debates at the talks over how the world will deal, in a global agreement, with locked-in climate change. 
Mr Hunt told Fairfax Media he hoped that the coastal data - due to be completed and made public in late 2017 - would be picked up by state governments to guide planning laws about how close homes and other property should be allowed to be built to the coast given expected future flooding and erosion from rising seas and storm surges.
Coastal planning laws have been controversial in a number of states, sparking bitter disputes between local councils, states governments and business. Regulations currently differ between jurisdictions.
Mr Hunt conceded the Commonwealth would not be able to force the states to adopt national standards on the basis of the new mapping data.
"They are not bound, but it should be the definitive guide for everybody to benchmark their long-term planning," he said.
The Australian delegation believes launching the strategy in Paris, at a side event to the talks, sends a signal to developing countries that put strong emphasis on adaptation, that Australia takes the issue seriously.
It contains few new concrete measures and is largely an articulation of what is already being done to address the climate change risk to coasts, cities, water resources and other key areas.
It follows Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Tuesday mocking claims by her opposition counterpart, Tanya Plibersek, that an island in the Marshall Islands had disappeared into the sea. It turns out Ms Plibersek's transcript named the wrong island. She named Eneko, the island that disappeared is Anebok.
The debates on adaptation in Paris centres on whether all countries will be asked to deliver plans of how they will they adapt, as well as emissions targets.
Many developing countries want a dedicated proportion of climate funding - say, half - to be dedicated to adaptation. Currently, it is just one-sixth.
Australia is unlikely to back the latter push. Mr Hunt said: "We are more relaxed, but I don't think it will get there because there is some countries that have strong views, for example the United States."
Tuesday in Paris was the first full day of negotiations on the text of a new agreement. Negotiators are being asked to have a final draft ready by Saturday, though many doubt this is possible.
Many of the groups that met in the morning were reporting slow progress. In some session more brackets - representing areas of dispute - were being inserted into the text than taken out. But afternoon sessions were said to be going better.
India is regarded as the country to watch - it is consistently holding a tough line in the negotiations. It is big enough, as the third-largest emitter, to bring down an agreement if it walks away.
Other countries named as roadblocks by several delegates were Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Tony La Vina, a member of the Philippines negotiation team, said Australian officials had changed their stance at the negotiations since Malcolm Turnbull had replaced Tony Abbott as Prime Minister.
"It's the language used, and certainly they are more appreciative of the science and less dismissive of the process," Mr La Vina said. "There's more willingness to engage."
The Philippines lead the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 30 nations - many in the Pacific - that are anxious for a pact to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Most countries, including Australia, agree to a 2-degree target.
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