An integrative research framework for enabling transformative adaptation

Abstract

Transformative adaptation will be increasingly important to effectively address the impacts of climate change and other global drivers on social-ecological systems. Enabling transformative adaptation requires new ways to evaluate and adaptively manage trade-offs between maintaining desirable aspects of current social-ecological systems and adapting to major biophysical changes to those systems. We outline such an approach, based on three elements developed by the Transformative Adaptation Research Alliance (TARA): (1) the benefits of adaptation services; that sub-set of ecosystem services that help people adapt to environmental change; (2) The values-rules-knowledge perspective (vrk) for identifying those aspects of societal decision-making contexts that enable or constrain adaptation and (3) the adaptation pathways approach for implementing adaptation, that builds on and integrates adaptation services and the vrk perspective. Together, these elements provide a future-oriented approach to evaluation and use of ecosystem services, a dynamic, grounded understanding of governance and decision-making and a logical, sequential approach that connects decisions over time. The TARA approach represents a means for achieving changes in institutions and governance needed to support transformative adaptation. (Résumé d'auteur

Transformation, adaptation and development: relating concepts to practice

“…There is a tighter emphasis on climate change acting as an amplifier of environmental problems, on the strain of approaching ecological limits, and on environmental crises as enforcing a need for fundamental change (Olsson et al, 2006;Kates et al, 2012;Dow et al, 2013;Colloff et al, 2017) (indeed, such transformations might not always be desired or intended: Walker and Meyers, 2004, for example, refer to forced threshold shifts to "undesirable" ecological states). Hence those viewing transformation from this approach are more likely to focus on environmental-technical solutions achieved through innovation and expansion, with emphasis on instrumental outcomes oriented closely to the climatic hazard, and a primary interest in transformation of adaptation per se (Kates et al, 2012;Klein et al 2014).…”

“…Such changes, beyond the scope of routine reforms, are increasingly being reported in adaptation governance (see, for example, Anguelovski and Carmin, 2011;Godden et al, 2013). Reorientation is a term designed to capture the idea of change in the values, attitudes, capacities and priorities held by actors at multiple scales, from household to formal government (Colloff et al, 2017). It refers to changes that shape the content of decisions and actions on adaptation, and connects with a growing set of ideas related to social learning as a pathway to transformation (for example, Park et al, 2012;Chung Tiam Fook, 2015).…”

“…Here we follow a definition of adaptation essentially as the "process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects" (IPCC, 2014: 118). The focus on transformation in adaptation means that we are principally concerned with "deliberate" action, referring to interventions and processes initiated purposefully by (a range of) actors with a goal of bringing about major change (Feola, 2015;Colloff et al, 2017;Fazey et al, 2017).…”

Making Space for Proactive Adaptation of Rapidly Changing Coasts: A Windows of Opportunity Approach

“…The notion of critical moment is broadly analogous to a decision point, a common term in adaptation literature [16,24]. To date, there has been limited reference to windows of opportunity, policy windows or adaptation windows in climate change adaptation, resilience or environmental policy literature.…”

Transformations for Resilient Rural Futures: The Case of Kaikōura, Aotearoa-New Zealand

“…Transformation, in which widespread or systemic changes are made to existing decision-making processes and patterns, is often experienced following a disaster, even if only briefly before systems fall back into pre-existing forms and structures [34,57,58]. Many adaptive management strategies fail to be successfully implemented or bring about transformative changes due to existing governance structures that hinder their realization for example [30,34].…”