Facilitating Climate Change Responses A Report of Two Workshops on Knowledge from the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2010) / Chapter Skim
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9 Cross-Cutting Issues in Adaptation
9 Cross-Cutting Issues in Adaptation
Pages 113-128
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From page 113... ...
Paul Stern suggested that for government, it is important to deal with practical issues and not just the major social science questions, such as what major social transformations are needed and how to get at them. Neil Adger noted that there may also be important fundamental social science questions related to adaptation, such as about processes of transformation, the evolution of preferences over time, demographic change, and relocation of settlements and economic activity.
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From page 114... ...
A challenge with many of the early warning systems developed in public health is that they were not designed to adjust to a changing climate; they implicitly assumed a stable climate. In many cases, it will be a challenge to proactively identify through an early warning system where a disease might change its geographic range due to climate change.
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From page 115... ...
Ebi responded that public health has moved to an approach based on judgments of how many people could be saved by setting thresholds at different levels. THE NETWORK STRUCTURE OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: VIEWING NETWORKS AS OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS TO SUCCESSFUL LEARNING Adam Henry1 West Virginia University Adam Henry began by saying that climate change adaptation is an important form of policy learning, which is one of his central interests.
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From page 116... ...
The definition of adaptation from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- "adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climactic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities" -- implies challenges for learning.
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From page 117... ...
In the discussion, Henry was asked about learning in climate change adaptation networks: Does he equate successful learning with successful adaptation? Can networks can be successful at learning the wrong things?
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From page 118... ...
He said that the big empirical questions concern how to characterize networks that do well or do not do well. THE ROLE OF URBAN AREAS IN ADAPTATION AND EFFECTIVE STAKEHOLDER-RESEARCHER ADAPTATION PROCESS Cynthia Rosenzweig2 NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Cynthia Rosenzweig explained that she has been working with New York City for a decade, since the first National Assessment of the Consequences of Climate Change.
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From page 119... ...
She said that urban research centers like this can be very important. She said that the New York City Panel on Climate Change provided common scenarios at stakeholders' request, with the associated uncertainties.
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From page 120... ...
Attitudes changed somewhat when climate change was connected to climate variability and extremes and when climate change was seen as threatening things the particular people valued, such as health, livelihoods, or development. A third reason was improper or misaligned incentives that shield some actors from the consequences of risky behavior.
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From page 121... ...
Ian Burton noted that cross-country comparisons are difficult for this project because it started quickly, with limited time for design. Chet Ropelewski noted that climate trends are hidden by variability and asked for expansion on how information about climate variability was useful for inducing action.
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From page 122... ...
More intense weather-related events, combined with sea level rise and the increased value at risk, have increased the risk significantly. Insured coastal exposure as of December 2007 was $2.5 trillion in Florida and $2.4 trillion in New York.
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From page 123... ...
Data are needed on the impact of climate change on sea level rise, storm surge damage, and the effects of adaptation actions on disaster losses. Data from the United Kingdom show that adaptation combined with climate change lowers damage compared with no adaptation and no climate change.
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From page 124... ...
Bonnie McCay noted that adaptive strategies and response processes were a topic of general interest in the 1970s (e.g., farming practices protect against small frosts and marriage patterns protect against killing frosts)
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From page 125... ...
Moser distinguished between limits, which are absolute thresholds, and barriers, which are things that can delay or stop adaptation processes or make them less effective and efficient. She emphasized that her framework is not normative (i.e., she does not presume that all barriers are bad and need to be overcome)
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From page 126... ...
Moser agreed with the fundamental issue of barriers also arising in unplanned/incidental adaptation, but she reemphasized that this study focused on planned, deliberate, conscious adaptation processes. She also said that her study is examining actions whether or not they were undertaken explicitly as responses to climate change.
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From page 127... ...
• hat is the appropriate timing for infrastructure decisions, such as W for actions in anticipation of future sea level rise? • hat should the federal government be doing to support and W facilitate adaptation in localities, especially those with fewer resources?
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From page 128... ...
12 FACILITATING CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSES • aution about recommending best practices for different issue C domains • Building more inclusive knowledge networks • nderstanding that conflicts may sometimes have positive value U and should not always be resisted
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