We must ‘learn to adapt’ and this requires institutional space for learning and knowledge transfer to occur
Adaptation as a learning process: implications for decision-making
Whilst much attention has been paid to the mitigation agenda in recent years, it is increasingly recognised that we also need to be planning to adapt to the challenges and opportunities that a changing climate will bring. Bottom-up perspectives of adaptation processes and building of adaptive capacity are necessary to deliver adaptation ‘on the ground’. This raises several challenges for policy-makers, such as integration with top-down policy strategies and mainstreaming adaptation into sectors and institutions.
Adaptation to climate change is often context specific, can take many forms and involves a range of public and private actors, from government-level down to organisations and individuals. Responding to these challenges, we have engaged extensively with experts and key stakeholders in different economic or environmental sectors in order to elicit knowledge on adaptation processes and the building of adaptive capacity. We are interested in how these ultimately influence the actual delivery of tangible adaptation measures. Of particular importance has been our need to develop a better understanding of the barriers that hinder adaptation activity, as well as identifying those processes that enable best practice to occur.
We have collated and synthesised ‘state-of-the-art’ knowledge across Europe on how to achieve effective adaptation to climate change, and how to facilitate the building of adaptive capacity. Our experience to date has shown that an actor-based approach provides an important perspective on both the determinants of adaptive capacity and on the mechanisms necessary for delivering adaptation
One key finding is the importance of ‘learning to adapt’ and, closely linked to this, the need to create institutional spaces for learning and knowledge transfer to occur1. For instance, the United Kingdom Climate Impact Programme (UKCIP) helps organisations and individuals assess how they might be affected by climate change, and to prepare for impacts with the assistance of practical adaptation tools.
This raises the first challenge for policy-makers: how best to integrate important ‘bottom-up’ processes of learning with ‘top-down’ high-level policy strategies and visions. It is clear that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach for adaptation is not appropriate for the complexities of climate change. Strategies should stimulate and support pro-active adaptation responses, whilst retaining the flexibility and robustness necessary for enabling the development, testing and implementation of measures at the local scale. The complexities of the climate change issue also pose a second challenge for strategic policy communities. Integration also needs to occur horizontally across different sectors and policy areas. This ultimately will require the consideration of adaptation through existing institutional mechanisms, a process commonly known as ‘mainstreaming’.
For further information please see Work Package A1 or contact: Darryn McEvoy, International Centre for Integrated Assessment and Sustainable Development, University of Maastricht,
