Adaptation and transformation

Transformation as an adaptive response to climate change opens a range of novel policy options. Used to describe responses that produce non-linear changes in systems or their host social and ecological environments, transformation also raises distinct ethical and procedural questions for decision-makers. Expanding adaptation to include transformation foregrounds questions of power and preference that have so far been underdeveloped in adaptation theory and practice. We build on David Harvey’s notion of activity space to derive a framework and research agenda for climate change adaptation seen as a political decision-point and as an opportunity for transformation, incremental adjustment or resistance to change in development pathway. Decision-making is unpacked through the notion of the activity space into seven coevolving sites: the individual, technology, livelihoods, discourse, behaviour, the environment and institutions. The framework is tested against practitioner priorities to define an agenda that can make coherent advances in research and practice on climate change adaptation.

[1]  Ralph S. Brower,et al.  A “Third Way” in The Philippines , 2011 .

[2]  D. Lusher,et al.  Separating Adaptive Maintenance (Resilience) and Transformative Capacity of Social-Ecological Systems , 2013 .

[3]  M. Pelling,et al.  Climate Change and Human Security , 2011 .

[4]  E. Shove.  Beyond the ABC: Climate Change Policy and Theories of Social Change , 2010 .

[5]  N. Marshall,et al.  Informing adaptation responses to climate change through theories of transformation , 2012 .

[6]  W. Easterly,et al.  The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good , 2006 .

[7]  M. Pelling.  Adaptation to Climate Change: From Resilience to Transformation , 2010 .

[8]  S. Huq,et al.  LOSS AND DAMAGE , 2013, The Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

[9]  W. Adger,et al.  Adaptation to Environmental Change: Contributions of a Resilience Framework , 2007 .

[10]  Mark E. Warren,et al.  Democratic Theory and Self-Transformation , 1992, American Political Science Review.

[11]  J. Edmonds,et al.  2.6: Limiting climate change to 450 ppm CO2 equivalent in the 21st century , 2009 .

[12]  J. Handmer,et al.  A Typology of Resilience: Rethinking Institutions for Sustainable Development , 1996 .

[13]  A. Kellerman,et al.  The Constitution of Society : Outline of the Theory of Structuration , 2015 .

[14]  F. Brand,et al.  Focusing the Meaning(s) of Resilience: Resilience as a Descriptive Concept and a Boundary Object , 2007 .

[15]  P. Tschakert,et al.  Inequality and transformation analyses: a complementary lens for addressing vulnerability to climate change , 2013 .

[16]  Andrew B Newsham,et al.  Resilience: New Utopia or New Tyranny? Reflection about the Potentials and Limits of the Concept of Resilience in Relation to Vulnerability Reduction Programmes , 2012 .

[17]  F. Berkes,et al.  Rethinking Social Contracts: Building Resilience in a Changing Climate , 2009 .

[18]  B. Glavovic.  Sustainable coastal communities in the age of coastal storms: Reconceptualising coastal planning as ‘new’ naval architecture , 2008 .

[19]  T. Stocker,et al.  Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 2012 .

[20]  Dorothy Bottrell.  Understanding ‘Marginal’ Perspectives , 2009 .

[21]  D. Loorbach.  Transition Management: New Mode of Governance for Sustainable Development , 2007 .

[22]  P. Cranton,et al.  Understanding and Promoting Transformative Learning: A Guide for Educators of Adults. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. , 1994 .

[23]  R. Kates,et al.  Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient , 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[24]  B. Wisner,et al.  At Risk: Natural Hazards, People's Vulnerability and Disasters , 1996 .

[25]  David Harvey.  The Enigma of Capital and the Crisis of Capitalism , 2019, Estado & comunes, revista de políticas y problemas públicos.

[26]  Debra Roberts,et al.  Prioritizing climate change adaptation and local level resilience in Durban, South Africa , 2010 .

[27]  Lucas Wexler,et al.  The White Mans Burden Why The Wests Efforts To Aid The Rest Have Done So Much Ill And So Little Good , 2016 .

[28]  David Matyas,et al.  Positioning resilience for 2015: the role of resistance, incremental adjustment and transformation in disaster risk management policy. , 2015, Disasters.

[29]  Karin L. Lemkau,et al.  Floating oil-covered debris from Deepwater Horizon: identification and application , 2012 .

[30]  D. Broom,et al.  Limits to Adaptation , 2019, Stress and Animal Welfare.

[31]  M. Pelling,et al.  Disaster politics: tipping points for change in the adaptation of sociopolitical regimes , 2010 .

[32]  Maja Schlüter,et al.  Exploring Resilience and Transformability of a River Basin in the Face of Socioeconomic and Ecological Crisis: an Example from the Amudarya River Basin, Central Asia , 2011 .

[33]  F. Comim,et al.  Adaptive Preferences and Capabilities: Some Preliminary Conceptual Explorations , 2005 .

[34]  Jan Willem Gunning,et al.  Reducing Risks of Future Disasters: Priorities for Decision Makers, Final Project Report , 2012 .

[35]  C. Vieten,et al.  Living Deeply: The Art & Science of Transformation in Everyday Life , 2008 .

[36]  M. Pelling,et al.  Research, part of a Special Feature on Resilience Through Multi-scalar Collaboration From Resilience to Transformation: the Adaptive Cycle in Two Mexican Urban Centers , 2011 .

[37]  K. O’Brien,et al.  Global environmental change II , 2012 .

[38]  F. Geels.  Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study , 2002 .

[39]  D. Mustafa.  The Production of an Urban Hazardscape in Pakistan: Modernity, Vulnerability, and the Range of Choice , 2005 .

[40]  S. Freud.  In Over Our Heads. The Mental Demands of Modern Life , 1997 .

[41]  M. Pelling,et al.  Shadow Spaces for Social Learning: A Relational Understanding of Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change within Organisations , 2008 .

[42]  William Easterly,et al.  The white man's burden: why the west's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little god , 2006 .

[43]  W. Adger,et al.  Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity , 2012 .

[44]  D. Nelson.  Adapting to Climate Change: Conclusions: Transforming the world , 2009 .

[45]  J. Edmonds,et al.  RCP4.5: a pathway for stabilization of radiative forcing by 2100 , 2011 .

[46]  W. Adger,et al.  Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation , 2013 .

[47]  S. O'Neill,et al.  Responding to bushfire risk: the need for transformative adaptation , 2012 .