Assessing institutional capacities to adapt to climate change – integrating psychological dimensions in the Adaptive Capacity Wheel

Abstract

Abstract. Several case studies show that "soft social factors" (e.g. institutions, perceptions, social capital) strongly affect social capacities to adapt to climate change. Many soft social factors can probably be changed faster than "hard social factors" (e.g. economic and technological development) and are therefore particularly important for building social capacities. However, there are almost no methodologies for the systematic assessment of soft social factors. Gupta et al. (2010) have developed the Adaptive Capacity Wheel (ACW) for assessing the adaptive capacity of institutions. The ACW differentiates 22 criteria to assess six dimensions: variety, learning capacity, room for autonomous change, leadership, availability of resources, fair governance. To include important psychological factors we extended the ACW by two dimensions: "adaptation motivation" refers to actors' motivation to realise, support and/or promote adaptation to climate. "Adaptation belief" refers to actors' perceptions of realisability and effectiveness of adaptation measures. We applied the extended ACW to assess adaptive capacities of four sectors – water management, flood/coastal protection, civil protection and regional planning – in North Western Germany. The assessments of adaptation motivation and belief provided a clear added value. The results also revealed some methodological problems in applying the ACW (e.g. overlap of dimensions), for which we propose methodological solutions.

Efectos de políticas públicas "no climáticas" en la capacidad adaptativa de la pequeña agricultura al cambio climático

“…En relación al tipo de entrevista realizada, siguiendo las recomendaciones de Gupta et al (2010) y de Grothmann et al (2013), se desarrolló un set de pregunta para evaluar cada dimensión, privilegiando preguntas abiertas, evitando que sean tan explicitas, y se evitó la utilización de lenguaje demasiado técnico con el fin de evitar confusiones. Para facilitar la fluidez de la conversación se estructuró la entrevista en cuatro partes.…”

“…Varios autores destacan la importancia de determinados factores psicológicos individuales al momento de llevar a cabo un proceso adaptativo ( Yohe y Tol, 2002;Gupta et al, 2010;Grothmann et al, 2013;Phillips, 2015). Entre estos se destacan elementos relacionados al proceso cognitivo, motivacional y afectivo de los individuos.…”

“…Entre estos se destacan elementos relacionados al proceso cognitivo, motivacional y afectivo de los individuos. Estos elementos, son el resultado de la percepción "subjetiva" de procesos "objetivos" los cuales influyen en la motivación y creencia de los individuos (Grothmann et al, 2013). Cabe destacar que la primera etapa del proceso adaptativo tiene que ver con reconocer una necesidad de adaptación, de esta manera, si un individuo no percibe la existencia de riesgo, o no considera estar expuesto a dicho riesgo, o incluso no siente que pueda hacer algo al respecto, no va a sentir la necesidad de realizar cambios en sus prácticas habituales.…”

The adaptive capacity of institutions in Canada, Argentina, and Chile to droughts and floods

“…The ACW has subsequently been applied in numerous case studies (Grothmann et al 2013;Gupta et al 2016;Klostermann et al 2010). The ACW focuses on institutional change, considered crucial for climate change adaptation, and the qualitative aspects of adaptive capacity normally overlooked in quantitative analysis.…”

“…Since development, this tool has been utilized to assess the adaptive capacity of institutions in relation to water, management, civil protection and regional planning (Grothmann et al 2013), critical energy services during storms (Leon-Camacho et al 2014), spatial planning, water, agriculture and nature , and coastal resource management (Fidelman et al 2016). This research makes an important contribution by applying it in relation to droughts and floods.…”