Beyond conceptual understanding of barriers to national adaptation policy: A comparative analysis of South Korea and the UK

Abstract

Despite progress with national adaptation policies, the adaptation deficit is growing. Barriers to adaptation are a key reason for the adaptation deficit. Past research on barriers only offers a conceptual understanding of the barriers, with limited insight into real adaptation processes. Common causality, interrelationships and dynamics of the barriers remain under-researched. Examining the cases of South Korea and the UK, this research aims to improve our understanding of the common barriers to national adaptation policy. Drawing from semi-structured interviews and documentary material, we identify 54 common factors in the two countries (17 barriers, 17 origins, 20 influences), and eight key barriers: conflicts between government departments, frequent rotating of civil servants, lack of political will, unclear range of participants in national adaptation policy, low priority of adaptation, uncertainty about the effectiveness of adaptation policy, differences between adaptation and election timelines, and lack of understanding of adaptation. We explain the origins and links between factors and the common causal mechanisms of barriers to national adaptation policy, as well as their influences by mapping them. Based on the mapping, we argue that there are barriers that are easier to address than others, and that there is a need to focus on them to reduce the adaptation deficit effectively. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of our findings.

Gap analysis of climate adaptation policymaking in Coastal Virginia

“…Several scholars have identified barriers and challenges of climate adaptation at either national, state, regional, or local levels using different methodologies, e.g., interviews, document analysis, and surveys (Biesbroek et al, 2011;Hunt and Watkiss, 2011;Baker et al, 2012;Boateng, 2012;Bierbaum et al, 2013;Clar et al, 2013;Reckien et al, 2014;Waters et al, 2014;Ryan, 2015;Shi et al, 2015;Chen et al, 2016;Tangney, 2017;Woodruff, 2018;Miao, 2019;Molenveld et al, 2020;Rai, 2020;Valente and Veloso-Gomes, 2020;Bromley-Trujillo and Holman, 2021;Lee et al, 2021;Basseches et al, 2022). For instance, Biesbroek et al (2011) categorize the barriers to development and implementation of climate adaptation strategies into seven clusters and, using a survey of 264 involved individuals in the Netherlands, find the ten highest-ranked barriers to adaptation, e.g., conflicting timescale, conflicting interests of actors, and lack of financial resources.…”