Building adaptive capacity in a coastal region experiencing global change

Abstract

Coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by human development, and climate change and other stressors are now further degrading the capacity of those ecological and social systems to remain resilient in the face of such disturbances. We sought to identify potential ways in which local conservation interests in the Lowcountry of South Carolina (USA) could participate in a social process of adaptation planning, and how that process might ultimately be broadened to engage a more diverse set of partners. We engaged participants through a combination of informal meetings, workshops, and other collaborative interactions to explore how the conservation community perceives and pursues its various missions, and how that community might confront the threats and opportunities in its future. Coproduction of knowledge and meaning were facilitated by collaborative scenario planning and strategic planning evaluation, which illuminated how the conservation community is integral to the broader governance of the region and highlighted how responses to forces of change are mediated through local culture, economics, and politics. We suggest an interpretation of conservation in which the fundamental objectives of both social and ecological systems might be prioritized in tandem, rather than narrowly focusing on environmental protection without consideration of the social landscape. Ultimately, adaptive capacity depends on the ability to act collectively, and social capital, trust, and organization greatly influence the capacity to act. Thus, we conclude that the presence of strong social networks, coordination and deliberation among diverse stakeholders, mechanisms for experiential feedback, and emphasis on social learning are key elements needed to build adaptive capacity. Central to the evolving perspective of governance of the commons is recognition that social and ecological systems are coupled; the issues and problems of one cannot be addressed without considering the consequences for the other. Moreover, a dominant theme emerging from our research and that of other scholars is the importance of culture and place attachment, which generates social cohesion and facilitates problem solving. These ideas have important implications for when, where, and how stakeholders are engaged to address the rapid changes being experienced by socialecological systems.

Collaborations in Environmental Initiatives for an Effective “Adaptive Governance” of Social–Ecological Systems: What Existing Literature Suggests

“…Scientific communication is fundamental for community education. Third sector actors as proposed by [62]-especially researchers, but also NGOs and generally all public actors-to play a fundamental role in the transmission of scientific knowledge to all other actors [96,[98][99][100]. To be effective, the content of scientific communication has to be clear and make use of tools able to be applied by non-experts [42,101,102], especially by policymakers who normally steer, guide, control, and manage natural resources.…”

“…The integration of different typologies of actors, especially underprivileged stakeholders, and the respect of equity also within participative initiatives are essential for establishing relationships based on trust and respect [24,26,41,42,48,89,92,95,98,99,[105][106][107][108]. In participative processes, there is always the risk that interests of the elites prevail or that some groups of relevant actors are excluded in the decision-making processes [24,48,91,96,109].…”

“…Additionally, public authorities are required to devolve some power and autonomy to bottom-up initiatives that emerge from adaptive governance processes [41,90,99,100,115]. Accordingly, all actors are invited to share material and non-material resources by considering a self-help perspective [96,98] in order to overcome limits that could preclude sustainability transformations, (e.g., the creation of ecotourism infrastructures in Amazon villages as suggested by [24]). Specifically, private actors are invited to avoid influencing scientific activities and research themes through the allocation of private funds on specific research themes that do not positively impact on the society [93].…”

“…This is why the State and third sector actors are requested to comprehend real problems dealt by local stakeholders (both community and market) [92,100,110]. In addition, public interventions need to be culturally contextualized, and they have to respect traditions (e.g., everyday practices and taboos) of communities where they are placed, especially in non-Western countries, in order to build trust and legitimation [24,41,91,98,99,108,111,128,132]. To do so, the literature invites the promotion of participative evaluations processes [108,133].…”

“…practices and taboos) of communities where they are placed, especially in non-Western countries, in order to build trust and legitimation [24,41,91,98,99,108,111,128,132]. To do so, the literature invites the promotion of participative evaluations processes [108,133].…”