Enabling natural resource managers to self-assess their adaptive capacity

Brown, Peter R.; Nelson, Rohan; Jacobs, Brent; Kokic, Phil; Tracey, Jacquie; Ahmed, Mehnaz; deVoil, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2010.06.004

Cited by 70 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The tool allows NRM communities operating at institutional, organizational, and individual tiers of management to self-assess their capacity to plan and implement NRM programs. Unlike recent capacity assessment processes (e.g., Brown et al 2010), our process ( Fig. 1) both supports the self-assessment of capacity and enables participants to identify, develop, and modify capacity indicators relevant to their local needs in the pre-assessment phase.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Cheers et al (2005) developed an electronic community capacity assessment tool and process that linked capacity strength responses to assessment participant comments and observer comments. Brown et al (2010) developed a process that enabled local NRM officers to self-assess their adaptive capacity at the local scale. Members of each focus group were well informed and able to make judgments about the capacity of the people they were representing in the community and were themselves long-term members of the community.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Tool and Process that Facilitate Community Capacity Building and Social Learning for Natural Resource Management

Raymond¹,

Cleary²

2013

E&S

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ABSTRACT. This study presents a self-assessment tool and process that facilitate community capacity building and social learning for natural resource management. The tool and process provide opportunities for rural landholders and project teams both to self-assess their capacity to plan and deliver natural resource management (NRM) programs and to reflect on their capacities relative to other organizations and institutions that operate in their region. We first outline the tool and process and then present a critical review of the pilot in the South Australian Arid Lands NRM region, South Australia. Results indicate that participants representing local, organizational, and institutional tiers of government were able to arrive at a group consensus position on the strength, importance, and confidence of a variety of capacities for NRM categorized broadly as human, social, physical, and financial. During the process, participants learned a lot about their current capacity as well as capacity needs. Broad conclusions are discussed with reference to the iterative process for assessing and reflecting on community capacity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Tool and Process that Facilitate Community Capacity Building and Social Learning for Natural Resource Management

Raymond¹,

Cleary²

2013

E&S

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“…Adaptation can include increasing adaptive capacity and implementing measures to reduce the impacts of climatic hazards (Adger et al 2005, Füssel andKlein 2006). Adaptive capacity involves the asset base or preconditions necessary to implement strategies to deal with climate variability and change Vincent 2005, Nelson et al 2007 as cited in Brown et al 2010) and is often characterized with the help of the five capitals: human, social, natural, financial, and physical.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Payments for Ecosystem Services Contribute to Adaptation to Climate Change? Insights from a Watershed in Kenya

Sand¹,

Mwangi²,

Namirembe³

2014

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Climate change presents new challenges for the management of social-ecological systems and the ecosystem services they provide. Although the instrument of payments for ecosystem services (PES) has emerged as a promising tool to safeguard or enhance the provision of ecosystem services (ES), little attention has been paid to the potential role of PES in climate change adaptation. As an external stressor climate change has an impact on the social-ecological system in which PES takes place, including the various actors taking part in the PES scheme. Following a short description of the conceptual link between PES and adaptation to climate change, we provide practical insights into the relationship between PES and adaptation to climate change by presenting results from a case study of a rural watershed in Kenya. Drawing upon the results of a participatory vulnerability assessment among potential ecosystem service providers in Sasumua watershed north of Nairobi, we show that PES can play a role in enhancing adaptation to climate change by influencing certain elements of adaptive capacity and incentivizing adaptation measures. In addition, trade-offs and synergies between proposed measures under PES and adaptation to climate change are identified. Results show that although it may not be possible to establish PES schemes based on water utilities as the sole source of financing, embedding PES in a wider adaptation framework creates an opportunity for the development of watershed PES schemes in Africa and ensures their sustainability. We conclude that there is a need to embed PES in a wider institutional framework and that extra financial resources are needed to foster greater integration between PES and adaptation to climate change. This can be achieved through scaling up PES by bringing in other buyers and additional ecosystem services. PES can achieve important coadaptation benefits, but for more effective adaptation outcomes it needs to be combined with vulnerability assessments and climate scenarios to ensure that these are realized and potential trade-offs between PES measures and adaptation measures minimized.

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“…This method was chosen because it facilitated IA of climate change impacts through a complex adaptive systems approach and incorporated social learning and stakeholder-led research processes, which ensured the findings were relevant to those responsible for policy making and management. Li's approach was augmented with a detailed analysis of adaptive capacity drawing on the participatory workshop process of Brown et al (2010) designed to identify factors that enabled and constrained adaptation of natural resource managers leading to adoption of improved management practices (Leith et al, 2012).…”

Section: The Integrated Regional Vulnerability Assessment (Irva) Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated regional vulnerability assessment of government services to climate change

Jacobs

Lee²,

O’Toole³

et al. 2014

International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management

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Structured Abstract:Purpose This paper describes the conduct and outcomes of an Integrated Assessment of the vulnerability to climate change of government service provision at regional scale in New South Wales, Australia .The assessment was co-designed with regional public sector managers to address their needs for an improved understanding of regional vulnerabilities to climate change and variability. Design/methodology/approachThe study employed Integrated Assessment of climate change impacts through a complex adaptive systems approach incorporating social learning and stakeholder-led research processes. Workshops were conducted with stakeholders from NSW government agencies, State-owned corporations and local governments representing the tourism, water, primary industries, human settlements, emergency management, human health, infrastructure, and natural landscapes sectors. Participants used regional socioeconomic profiling and climate projections to consider the impacts on and the need to adapt community service provision to future climate. FindingsMany sectors are currently experiencing difficulty coping with changes in regional demographics and structural adjustment in the economy. Climate change will result in further impacts on already vulnerable systems in the forms of resource conflicts between expanded human settlements, the infrastructure that supports them and the environment (particularly for water), increased energy costs and declining agricultural production and food security. Originality/value This paper describes the application of meta-analysis in climate change policy research and frames climate change as a problem of environmental pollution and an issue of development and social equity Keywords:Integrated assessment, climate change vulnerability and adaptation, regional service provision, public sector, Australia About the authorsDr Brent Jacobs is Research Director in the natural resources and ecosystems theme at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, The University of Technology, Sydney. He has worked as an academic in agricultural science at the University of Sydney and the University of the South Pacific. Brent has over a decade of experience as a Senior Project Manager with the NSW Government in natural resource and structural adjustment policy and programs.Christopher Lee is currently the Manager of Impacts and Adaptation in the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and leads NSW policy development in Climate Change Adaptation.David O'Toole has over 10 years' of service with the NSW Government in environmental management and biodiversity conservation policy. For the past 3 years He worked as a Senior Policy Officer in the Impacts and Adaptation team of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, focussing on regional vulnerability assessments, and adaptation programs for the Emergency Management, Health and Infrastructure sectors.Katie Vines is a Senior Policy Officer in the Impacts and Adaptation team of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Katie's work focuses on understandin...

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Enabling natural resource managers to self-assess their adaptive capacity

Cited by 70 publications

References 26 publications

A Tool and Process that Facilitate Community Capacity Building and Social Learning for Natural Resource Management

A Tool and Process that Facilitate Community Capacity Building and Social Learning for Natural Resource Management

Can Payments for Ecosystem Services Contribute to Adaptation to Climate Change? Insights from a Watershed in Kenya

Integrated regional vulnerability assessment of government services to climate change

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