Fine-Tuning Climate Resilience in Marine Socio-Ecological Systems: The Need for Accurate Space-Time Representativeness to Identify Relevant Consequences and Responses

Abstract

Climate change triggers a wide mosaic of regional and local responses, often different to the large-scale variability in magnitude and direction. Because of the psychological connections (cognitive and emotional) with the frequency, intensity and age of a climatic event, people may have the capacity to recognize key variations at lower scales, especially those from which they perceive risk. Yet, the anticipatory actions and social engagement to respond or adapt to climate change are difficult to achieve, mostly when there exists a long psychological distance to climatic phenomena. Research about climate change communication provides clues about the relevance of place-based discussion to gauge risk perception and improve response protocols, their design and prioritization. It argues that strategies and actions required to face climate risks may widely differ depending on the scale and accuracy of the local representations displayed during discussions of climate impacts. This work examines how local attributes (from climate to social) operate and control place-specific risks and priorities, by comparing coastal communities in two locations, Cabo Pulmo, Mexico and Zanzibar, Tanzania, which are subject to different climate dynamics. This paper discusses the need to identify relevant climate risks/responses at the local level and how psycho-social factors (e.g., psychological distance, collective memory, and social engagement) may operate positively for building climate resilience. We also illustrate a workflow to increase and enhance collaboration between researchers and local people by promoting dialogue, participation and narratives that rigorously consider the local knowledge.

How Can Psychology Contribute to Climate Change Governance? A Systematic Review

“…Six studies utilise a multifocal approach, with data collected from different countries. One of is the studies includes experimental research from the UK with a replication study in India [79], three are comparative case studies [80][81][82], one is a qualitative longitudinal ethnography of six UNFCCC conferences in four different countries [83], and another one gathered qualitative data from five EU countries [84]. Two studies focus on the European Union, in particular regarding EU climate regulation and policy [85,86].…”

“…The second cluster highlights perceptions, attitudes and views of people regarding climate issues and related governance solutions and explores the influence of these perceptions on the achievement of broad behaviour change in society. From the results, important suggestions for policymakers can be derived, since every successful implementation plan needs to recognise the substantial role of public perception [82,102,117]. Regarding this, in their comprehensive review, Nishant and colleagues stated that a psychological and sociological lens is mandatory to understand citizens' responses to artificial intelligenceassisted environmental and sustainability governance strategies, which are perceived as culturally appropriate and legitimate [116].…”

“…Few articles focus on local actors' perceptions of climate change impacts, collective local knowledge and experience and their influence on the different steps of local adaptation processes, indicating as a priority the incorporation of these perceptions in effective adaptation planning, to leverage and foster local adaptive capacity [87,91,96,97,102]. Group discussions and workshops with stakeholders, implementing visual methods, have been found to be useful to reduce the psychological distance and establish a connection with place-specific representations, collective memories and bolstering emotional engagement [82,87].…”

Integrating human dimensions in decadal-scale prediction for marine social–ecological systems: lighting the grey zone

“…Developing trust and response capacities demands understanding how local climate relates to everyday human perceptions, activities, and priorities. Locally relevant narratives must be part of climate scenarios and communication strategies in order to trigger the three basic psychosocial factors that stimulate empathy and participation: (1) collective memory, (2) reduced psychological distance, and (3) social engagement (Saldívar-Lucio et al, 2021) (see also "Linking and combining narratives and quantitative predictions").…”

Women and adaptive capacity to climate change in East African seascapes – Zanzibar as an example

“…However, a major challenge is how to use the knowledge in the context of climate change and action. Knowledge should be useful for better adaptation, and a combination of knowledge is the way further for historical understanding, forecasting and policy formation (Saldivar-Lucio et al, 2021). Complementarity between traditional ecological knowledge and conventional scientific knowledge is possible and important (e.g.…”