Re-thinking the present: The role of a historical focus in climate change adaptation research

Adamson, George; Hannaford, Matthew; Rohland, Eleonora

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.12.003

Cited by 139 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 155 publications

(199 reference statements)

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“…This shows that the vanishing of islands is a continual phenomenon with historical precedent, which can sometimes be uncovered by local knowledge or island geo-mythology (Nunn, 2009). Such an approach can also deliver an analysis of the development and interactions of small island discourses over time (Grote, 2010), as well as an understanding of social adaptation processes that unfold across long periods (Adamson et al, 2018;Bankoff, 2004;Glantz, 1988).…”

Section: The Importance Of Considering Local Island Perceptions On Anmentioning

confidence: 98%

Small island perspectives on climate change

Walshe¹,

Stancioff²

2018

ISJ

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Islands and islanders are often misrepresented in the climate change discourse, oversimplifying their experiences and interactions with climate change. In reality, islands and islanders have far more complex relationships with climate change. This special thematic section presents eight papers that highlight local responses and localized impacts of climate change on islands, reiterating the importance of considering local community perspectives in small island contexts to overcome simplistic viewpoints. Such perceptions and perspectives are increasingly being recognized as offering a valuable contribution to climate change adaptation, particularly to counter the misrepresentation of small islands as vulnerable or passive, and the disregard for the fact that climate change is a global, as well as continual process. This special thematic section further demonstrates that island research is well placed to address the disproportionate concentration of perspectives and opinions of climate change from the Global North and adds to the calls for increased efforts to give a voice to island communities of all kinds.

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Section: The Importance Of Considering Local Island Perceptions On Anmentioning

confidence: 98%

Small island perspectives on climate change

Walshe¹,

Stancioff²

2018

ISJ

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“…Others have proposed the term adaptation pathways as broad and deliberate sets of changes and responses that demand addressing the underlying causes of vulnerability. They also underscore the uncertainties that confound decision making for the long term (Adamson and others ). Transitions, as used here, include both deliberate and unplanned adaptations, those that are not directed at either modifying the environment or human activities that impact the environment.…”

Section: Adaptation Transformation and Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meanwhile, historians have presented both cultures and environments as agents of change within the realm of nature‐society relations (Russell and others , Adamson and others ). They tend to acknowledge systems in the biophysical realm, but the see the imposition of a systems approach on humans as being deterministic and instead strive to foreground unpredictable and interrelated social, cultural, political, technological, and economic processes as well as the particularities of place and time.…”

Section: Incompatible Approaches? Human‐environment Systems Hybrid Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As part of the larger effort to raise the visibility of humanities and social sciences in long‐term climate change discussions (Adger and others ; Castree and others ; Adamson and others ), this paper examines the relationships among multiple discrete adaptations that theoretically will enable a sustainable future for human societies and long‐term adaptive transitions that depend on multiple adaptations and changes in governance (Pelling, ; Pelling and others ). Deliberate adaptations are what set human societies apart from natural systems.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Adaptive Transitions: The Long‐Term Perspective on Humans in Changing Coastal Settings

Colten

2019

Geographical Review

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Adaptation is a key concept in long‐term human adjustments to climate change. Despite the centrality of human decisions and actions in adaptation, much of the climate change literature is thin on humanities and social science which are the primary approaches for understanding human activity. This situation is particularly pronounced in Louisiana's discussions about its disappearing coast line where research has concentrated in understanding biophysical processes and solutions prioritize short‐term adaptations. This paper reviews the relationship of adaptation and long‐term transitions in the global change discussion and traces how disjointed adaptations in coastal Louisiana have contributed to a perilous environmental situation there. It proposes a shift from discrete adaptations to efforts that incorporate interrelated biophysical and human adaptations that can sustain long‐term transitions.

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“…Adamson et al () state that within climate research if there are any historical climate‐society interaction studies, they are largely by scholars without historical training.…”

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confidence: 99%

People's history of climate change

Das

2018

History Compass

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While social scientific studies have provided useful insights into the phenomenon of climate change, they, however, do not take a historical approach to the impacts of climate change, and people's perception of it. Historians have studied climate and its impact on the whole society but have neglected the everyday experiences and perceptions of climate change within a society such as ordinary people versus the elite perceptions, men versus women's experiences of climate change. Moreover, historians of climate have largely dealt with natural climate change in the distant past, but not with climate change caused by human activities. Since climate change that the world is witnessing in the past century is largely anthropogenic, historians therefore cannot neglect present‐day climate change and its impact on society. Furthermore, although climate change is a global environmental phenomenon, the poor and the marginalized social groups are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change more than others. Hence, climate change and the history of climate change needs to be understood from the perspective of these vulnerable groups in a society. I would, therefore, like to propose a new approach to doing history: people's history of climate change, which will be elaborated in this article.

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Re-thinking the present: The role of a historical focus in climate change adaptation research

Cited by 139 publications

References 155 publications

Small island perspectives on climate change

Small island perspectives on climate change

Adaptive Transitions: The Long‐Term Perspective on Humans in Changing Coastal Settings

People's history of climate change

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