Transformative adaptation to climate change for sustainable social-ecological systems

Fedele, Giacomo; Donatti, Camila I.; Harvey, Célia A.; Lee, Hannah; Hole, David G.

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2019.07.001

Cited by 241 publications

(171 citation statements)

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“…For example, climate change can alter the ecosystem services used for livelihoods (e.g., food provision, water regulation, and ecotourism) or affect the management of natural resources (e.g., water uses, agricultural practices, forest management). For each case study, we noted how people had responded to the shifts, and divided the adopted or suggested response strategies into (i) coping, (ii) incremental adaptation, or (iii) transformative adaptation (see Introduction and classification in Kates et al 2012, Fedele et al 2019). In addition, we differentiated the adopted or suggested response strategies according to whether they were based on the use of ecosystems and biodiversity (i.e., ecosystembased adaptation) or not (i.e., based on policies or built infrastructure).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, transformative adaptation can also be part of larger systemic changes, such as governance transitions (e.g., Chaffin et al 2016), sustainability transformations (e.g., Leach et al 2012, Stirling 2014, and socio-technical transitions (Biermann et al 2012. In a gradient of responses from coping to transformative adaptation, the original system's properties and social-ecological interactions are increasingly altered and require increasing human inputs (Fedele et al 2019).…”

Section: Conceptual Framework For Analysis: Climate-driven Shifts In mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, under increasingly changing social and ecological conditions driven by climate change, we might need other adaptation responses that are forward-looking and not only strengthen existing social and ecological capacities to adapt, but also allow desired or unavoidable changes to occur, even if the affected system will be fundamentally transformed (Lavorel et al 2015, Colloff et al 2017a. Such approaches include transformative adaptation that refers to strategies aimed at addressing the root causes of vulnerability in the long term by fundamentally changing the structures and functions of ecological or social systems, as well as their feedbacks, to move away from unsustainable trajectories (Feola 2015, Fedele et al 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Limited use of transformative adaptation in response to social-ecological shifts driven by climate change

Fedele¹,

Donatti²,

Harvey³

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Climate change is increasingly driving fundamental shifts in ecosystems, land use, and human livelihoods. Because of these rapid shifts, some conventional adaptation strategies may have limited success in reducing the impact of climate change. In some circumstances, there will be a need for considering transformative changes as part of adaptation strategies that can provide long-term benefits and address the root causes of vulnerability. However, to date, there is limited understanding of how societies respond to, or drive, transformative changes in social-ecological systems due to climate change impact. We reviewed 60 empirical case studies of shifts in trajectories of social-ecological systems in tropical and subtropical countries that were driven by climate change to identify how societies responded to these shifts and the extent to which societies used transformative adaptation as part of this response. In the case studies, we identified three types of shifts driven by climate change depending on whether the shift occurred in the ecological, social, or social-ecological system. Climate change shifted the trajectories of social-ecological systems by altering the feedback loops connecting soil, water, or vegetation conditions with people's livelihoods and well-being. In response to these shifts, people adjusted land use policies and practices, but only one-quarter of the reported adaptation actions included transformative adaptation. A more holistic understanding of how climate change modifies interactions in social-ecological systems and leads to shifts in system trajectories could help identify appropriate adaptation responses, including transformative adaptation, that provide long-term and sustainable benefits. Ecology and Society 25(1): 25 https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol25/iss1/art25/ LITERATURE CITED Abel, N., D. H. M. Cumming, and J. M. Anderies. 2006. Collapse and reorganization in social-ecological systems: questions, some ideas, and policy implications. Ecology and Society 11(1):17.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptual Framework For Analysis: Climate-driven Shifts In mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Limited use of transformative adaptation in response to social-ecological shifts driven by climate change

Fedele¹,

Donatti²,

Harvey³

et al. 2020

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“…Principle #4: Build socioeconomic resilience. The impact of climate change on fishing communities can be reduced through measures that increase socioeconomic resilience and adaptive capacity to environmental variability and changing fisheries [49,76,77]. Across low to high capacity systems, these measures include (1) policies that facilitate flexibility, such as diversification of access to fisheries and alternative livelihoods, (2) policies that provide better assets, such as the enhancement of fisheries technology and capacity, (3) policies that provide better organization in the system, including multi-level governance, community-based management, and other governance structures [14,48], and (4) policies that promote agency and learning [49].…”

Section: Guiding Principles For Climate-adaptive Fisheries Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realistic fisheries management reforms could mitigate the impacts of climate change in most countries

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Although climate change is altering the productivity and distribution of marine fisheries, climate-adaptive fisheries management could mitigate many of the negative impacts on human society. We forecast global fisheries biomass, catch, and profits to 2100 under three climate scenarios (RCPs 4.5, 6.0, 8.5) and five levels of management reform to (1) determine the impact of climate change on national fisheries and (2) quantify the national-scale benefits of implementing climate-adaptive fisheries reforms. Management reforms accounting for shifting productivity and shifting distributions would yield higher catch and profits in the future relative to today for 60-65% of countries under the two least severe climate scenarios but for only 35% of countries under the most severe scenario. Furthermore, these management reforms would yield higher cumulative catch and profits than business-asusual management for nearly all countries under the two least severe climate scenarios but would yield lower cumulative catch for 40% of countries under the most severe scenario. Fortunately, perfect fisheries management is not necessary to achieve these benefits: transboundary cooperation with 5-year intervals between adaptive interventions would result in comparable outcomes. However, the ability for realistic management reforms to offset the negative impacts of climate change is bounded by changes in underlying biological productivity. Although realistic reforms could generate higher catch and profits for 23-50% of countries experiencing reductions in productivity, the remaining countries would need to develop, expand, and reform aquaculture and other food production sectors to offset losses in capture fisheries. Still, climate-adaptive management is more profitable than business-as-usual management in all countries and we provide guidance on implementing-and achieving the benefits of-climate-adaptive fisheries reform along a gradient of scientific, management, and enforcement capacities.

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“…The impact of climate change on fishing communities can be reduced through measures that increase socioeconomic resilience and adaptive capacity to environmental variability and changing fisheries [40,64,65]. Across low to high capacity systems, these measures include (1) policies that facilitate flexibility, such as diversification of access to fisheries and alternative livelihoods, (2) policies that provide better assets, such as the enhancement of fisheries technology and capacity, (3) policies that provide better organization in the system, including multi-level governance, community-based management, and other governance structures [14, 39], and (4) policies that promote agency and learning [40].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Realistic fisheries management reforms could mitigate the impacts of climate change in most countries

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20Although climate change is altering the productivity and distribution of marine fisheries, 21climate-adaptive fisheries management could mitigate many of the negative impacts on human 22society. We forecast global fisheries biomass, catch, and profits to 2100 under three climate 23 scenarios (RCPs 4.5, 6.0, 8.5) and five levels of management reform to (1) determine the impact 24 of climate change on national fisheries and (2) quantify the national-scale benefits of 25implementing climate-adaptive fisheries reforms. Management reforms accounting for shifting 26 productivity and shifting distributions would yield higher catch and profits in the future relative 27to today for 60-65% of countries under the two least severe climate scenarios but for only 35% 28of countries under the most severe scenario. Furthermore, these management reforms would 29 yield higher cumulative catch and profits than business-as-usual management for nearly all 30 countries under the two least severe climate scenarios but would yield lower cumulative catch 31for 40% of countries under the most severe scenario. Fortunately, perfect fisheries 32 management is not necessary to achieve these benefits: transboundary cooperation with 5-33year intervals between adaptive interventions would result in comparable outcomes. However, 34the ability for realistic management reforms to offset the negative impacts of climate change is 35bounded by changes in underlying biological productivity. Although realistic reforms could 36 generate higher catch and profits for 23-50% of countries experiencing reductions in 37 productivity, the remaining countries would need to develop, expand, and reform aquaculture 38and other food production sectors to offset losses in capture fisheries. Still, climate-adaptive 39 management is more profitable than business-as-usual management in all countries and we 40provide guidance on implementing -and achieving the benefits of -climate-adaptive fisheries 41reform along a gradient of scientific, management, and enforcement capacities. 42 43 44Marine fisheries provide a vital source of food for over half the world's population and 45 support the livelihoods of over 56 million people globally [1].

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Transformative adaptation to climate change for sustainable social-ecological systems

Cited by 241 publications

References 93 publications

Limited use of transformative adaptation in response to social-ecological shifts driven by climate change

Limited use of transformative adaptation in response to social-ecological shifts driven by climate change

Realistic fisheries management reforms could mitigate the impacts of climate change in most countries

Realistic fisheries management reforms could mitigate the impacts of climate change in most countries

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