An integrative research framework for enabling transformative adaptation

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Matthew J. Colloff
  • Berta Martín-López
  • Sandra Lavorel
  • Bruno Locatelli
  • Russell Gorddard
  • Pierre Yves Longaretti
  • Gretchen Walters
  • Lorrae van Kerkhoff
  • Carina Wyborn
  • Audrey Coreau
  • Russell M. Wise
  • Michael Dunlop
  • Patrick Degeorges
  • Hedley Grantham
  • Ian C. Overton
  • Rachel D. Williams
  • Michael D. Doherty
  • Tim Capon
  • Todd Sanderson
  • Helen T. Murphy

Transformative adaptation will be increasingly important to effectively address the impacts of climate change and other global drivers on social-ecological systems. Enabling transformative adaptation requires new ways to evaluate and adaptively manage trade-offs between maintaining desirable aspects of current social-ecological systems and adapting to major biophysical changes to those systems. We outline such an approach, based on three elements developed by the Transformative Adaptation Research Alliance (TARA): (1) the benefits of adaptation services; that sub-set of ecosystem services that help people adapt to environmental change; (2) The values-rules-knowledge perspective (vrk) for identifying those aspects of societal decision-making contexts that enable or constrain adaptation and (3) the adaptation pathways approach for implementing adaptation, that builds on and integrates adaptation services and the vrk perspective. Together, these elements provide a future-oriented approach to evaluation and use of ecosystem services, a dynamic, grounded understanding of governance and decision-making and a logical, sequential approach that connects decisions over time. The TARA approach represents a means for achieving changes in institutions and governance needed to support transformative adaptation.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEnvironmental Science & Policy
Volume68
Pages (from-to)87-96
Number of pages10
ISSN1462-9011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.02.2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors

    Research areas

  • Adaptation pathways, Adaptation services, Adaptive governance, Agency, Co-production, Decsion making, Global change, Learning, Power relations, Transformation, Values-rules-knowledge
  • Sustainability Science