Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research
The concept of adaptive capacity has received significant attention within social-ecological and environmental change research. Within both the resilience and vulnerability literatures specifically, adaptive capacity has emerged as a fundamental concept for assessing the ability of social-ecological...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68fb |
| _version_ | 1827869409588281344 |
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| author | Sechindra Vallury Ada P Smith Brian C Chaffin Holly K Nesbitt Sapana Lohani Sabrina Gulab Simanti Banerjee Theresa M Floyd Alexander L Metcalf Elizabeth C Metcalf Dirac Twidwell Daniel R Uden Matthew A Williamson Craig R Allen |
| author_facet | Sechindra Vallury Ada P Smith Brian C Chaffin Holly K Nesbitt Sapana Lohani Sabrina Gulab Simanti Banerjee Theresa M Floyd Alexander L Metcalf Elizabeth C Metcalf Dirac Twidwell Daniel R Uden Matthew A Williamson Craig R Allen |
| author_sort | Sechindra Vallury |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The concept of adaptive capacity has received significant attention within social-ecological and environmental change research. Within both the resilience and vulnerability literatures specifically, adaptive capacity has emerged as a fundamental concept for assessing the ability of social-ecological systems to adapt to environmental change. Although methods and indicators used to evaluate adaptive capacity are broad, the focus of existing scholarship has predominately been at the individual- and household- levels. However, the capacities necessary for humans to adapt to global environmental change are often a function of individual and societal characteristics, as well as cumulative and emergent capacities across communities and jurisdictions. In this paper, we apply a systematic literature review and co-citation analysis to investigate empirical research on adaptive capacity that focus on societal levels beyond the household. Our review demonstrates that assessments of adaptive capacity at higher societal levels are increasing in frequency, yet vary widely in approach, framing, and results; analyses focus on adaptive capacity at many different levels (e.g. community, municipality, global region), geographic locations, and cover multiple types of disturbances and their impacts across sectors. We also found that there are considerable challenges with regard to the ‘fit’ between data collected and analytical methods used in adequately capturing the cross-scale and cross-level determinants of adaptive capacity. Current approaches to assessing adaptive capacity at societal levels beyond the household tend to simply aggregate individual- or household-level data, which we argue oversimplifies and ignores the inherent interactions within and across societal levels of decision-making that shape the capacity of humans to adapt to environmental change across multiple scales. In order for future adaptive capacity research to be more practice-oriented and effectively guide policy, there is a need to develop indicators and assessments that are matched with the levels of potential policy applications. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:44:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-27ee9d15c5bb4616a812377d48586fb3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:44:47Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-27ee9d15c5bb4616a812377d48586fb32023-08-09T15:29:32ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262022-01-0117606300110.1088/1748-9326/ac68fbAdaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological researchSechindra Vallury0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6039-3158Ada P Smith1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8315-1741Brian C Chaffin2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3739-5849Holly K Nesbitt3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4455-7607Sapana Lohani4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8904-6341Sabrina Gulab5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0662-1903Simanti Banerjee6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6352-5440Theresa M Floyd7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5348-1627Alexander L Metcalf8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9532-585XElizabeth C Metcalf9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6917-8729Dirac Twidwell10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0280-3339Daniel R Uden11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3801-5489Matthew A Williamson12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2550-5828Craig R Allen13W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of AmericaW.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of AmericaW.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of America; Center for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaW.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of AmericaW.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of AmericaDepartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaDepartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaCollege of Business, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of AmericaW.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of AmericaW.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana , Missoula, MT, United States of AmericaCenter for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of America; Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaCenter for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of America; Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of America; School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaHuman-Environment Systems, Boise State University , Boise, ID, United States of AmericaCenter for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of America; School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln , Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaThe concept of adaptive capacity has received significant attention within social-ecological and environmental change research. Within both the resilience and vulnerability literatures specifically, adaptive capacity has emerged as a fundamental concept for assessing the ability of social-ecological systems to adapt to environmental change. Although methods and indicators used to evaluate adaptive capacity are broad, the focus of existing scholarship has predominately been at the individual- and household- levels. However, the capacities necessary for humans to adapt to global environmental change are often a function of individual and societal characteristics, as well as cumulative and emergent capacities across communities and jurisdictions. In this paper, we apply a systematic literature review and co-citation analysis to investigate empirical research on adaptive capacity that focus on societal levels beyond the household. Our review demonstrates that assessments of adaptive capacity at higher societal levels are increasing in frequency, yet vary widely in approach, framing, and results; analyses focus on adaptive capacity at many different levels (e.g. community, municipality, global region), geographic locations, and cover multiple types of disturbances and their impacts across sectors. We also found that there are considerable challenges with regard to the ‘fit’ between data collected and analytical methods used in adequately capturing the cross-scale and cross-level determinants of adaptive capacity. Current approaches to assessing adaptive capacity at societal levels beyond the household tend to simply aggregate individual- or household-level data, which we argue oversimplifies and ignores the inherent interactions within and across societal levels of decision-making that shape the capacity of humans to adapt to environmental change across multiple scales. In order for future adaptive capacity research to be more practice-oriented and effectively guide policy, there is a need to develop indicators and assessments that are matched with the levels of potential policy applications.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68fbadaptive capacitycommunity resiliencesystematic literature reviewco-citation analysissocial-ecological systems |
| spellingShingle | Sechindra Vallury Ada P Smith Brian C Chaffin Holly K Nesbitt Sapana Lohani Sabrina Gulab Simanti Banerjee Theresa M Floyd Alexander L Metcalf Elizabeth C Metcalf Dirac Twidwell Daniel R Uden Matthew A Williamson Craig R Allen Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research Environmental Research Letters adaptive capacity community resilience systematic literature review co-citation analysis social-ecological systems |
| title | Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research |
| title_full | Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research |
| title_fullStr | Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research |
| title_short | Adaptive capacity beyond the household: a systematic review of empirical social-ecological research |
| title_sort | adaptive capacity beyond the household a systematic review of empirical social ecological research |
| topic | adaptive capacity community resilience systematic literature review co-citation analysis social-ecological systems |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68fb |
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