How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level Application
The need to track climate change adaptation progress is being increasingly recognized but our ability to do the tracking is constrained by the complex nature of adaptation and the absence of measurable outcomes or indicators by which to judge if and how adaptation is occurring. We developed a typolo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2013-09-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol18/iss3/art40/ |
| _version_ | 1818743407920545792 |
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| author | James D. Ford Lea Berrang-Ford Alex Lesnikowski Magda Barrera S. Jody. Heymann |
| author_facet | James D. Ford Lea Berrang-Ford Alex Lesnikowski Magda Barrera S. Jody. Heymann |
| author_sort | James D. Ford |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The need to track climate change adaptation progress is being increasingly recognized but our ability to do the tracking is constrained by the complex nature of adaptation and the absence of measurable outcomes or indicators by which to judge if and how adaptation is occurring. We developed a typology of approaches by which climate change adaptation can be tracked globally at a national level. On the one hand, outcome-based approaches directly measure adaptation progress and effectiveness with reference to avoided climate change impacts. However, given that full exposure to climate change impacts will not happen for decades, alternative approaches focus on developing indicators or proxies by which adaptation can be monitored. These include systematic measures of adaptation readiness, processes undertaken to advance adaptation, policies and programs implemented to adapt, and measures of the impacts of these policies and programs on changing vulnerability. While these approaches employ various methods and data sources, and identify different components of adaptation progress to track at the national level, they all seek to characterize the current status of adaptation by which progress over time can be monitored. However, there are significant challenges to operationalizing these approaches, including an absence of systematically collected data on adaptation actions and outcomes, underlying difficulties of defining what constitutes "adaptation", and a disconnect between the timescale over which adaptation plays out and the practical need for evaluation to inform policy. Given the development of new adaptation funding streams, it is imperative that tools for monitoring progress are developed and validated for identifying trends and gaps in adaptation response. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:27:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2fff69750dce46ac8bde77688ac0ead9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T02:27:56Z |
| publishDate | 2013-09-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-2fff69750dce46ac8bde77688ac0ead92022-12-21T21:23:58ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872013-09-011834010.5751/ES-05732-1803405732How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level ApplicationJames D. Ford0Lea Berrang-Ford1Alex Lesnikowski2Magda Barrera3S. Jody. Heymann4McGill UniversityMcGill UniversityMcGill UniversityMcGill UniversityUCLA Fielding School of Public HealthThe need to track climate change adaptation progress is being increasingly recognized but our ability to do the tracking is constrained by the complex nature of adaptation and the absence of measurable outcomes or indicators by which to judge if and how adaptation is occurring. We developed a typology of approaches by which climate change adaptation can be tracked globally at a national level. On the one hand, outcome-based approaches directly measure adaptation progress and effectiveness with reference to avoided climate change impacts. However, given that full exposure to climate change impacts will not happen for decades, alternative approaches focus on developing indicators or proxies by which adaptation can be monitored. These include systematic measures of adaptation readiness, processes undertaken to advance adaptation, policies and programs implemented to adapt, and measures of the impacts of these policies and programs on changing vulnerability. While these approaches employ various methods and data sources, and identify different components of adaptation progress to track at the national level, they all seek to characterize the current status of adaptation by which progress over time can be monitored. However, there are significant challenges to operationalizing these approaches, including an absence of systematically collected data on adaptation actions and outcomes, underlying difficulties of defining what constitutes "adaptation", and a disconnect between the timescale over which adaptation plays out and the practical need for evaluation to inform policy. Given the development of new adaptation funding streams, it is imperative that tools for monitoring progress are developed and validated for identifying trends and gaps in adaptation response.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol18/iss3/art40/adaptation responseadaptation trackingclimate change adaptationevaluationindicatorsmethodologymonitoringoutcome-based trackingprocess-based tracking |
| spellingShingle | James D. Ford Lea Berrang-Ford Alex Lesnikowski Magda Barrera S. Jody. Heymann How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level Application Ecology and Society adaptation response adaptation tracking climate change adaptation evaluation indicators methodology monitoring outcome-based tracking process-based tracking |
| title | How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level Application |
| title_full | How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level Application |
| title_fullStr | How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level Application |
| title_full_unstemmed | How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level Application |
| title_short | How to Track Adaptation to Climate Change: A Typology of Approaches for National-Level Application |
| title_sort | how to track adaptation to climate change a typology of approaches for national level application |
| topic | adaptation response adaptation tracking climate change adaptation evaluation indicators methodology monitoring outcome-based tracking process-based tracking |
| url | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol18/iss3/art40/ |
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