241
Viewing climate change and global sustainability as wicked problems enables us to
interpret their challenges and solutions in more dynamic and complex terms, including social messes and industrial and organizational fragmentation (Conklin 2016).
As climate change and its consequences now appear inevitable, it seems sensible to
undertake adaptive measures as a way to cushion against negative effects and explore
potential opportunities. Adaptation, as an organizational principle, enables us to
understand the relationship between the system and its composite parts. Indeed,
adaptation capabilities encompass myriad transdisciplinary aspects of the environment, and this multi-sectoral approach is a welcomed starting point for a reflection
on the systemic, reciprocal ties between environment and society.
The path to adaptation, however, can take on a variety of forms reflecting the
diversity in kind and in degree of risks and vulnerabilities, which complicates yet
substantiates the need for monitoring. The current dearth of a standardized method
for tracking adaptation, especially in arid socio-ecological systems, means it is foremost to develop tools with which it can be systematically measured over time and
across regions. Nevertheless, to reduce exposure and susceptibility to risk, adaptation will likely involve policy, legislative, administrative, institutional, and financial
responses, and therefore, even appropriate measurement techniques will not guarantee the implementation of the measures. Further, the effects of adaptation may not
come to light for many years or even decades, and will fluctuate according to uncertain or unknowable future climatic and socioeconomic conditions. Understanding
the conditions of adaptation is in line with target 17.8 of the Sustainable Development
Agenda, which stresses the importance of operationalizing “technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries….”
Earlier measurement systems have seldom taken the aforementioned challenges
and limits into account. If a unified approach to quantifying adaptation as a continuous process (adaptation pathways, Wise et al. 2014) is to be developed, it must
emerge alongside with tools and strategies designed to evaluate the process of adaptation; ensure that this monitoring subsequently translates into iterative actions
(Sabel and Victor 2016); establish a comparative framework across scales and
regions; identify where the greatest deficiencies lie so as to guarantee that resources
are allocated accordingly; and keep public governance systems updated on the progress and remaining frailties in the adaptation process. Designing such tools is all the
more urgent in light of the Paris Agreement’s stipulation that “each party shall, as
appropriate, engage in adaptation planning processes and the implementation of
actions, including the development or enhancement of relevant plans, policies and/
or contributions”
12
and that “the provision of scaled-up resources should aim to
achieve a balance between adaptation and mitigation, …considering the need for
public and grant-based resources for adaptation.”
13
This statement is in line with the
12 Article 7 of the Paris Agreement.
13 Article 9 of the Paris Agreement.
14 The Agadir Platform: A Transatlantic Cooperation to Achieve Sustainable Drylands
Viewing climate change and global sustainability as wicked problems enables us to
interpret their challenges and solutions in more dynamic and complex terms, including social messes and industrial and organizational fragmentation (Conklin 2016).
As climate change and its consequences now appear inevitable, it seems sensible to
undertake adaptive measures as a way to cushion against negative effects and explore
potential opportunities. Adaptation, as an organizational principle, enables us to
understand the relationship between the system and its composite parts. Indeed,
adaptation capabilities encompass myriad transdisciplinary aspects of the environment, and this multi-sectoral approach is a welcomed starting point for a reflection
on the systemic, reciprocal ties between environment and society.
The path to adaptation, however, can take on a variety of forms reflecting the
diversity in kind and in degree of risks and vulnerabilities, which complicates yet
substantiates the need for monitoring. The current dearth of a standardized method
for tracking adaptation, especially in arid socio-ecological systems, means it is foremost to develop tools with which it can be systematically measured over time and
across regions. Nevertheless, to reduce exposure and susceptibility to risk, adaptation will likely involve policy, legislative, administrative, institutional, and financial
responses, and therefore, even appropriate measurement techniques will not guarantee the implementation of the measures. Further, the effects of adaptation may not
come to light for many years or even decades, and will fluctuate according to uncertain or unknowable future climatic and socioeconomic conditions. Understanding
the conditions of adaptation is in line with target 17.8 of the Sustainable Development
Agenda, which stresses the importance of operationalizing “technology and innovation capacity-building mechanism for least developed countries….”
Earlier measurement systems have seldom taken the aforementioned challenges
and limits into account. If a unified approach to quantifying adaptation as a continuous process (adaptation pathways, Wise et al. 2014) is to be developed, it must
emerge alongside with tools and strategies designed to evaluate the process of adaptation; ensure that this monitoring subsequently translates into iterative actions
(Sabel and Victor 2016); establish a comparative framework across scales and
regions; identify where the greatest deficiencies lie so as to guarantee that resources
are allocated accordingly; and keep public governance systems updated on the progress and remaining frailties in the adaptation process. Designing such tools is all the
more urgent in light of the Paris Agreement’s stipulation that “each party shall, as
appropriate, engage in adaptation planning processes and the implementation of
actions, including the development or enhancement of relevant plans, policies and/
or contributions”
12
and that “the provision of scaled-up resources should aim to
achieve a balance between adaptation and mitigation, …considering the need for
public and grant-based resources for adaptation.”
13
This statement is in line with the
12 Article 7 of the Paris Agreement.
13 Article 9 of the Paris Agreement.
14 The Agadir Platform: A Transatlantic Cooperation to Achieve Sustainable Drylands