Your exam… Your paper – the 17th (or sooner)

Your book …

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The question is how do we minimize the short term and long term costs from anthropogenic climate change?

The answer (according to Tompkins and Adger, 2003) is inresponse measures that bring together integrated

conservation and development concepts andResponse measures that consider holistic response as

opposed to mitigation or adaptation. Adaptation is the action of responding to experienced or

expected impacts of changing climatic conditions to reduce impacts or to take advantage of new circumstances.

Adaptation is not about returning to some prior state, since all social and natural systems evolve, and in some senses co-evolve with each other over time.

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Climate susceptibility factors for biodiversity1. Bounded distributions such as mountain tops, low-lying islands,

high latitudes, and the edges of continents2. Restricted ranges3. Poor dispersal capability relative to the projected nearest suitable

“climate space,” including:a) Physical limits to dispersal e.g. barriers formed by ocean currents,

mountain ranges, desert, fragmented habitat; andb) Limits imposed by species attributes, such as slow-moving, slow-

growing, flightlessness in birds and insects4. Susceptibility to extreme temperatures, droughts, snowfall, winter

temperatures, sea surface temperatures, sea level rises or floodsOther indicators:5. Extreme habitat/niche specialisation such as a narrow tolerance to

climate-sensitive variables6. Close, co-evolved, or synchronous relationships with other species7. Inflexible physiological responses to climatic variables

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Adapting to climate change reinforces a focus on the delivery of ecosystem goods and services within and outside of conservation areas

Need to *integrate* nature conservation and environmental protection with changing social, environmental, economic, and political objectives

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Who will suffer the most from climate change?The poor. The vulnerable. Thus: sustainable development must be central to

any climate change response measure“We argue that building resilience, which involves

increasing the ability of a system (social and ecological) to withstand shocks and surprises and to revitalise itself if damaged, offers the prospect of a sustainable response. Some natural and social systems have a natural ability to bounce back from adverse circumstances, whereas others have to learn how to become resilient. We focus on elements of decision-making, networks and institutions within the process of how to build resilience in both social and ecological systems.”

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So, what does it mean to integrate conservation and development?

Community management. engagement of resource stakeholders in developing

management strategies to build a constituency for the resource management problem, and to raise awareness of the development consequences and to generate support for decision making

Ecosystem management“integrates scientific knowledge of ecological

relationships within a complex sociopolitical and values framework towards the general goal of protecting native ecosystem integrity over the long term”

Adaptive approaches require flexibility within the management framework to adapt and change as new information and understandings become available

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What development options are available to us that enable us to become more resilient to environmental change while contributing to the resilience of future generations?

Typically a binary choice is given…Adaptation: Actions people take in response to, or

in anticipation of projected or actual changes in climate, to reduce adverse impacts or take advantage of the opportunities posed by climate change.

Mitigation: Actions taken to prevent, reduce or slow climate change, through slowing or stopping the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

But…10

Mitigate emissions reducing ‘win-win’

Do nothing adapt

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1. Know the full range of options

2. Expand the set of options available to different communities or societies

The response space can therefore be expanded through increasing ability to adapt or mitigate, which can be achieved through building resilience.

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traditionally referred to the single state equilibrium of an ecosystem

the definition of resilience has changed as it has become clearer that ecosystems have multiple equilibria, that non-linear changes occur and that there are threshold effects where rapid transformation occurs

Definitions now include:stability as a central concept, magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed by a

system before it moves from one state to anotherThus – focus shifted from controlling disturbances

to increasing ecosystem stability13

social resilience is the ability of groups or communities to adapt in the face of external social, political or environmental stresses and disturbances

How can societies be resilient?Ability to buffer disturbanceCapability to self-organizeCapacity for learning and adaptation

Are they resilient?Recent historical evidence that large-scale, systematic

changes in global climate have had profoundly negative consequences for many societies in the past

But: collective response and institutional resilience remains the dominant factor in sustaining adaptationFlexibility… links across scales… a sense of community…

nature of relationships between community members…access to decision-making

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What is collective action?3 principles

Smaller groups > larger groupsMore equitable , the betterIntroduction of selective benefits and

alternative institutional design > The barriers to community or individual

action do not lie primarily in a lack of information or understanding alone, but in social, cultural and institutional factors.

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threatening messages – such as CC – move people in one of two directions…Problem-focused copingEmotion-focused coping

How much control do we perceive we have?What is our sense of community?

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What about uncertainty?

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Usual structure for natural resource management 1. problems are identified 2. goals and objectives are defined3. alternatives considered4. decisions made5. plans implemented6. plans evaluated

Ecosystem management approach recognize the complexity, interconnectedness and

dynamic character of ecological systems; be suited to local conditions; incorporate people who are affected by or who

affect the ecosystem; work across administrative boundaries; and emphasize interagency co-operation and the need

for organizational change.

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The difficulty in moving towards more resilient communities and ecosystems is twofold.

1.an incompatibility of current governance structures with those necessary for promoting social and ecological resilience.

2.adaptive ecosystem management overturns some major tenets of traditional management styles which have in many cases operated through exclusion of users and the top-down application of scientific knowledge in rigid programs.

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‘trade-off analysis’ identifying and engaging key stakeholders; identifying their interests and objectives for the

resource; engaging them in a process of information

dissemination and dialogue to explore their preferences for managing the area;

collecting and analysing economic, social and ecological data to understand the impacts of different future scenarios on important criteria;

data analysis; resolving conflicts that existed finding areas of agreement among them

Result – co-management of coastal resources

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2 critical changes at the community level and in the government level(1) Conflicting stakeholders mobilized to take both

conservation and development actions together.Why?More power as a group(2) spoke with a single coherent message

Contributes to adaptive capacityNetworking social capitalNatural system’s resilience promoted by

sustainable management

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“Community participation in decision making about natural resources may not always be in the best interests of either the targeted community or the natural resource being managed.”

“the creation of strong spaces of dependence, empowered communities and high self-reliance will not necessarily lead to environmental health improvements.”

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Ecological resilience and social resilience / environmental conservation and social development

Is it compatible?Building resilience:1.Cement localized spaces of dependence2.Expand spaces of engagement3.Avoid being tied to specific response paths

through the implementation of flexible learning-based management

How?23

1. Networks and community relations of individuals and groups operating to cope with variability and change in everyday decision making

2. Wider networks of individuals or groups who may be able to influence the decisions that are being made at the local scale

Reducing the barriers to communication through sharing information and positively-reinforcing feedback

Institutionally: integrated structures24