Decision-making in the Context of Adaptation to Climate Change

Veranstaltungsart
3rd Workshop on Adaptation Research in Social Science

Ort / Datum
Bonn, 27.09.2010

Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Adaptation to climate change has become a topical issue both in research as well as in the policy arena. Yet while the need for adaptation to climate change is generally accepted, adaptation research practice and the practice of implementing adaptations is still challenged by a number of difficulties. These are related both to conceptual, epistemological as well as methodological challenges. In particular, it is open how to decide on adaptation options today and to prioritize action in the face of uncertainty and scant resources. 

In recent years a number of tools and methodologies have been identified and developed to guide and facilitate decision-making. The topics, actors and arenas that these methodologies address and highlight vary, with each methodology having different scope and limits. Some of the methodologies have specifically emerged in the context of adaptation to climate change while others have emerged from other areas. Although some of these “older tools and methodologies” are well established, transferring and applying them to ‘new’ problems like adaptation to climate change can lead to difficulties. One example is cost-benefit analysis, which typically excludes the informal sector and accordingly does not focus on those who are usually considered to belong to the group of most vulnerable people. For scientists and practitioners it is often difficult to assess the practical relevance of the different methodologies.

Against this background the workshop aimed to discuss different methods to analyze adaptation decisions in terms of their practical implications by addressing the following main questions:

• What kind of information is necessary, generated and highlighted by the different methodologies? What are their normative implications?
• What are problems resulting from the application of ‘old’ concepts/methodologies for the analysis of ‘new’ problems like adaptation to climate change?
• What are the problems arising from the application of particular methodologies and processes for prioritizing adaptation strategies and measures in different contexts, particularly rich and poor countries?
• How can currently evolving methods for adaptation assessment be improved?

Hinweis

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