Advertisement

Climatic Change

, Volume 133, Issue 1, pp 113–127 | Cite as

Adaptation and transformation

  • Mark Pelling
  • Karen O’Brien
  • David Matyas
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Transformation as an adaptive response to climate change opens a range of novel policy options. Used to describe responses that produce non-linear changes in systems or their host social and ecological environments, transformation also raises distinct ethical and procedural questions for decision-makers. Expanding adaptation to include transformation foregrounds questions of power and preference that have so far been underdeveloped in adaptation theory and practice. We build on David Harvey’s notion of activity space to derive a framework and research agenda for climate change adaptation seen as a political decision-point and as an opportunity for transformation, incremental adjustment or resistance to change in development pathway. Decision-making is unpacked through the notion of the activity space into seven coevolving sites: the individual, technology, livelihoods, discourse, behaviour, the environment and institutions. The framework is tested against practitioner priorities to define an agenda that can make coherent advances in research and practice on climate change adaptation.

Keywords

Social Contract Climate Change Adaptation Transformational Change Disaster Risk Management Transformative Learning 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Adger WN, Quinn T, Lorenzoni I, Murphy C, Sweeney J (2013) Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation. Nat Clim Chang 3:330–333CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Béné C, Godfrey Wood R, Newsham A, Davies M (2012) Resilience: new utopia or new tyranny? Reflection about the potentials and limits of the concept of resilience in relation to vulnerability-reduction programmes. IDS Working Paper 405, Institute of Development Studies, UKGoogle Scholar
  3. Bottrell D (2009) Understanding ‘marginal’ perspectives: towards a social theory of resilience. Qual Soc Work 8:321–339CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Brand FS, Jax K (2007) Focusing the meaning(s) of resilience: resilience as a descriptive concept and a boundary object. Ecol Soc 12(1):23–39Google Scholar
  5. Brower RS, Magno FA (2011) A “third way” in the Philippines. Int Rev Public Adm 16(1):31–50CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. Calvin K, Edmonds J, Bond-Lamberty B, Clarke L, Kim SH, Kyle P, Smith SJ, Thomson A, Wise M (2009) Limiting climate change to 450 ppm CO2 equivalent in the 21st century. Energy Econ 31(2):107–120CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Chambers R, Conway GR (1991) Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century. institute of development studies DP 296. University of Sussex, BrightonGoogle Scholar
  8. Cranton P (1994) Understanding and promoting transformative learning: a guide for educators of adults. Jossey-Bass, San FranciscoGoogle Scholar
  9. DFID (2011a) Humanitarian emergency response review: UK government response. Department for International Development, LondonGoogle Scholar
  10. DFID (2011b) Defining disaster resilience, A DFID approach paper. Department for International Development, LondonGoogle Scholar
  11. Dow K, Berkhout F, Presnton BL, Klein RJT, Midgley G, Shaw MR (2013) Limits to adaptation. Nat Clim Chang 3:305–307CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Easterly W (2006) The white man’s burden: why the west’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much Ill and so little good. The Penguin Press, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  13. Foresight (2012) Reducing risks of future disasters: priorities for decision makers, Final Project Report. The Government Office for Science, LondonGoogle Scholar
  14. Freire P (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  15. Geels FW (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multilevel perspective and case study. Res Policy 31(8/9):1257–1274CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Giddens A (1984) The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration. Polity, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  17. Glavovic BC (2008) Sustainable coastal communities in the age of coastal storms: reconceptualising coastal planning and ICM as ‘new’ naval architecture. J Coast Conserv 12(3):125–134CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Handmer J, Dovers SR (1996) A typology of resilience: rethinking institutions for sustainable development. Organization Environ 9(4):482–511CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Harvey D (2008) On the deep relevance of a certain footnote in Marx’s Capital. Hum Geogr 1(2):26–31Google Scholar
  20. Harvey D (2010) The enigma of capital: and the crisis of capitalism. Profile Books, LondonGoogle Scholar
  21. Huq S, Roberts A, Fenton A (2013) Loss and damage. Nat Clim Chang 3:947–949CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. IPCC (2012) In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G-K, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM (eds) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation, a special report of working groups I and II of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge Univ. Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  23. IPCC (2014) In: Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL (eds) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. part a: global and sectoral aspects. contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  24. Kates RW, Travis WR, Wilbanks TJ (2012) Transformational adaptation when incremental adaptations to climate change are insufficient. PNAS 109(19):7156–7161CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Kegan R (1994) In over our heads: the mental demands of modern life. Harvard University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  26. Kegan R, Lahey L (2009) Immunity to change. Harvard Business Press, BostonGoogle Scholar
  27. Krishnamurti J (1996) Total freedom: the essential Krishnamurti. Harper, San FransiscoGoogle Scholar
  28. Loftus A (2012) Everyday environmentalism. University of Minesota Press, LondonCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Loorbach D (2007) Transition management: new mode of governance for sustainable development. International Books, UtrechtGoogle Scholar
  30. Marshall NA, Park SE, Adger WN, Brown K, Howden SSM (2012) Transformational capacity and the influence of place and identity. Environ Res Lett 7:9ppCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Matyas D, Pelling M (2015) Positioning resilience in the post-2015 disaster risk management policy landscape: integrating resistance, persistence and transformation. Disasters (in press)Google Scholar
  32. Mezirow J (2000) Learning to think like an adult: core concepts of transformative theory. In: Mezirow J et al (eds) Learning as transformation. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp 3–33Google Scholar
  33. Mustafa D (2005) The production of an urban hazardscape in Pakistan: modernity, vulnerability and the range of choice’. Annals Assoc Am Geogr 95(3):566–586CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Nelson DR (2009) Conclusions: transforming the world. In: Adger WN, Lorenzoni I, O’Brien K (eds) Adapting to climate change: thresholds, values, governance. Cambridge Univ. Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  35. Nelson D, Adger WN, Brown K (2007) Adaptation to environmental change: contributions of a resilience framework. Annu Rev Environ Resour 32:395–419CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. O’Brien K (2012) Global environmental change (2): from adaptation to deliberate transformation. Prog Hum Geogr 36(5):667–676CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. O’Brien K, Hayward B, Berkes F (2009) Rethinking social contracts: building resilience in a changing climate. Ecol Soc 14(2):12Google Scholar
  38. O’Neill S, Handmer J (2012) Responding to bushfire risk: the need for transformative adaptation. Environ Res Lett 7:1Google Scholar
  39. Park SE, Marshall NA, Jakku E, Dowd AM, Howden SM, Mendham E, Fleming A (2012) Informing adaptation responses to climate change through theories of transformation. Glob Environ Chang 22:115–126CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Pelling M (2011) Adaptation to climate change: from resilience to transformation. Routledge, LondonGoogle Scholar
  41. Pelling M, Dill C (2010) Disaster politics: tipping points for change in the adaptation of socio-political regimes. Prog Hum Geogr 34:21–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Pelling M, Manuel-Naverrete D (2011) From resilience to transformation: exploring the adaptive cycle in two Mexican urban centres. Ecol Soc 16(2):11Google Scholar
  43. Pelling M, High C, Dearing J, Smith D (2007) Shadow spaces for social learning: a relational understanding of adaptive capacity to climate change within organisations. Environ Planning A 40(4):867–884CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Redclift MR, Manuel-Navarrete D, Pelling M (2011) Climate change and human security: the challenge to local governance under rapid coastal urbanization. Edward Elgar, CheltenhamCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Roberts D (2010) Prioritizing climate change adaptation and local level resilience in Durban, South Africa. Environ Urban 22(2):397–413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Schlitz MM, Vieten C, Amorok T (2007) Living deeply: the art & science of transformation in everyday life. New Harbinger Publications and Noetic Books, OaklandGoogle Scholar
  47. Schlüter M, Herrfahrdt-Pähle E (2011) Exploring resilience and transformability of a river basin in the face of socioeconomic and ecological crisis: an example from Amudarya river basin, Central Asia. Ecol Soc 16(1):32–51Google Scholar
  48. Shove E (2010) Beyond the ABC: climate change policy and theories of social change. Environ Planning A 42:1273–1285CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Teschl M, Comim F (2005) Adaptive preferences and capabilities: some preliminary conceptual explorations. Rev Soc Econ 63(2):229–247CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Thomson AM, Calvin KV, Smith JS, Kyle PG, Volke A, Patel P, Delgado-Arias S, Bond-Lamberty B, Wise MA, Clarke LE, Edmonds JA (2011) RCP4.5: a pathway for stabilization of radiative forcing. Clim Chang 109:77–94CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Tschakert P, van Oort B, St. Clair AL, LaMadrid A (2013) Inequality and transformation analyses: a complementary lens for addressing vulnerability to climate change. Climate Dev 5(4):340–350CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. USAID (2012) Building resilience to recurrent crisis: USAID policy and program guidance. US Agency for International Development, WashingtonGoogle Scholar
  53. Warren M (1992) Democratic theory and self-transformation. Am Polit Sci Rev 86(1):8–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Wilson S, Pearson LJ, Kashima Y, Lusher D (2013) Separating adaptive maintenance (resilience) and transformative capacity of socio-ecological systems. Ecol Soc 18(1):22. doi: 10.5751/ES-05100-180122 Google Scholar
  55. Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davies I (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disaster. Routledge, LondonGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.King’s College LondonLondonUK
  2. 2.University of OsloOsloNorway
  3. 3.Save the Children InternationalLondonUK

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options