Abstract
Collaboration is a proposed strategy to address super wicked environmental problems, such as climate change. Yet, understanding how it works for climate change adaptation is nascent. This research aims to advance the understanding of this by a cross-case analysis of three cases in New Brunswick, Canada. We sought to illuminate the inner workings of multiparty collaboration in the context of community climate change adaptation; identify important qualities of the process and outcomes from it, and probe their relationships; and, explore how they come about in practice. A questionnaire was sent to individuals involved in cases and key informant interviews were conducted. Results reveal case-specific variations, but more importantly, common qualities and outcomes across the cases. They offer key insight into elements which may be important in collaborative settings. These are informative for influencing the uptake of collaborative strategies in climate change adaptation and offer the opportunity to better understand their functional effectiveness.
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This specific theme of enactment was defined as learning from one another, in which members gained new knowledge and understanding from each other about climate change- influencing their learning for developing adaptation action plans. This is similar to social learning, in that the process fostered both learning and knowledge sharing (see Schusler et al. 2003).
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Acknowledgements
This work was made possible by the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). AF additionally gratefully acknowledges support received through the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS). JB involvement was enabled, in part, by funding from the Canada Research Chairs program. SJM involvement was enabled by WWF Canada. We gratefully acknowledge the individuals and key informants in New Brunswick who participated in this research. Special thanks to Jennifer Fresque-Baxter for her helpful insights, Gillian Dale for her assistance with data analysis, and Brooke Kapeller for generating the map.
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This study was supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) as well as supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
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Feist, A., Plummer, R., Baird, J. et al. Examining Collaborative Processes for Climate Change Adaptation in New Brunswick, Canada. Environmental Management 65, 665–677 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01284-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01284-7