The NCCARF Newsletter, June 2011 edition
An independent report commissioned by the Department of Environment and Resource Management (Qld)
Climate change is occurring at unprecedented rates, with risks real, yet uncertain. Societal vulnerability to climate change may be intensified by existing social and economic issues, particularly if dependent on resources that are sensitive to climate change. This paper explores risk and vulnerability in relation to climate change, reviewing present‐day adaptation in developing countries on coordinated international action aimed at future adaptation. The authors suggest that all societies are fundamentally adaptive, but some sectors are more sensitive and vulnerable to climate change. Despite this, all societies should place importance on enhancing adaptive capacity to present and future climate change in the context of developing sustainable development objectives.
Resistance of social and ecological systems to extreme events is dependent on resilience. Social‐ecological systems which are resilient to disasters typically incorporate mechanisms for dealing with and learning from change and unforseen events. This type of disaster management requires multi‐level governance systems that can develop resilience measures within the system. Coastal use in terms of human settlement, resource use and global environment change emphasize the need for building resilience in coastal systems. Resilience of coastal ecosystems to recover following disturbance should not be anticipated, and socio‐economic resilience must be understood and actively incorporated into management of these areas.
While there is a recognised need to adapt to changing climatic conditions, there is an emerging discourse of limits to such adaptation. Limits are traditionally analysed as a set of immutable thresholds in biological, economic or technological parameters. This paper contends that limits to adaptation are endogenous to society and hence contingent on ethics, knowledge, attitudes to risk and culture. The authors conclude that the issues of values and ethics, risk, knowledge and culture construct societal limits to adaptation, but that these limits are mutable.