Abstract
The intensity and occurrence of extreme weather events are expected to change with climate change. This change necessitates adaptive responses to extreme events, which need to take into account different societal perspectives, in order to be robust. In this paper, we explore the perspectives of different social actors in the Netherlands with respect to extreme weather events and ways to adapt to these events. The paper reports on a set of 41 interviews, using the repertory grid technique. The results were analyzed, to identify (a) the perspectives that stakeholders hold as most important for adaptation to extreme weather events; (b) the determinants of differences in perspectives. We find six different perspectives, all of which prioritize different adaptive actions. Producing robust adaptive responses which include different perspectives is therefore not a straightforward matter and is likely to result in win–lose situations. Further, differences in perspectives were not closely related to different sectors the interviewees belonged to. Thus, the traditional approach of involving different sectors to discuss and produce adaptation measures may be too limiting and needs to be supplemented to involving actors with different perspectives. The level of concern and level of information influenced the ways interviewees perceive adaptation priorities for extreme weather events. Participation in information events does not always result in perceived need to prepare for extreme events, something that adaptation communication needs to take into account.
Highlights
Climate change is expected to have an impact on the likelihood of the occurrence and duration of extreme weather events, such as extreme precipitation, heat waves and extreme drought, but possibly snow storms, tornadoes and hail; the uncertainties involved in these projections are large, in particular for small-scale phenomena such as extreme precipitation, tornadoes (IPCC 2011)
We investigate the perspectives on extreme weather events that are prioritized with respect to adaptation by different social actors in the Netherlands, and the extent to which different actor characteristics correlate to differences in these perspectives
We identify six prevalent perspectives which interviewees prioritize for adaptation to extreme weather events: (1) very disastrous, rescue needed; (2) new versus old extremes; (3) prepare for damage; (4) persons involved; (5) beyond imagination; and (6) natural resource management
Summary
Climate change is expected to have an impact on the likelihood of the occurrence and duration of extreme weather events, such as extreme precipitation, heat waves and extreme drought, but possibly snow storms, tornadoes and hail; the uncertainties involved in these projections are large, in particular for small-scale phenomena such as extreme precipitation, tornadoes (IPCC 2011). According to all KNMI’06 scenarios, temperature increases in winter and summer with respect to current climate. This means less frost and less likelihood of snow, and for summer, this means a greater likelihood of heat waves occurring with possible extreme temperatures (Van den Hurk et al 2006). The amount of rain per precipitation event will increase leading to more extreme rainfall events. It is unclear how wind speed or storms will change in the future, because there is a large natural variability in wind speed. No changes of extreme storm changes were found (Katsman et al 2011)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
