Abstract
Studies on barriers to climate change adaptation identify many underlying drivers but describe few processes whereby adaptation is implemented. We contribute to the literature by describing how adaptive capacity relates to project cycle in small-scale communities where local stakeholders combine knowledge and barriers affecting adaptive management. Our study focused on two floodplain landscapes in the Brazilian Amazon where fisheries were identified as a current concern, potentially leading to future social conflict if not properly addressed. At both sites, we adopted participatory research to design an adaptive management framework for the analysis of socio-ecological barriers influencing local decision-making by fishermen and farmers. The comparative analysis provided insights into several actions that could support overcoming barriers to the governance of natural resources in each phase of the project cycle. Adaptation actions included fostering local participation and tools to facilitate knowledge generation and revising the role of the central government in natural resource management. We found that due to the slow capacity to adapt their practices, institutions regulating fisheries tend to work as a barrier for adaptation processes.
Highlights
Climate change has stood out as a major issue over the last two decades, especially from the perspectives of both the social and the natural sciences
During the definition of the conceptual model, users and institutions produce a larger set of possible options and these are analyzed in the light of criteria and goals agreed upon by the group; in the end, one or more of the options and/or adaptation actions are considered viable and are, selected
If users and institutions do not demonstrate a minimum level of concern regarding the problem identified or if they do not see the need for a response, the adaptation measure will find it difficult to follow the cycle of adaptive management
Summary
Climate change has stood out as a major issue over the last two decades, especially from the perspectives of both the social and the natural sciences. This article aims to assess the limitations to adaptation that undermine the ability of traditional communities living in floodplain areas of the Amazon to cope with climate-driven impacts. New and stronger data on climate change risks were provided in IPCC’s fourth Assessment Report (2007a) and subsequently created a suitable environment for adaptation to emerge as a paramount strategy as important as mitigation in the political spectrum. In this context, the research community was summoned to produce knowledge to support an efficient adaptive decision-making process. Climate adaptation can be understood as what systems do to prevent and recover from climate stress (Biagini et al, 2014)
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