Climate change adaptation policy and practice: The role of agents, institutions and systems

Abstract

Surrey, British Columbia, stands out in its efforts to go beyond the provincial mandate on climate change mitigation and incorporate adaptation into strategic planning. The community is not currently overwhelmed by climate change impacts, and has local agents and institutions in place to facilitate anticipatory climate adaptation planning. However, as seen with many other coastal communities, implementation of adaptation action is lagging in practice. Framed through the lens of resilience theory, this research investigates climate change threats and the dynamic relationship between local scale adaptation policy development, integration and implementation in practice. With Surrey as a case study, this research examines key actor narratives and strategic planning documents in order to understand how the community acts on climate change adaptation while being mandated to address mitigation. Findings suggests that while resilience building agents (e.g. senior management, elected officials) can spearhead and organize climate action, their ability to implement goals and policies in practice is largely determined by the robustness of institutions (e.g. strategic plans, policies) and systems (e.g. infrastructure, ecosystems). This case may provide decision-makers in other communities coping with similar climate threats with insight into the factors that can enable and challenge local adaptation planning processes.