Enabling local adaptation to climate change: towards collective action in Flagler Beach, Florida, USA

Chad Stephen Boda,Anne Jerneck

doi:10.1007/s10584-019-02611-6

Abstract

Local communities around the world are directly exposed to impacts of climate change. It is also clear that many local governments are politically and economically constrained in their capacity to implement needed adaptations. These constraints can restrict adaptation options to incremental, or even maladaptive, practices. At the same time, necessary transformational actions may remain out of reach for local actors. Building on five years of collaborative research with the city of Flagler Beach (FL, USA), we draw on political process theories to describe how incremental adaptation activities that are possible within current constraints can serve to build local capacity for instigating reforms at higher scales of social organization. We use the concept of a collective action strategy to conceptualize how context-specific barriers to adaptation can be overcome. From our analysis, an idealized multi-step process for designing collective action strategies is presented. The study advances scholarship on limits to adaptation beyond the diagnosis of barriers to action by taking steps towards developing context-specific strategies for overcoming these barriers.

Highlights

Local communities in the USA and around the world are directly exposed to the physical impacts of climate change (CC) (USGCRP 2018; Masson-Delmotte et al 2018)
We introduce the concept of a collective action strategy, clarifying what role incremental and transformative adaptive actions can play in a long-term pathway to social change
We have argued that incremental adaptations can lay the groundwork for more transformative adaptations in the future

Summary

Introduction

Local communities in the USA and around the world are directly exposed to the physical impacts of climate change (CC) (USGCRP 2018; Masson-Delmotte et al 2018). Many local governments are highly constrained in their capacity to adapt to these impacts. These constraints include limited access to financial and other resources, as well as limited authority over geographic areas where adaptation is most needed. Such constraints can confine local government’s capacity for adaptation to incremental or even maladaptive practices when more. Overcoming financial and legal constraints on local adaptation may require instigating changes further up the administrative hierarchy

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion