Understanding how landscape value and climate risk discourses can improve adaptation planning: Insights from Q-method

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Climate change poses significant risks to socio-ecological systems, especially at the local level. Local government climate change adaptation strategies must respond to the physical impacts of a changing climate as well as community perceptions about climate change risks and impacts. However, adaptation strategies often overlook diverse stakeholder perspectives and expectations, potentially leading to ineffective and inequitable outcomes. To build stakeholder support for actions that may be unpopular, honest conversations and debate about policy alternatives are necessary. Using Q-method, we identify different discourses about climate change risk and landscape values among residents of Huon Valley, Lutruwita/Tasmania, and consider how discourses, values, and risk perceptions can inform adaptation planning. Our research revealed four distinct landscape value discourses (“Pristine wilderness”; “Accessible places”; “Rural lifestyle”; and “Coastal connections”). Discourses were differentiated by wilderness preference, prioritization of accessibility, and the significance of industry in the region. We also identified five distinct climate change risk discourses (“Governments must mitigate”; “Individuals must act”; “Community will respond”; “It may be too late”; and “Local government must adapt”). These discourses reveal differing stakeholder perspectives about perceived government responsibility, the prioritization of adaptation over mitigation, and risk appetites versus innate resilience. Results highlight relationships between risk perception and landscape values. If attentive to coupled risk-value discourses, and welcoming of debate about alternative options, policymakers and practitioners could formulate adaptation strategies that better respond to community needs.