From barriers to limits to climate change adaptation: path dependency and the speed of change

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Barnett, Jon
Evans, Louisa S
Gross, Catherine
Kiem, Anthony S
Kingsford, Richard T
Palutikof, Jean P
Pickering, Catherine M
Smithers, Scott G
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2015
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Research on the barriers and limits to climate change adaptation identifies many factors, but describes few processes whereby adaptation is constrained or may indeed fail to avoid catastrophic losses. It often assumes that barriers are by and large distinct from limits to adaptation. We respond to recent calls for comparative studies that are able to further knowledge about the underlying drivers of barriers and limits to adaptation. We compare six cases from across Australia, including those in alpine areas, rivers, reefs, wetlands, small inland communities, and islands, with the aim of identifying common underlying drivers of barriers and limits to adaptation. We find that the path-dependent nature of the institutions that govern natural resources and public goods is a deep driver of barriers and limits to adaptation. Path-dependent institutions are resistant to change. When this resistance causes the changes necessary for adaptation to be slower than changes in climate, then it becomes a limit to adaptation.

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Ecology and Society

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20

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3

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© 2015 by the author(s). Published here under license by The Resilience Alliance. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. For information about this journal please refer to the journal’s website or contact the author[s].

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Other environmental sciences not elsewhere classified

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