What Social Science Can Teach Us About Local Adaptation

Abstract

Adaptation to climate change is the focus of great attention in public policy decision making, international economic development, and international negotiation. This chapter offers thoughts on lessons learned from social sciences and examines vocabulary and the intrinsic nature of human coping and adaptive behavior taken from different disciplines. A suggestive review of 15 years of scholarly progress offers insight into key lessons and identifies knowledge gaps. A meta-analysis of existing study results is recommended to enrich existing knowledge about the social dimensions of adaptation, especially at the local scale and for the poorest citizens, and to help create the lens through which current empirical studies of local adaptation can be interpreted and utilized. The insights from a meta-analysis can be utilized directly in studies of adaptation costs, enabling decision makers to more ably plan the future direction of adaptation expenditures.