Scientists issue new climate adaptation 'scorecard'
Criteria will evaluate success of climate change adaptation initiatives


Date:
November 8, 2021
Source:
Wildlife Conservation Society
Summary:
A new study offers a 'scorecard' for climate adaptation projects --
a set of 16 criteria that can be used to evaluate climate adaptation
projects and inform their design.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new study, co-authored by researchers at the Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS) and the University of British Columbia's Faculty of
Forestry, offers a "scorecard" for climate adaptation projects -- a set
of 16 criteria that can be used to evaluate climate adaptation projects
and inform their design. The scientists recently published their findings
in the journal Environmental Science & Policy.


========================================================================== Climate adaptation projects are interventions that help wildlife,
ecosystems, and people adapt to climate change. Examples include restoring habitat with plant species that are more likely to survive future climate conditions, reclaiming agricultural lands to create erosion-resistant ecosystems, and installing artificial nests to foster more resilient
habitat for birds.

The research team interviewed and surveyed 18 climate adaptation experts
and then surveyed an additional 47 practitioners to develop this flexible
and comprehensive set of criteria, which can be tailored to an individual project's goals and context.

The increasingly significant and unprecedented pledges in investments
for adaptation have intensified the need to assess adaptation outcomes
and return on investment. However, unlike evaluating climate change
mitigation outcomes, which scientists can measure through the balance of greenhouse gas emissions and removals, evaluating adaptation is a complex endeavor. Outcomes can be multifaceted, (social, ecological, economic),
and may not be apparent for years after project completion, making it
difficult to define what constitutes success and whether it was achieved.

"Decades ago, adaptation was thought of as a failure -- the last possible option -- by those concerned about climate change," note Dr. Lauren
E. Oakes, the study's second author and a Conservation Scientist on the
Forests & Climate Change team at WCS. "People thought, 'Adaptation is
what we will turn to when mitigation doesn't work out.' Now we know that
time is of the essence; the impacts are already occurring, and the most impactful solutions will have elements of both adaptation and mitigation." Oakes says she is hopeful that these criteria will help the growing number
of concerned citizens and organizations that are working to find ways
to adjust to and cope with the impacts that climate change is triggering
in their local communities.

The comprehensive scorecard was developed to address adaptation projects
at every stage, from inputs to outcomes, and its sixteen criteria are
divided into four categories: use of information, project management,
outputs, and advancing the field of adaptation.

For example, the criteria "knowledge systems in use" evaluates the incorporation of multiple forms of knowledge, including Traditional
Ecological Knowledge. Similarly, "partnerships and collaborations"
recognizes that the adaptation process requires the engagement of actors
across disciplines, scales of governance, and sectors. Shannon Hagerman, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University
of British Columbia and the study's senior author, notes, "In any
environmental context -- including climate adaptation for biodiversity and ecosystems -- it is imperative to consider the interplay between who is involved in decision-making, the knowledge used to support decisions, and
the visions of success that the two illuminate and support." In addition,
the study revealed that adaptation experts and practitioners may hold
different views about what is considered the most important criteria for success. Adaptation experts (researchers and/or adaptation fund advisors
who have played leading roles in shaping the global field of conservation adaptation) commonly ranked social and ecological outcomes, which are
often the most difficult to measure at project completion, amongst the
top five most important criteria. Practitioners, on the other hand,
focused more on project management criteria such as partnerships and collaboration, engagement and communication, and long-term sustainability
of their work.

Says Dr. Molly Cross, a co-author on the study and the Science
Director of the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund, "In the ideal
case at the project level, successful processes will lead to
successful outcomes over time." This set of criteria is one
tool to help us make progress towards critical adaptation goals." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Wildlife_Conservation_Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Guillaume Peterson St-Laurent, Lauren E. Oakes, Molly Cross, Shannon
Hagerman. Flexible and comprehensive criteria for evaluating
climate change adaptation success for biodiversity and natural
resource conservation. Environmental Science & Policy, 2022; 127:
87 DOI: 10.1016/ j.envsci.2021.10.019 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211108161431.htm

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