The Social Dimension of Adaptation to Climate Change

Even if world governments soon agree to adopt measures to stabilize GHG concentrations in the atmosphere by the end of the century, the projected residual increase in global warming will considerably alter climate worldwide. Adaptation is thus needed to respond optimally to the new challenging environment.
Adaptation will in part occur autonomously, with individuals and societies switching to new technologies and new practices, and in part will require the planning, coordination and funding of governments. In both cases individuals and society at large, including government, will need to adopt new technologies, planning tools, styles of life and behaviours. The success of adaptation will largely depend on the extent to which individuals and societies will be willing to accept change. Cultural habits and customs together with a low capacity to learn and adopt new technologies may slow down adaptation, especially in more vulnerable developing countries. Rigidity and lack of farsighted approach at governmental level might reduce adaptation capacity, also in developed countries. Without social and cultural norms that embrace change and innovation adaptation will be slow and the transition to a new climate might be costly and in some cases disruptive.

The objective of this workshop is to consider theories, pilot studies and cases to increase our understanding of factors, barriers or drivers conditioning the social and behavioural dimension of adaptation to climate change.

Three main topics will be considered:

The workshop is structured around three main sessions, each composed by at most four papers in order to provide enough time for a in depth presentation of each participant’s research.

Visit the webpage of the workshop with the preliminary programme on the ICCG – International Center for Climate Governance – website