Challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation: international experience and implications for adaptation research

Vella, Karen, Baresi, Umberto, Lockie, Stewart, and Taylor, Bruce (2021) Challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation: international experience and implications for adaptation research. PLoS ONE, 16 (9). e0257868.

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Abstract

Maintaining the functional integrity of ecosystems as climate pressures exceed natural rates of adaptation requires new knowledge and new approaches to governance and management. However, research into management interventions to assist regional ecosystem adaptation has generated both scientific and ethical debate. This paper reviews experience to date in order to identify the challenges and opportunities for assisted regional ecosystem adaptation and reflect on the implications for ongoing adaptation research. The review was informed by a database and structured analysis of some 450 reports, peer-reviewed manuscripts and books on participation theory and experience with novel technology development and assisted ecosystem adaptation. We identified five classes of challenges to adaptation research: 1) scientific conflicts and debates over the "facts", 2) social challenges, 3) governance challenges, 4) epistemic challenges, and 5) ontological conflicts. We argue that engagement strategies linked to the multiple objectives of adaptation research provide opportunities for ecosystem adaptation.

Item ID: 70128
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Keywords: Ecosystem restoration; ecosystem adaptation; assisted ecosystem adaptation; governance; social license
Copyright Information: © 2021 Vella et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funders: Reef Trust Partnership
Projects and Grants: Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program
Date Deposited: 11 Feb 2022 00:31
FoR Codes: 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4410 Sociology > 441002 Environmental sociology @ 50%
44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4407 Policy and administration > 440704 Environment policy @ 30%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410405 Environmental rehabilitation and restoration @ 20%
SEO Codes: 19 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS > 1901 Adaptation to climate change > 190102 Ecosystem adaptation to climate change @ 100%
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