Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Is adaptation success a flawed concept?

Nature Climate Change volume 9, pages 572–574 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

The Paris Agreement established a global goal on adaptation and invites parties to review the effectiveness of adaptation actions. However, the measurement of adaptation success remains elusive. Focusing on the capabilities of households and governments to pursue a range of adaptation futures provides a more robust foundation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Tompkins, E. L., Vincent, K., Nicholls, R. J. & Suckall, N. WIREs Clim. Change 9, e545 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Berrang-Ford, L. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 9, 440–449 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Merry, S. E. Curr. Anthropol. 52, 83–95 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Rijke, J., van Herk, S., Zevenbergen, C. & Ashley, R. Int. J. River Basin Managem. 10, 369–382 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. McNeeley, S. M. & Lazrus, H. Weather Clim. Soc. 6, 506–519 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Lahiri-Dutt, K. & Samanta, G. Dancing with the River: People and Life on the Chars of South Asia (Yale Univ. Press, 2013).

  7. Nalau, J., Preston, B. L. & Maloney, M. C. Environ. Sci. Policy 48, 89–98 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Borie, M., Pelling, M., Ziervogel, G. & Hyams, K. Glob. Environ. Change 54, 203–213 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Klepp, S. & Chavez-Rodriguez, L. A Critical Approach to Climate Change Adaptation: Discourses, Policies and Practices (Routledge, 2018).

  10. Eguavoen, I., Schulz, K., de Wit, S., Weisser, F. & Müller-Mahn, D. in Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation (ed. Leal Filho, W.) 1183–1198 (Springer, 2015).

  11. Agrawal, A. & Perrin, N. in Adaptation to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values, Governance (eds Adger, N. et al.) 350–367 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009).

  12. Krause, M. The Good Project: Humanitarian Relief NGOs and the Fragmentation of Reason (Chicago Univ. Press, 2014).

  13. Barnett, J., Lambert, S. & Fry, I. Ann. Assoc. Am. Geogr. 98, 102–119 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Bockstael, E. & Berkes, F. Int. J. Commons 11, 799–822 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Jones, L. WIREs Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.552 (2018).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Goldstein, B. E., Wessells, A. T., Lejano, R. & Butler, W. Urban Stud. 52, 1285–1303 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. O'Neill, S. J. & Graham, S. Geo Geogr. Environ. 3, e00028 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Crate, S. in A Critical Approach to Climate Change Adaptation: Discourses, Policies and Practices (eds Klepp, S. & Chavez-Rodriguez, L.) 241–255 (Routledge, 2018).

  19. Pelling, M. & Garschagen, M. Nature 569, 327–329 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Sen, A. Development as Freedom (Oxford Univ. Press, 1999).

  21. Striessnig, E., Lutz, W. & Patt, A. G. Ecol. Soc. 18, 16 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This comment evolved from a special session on adaptation success convened by the authors at Adaptation Futures 2018, the Fifth International Climate Change Adaptation Conference in Cape Town. We thank the over 100 session participants from around the world, including participants from government agencies, donors, non-governmental organizations, students, humanitarian agencies, academics, policy-makers and members of civil society. L.D. acknowledges the support of US National Science Foundation grant no. 1354542. A.P., N.S. and F.A.’s time was supported by the HI-AWARE project under Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International Development and the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. The views expressed in this work are those of the creators and do not necessarily represent those of the UK Government’s Department for International Development, the International Development Research Centre, Canada or its Board of Governors, or UN Environment, and are not necessarily attributable to their organizations. All responsibility for the content remains with the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Studies Program and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    Lisa Dilling

  2. TERI — School of Advanced Studies, Hyderabad, India

    Anjal Prakash

  3. UN Environment, Washington, DC, USA

    Zinta Zommers

  4. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal

    Farid Ahmad

  5. School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Nuvodita Singh

  6. Institute for Science, Innovation and Society (InSIS), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Sara de Wit

  7. Cities Research Institute (CRI) and School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

    Johanna Nalau

  8. Department of Environmental Studies, University of New England, Biddeford, ME, USA

    Meaghan Daly

  9. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Kerry Bowman

Authors
  1. Lisa Dilling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anjal Prakash
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zinta Zommers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Farid Ahmad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nuvodita Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sara de Wit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Johanna Nalau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Meaghan Daly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Kerry Bowman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa Dilling.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dilling, L., Prakash, A., Zommers, Z. et al. Is adaptation success a flawed concept?. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9, 572–574 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0539-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0539-0

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing