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Explaining and overcoming barriers to climate change adaptation

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 867–872 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The concept of barriers is increasingly used to describe the obstacles that hinder the planning and implementation of climate change adaptation. The growing literature on barriers to adaptation reveals not only commonly reported barriers, but also conflicting evidence, and few explanations of why barriers exist and change. There is thus a need for research that focuses on the interdependencies between barriers and considers the dynamic ways in which barriers develop and persist. Such research, which would be actor-centred and comparative, would help to explain barriers to adaptation and provide insights into how to overcome them.

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Figure 1: Example of dynamically interlinked barriers.

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Acknowledgements

Parts of this paper are work of the Chameleon Research Group (www.climate-chameleon.de), funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research under grant 01UU0910. Further parts have been supported by the Norden Top-level Research Initiative sub-programme 'Effect Studies and Adaptation to Climate Change' through the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Strategic Adaptation Research (NORD-STAR). We thank M. Steinhäuser for his support in coding of case studies, and all participants of the International Research Workshop on the Barriers to Adaptation to Climate Change.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstraße 114-118, Oldenburg, 26129, Germany

    Klaus Eisenack & Anna Pechan

  2. Susanne Moser Research and Consulting, Santa Cruz, 95060, California, USA

    Susanne C. Moser

  3. Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Potsdamer Str. 105, Berlin, 10785, Germany

    Esther Hoffmann

  4. Stockholm Environment Institute, Linnégatan 87D, Box 24218, Stockholm, 104 51, Sweden

    Richard J. T. Klein

  5. Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research and Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University, Linköping, 58183, Sweden

    Richard J. T. Klein

  6. Department of Economics, University of Freiburg, Platz der Alten Synagoge, Freiburg, 79085, Germany

    Christoph Oberlack

  7. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 40, Bonn, 53113, Germany

    Maja Rotter

  8. Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen, 6700 EW, The Netherlands

    Catrien J. A. M. Termeer

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  1. Klaus Eisenack
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the intellectual content. K.E., S.M. and C.O. conducted systematic literature reviews. A.P., K.E., E.H. and M.R. planned the project. All authors contributed references to the review. K.E. led the drafting of the text, with main contributions from S.M. All authors reviewed and edited the text.

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Correspondence to Klaus Eisenack.

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Eisenack, K., Moser, S., Hoffmann, E. et al. Explaining and overcoming barriers to climate change adaptation. Nature Clim Change 4, 867–872 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2350

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