Mainstreaming climate adaptation: taking stock about “what works” from empirical research worldwide
Mainstreaming climate adaptation: taking stock about Bwhat works^ from empirical research worldwide
Hens Runhaar 0 1 2 3
Bettina Wilk 0 1 2 3
Åsa Persson 0 1 2 3
Caroline Uittenbroek 0 1 2 3
Christine Wamsler 0 1 2 3
Editor: Robbert Biesbroek. 0 1 2 3
0 Stockholm Environment Institute , Stockholm , Sweden
1 Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research , Wageningen , The Netherlands
2 Environmental Governance Group, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University , P.O. Box 80, 115, 3508 TC Utrecht , The Netherlands
3 Lund University Centre for Sustainability Science (LUCSUS) , Lund , Sweden
Adaptation to a changing climate is unavoidable. Mainstreaming climate adaptation objectives into existing policies, as opposed to developing dedicated adaptation policy, is widely advocated for public action. However, knowledge on what makes mainstreaming effective is scarce and fragmented. Against this background, this paper takes stock of peer-reviewed empirical analyses of climate adaptation mainstreaming, in order to assess current achievements and identify the critical factors that render mainstreaming effective. The results show that although in most cases adaptation policy outputs are identified, only in a minority of cases this translates into policy outcomes. This Bimplementation gap^ is most strongly seen in developing countries. However, when it comes to the effectiveness of outcomes, we found no difference across countries. We conclude that more explicit definitions and unified frameworks for adaptation mainstreaming research are required to allow for future research syntheses and well-informed policy recommendations.
Climate change adaptation; Mainstreaming; Climate policy integration; Systematic literature review; State-of-the-art
Introduction
Despite agreements made in December 2015 during the COP21
in Paris to reduce CO2 emissions, intensified adaptation efforts
are needed to deal with the impacts of a changing climate. As a
consequence, adaptation to climate change is considered
necessary by many policy-makers and scholars, particularly in
policy sectors such as critical infrastructure, agriculture, public
health and urban planning
(Wamsler 2014; Albers et al. 2015;
Wamsler and Pauleit 2016)
. In order to do so, policy-makers
and planners basically have two options, which are mutually
supportive: mainstreaming (integrating) climate change
adaptation objectives into existing sectoral policies and practices, or
the Bdedicated approach^: developing stand-alone adaptation
policies and programmes
(Wamsler 2014; Uittenbroek 2014;
Dewulf et al. 2015)
.
Literature suggests that mainstreaming climate adaptation
objectives into existing policies and practices has several
advantages for achieving sustainable change. First, mainstreaming can
create synergy effects; for instance, greening urban spaces not
only reduces the risk of pluvial flooding (which is expected to
intensify as a consequence of climate change) but also
contributes to spatial quality, biodiversity and climate change
mitigation
(Runhaar et al. 2012)
. Second, mainstreaming adaptation
objectives in sectoral plans and policies may be more
resourceefficient from an administrative and budgetary point of view
(Kok and De Coninck 2007)
. For instance, “windows of
opportunity” can be used for adaptation mainstreaming, such as the
construction of new roads or the restructuring of city centres.
Third, mainstreaming climate adaptation in existing policies or
organisational structures may result in more effective adaptation
measures, e.g. if climate risks are included in urban (re)design
(Wamsler 2014)
. Finally, such mainstreaming may promote
innovation in sectoral policies and plans
(Adelle and Russel
2013)
. However, mainstreaming as a policy strategy has also
been critiqued, particularly because of the risks of diminishing
issue visibility and attention
(Persson et al. 2016)
and policy
“dilution”
(Liberatore 1997)
, when compared with a dedicated
approach that relies on highly specialised institutional
responsibilities, dedicated funds and a clear legal framework.
Climate adaptation mainstreaming requires targeted
strategies and action, beyond mere aspirations, to be effective and to
overcome potential barriers
(e.g. Uittenbroek 2016)
. While a
recent review of the National Communications submitted
under the UNFCCC reported a higher number of adaptation
initiatives and mainstreaming in almost all policy sectors in
2014 compared with 2010 (Lesnikowski et al. 2016), there are
considerable differences in progress across countries, sectors
and policy levels
(cf. Reckien et al. 2014; Dewulf et al. 2015;
Wamsler 2015)
. Meta-analyses that have systematically
assessed mainstreaming achievements, drivers, barriers and
associated theory development are largely lacking
(Jordan
and Lenschow 2008; Runhaar et al. 2014)
.
Against this background, this paper takes stock of
peerreviewe (...truncated)