Journal article
Adaptation or Manipulation: Unpacking Climate Change Response Strategies
Ecology and Society, Vol.17(3), 20
2012
Abstract
Adaptation is a key feature of sustainable social-ecological systems. As societies traverse various temporal and spatial scales, they are exposed to differing contexts and precursors for adaptation. A cursory view of the response to these differing contexts and precursors suggests the particular ability of persistent societies to adapt to changing circumstances. Yet a closer examination into the meaning of adaptation and its relationship to concepts of resilience, vulnerability, and sustainability illustrates that, in many cases, societies actually manipulate their social-ecological contexts rather than adapt to them. It could be argued that manipulative behaviors are a subset of a broader suite of adaptive behaviors; however, this paper suggests that manipulative behaviors have fundamentally different intentions and outcomes. Specifically, adaptive behaviors are respectful of the intrinsic integrity of social-ecological systems and change is directed toward internal or self-regulating modification. By way of contrast, manipulative behaviors tend to disregard the integrity of social-ecological systems and focus on external change or manipulating the broader system with the aim of making self-regulation unnecessary. It is argued that adaptive behaviors represent long-term strategies for building resilience, whereas manipulative behaviors represent short-term strategies with uncertain consequences for resilience, vulnerability, and the sustainability of social-ecological systems. Of greatest significance; however, is that manipulative strategies have the potential to avoid authentic experiences of system dynamics, obscure valuable learning opportunities, create adverse path dependencies, and lessen the likelihood of effective adaptation in future contexts.
Details
- Title
- Adaptation or Manipulation: Unpacking Climate Change Response Strategies
- Authors
- Dana C Thomsen (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and BusinessTimothy F Smith (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts and BusinessNoni Keys (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
- Publication details
- Ecology and Society, Vol.17(3), 20; 9
- Publisher
- Resilience Alliance Publications
- Date published
- 2012
- DOI
- 10.5751/ES-04953-170320
- ISSN
- 1708-3087
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2012 by the author(s). Published under license by The Resilience Alliance. Reproduced with the permission of the author(s).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Tertiary Access - Legacy; School of Education and Tertiary Access; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450485002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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