Successful Adaptation to Climate Change: Linking Science and Policy in a Rapidly Changing World, edited by Susanne E. Moser and Maxwell T. Boykoff (2013, Routledge).
This edited book addresses the growing need for practical guidance on defining and measuring progress toward successful adaptation. The authors recognize that there are diverse interpretations of “adaptation”, with different and usually implicit theoretical and normative assumptions. The book goes beyond identifying the processes and metrics for measuring progress on adaptation, and recognizes instead the ambiguities, uncertainties, complex interactions, competing objectives, and other factors that make it difficult to define adaptation success. Consequently, there is a call for a pragmatic way forward that includes learning, reflection, and continued dialogue about desired outcomes. This book recognizes the importance of acknowledging the social, ecological, economic, political, technical, institutional, psychological and cultural dimensions of adaptation, and that there is no “one answer” to what successful adaptation might look like. However, by approaching adaptation from a practical perspective, it offers useful ways to think about what it means to succesfully adapt to climate change.
“Policy-makers and managers in local communities, in regional and national-level agencies, and in international negotiations are becoming aware of the complexity and magnitude of the adaptation challenges ahead. Many are currently developing their first adaptation strategies, setting in place processes and institutional arrangements that will guide adaptation efforts for years to come.” (Moser and Boykoff, 2013, p. 6)