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In the context of water scarcity, soil erosion, and biodiversity decline, the Mediterranean basin urges to manage its nearly hundred coastal watersheds in a coordinated manner. To this end, we propose an integrated approach to model socio-ecologic scenarios with Sustainable Land Management (SLM) options at the watershed scale to strengthen the functioning of multiple Ecosystem Services (ES). This is tested in the Mijares watershed in eastern Spain. As a first step, we propose using integrated modeling technology to quickly assess areas of ecosystem goods and services supply and demand within the case study. To this end, we applied ARIES, an AI-driven online modeling platform widely used in the ES community. Then, we use this information to identify suitable SLM options documented in the WOCAT global database for providing the identified ES. Lastly, to adjust the results to the social-ecological context, we carry out consulting and participatory processes with key stakeholders to incorporate local knowledge of ES and capabilities to adopt SLM measures into the final proposal. As a result of this work, we can model various SLM scenarios, easing decision-making toward more integrated and sustainable land management in the watershed. Given the reproducibility of the used methodologies, our approach can be adopted in other Mediterranean contexts. • We present an innovative approach to strengthen the functioning of ES through SLM. • We select the study case of the Mijares watershed in E Spain to exemplify its use. • Quantifiable changes on ES result from modeling SLM options based on stakeholder engagement. • Results are accessible to stakeholders and policy-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change impacts vary wildly across different geographical contexts and their effects are primarily felt on the local level, generating demand for local solutions. The local level plays a key role in the adaptation to climate change. Nevertheless, in most European countries adaptation has yet to be integrated comprehensively into local policy agendas. To further our understanding of this slow pace of local adaptation progress, we study 21 Swiss Alpine municipalities exposed to a variety of natural hazards and issues exacerbated by local climate change impacts. Building on established research on local natural hazard management and climate change adaptation, we expect four factors to play decisive roles, either on their own or in combination with each other: Past extreme events, risk exposure, perceived climate risk and existing adaptation policies at superordinate levels. We test these expectations using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). We find that significant past extreme events and high perceived climate risk come close to being necessary conditions for local adaptation measures. High perceived climate risk on its own is also a sufficient condition for local adaptation measures to be taken while its absence is sufficient for no local adaptation measures to be taken. Thus, the importance of climate risk perception exceeds our expectation as it has clearly been revealed to be the most important factor. Future research should focus on disentangling different levels of public risk perception further and investigate the role different levels of perception or acceptance among different actor groups play in climate policy decisions. • Extreme events and climate risk perception are important conditions for local climate change adaptation. • Climate risk perception among the populace is key to enabling local climate change adaptation. • Power of extreme events to enable policy change depends on contextual factors such as risk perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to seriously affect agricultural livelihoods and food security in all Pacific Island countries. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation contends that, to adapt, both 'modern' and Indigenous agricultural practices and knowledge are needed. A challenge lies in combining agricultural knowledge systems and enabling adaptive knowledge to be shared amongst Pacific Islanders. Opportunities to integrate different types of agricultural knowledge (including 'modern' and Indigenous) are needed. This paper argues that international labour mobility programmes provide an avenue for knowledge exchange that can support climate change adaptation in agriculture. It presents empirical evidence from research with 33 Pacific Islanders who grow crops in their home countries and were employed in Australia's Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP). We demonstrate how SWP participation opened new possibilities for climate change adaptation in agriculture in the Pacific Islands. Adaptive knowledge stems from SWP workers' exposure to different agricultural skills and ideas in Australia, combined with their knowledge and experience of crop production in their countries of origin. SWP participation created opportunities for workers to draw on different agricultural skills and knowledge on return to the Pacific Islands. The ability for SWP workers to then exchange adaptive knowledge with other Pacific Islanders is enabled by their social relationships, the likes of which an official agricultural extension officer might not have to the same degree. So far, such adaptive agricultural knowledge and skills exchanges are serendipitous. There is scope to explicitly build climate change knowledge exchange into agriculture-focused international labour mobility schemes. • International labour mobility schemes facilitate agricultural knowledge exchange. • Labour mobility migrants adapt acquired agricultural knowledge to their countries. • International labour mobility schemes can build adaptive capacity in agriculture. • Adaptive capacity from labour mobility can spread via agricultural extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a systematic review of the scientific production on climate adaptation in Brazil, using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The analysis of adaptation categories indicated a good balance between social (38 %) and institutional (33 %) adaptation actions, with a lesser share of physical/infrastructure adaptation (25 %). Assessed impacts tend to focus on higher temperature or heat events (21 %), mainly with regard to human health, along with droughts or water resources issues (20 %), particularly agricultural production. The studied biomes or environments showed a predominance of the most populous areas, such as urban (27 %) and coastal (17 %), indicating the need to target climate adaptation actions at the various Brazilian natural biomes, which, together, are addressed in only 30 % of the papers analysed (all six biomes combined). Indexes development and documentary analysis were predominant methodologies. The dialogue between science and society must be improved, especially with public management, in the production, execution and dissemination of climate adaptation actions. Nature-based solutions were listed as emerging solutions for addresing climate change impacts, acting both for mitigation and adaptation. Popular participation was pointed out by several authors as fundamental in the joint construction of these actions, as well as the provision of information on access to climate finance, which may be of interest to both public and the private sectors. • A review of the scientific production in climate adaptation in Brazil was performed. • Indexes development and documentary analysis were the predominant methodologies. • Only 30 % of papers evaluated the various natural biomes in Brazil, such as the Amazon. • Engineering fields need better integration with the human aspects of climate change. • Popular participation and the dialogue between science and society must be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased threat of more frequent extreme climatic events (ECEs) poses significant challenges to household crops and livestock production, exacerbated by their weak adaptability. To explore ways to improve households' adaptation awareness and behaviors, a typical agro-pastoral ecotone on the northeastern Qinghai Tibet Plateau (QTP), Gonghe Sandy Land (GSL), was selected as the study area. This study analyses the impact of ECEs, and the adaptation measures taken by households, and innovatively includes the perception of government services from households in the factor system to identify the key driving mechanism of coping strategies. The results revealed that (1) 74.07 % of households experienced an extreme drought, and livestock production was 29.63 % more affected than crop production was; (2) households adopted different adaptation strategies with weather forecasts being the prevailing measure among households for crop (25.93 %) and livestock (42.33 %) production adaptation; and (3) different strategies are key to improving adaptive capacity. We found that production experience sharing, demographic and economic coordination, and early warning system and support by the government can increase farmers' awareness of adaptation strategies. While enhancing cognitive levels regarding measures, optimizing a household's health, rationally allocating assets, and increasing timely and stable government services can improve adaptive behaviors. On the basis of these findings, this study provides recommendations from the perspective of human well-being, with the aim to achieving the SDGs, enhancing regional climate change adaptation capacity and ensuring the safety and efficiency of crop and livestock production in the QTP. [Display omitted] • Extreme climatic events had severely affected crop and livestock production. • Adaptation of households in agro-pastoral ecotone of QTP is deficient. • Follow the weather forecast is the frequently-used, lowest-cost, simplest measures. • Experience share, socioeconomic trade-off, resource support raise adapts awareness. • Educate, health, asset allocate, government service raise adapts behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change presents a pervasive global threat to billions of people as well as ecosystems. Global mitigation policy failures mean we must now urgently adapt to projected climate impacts. While local government is expected to play a vital role in climate change adaptation, major breakdowns are occurring in local governments' ability to implement adaptation responses. Studies point to the importance of two key factors underpinning successful municipal climate change adaptation – supportive leadership and an authorising environment for adaptation. But few studies provide in-depth analysis of these factors and how they play out in practice. This paper reports the results of research addressing this knowledge gap, drawing on analysis of leadership in four Australian local governments (municipal councils). Twenty-five local government elected officials, executive leaders, and staff required to operationalise leaders' decisions were interviewed. Interviews examined leaders' role and influence in climate change adaptation and their receptiveness to mainstreaming. Results show that whether leaders consider climate risk on their policy agenda is highly variable and subject to factors such as: public mood and community expectations; issue salience; the presence of dedicated policy entrepreneurs to champion a response; and focusing events that heighten the urgency of adaptation. We identify three concrete opportunities to mainstream municipal climate adaptation responses: enhance issue salience within leaders; leverage networks of influence; and strengthen formal systems of municipal climate governance. • Municipal leaders recognise diverse risks arising from a changing climate. • Adaptation is often considered discretionary on the municipal policy agenda. • How adaptation is described and justified affects issue prioritisation by leaders. • Leaders' networks of influence can be leveraged to support climate mainstreaming. • Mainstreaming must engage with leaders' mindsets and receptiveness to adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent need for climate change adaptation is becoming more pronounced as climate impacts pervade across all scales. To overcome growing constraints on adaptation, research on the social dimensions of adaptation behaviour is of increasing importance. In this respect, there is an expanding body of literature exploring how place attachment influences climate adaptation. However, studies on this relationship have thus far been sporadic and disconnected. We set out to evaluate existing literature with the goal of seeking a comprehensive perspective of current trends and gaps in research practice, and to identify whether place attachment aided or constrained adaptation. A systematic review was undertaken which identified 72 relevant research articles. We quantitatively assessed the research focus of these studies including the type of climate impact and type of adaptation being studied, as well as, study location, methods used and findings. We also conducted a thematic analysis of studies to elicit major emerging links related to attachment and adaptation. Our findings affirm the complex and dynamic nature of this relationship; specifically, we find that effect of place attachment on climate adaptation action are subject to the climate risk perceptions and personal values of the individual, contextual manifestations of climate change impacts, and local sociocultural processes. We identify several gaps in current research, particularly in terms of geography and demography which has implications for equitable climate adaptation. We highlight the need for longitudinal studies, especially from the perspective of successful climate planning and policy and changing environments; and emphasise the importance of incorporating comprehensive insight on place attachment in climate adaptation planning and decision-making processes. • The extent & manner of influence on adaptation depends on social values & perceptions. • If impacted, attachment could lead to opposition or reduced support for adaptation. • Place-based factors that derive attachment should be accounted for in planning & policy. • More studies based in countries in the global south are needed. • Longitudinal studies are necessary to understand effect of changing circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change poses severe threats to coastal social-ecological systems (SES) worldwide. Recent calls recognize the importance of including Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) in research on climate change impacts. Yet studies that have attempted to weave ILK and scientific knowledge have seldom considered the gendered nature of climate change impacts. Building on the literature on gender and climate change and knowledge pluralism, this study contributes to addressing this research gap by exploring local knowledge on climate change impacts and its relation to scientific knowledge through a gendered approach and focusing on the Western Indian Ocean region, and more specifically on Kenya. We adopted a mixed methodology combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. We found evidence of pronounced climate change impacts on coastal SES both in the scientific literature and in local reports. Our findings highlight that there is an extensive overlap between information derived from scientific and local knowledge systems. Importantly, our study revealed reports of change that were only provided by SSF communities, namely changes in coastal dynamics, a decrease in rainfall, and a decrease in the abundance of green algae. Although we found gendered variations in changes reported by SSF communities, gendered differences of climate change impacts on SSF were not detected in the reviewed literature. Overall, our results suggest that knowledge cross-fertilization generates a holistic, relational, and place-based view of climate change impacts, which may support sound and gender-inclusive adaptive policies. We conclude by suggesting key policy recommendations for climate adaptation and risk management • There is a great overlap between scientific and local knowledge on climate change impacts in the Western Indian Ocean • Small-scale fishing communities provide unique insights on climate-driven changes • Gender partly influences the report of climate change impacts by local communities • Local knowledge contributes to a more nuanced understanding of climate change impacts [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As climate change accelerates, adapting to heat stress means preventing excess deaths, increased healthcare costs, reduced productivity, and damaged infrastructure and buildings. In cities, the urban heat island effect exacerbates these impacts. Adapting to heat stress requires action by a multitude of actors in different domains, including infrastructure and building owners, health care and social workers, and vulnerable inhabitants. While there is research on heat stress adaptation by single sectors, there is a significant knowledge gap regarding heat adaptation across sectors. To contribute to bridging this knowledge gap, we answer the following research question: To what extent and how are municipalities in the Dutch Province of Overijssel mainstreaming heat stress as part of their adaptation efforts? To answer this question, we combine action-oriented research employing the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework in a Dutch municipality, with a survey conducted among 15 municipalities located in the same province. Our research identifies two major challenges. First, the implementation of heat adaptation remains limited. Second, we identified two challenges regarding mainstreaming, namely a mismatch between the responsibility of heat adaptation in the built environment vis-à-vis the health care sector, and a lack of information on vulnerable groups that makes cross-sectoral collaboration more difficult. Thus, the extent to which heat adaptation is being mainstreamed as part of municipalities' efforts to adapt the built environment is still quite limited and heat stress management at the intersection with the health care sector remains mostly absent, leaving vulnerable groups exposed. • Mainstreaming of heat adaptation at the local level is only just starting, and only through green-blue measures in the public space. • Heat management could bridge the gap to avoid excess deaths, but responsibilities of heat adaptation and managing acute heat stress do not align at the local level. • Information on vulnerable groups needs to be systematically included in adaptation from the start. • Action Research underpinned by a well-established theoretical framework (the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework) can bridge the science-policy and the implementation gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While climate adaptation planning and implementation is gradually increasing across the globe, there is a documented gap between what is done and what needs to be done. Researchers have documented climate adaptation efforts at the strategic policy-making level and in urban planning practices, but less is known about how cities navigate the intricacies of climate adaptation policy-progression in the existing built environment. Contributing to the analytical unpacking of how to reduce policy implementation gaps, this paper targets ten Swedish early adopter cities seeking to proactively and pragmatically progress with their climate adaptation efforts from policy-formation to implementation in the urban built environment. Qualitative analyses of interviews and policy-documents illustrate that the cities, despite their early adopter status, struggle with stepwise policy-progression and get stuck when approaching implementation. Ensuring appropriate climate adaptation in the existing urban built environment becomes problematic due to current legal distribution of responsibilities, diverse land-ownership patterns and path-dependent structures and configurations within cities that are dense, intricate and tightly developed over of time. We identify three pragmatic action-strategies adopted to create solution space and allowing the cities to proceed: event-driven, target-driven and opportunity-driven climate adaptation, each having their advantages and disadvantages for ensuring urban robustness, as well as different requirements for up-scaling. The analysis enables important lessons of climate adaptation policy-progression, the promise and pitfalls of stepwise adaptation and the necessity of pragmatic muddling that is required to make climate adaptation work in the existing urban built environment. • There is an implementation deficit in climate adaptation policymaking and planning. • Research on implementation outcomes, practices and solution-space is needed. • Cities struggle with stepwise policy-progression in the urban built environment. • Three pragmatic action-strategies are adopted, conditioning and enabling action. • Mixing strategies allows balancing long-term strategy and emerging opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus has become an integral component duly suited to enable sustainable development and an important tool to achieve and sustain various socioeconomic and environmental outcomes, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. The WEF nexus has become increasingly important in recent years as it can holistically address humankind's current triple challenges, including resource depletion, environmental degradation, and population growth. Socioeconomic factors such as increased population, economic development, and climate change patterns frequently induce unprecedented pressure on WEF resources. From the various climate change model simulations, the climate is likely to increase in the future, exacerbating the demand of the population to access the WEF resources and services. For effective resource planning and decision-making, the availability of WEF resources must be assessed under ongoing climate change. In this regard, this study assessed rural livelihoods, health, and wellbeing indicators within the WEF nexus framework in Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), South Africa, and Narok County, Kenya. The premise was to determine the drivers of livelihood changes by applying the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making to understand the causal linkages between the WEF nexus resources and the sustainable livelihood indicators. Data collected from the literature review, questionnaire/group discussions, and field visit engagements were used to formulate and develop a matrix of indicators to assess livelihoods, health, and wellbeing. A correlation analysis based on the AHP was used to determine the linkages between WEF resources and sustainable livelihood indicators. The multivariate analysis used the correlation matrix to capture the pairwise degrees of relationship between WEF resources and sustainable livelihood indicators in the two study areas. The results show that the resources for sustainable livelihoods in VDM are more sustainable than those in Narok County. The Consistency Ratio values for Narok County and VDM were 0.046 and 0.067, respectively. The resulting composite index (0.143) classified both study sites under the lowly sustainable category. The results are important for informing policy formulation that guides timely interventions to balance socio-ecological systems. • The WEF nexus supports the realisation of SDGs and enhances climate change adaptation. • The WEF nexus approach has shown that rural livelihoods are still lagging in resilience-building initiatives. • There is a dispersed, statistically significant, positive correlation among the livelihood indicators and WEF resources. • A WEF nexus-based resource management is holistic and all-inclusive as it does not leave anyone behind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an urgent need for landscape-scale ecological restoration to reverse habitat loss and recover ecosystem functions and services. Given the unique nature of coastal and marine ecosystems a roadmap to overcome current barriers and guide transformative change is needed to achieve large-scale restoration. We conducted a national scale program of engagement with restoration practitioners, decision makers, industry, researchers, community groups, and Indigenous groups in Australia to map out the current state of implementation, barriers encountered and aspirations for the future. In collaboration with a graphic facilitator, we distilled the findings into ten guiding principles which are communicated through an engaging conceptual model. Here we articulate the ten guiding principles for large-scale coastal and marine ecological restoration and include discussion of the rational, the current state in Australia, and ideas for moving forward with respect to each principle. The principles are: 1) Co-design is central; 2) Fit-for-purpose governance; 3) No-gap funding; 4) Access to social, economic and biophysical data; 5) Evidence-based and transparent decision making; 6) Coordinated and at scale; 7) Robust monitoring, evaluation and reporting; 8) Clear strategy to adapt to climate change; 9) Nature-based solutions are implemented; and 10) Knowledge is shared effectively. We then evaluated the principles against three large-scale restoration programs in the UK, USA and Australia and found that their characteristics broadly adhere to each of the principles. Implementation of the roadmap is now necessary and will aid in achieving return of ecological functions in line with international commitments and societal goals. • Scaling up restoration in coastal and marine ecosystems requires a roadmap to overcome key barriers. • We report outcomes from a national program of engagement with the Australian marine restoration community. • Findings are distilled into ten guiding principles for landscape scale coastal and marine ecological restoration. • Assessing the principles against three successful international programs finds that they broadly model these principles. • Following the roadmap will enable development of successful large-scale marine restoration programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change adaptation is currently an important community concern in developing countries like Bangladesh. The conceptualization of adaptation within the government system matters for the promotion of activities such as employment generation for local communities. The lesser the gap between government policy and the local community's needs for adaptation the more effective outcomes are for ensuring policy success and promoting sustainable community livelihoods or vice versa. This interface between policy and community is important for climate change adaptation which is explored in this paper along with the findings of the research project, DEltas, vulnerability and climate change: Migration and Adaptation (DECCMA) conducted during 2014–2018 in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, and the United Kingdom. The data from Bangladesh was collected from 1384 survey respondents, 19 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), 3 workshops, and 43 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). The findings of the paper show that government adaptation activities mainly reflect the Reactive Approach of Limited Action (RALA) perspective rather than the Proactive Approach To Adaptation (PATA). The RALA perspective is characterized by piecemeal and top-down approaches to adaptation which fail to recognize a community conceptualization of climate change, policy perspectives for coping with local concerns, and governance approaches for effective adaptation. In response, the government needs to focus on the PATA in policy, programs, and projects with the governance approach implemented from the bottom-up or, in other words, from the local perspective. Community participation in decision-making processes is characteristic of this bottom-up governance model. Local community participation, consultation, and representation are essential parts of PATA in adaptation policy formulation and execution, providing important lessons for Bangladesh. • Adaptation to climate change is a high policy priority for developing countries such as Bangladesh. • The conceptualization of adaptation in government policy matters for community sustainability. • The top-down, centralised Reactive Approach of Limited Action (RALA) causes further concern for effective adaptation policy. • A Proactive Approach to Adaptation (PATA) is better for community sustainability. • Community participation and representation within governance approaches can expedite a PATA approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Justice theory is intended to guide practical choices, but justice theories struggle to inform many decisions that must be made in climate change adaptation practice. This paper highlights gaps between theory and practice by analyzing the justice dimensions of dilemmas routinely faced by adaptation administrators, using the example of property acquisitions to ground the analysis. Justice theories struggle to assist decision-makers in: prioritizing distribution of resources; distributing programs that cause both harms and benefits; weighing uncertain harms and benefits; identifying participants and resolving conflicts in participatory processes; and redressing historic injustices. Proposals to improve adaptation justice that do not address one or more of the practical dilemmas faced by administrators are unlikely to advance the cause. Absent theoretical or policy guidance, decisions are often shaped by administrators' unconscious heuristics such as views on the role of government and the purpose of buyouts. Tailoring justice-relevant decisions to local contexts may provide greater benefits than a universal approach to justice, but a relative approach is most likely to be just when justice-relevant decisions are transparent and informed by theoretical and empirical work. Transparency is critical for accountability, evaluation, and policy learning. Justice decisions are often constrained by limited authority, resources, and institutional goals, so achieving greater justice in climate adaptation may require changes in the larger governance systems within which adaptation decisions are made. More nuanced evaluations of adaptation justice, more comparative analyses, enabled by greater transparency in practice, and more holistic approaches to adaptation governance are recommended moving forward. • Major gaps persist between justice theories and adaptation practice. • Proposals to improve adaptation justice should specifically address dilemmas. • Transparency in justice decisions improves accountability, evaluation, and policy learning. • Justice heuristics may enable local tailoring if explicit and evidence-informed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is used in many contexts to compare the monetary costs and benefits of taking different actions. It has thus been advocated as a suitable method for analysing environmental policy making as well as decisions about projects and their effects on societal welfare. Despite the valuable use in principle, its actual use in policy processes seems to be limited. The paper presents an empirical case study in the city of Bremen, Germany and contributes to the literature on the use of CBA in policy making related to climate adaptation. We interviewed municipal actors involved in a participatory workshop series dedicated to supporting the use of CBA for deciding whether to implement specific climate adaptation measures. The municipal actors were asked about their perception of the usefulness of CBA, particularly in formulating policy options, and about the success factors and constraints connected to integrating cost-benefit results in policy making. The findings suggest that CBA is, above all, perceived as useful in raising awareness of environmental goods and in increasing the transparency of the policy-making process. Here, CBA was confirmed as useful for spurring a systematic discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of different adaptation measures. However, the municipal actors adopted a relatively critical stance towards using CBA as a decision criterion for prioritising measures. We conclude that, in this context, the participatory process of conducting the CBA, which takes municipal actors' knowledge seriously into account, is important for the perception of the usefulness of its results in policy making. • Policy makers were asked about their perception on the usefulness of cost-benefit analysis results. • Cost-benefit analyses are perceived as useful in raising awareness and increasing the transparency. • Use of cost-benefit analysis as a decision criterion for prioritization of measures is viewed critically. • A participatory process of conducting the cost-benefit analysis is important for improving the perception of the usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical infrastructure is a foundational component of a functional society and is under threat from the impacts of climate change. To ensure communities are not left without fundamental supplies and services, the adaptation of critical infrastructure to climate change needs to be understood holistically. This paper uses a scoping literature review to investigate the relationship between critical infrastructure and climate change. In the absence of a common definition for adaptive critical infrastructure, an outcomes-based definition is proposed that captures the four types of critical infrastructure: physical, ecological, institutional and cultural. A typology was developed to critically interrogate the focus of adaptive critical infrastructure. It shows that the focus across elements such as conceptualisation and management ranges from tangible to intangible infrastructure, and from positivist to interpretivist in approach. The literature review identified relationship-building as a key management objective across the spectrums. The typology contributes knowledge on how the choice of infrastructure focus and adaptation methods influences adaptation outcomes and path dependencies. • There are four different types of critical infrastructure: physical, ecological, institutional and cultural. • Current definitions of critical infrastructure prioritise physical assets. • Critical infrastructure needs to pay more regard to climate change impacts. • A definition for adaptive critical infrastructure is proposed that includes tangible and intangible systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change and more frequent extreme weather events are expected to significantly challenge food production and food security worldwide, underlining the need for adaptation within the agricultural sector. Although Norway, as other Nordic countries, potentially benefits from higher temperatures in terms of agricultural production, adaptation will be necessary. Employing resilience as a theoretical lens, this study investigates Norwegian farmers' handling of the dry summer of 2018, a summer that comprehensively challenged agricultural production throughout Europe. In-depth interviews revealed that farmers' main strategy was to improve their buffer capacity to be able to 'bounce back' (i.e., to get 'through' the summer to return to a 'normal' situation). Informal and formal networks, access to outfield resources and governmental support played key roles in enhancing the buffer capacity. Structural changes in the agricultural sector seem to challenge future access to the resources needed to improve the buffer capacity in times of crisis. Within the current environmental, social and political framework, farms are considered resilient, and strengthening buffer capacity is reasonable. However, a higher frequency of extreme weather events may require that other capacities, such as adaptive or transformative, be improved. Thus, resilience is not a given state and independent of values but strongly context dependent. To achieve long-term resilience, climate change adaptation needs to be politically encouraged and economically supported. Farmers need flexibility to use local resources. Worries about structural changes may draw farmers' attention away from making potentially important adaptations to climate change. • The dry summer of 2018 was a comprehensive challenge for Norwegian livestock farmers. • Farmers used multiple resources to increase their buffer capacity and were supported by various actors. • Farmers assumed they would not be able to cope as well were there other extreme weather events in the foreseeable future. • Farmers were more worried about changes in the policy framework than about climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we produced a spatially explicit diagnosis of the deforestation hotspots and future climate risk (2050) of cocoa producing areas, zooming into the top 8 cocoa exporting countries and the main global cocoa traders. Cocoa-driven deforestation often co-occurs with deforestation driven by other agri-commodities, and thus needs to be tackled jointly. Climate risk will be substantially increased in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, the two most important suppliers of cocoa, which may lead to supply failures and severe socio-economic impacts if left unaddressed. Climate risk and deforestation have a high spatial variability between and within countries, calling for geographically differentiated approaches to mitigation and adaptation. Large transnational traders depending heavily on West African supplies, as well as the regionally based exporting farmer cooperatives and domestic firms, will be affected by the increased climate risk in that region. Traders operating in Latin America and Southeast Asia might only face a modest increase in climate risk, with subregional exceptions. These results raise concerns about the validity of sustainability commitments made by companies and other sector initiatives, which focus on single commodities and fail to consider the diversity of actors adding pressure on landscapes. Tackling these issues requires a collaborative effort from various sectors and stakeholders involved in land use decisions to prevent the geographical displacement of negative impacts, prioritize urgent action, and implement these changes efficiently and in a coordinated manner. Further, sustainability commitments often neglect climate change adaptation, with agroforestry and climate smart agriculture initiatives primarily focusing on carbon reductions and increased farmer income, paying less attention to farm practices that reduce cocoa vulnerability. • Cocoa is one of many drivers of deforestation and assessments must consider competing sectors in a landscape. • No-deforestation initiatives must integrate all sectors competing for agricultural land to avoid displacing impacts. • Global cocoa supply is at risk if climate risk is unaddressed among West African smallholder farmers. • Horizontally-integrated traders are key to implementing landscape approaches especially where agri-commodities overlap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the growing interest in naturalizing schoolgrounds this paper explores the governance configurations that enable, produce and sustain their multiple benefits. We scrutinize the existing literature analysing the norms, actors, and processes through which green school grounds are conceptualized, designed, implemented, and sustained. We find that good schoolyard governance is exhibited by: i) the actual use that children make of the naturalized areas, and by its repercussion on their physical and mental well-being, social integration, sense of place, and socio-environmental awareness; ii) the ways outdoor environments intersect with school curriculums; iii) by the availability of public support and funding lines with flexible, anticipatory and adaptive features; and crucially iv) by the ways that architects and gardeners engage with the concepts of ecology, creative play and outdoor education in the acts of schoolyard (re)making. We also find that at times focus on program effectiveness (efficiency, goals) infringes upon justice and inclusion. The way participative processes are interpreted, and eventually inform schoolyard designs and uses is one of the challenges to consider in this respect. Greening schoolyards also requires participation processes that are accessible and inclusive for adults and children from a variety of socio-cultural, ethnic and economic contexts. In a nutshell, naturalizing schoolyards needs to go beyond the search for narrow technical solutions for climate adaptation or pedagogical innovation, being a process of school (re)making. The governance framework suggested here is apt for analysing a range of urban green interventions • Good schoolyard governance is exhibited by the actual use that children make of the naturalized areas. • Successful schoolyard greening rests on its intersection with existing curriculums. • Designers need to engage with landscape ecology, participation and creative play. • Equity and justice need to be considered in design, implementation, and use. • Flexible and adaptive public funding is key for steadfast schoolyard naturalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green spaces (UGS) contribute to human health and wellbeing. However, few studies have focused on cities in the Global South, mainly examining them on a citywide scale without considering deprived areas where residents lack basic facilities and sufficient income. Consequently, there is limited understanding of the relationship between the availability of UGS and associated ecosystem services (ES), and what is actually demanded for by residents in such deprived areas. Therefore, this study aims to assess (i) the perceived supply and (ii) the perceived demand for ES of UGS in selected deprived urban areas; and (iii) to determine the potential gap(s) between these perceived supply and demand aspects. A mixed-method approach was adopted for the study, incorporating GIS methods, household surveys, and key informant interviews. As case studies, the study was conducted in two deprived areas in Kumasi, Ghana – Dakodwom and Ayigya Zongo. The findings reveal that land scarcity and encroachment have led to a limited supply of UGS in these areas. Nevertheless, residents appreciate the few available UGS and ES, demonstrating adaptation to their limited resources. They particularly highlighted the cultural ES provided by these UGS. The high demand for these services, surpassing their supply, shows significant gaps, emphasising the need for comprehensive urban planning and management decisions. Such decisions should involve all stakeholders and be underpinned by effective legislative support. • Residents of two deprived urban areas in Kumasi enjoy ecosystem services (ES). • Preference for cultural over regulating and provisioning ES is noted. • Gaps between perceived supply and demand for some cultural and regulating ES are identified. • Residents adapt to low urban green spaces supply due to land scarcity. • Findings pose challenges for climate change adaptation through nature-based solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global environmental changes, including landscape fragmentation, are threatening the integrity of ecosystems and reducing their capacity to deliver ecosystem services. Spatial configuration of a green network supports ecological functions and services, that depend on living organisms and material movements across the landscape. It is important to study the structure of green infrastructure networks and to develop robust methodologies that can inform future planning. In this paper we describe a framework for connectivity analysis and enhancement within the green infrastructure networks. We review and combine methods to map and analyse the current spatial network configuration of green elements, in order to identify the key nodes and links that can maintain connectivity and consequently support the benefits provided across the landscape. The study explores the creation of network scenarios and the improvement or reduction of connectivity by adding, preserving, or removing corridors and core areas. Methods include morphological spatial pattern analysis, landscape connectivity metrics and graph theory elements. The analysis has been applied in the Northern Italian Plain, considering green riparian zones and the protected areas as elements of the network. The results show that this method can be used to analyse the status of green infrastructure networks and to identify the main needs for maintaining and improving network connectivity. This is important in the current context of change, as it may support decision-makers in developing tailored adaptation strategies that exploit nature-based solutions to reduce the risks caused by the major drivers of change. [Display omitted] • Green infrastructure network tackle ecosystems fragmentation and services provision. • Spatial configuration and connectivity influence ecosystem services and functions. • We review and combine methods to analyse green infrastructure network connectivity. • The framework allows to identify key nodes and links to maintain ecological connectivity. • Landscape planning and management should consider green infrastructure connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization coupled with increasing climate change has instigated thermal stresses and reduced the quality of life in the built environment. For climate change adaptation, it is essential to quantify the public's perceptions of climate change. This study employs the concept of risk perception and psychological distance to understand the role of the built environment in shaping public perception. An index-based approach was used to quantify climate change risk perception and psychological distance using indicators from disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation literature. Risk perception was constructed using three dimensions, i.e., fear, attitude, and trust, while for psychological distancing, four dimensions were used, i.e., geographic, social, temporal, and uncertainty. Local climate zone (LCZ) using WUDAPT procedure was used to identify five different built environments of Islamabad, Pakistan. Statistical tests were performed to find differences between the selected indicators and dimensions. Pearson's correlation was used to establish the link between risk perception and psychological distancing. Results showed that there was a significant difference in risk perception and psychological distancing indicators among the LCZs. A strong negative correlation was found between risk perception and psychological distancing to climate change indexes. This study advocates the importance of the built environment in shaping public perceptions of climate change risks. This pivotal study can help in integrating the philosophies of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. [Display omitted] • Local climate zones method classifies built-up areas. • Climate change risk perception varies according to the built-up type. • Psychological distance to climate varies according to the built-up type. • Psychological distance and climate risk perception are negatively correlated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the success of climate change adaptation initiatives and expenditures requires consideration of multiple complex dimensions that interact across time and space—a task that is difficult and sometimes controversial. These challenges are exacerbated in conservation contexts where there are no clear and accepted definitions, goals, strategies, and evaluation criteria for adaptation. Using a Delphi expert elicitation (n = 18) involving successive semi-structured interview and survey phases, we address this gap by developing a concise yet comprehensive set of criteria to evaluate the success of adaptation projects. Through this process we identified 16 evaluation criteria organized into four categories: (1) use of information, (2) project management, (3) ecological and social outcomes, and (4) advancing the field of adaptation. We then trialed these criteria using an online survey of adaptation practitioners (n = 47), including to assess the relative importance of the various criteria for evaluating climate adaptation projects as compared with the views of experts involved in the Delphi survey. Results highlight a potential disconnect between what is considered important in theory (as perceived by experts) and in practice (as perceived by practitioners). Finally, we discuss potential use of the evaluation criteria. • We develop and trial a set of 16 criteria to evaluate conservation adaptation projects. • There are four categories of criteria: use of information, project management, outcomes and advancing the field of adaptation. • The framework covers all stages of a project, from inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. • Expert and practitioner specialists hold different views about what is considered important for adaptation success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of "solution spaces" is used to explore the potential future of forestry under climate change for different types of forestry management structures. We base the analysis in New Zealand, where forestry plays an increasingly critical role in the nation's climate policy, but the concept could be applied to any region. Understanding solution spaces and the ways in which they can be influenced at different levels of ownership is a critical step towards effective climate change adaptation. Building on the base of existing climate projections, scenarios, and economic and social science literature, we form an assessment of the capacity of each forest owner typology to influence their solution spaces into the future. Different management structures have strengths in different areas – while industrial forest managers may be able to utilise emerging technologies better than their smaller scale counterparts for example, they may be less agile and flexible. The sector as a whole may benefit from working collectively to draw on the respective strengths of each typology. Critically, planning now to expand the space into the future will be essential. • The solution space for forestry under climate change is influenced by diverse drivers that will change over time. • Proactive adaptation actions can expand the solution space into the future. • Different forest owner typologies have differing abilities to influence the solution space. • Collaboration between forest owner typologies could improve the overall solution space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although over 70 countries adopted a national climate change adaptation plan (NAP), little is known about the extent to which these plans are implemented. NAP monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems can play an important role in tracking implementation but have rarely been studied. Based on a systematic review including outreach to country representatives and international organizations, a comprehensive inventory of NAP M&E systems is compiled documenting government practices from over 60 countries. In contrast to previous studies, this stocktake does not rely on stated intentions of M&E but requires evidence such as monitoring and evaluation reports. The extent of NAP M&E involvement globally and countries' respective status are determined and compared to a baseline from the 2017 Adaptation Gap Report of the United Nations Environment Programme. Results show a 40% increase in the number of countries that are developing or using NAP M&E systems and almost a doubling of published NAP evaluations. However, over 60% of countries that adopted a NAP do not systematically assess its implementation, leaving a critical gap in understanding the impacts of NAPs. These findings support calls for greater attention to the quality of adaptation planning and for assessing its implementation and effectiveness. • More than 60% of countries that adopted a national adaptation plan (NAP) are not tracking its implementation. • 23 countries have published a NAP implementation report and 15 have undertaken a NAP evaluation, almost twice as many as 2017. • Almost 40% of countries reporting on NAP implementation are developing countries but only three are Least Developed Countries. • The number of countries engaged in developing or using mechanisms to track NAP implementation has increased by 40% since 2017. • NAP M&E systems support reporting on adaptation progress under the Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hindu Kush Himalayan region is a documented climate change hotspot. The region is also known for its ongoing development challenges including those arising from reconstruction in the aftermath of natural disasters. Incepting the idea of climate-resilience in development planning has, therefore, become a necessity in this poverty-ridden region. To identify the strategies that have been envisaged by the stakeholders in terms of climate-resilient development, this paper singled out the stakeholders who are responsible for local-level development in the mid-hill region of Nuwakot which lies in central Nepal. Data was collected through the visioning and back-casting method and included interviews with community members, NGO experts and regional representatives. The study identified the activities and priorities of stakeholders based on different time horizons illustrating climate-resilient development pathways. The study found that community pathways address mostly current needs and climate variability and that future challenges do not play a central role in the selection of adaptation measures. Although a majority of the actors recognized climate-resilient development as a priority, it tends to be planned in silos without cooperation and coordination among themselves. The results reveal that the risks and vulnerabilities encountered by community members, who are at the receiving end of climate change, have not been incorporated into the development plans of the policymakers. The study concludes that development priorities should be formulated based on the identification of a need and proposes that future cooperation mechanisms for stakeholders should be brought under one umbrella and include a discussion of climate-resilient development pathways that incorporates more community engagement so as not to lose the connection between country aspirations and community voices. • Community members are calling for empowerment and capacity building for climate change adaptation. • Designing and implementing climate-resilient development pathways are not inclusive of marginalised communities. • Multi-stakeholder coordination and co-operation among is necessary for implementing adaptive governance for climate-resilient development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adaptation pathways can support planning for place- and problem-based issues. • Credible, relevant, and legitimate essential, though imperfect, evaluation criteria. • Addressing complex risks demonstrates value of science at local policy interface. • Ability to work with and embrace messiness and complexity is required. • Participatory processes provide essential engagement and capacity building. ' Think global, act local ' has been linked with climate change issues for several decades and suggests a simple downscaling of ideas, tools and processes can be relatively easily achieved. Adaptation pathways, for example, are increasingly used to identify and evaluate adaptation options against a range of plausible futures. The process is applied to both large-scale infrastructure and investment decisions, as well as smaller-scale, sub-national issues associated in part, with climate change impacts and implications. Consequently, pathways are being developed in the context of multiple contested values, competing with other, more immediate, non-climate-related or indirectly related planning processes, such as freshwater management, community resilience and wellbeing, and biodiversity conservation. In this Short Communication we reflect specifically on place-based adaptation pathways constructed, presented, and implemented within limited budgets and without recourse to resource-intensive research capacities. We emphasise the need to meet criteria for local credibility, legitimacy, and relevance. Specifically, we suggest there is a need to accommodate the complexities of local conditions; establish affordable and accessible processes; and build technical and participatory capability. These considerations may assist with co-creating place-based pathways and incorporate a wider range of complex issues both political and contextual with multiple constituencies including, as necessary, where science itself is increasingly questioned or disregarded. In turn this might lead to sets of country specific, nested local hierarchical adaptation options developed through pluralist approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Most IPCC categories of constraints and opportunities were found to be relevant to the Southern African urban context. • New categories of opportunities and constraints emerged inductively from this research. • New constraints related to ethics and intellectual property rights were found in two cities, but across all three sectors. • Refinement of the IPCC categories of opportunities and constraints to adaptation would be a valuable exercise. This exploratory qualitative study utilised the IPCC categories of adaptation opportunities and constraints as a framework to understand the barriers and enablers to the development and uptake of contextually relevant climate-resilient water management technology in three sub-Saharan African cities. In-depth interviews were undertaken with key informants from the research, government, and civil society sectors to gain insight into perceived opportunities and constraints to the development, uptake and market dissemination of such technology in Blantyre, Harare and Gaborone. The majority of the identified opportunities and constraints aligned well with the global IPCC categories, while certain IPCC categories were found not to be relevant to the three city contexts of the study. Two new categories of adaptation opportunities and constraints were discovered (i.e. they did not fit within an IPCC category); they were an opportunity: 'climate change windows of opportunity', and a constraint: 'ethics and intellectual property'. Our results indicated that the nuances of the Global South context are often not well-considered in the design of climate-resilient water management technology, and that a number of constraints detract from the development, uptake and dissemination thereof. There are however, opportunities inherent to sub-Saharan African cities which could be used to stimulate the development, uptake and dissemination of locally designed or modified water technology. We discuss some implications of our finding and new frontiers for research on this topic by way of conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutions play crucial roles in addressing and building resilence to climate risks. Whereas planning for and addressing climate change issues through multilevel goverence (MLG) has become inevitable, there has been a disparity in the attention given to different levels of MLG. The focus of MLG research has predominantly centered around supranational and national levels, with limited empirical studies on subnational MLG governance; hence, this research. This study thus focuses on the city of Kumasi (specifically, Kumasi Metropolitan Area) in Ghana as a case study to examine the role of MLG at the subnational level in climate change planning and management. Seven relevant climate change and local/city planning agencies were sampled purposively for appropriate data. It was clearly revealed that these actors who operate at various levels and jurisdiction, address climate challenges in accordance with their respective primary responsibilities. While such MLG arrangement exists for addressing climate change in the city of Kumasi, there are many challenges that derail effective collaboration and any meaningful outcome within such governance framework. The collaboration among the authorities involved in planning and managing climate change action in Kumasi remains weak coupled with overlaps in their formal roles and responsibilities. Additionally, there is no evidence of any meaningful action being undertaken within such governance arrangement to address climate change contrary to the expectation that MLG should have enhanced interactions in terms of planning for climate change. The study recommends that the MLG framework should encourage learning across different levels and facilitate interactions among various organizations, promoting innovation in climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives. • Urban poor remain vulnerable to climate change impacts. • Institutions play crucial roles in addressing and building resilience to climate risks. • Addressing climate change issues through multilevel governance has become inevitable. • Stakeholder collaboration to manage climate risks remains weak. • Stakeholder participation and partnerships in pro-poor adaptation measures remain imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of social actors is widely acknowledged as a precondition for just and sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change. The integration of diverse types of scientific and local knowledge contributes to a better understanding of problems and increases the relevance of science at the local scale. In this study, we - an interdisciplinary team of scientists - employed a transdisciplinary methodology to enable the discussion of collaborative action the Salvadoran coffee sector needs to adapt to current and future impacts of climate change. Through a stakeholder encounter we elicited knowledge exchange among stakeholders to generate (i) a collective awareness of the experiences of climate impacts and (ii) outline a research agenda to facilitate a transdisciplinary climate change adaptation strategy. We used a suite of standard and participatory data-gathering methods, including desk research, in-depth informal conversations, questionnaires, field visits, small-group discussions, and a one-day workshop. In this paper, we present the methodological approach and the outcomes of the transdisciplinary research process. We ultimately outline a collectively generated research agenda using the input of stakeholders who partook in the workshop. • Stakeholders agree El Salvador's coffee sector must be adapted to climate change impacts. • A lack of information and resources was found to hinder the adaptation potential. • A transdisciplinary approach was adopted to collectively outline a research agenda. • Innovative agricultural practices and societal and organizational changes were prioritized. • We discuss how our transdisciplinary approach is both place-based and generalizable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We introduce a framework that integrates social factors of adaptation decision-making and elements of systemic change. • We apply the framework to assess transformative adaptation processes in Nordic agri-food systems. • Results suggest that adaptation measures can cause transformative changes with potentially harmful outcomes. Climate change adaptation measures and practices may induce fundamental changes i.e. transformations in socio-ecological systems. Adaptation that intentionally aims for transformation is often intended to increase benefits and synergies with other broader societal development goals such as sustainability. Adaptation measures also have possible unintended negative effects that, in the case of system transformations, may be difficult to reverse. This study seeks to identify characteristic features of the adaptation processes that may result in agri-food system transformations. We introduce an integrated framework to identify these features and 'adaptation activity spaces', and apply this framework to the Nordic context, analysing stakeholder interviews that integrated serious gaming. The results show how transformations may result from adaptation measures targeted towards climate risks with an objective of changing either current practices or surrounding supportive structures. This study addresses reasons why transformative adaptation is not occurring in Nordic agri-food systems and presents novel information that may contribute to policymaking and further research needs on transformations in relation to adaptation decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A mindset shift is already emerging across sectors and contexts. • It relates to new, relational modes of knowing, being and acting. • A paradigm shift has not yet happened at the collective level. • Safe spaces can function as a visible manifestation and catalyst. • A competency framework of transformative skills is presented. Technological and policy solutions for transitioning to a fossil-free society exist, many countries could afford the transition, and rational arguments for rapid climate action abound. Yet effective action is still lacking. Dominant policy approaches have failed to generate action at anywhere near the rate, scale or depth needed to avoid potentially catastrophic futures. This is despite 30 years of climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and wide-ranging actions at national, transnational and sub-national levels. Practitioners and scholars are, thus, increasingly arguing that also the root causes of the problem must be addressed – the mindset (or paradigm) out of which the climate emergency has arisen. Against this background, we investigate decision-makers' views of the need for a different mindset and inner qualities that can support negotiating and activating climate action, along with factors that could enable such a mindset shift. Data were collected during participatory workshops run at the 25th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP25) in 2019, and comprise surveys, as well as social media communication and semi-structured interviews with COP attendees. Our results underline vast agreement among participants regarding the need for a mindset shift that can support new ways of communication and collaboration, based on more relational modes of knowing, being and acting. They also suggest the emergence of such a mindset shift across sectors and contexts, but not yet at the collective and systems levels. Finally, they highlight the importance of transformative skills and the need for experimental, safe spaces. The latter are seen as a visible manifestation and enabler that can support agency for change through shared self-reflection, experience and practice. We present a transformative skills framework, and conclude with further research needs and policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The role of governance, institutions, and management in regional adaptive capacity is emphasized. • A framework to assesses regional adaptive capacity of governance systems is proposed. • Framework encompasses adopted actions, institutional capacity, research quality, planning processes, and collaboration. • Insights from the assessment include asymmetries between places and opportunities for interventions. • Provides a foundation and method for future assessments in other places and contexts. Climate changes and associated impacts are placing pressure on institutions and the professionals working within them to become proactive and to plan for more extreme impacts in distant futures. Despite a growing recognition of the need for climate adaptation action, there are limited assessment frameworks and strategic evaluation resources to support our understanding of regional adaptive capacity. We build on the literature and on information provided by climate adaptation experts to design a multi-criterion framework called the Regional Fingerprint. This framework consists of five critical categories – adopted actions, institutional capacity, research quality, planning processes, and regional collaboration – and twenty-one evaluation criteria. The framework is designed to uncover asymmetries between places, identify opportunities for intervention, and track progress in adaptive capacity. We further applied this framework to regions in California to test its viability and glean insights into the framework's capacity to generate new and useful policy relevant information. Through this work we find that the Regional Fingerprint offers insights into adaptive capacity and can be used to highlight critical areas for strategic intervention by state and local planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Climate change adaptation is an opportunity for legacy cities to address growing social, racial, and economic inequality. • Detroit and Cleveland are two legacy cities in the Great Lakes region that have adopted plans for adapting to climate change. • The growing salience and extent of poverty and inequality, and engagement of grassroots and civic organizations, are driving attention to justice in adaptation planning • Vulnerability assessments, community partnerships and a "racial equity tool" are policy tools used by these cities to operationalize justice principles. Climate change adaptation presents an opportunity for legacy cities to address growing social, racial, and economic inequality, or engage in just climate change adaptation. While the importance of just and equitable climate change adaptation is well understood, the policy and politics that underlie such efforts are less well understood. This paper focuses on the development of just climate change adaptation strategies in legacy cities, particularly those in the Great Lakes region of the U.S., where the challenges and opportunities for climate change adaptation are particularly high. Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio are used as illustrative case studies. These cities are two of the only two legacy cities of the Great Lakes region to have developed formal and explicit adaptation plans, and foregrounded justice and equity early in the process. A review of planning documents, and interviews with key stakeholders, in the two cities are used to identify the components of justice being included in climate change adaptation planning, the drivers or motivations for foregrounding justice in their adaptation planning, and the policy tools being used or developed to reach these goals. The findings reveal an awareness among stakeholders and decision makers in both cities of the importance of addressing inequality in climate change adaptation, some attention to justice principles in the adaptation plans themselves, and a diverse set of policy tools emerging to support this work. Importantly, despite relatively modest ambitions for climate change adaptation, both cities face implementation challenges that are likely to be common among legacy cities of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pilot projects for coastal risk reduction. • Identifying governance arrangements to support long-term adaptation. • Learning by doing model for long-term adaptation. In Mauritius island in the Indian Ocean, as in most low-lying coastal areas and Small Island Developing States in particular, coastal risks affect community livelihood, economic prosperity and the degradation of natural ecosystems. Risks of coastal erosion and marine flooding result both from climate-related ocean changes and anthropogenic drivers such as inappropriate coastal development and structural protection measures. Poor development planning and lack of coordination between public and private actors have increased the exposure of human assets along the Mauritius coastline. To reduce these risks, the government leads risk reduction activities in coastal zones, functioning on a centralized top-down governance approach. In recent years, this governance framework has been evolving by opening up participatory channels and exploring a long-term adaptation perspective. Progress is driven by international engagements and demonstration projects to embrace soft measures, nature-based options and integrated solutions. We review a selection of pilot projects undertaken by the government that illustrate flexibility in a 'learning by doing' model. However, we find that certain governance arrangements do not allow to draw the most from ad hoc projects because they do not feed into a long-term comprehensive plan. We consider the role of evidence and risk assessments, learning processes and coordination mechanisms as key governance mechanisms required for a robust and evolving national coastal risk reduction and adaptation policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Wetlands can help protect human communities from consequences of extreme weather events. • Society has not valued the protective services of wetlands. • Coordinated and effective policy action is needed to protect wetlands to protect people. • We propose countries take policy action to create national wetland commissions. • Commissions can link wetland protection to disaster planning, infrastructure investments, and climate adaptation strategies. We elevate the undervalued role of wetland protective services for mitigating disastrous consequences of unprecedented weather-related events for human communities. Scientific evidence increasingly reveals that wetlands play critical hydrologic roles in landscapes, helping to mitigate flood, drought, and, in some cases, fire risks. However, wetland protective services have not received sufficient policy action. We propose national wetland commissions, modeled after the concept of lake and river commissions, as one way to strategically link wetland protection to other societal objectives, including human disaster risk planning, infrastructure investments, and climate adaptation strategies. We offer an example applicable to the United States, describing an institutional design for a National Interagency Wetland Commission. We suggest it could be patterned after existing federal commissions statutorily created by Congress with delegated administrative and regulatory authority and designated independent agency status within the executive branch. It is time for bold and innovative policy action to incorporate wetland protective services into societies' defenses against extreme weather events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Attitudes towards GHG mitigation and climate change adaptation are assessed. • Study subjects include sheep farmers, extension officers and scientists involved in sheep farming research. • Extension officers and sheep farmers show converging negative attitudes towards mitigation. • Beliefs and information are found to cause diverging attitudes. • Consequences on the working of the knowledge transfer chain and implications for policy design are discussed. Low innovation adoption rates in agriculture have spurred intense research on farmers' attitudes and motivations. Little attention has been paid to attitudes of other important actors in the knowledge transfer chain. Evidence indeed suggests that adoption rarely happens at the farm level, but requires the right inputs from science and extension services. Divergent attitudes among actors in the knowledge transfer chain may hence contribute to low adoption rates by transferring insufficient, outdated, irrelevant and/or incorrect information. This study is an investigation on attitudes towards climate change mitigation and adaptation of three classes of actors: sheep farmers, researchers involved in fields related to sheep farming and extension officers from private companies and public agencies. The investigation is based on data collected through self-administered questionnaires submitted to 165 participants to agricultural field days in Sardinia (Italy). The sample consists of sheep farmers (37,5%), researchers (16,4%), extension officers (32,1%) and other agricultural workers or students (14 %). In order to assess differences in attitude and identify the sources of attitudinal divergence, the study adopts Kolmogorov – Smirnov (KS) equality-of-distribution tests and Partial-least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Comparing and contrasting attitudes towards several topics related to GHG emission mitigation and adaptation to climate change reveal that researchers and extension officers have different attitudes towards innovation for mitigating GHG, that in turn depend on different information and beliefs on the causes and effects of climate change. This context is less than optimal to promote adoption of climate change mitigation or adaptation strategies. Climate change science and policy design need to recognise the complexity of knowledge transmission and the multiplicity of attitudes and beliefs that inform and affect the process. To mitigate the impact of diverging attitudes and beliefs among researchers and extension officers tailored communication strategies should avoid controversial issues and focus on benefits of innovation on farm efficiency. In turn, this would build trust and cooperation among all the actors in the knowledge transfer chain. Only when cooperation is assured, one could be confident that the information delivered to farmers is scientifically sound, relevant, value-neutral and useful in changing farmers' behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An integrated assessment of future flood risk and adaptation was carried out in the UK's largest protected coastal wetland. • An iterative stakeholder engagement process guided the design of a hydraulic model and adaptation scenarios. • High interest was shown in increasing flood storage or setting up a tidal barrier as opposed to raising flood defences. • Changes made to the model as a result of the participatory activities helped provide relevant outputs for decision making. Decision-makers face a particular challenge in planning for climate adaptation. The complexity of climate change's likely impacts, such as increased flooding, has widened the scope of information necessary to take action. This is particularly the case in valuable low-lying coastal regions, which host many competing interests, and where there is a growing need to draw from varied fields in the risk-based management of flooding. The rising scrutiny over science's ability to match expectations of policy actors has called for the integration of stakeholder and scientific knowledge domains. Focusing on the Broads — the United Kingdom's largest protected wetland — this study looked to assess future flood risk and consider potential adaptation responses in a collaborative approach. Interviews and surveys with local stakeholders accompanied the development of a hydraulic model in an iterative participatory design, centred on a scientist-stakeholder workshop. Knowledge and perspectives were shared on processes driving risk in the Broads, as well as on the implications of adaptation measures, allowing for their prioritisation. The research outcomes highlight not only the challenges that scientist-stakeholder integrated assessments of future flood risk face, but also their potential to lead to the production of useful information for decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate services are increasingly developed and used to plan for climate change adaptation, but it remains unclear what constitutes their success. In this global Delphi study, a wide range of experts evaluated 12 elements to be most relevant for defining success, clustered along 3 dimensions: climate service, production process, and results of production and/or use. Two possible ways of combining these elements into a definition received convincing support from the experts. The definition shows that user satisfaction is key. Moreover, climate service developers should acknowledge climate change uncertainties, and build trust and capacity with the users, while tailoring interactions. Ultimately, better adaptation decisions should follow. There was limited agreement on including elements regarding the process of how a service should be developed. This paper proposes a first global definition for successful climate services that is widely supported and can be used to develop, research, and evaluate climate services. • Experts define 'successful climate services for adaptation' in a Delphi study. • Study reveals that 12 elements are most relevant to include in a definition. • Users have a central in determining the success of a climate service for adaptation. • Two possible definitions receive convincing support from experts worldwide. • Definition supports development, research, and evaluation of climate services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intricate connections between water, land, food, energy, and climate change require a multicentric approach to evaluating the trade-offs and synergies needed to achieve sustainable development. For example, the amount of water required in irrigated agriculture, consumptive water uses, and hydro-power production can potentially lead to water pollution, and negatively affect hydrological regimes. However, Operationalizing Water Energy Food (WEF)-nexus thinking has evolved such that a division between researchers (e.g., academia), political actors (e.g., policymakers), and development partners (e.g., promoters) has formed. This lack of connection can lead to a situation where there is incoherent governance of WEF resources management. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) context, the WEF nexus approach is at the core of regional sustainable development plans and strategies. This paper analyses the ambitions and the expected outcomes of the Songwe River Basin Development Programme (SRBDP) and reflects on how governance coherence of WEF resources rooted at the grassroots level contributes toward achieving "nexus-doing". The SRBDP exhibits a multi-stakeholder connection of interests geared towards a common target (i.e. stabilisation of the River Songwe flow). The SRBDP creates a multi-centric action system within the water, energy, food, and climate change adaptation role-players to achieve this overarching goal. The connections espoused in this system form the basis for nexus-doing in the Songwe River Basin. The major findings are: (i) there is a significant infrastructural demand in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), anchored in the development of water, land, food, and energy resources; (ii) governance coherence in the SADC context can be identified at both vertical and horizontal levels; (iii) the nature of trade-offs and synergies exhibited in SRBDP is valuable for making progress towards the operationalization of integrated WEF-nexus resource management; (iv) governance inconsistencies/ambiguities are better diagnosed and addressed in implementing nexus-doing initiatives such as SRBDP. Based on the findings, the following recommendations are proposed: (i) build upon small wins and support snow-balling successes to upscale promising initiatives-for instance the joint agreement by Tanzanian and Malawian governments to stabilize Songwe River flow by inaugurating the joint cooperation and equitable sharing of the Songwe watercourses (AFDB, 2019); (ii) invest in capacity building and human resources for the Songwe River Basin Commission and associated stakeholders to become more effective;-for posterity of sustainable developments in the Songwe River Basin; both the Tanzanian and Malawian governments in partnership with development partners need to upscale the investment in human capacity development and resource capacity development of the Songwe River Basin Commission (SRBC) as the joint development vehicle for the basin. and (iii) enrich policy assessment tools tailor-made for SADC. This tool will help in policy accounting to help minimize duplication, and ambiguities by fostering cooperation and policy mapping across the WEF-nexus sectors in the SADC region. This work can guide approaches to close the gap between nexus-thinking, and nexus-doing, something that is increasingly called for. • There is significant infrastructural demand for resource access in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). • Governance coherence in the SADC context can be identified at both vertical and horizontal levels. • Highlighting trade-offs and synergies is valuable for progress towards integrated resource management. • Governance inconsistencies/ambiguities are best diagnosed and addressed in nexus-doing initiatives such as SRBDP. • Invest in capacity building and human resources for the Songwe River Basin Commission and associated stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of climate change knowledge, anxiety, and experience on climate adaptation using survey data from 874 farmers in the Western North Region of Ghana. To present unbiased estimates, the instrumental variable regression technique was applied to control for endogeneity. Results indicated that climate change anxiety and knowledge significantly increase climate change adaptation among farmers. Also, climate change experience has a significant inverse relationship with climate change adaptation. Furthermore, climate change adaptation is significantly higher among farmers producing crops and livestock (mixed farming), partnership and cooperation/organization farmers, and farmers with a net monthly income range between 501 and 2500 cedis (USD 83.5–416.7). Our findings direct policymakers' attention to investing in climate-smart agriculture, economic and socio-psychological strategies to strengthen adaptive capacities. [Display omitted] • We examine the causal effect of climate change knowledge, anxiety, and experience on climate adaptation. • Survey data from 874 farmers in Ghana are studied using instrumental variable regression. • Climate change knowledge alone does not drive adaptation, but high knowledge plus anxiety leads to greater adaptation. • Policymakers must invest more in climate-smart agriculture and socio-psychological strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 2000 abstracts from 6 climate adaptation conferences over 10 years were studied. • Adaptation to climate change in Australia is evolving with more emphasis on action. • Some changes indicate progress, but others suggesting lack of research funding. • There is more conference participation by practitioners, less by researchers. • There is a shift from the natural environment to urban and infrastructure adaptation. The last decade has seen strong global growth in the number of climate change adaptation projects. To understand whether adaptation is progressing and is successful, some form of longitudinal tracking is required. The six adaptation conferences organised by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility between 2010 and 2018 provide a unique and novel opportunity to track adaptation progress in Australia. Each conference was accompanied by a call for abstracts for oral or poster presentation. The submitted abstracts form the basis of the analysis in this paper. We show that, over time, the balance of attendees shifted away from researchers and towards government employees, and the proportion of attendees submitting abstracts declined. The proportion of abstracts submitted by government employees and consultants has increased at more recent conferences. When abstract content is analysed, the results show that, over time, there has been a change in the focus of abstracts with respect to the sector, type and stage of adaptation. These trends indicate maturation of adaptation in Australia, but also suggest that lack of finance for research and action is having an impact. There is evidence that adaptation in Australia is moving from being largely planning based and towards implementation. This is encouraging, given that studies throughout the world have remarked on the barriers that exist in moving from planning to action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Certain coping or incremental adaptation strategies to climate change are not enough, unsustainable, or maladaptive. • Fundamental changes in social-ecological systems that address root causes of vulnerability may be needed. • Transformative adaptation characteristics: restructuring, path-shifting, innovative, multiscale, systemwide, and persistent. • Characteristics of transformative adaptation help design strategies to anticipate, guide, or recover from climate change impact. • They can be deliberately included in adaptation plans when appropriate to accommodate desired changes for more sustainable climate change responses. In the face of major shifts in temperature and precipitation, some conventional strategies that help people to cope or incrementally adapt to climate change may become inappropriate in the long-term. Transformative adaptation, i.e. fundamental systems' changes that address root causes of vulnerability may be needed. However, we have a limited understanding of what transformative adaptation looks like in social-ecological systems and when it can be implemented. We applied an interdisciplinary perspective to describing social-ecological shifts driven by climate change. We reviewed 80 recent conceptual publications about responses of social, ecological, and social-ecological systems to climate change. Our review suggests that transformative adaptation is characterized as being restructuring, path-shifting, innovative, multiscale, systemwide, and persistent. Despite several barriers to implement transformative adaptation, policy makers and practitioners should consider this option in adaptation plans to help societies to anticipate, guide, or recover from radical climate change impact. Using transformative adaptation to navigate shifts driven by climate change can increase the efficiency and sustainability of climate solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CA is often tracked using simplified measures (e.g., proxies, self-assessments). • Common measures vastly overestimate comprehensive (or beneficial) CA adoption. • In self-reporting, farmers rely on older conservation-related concepts like no-till. • Overestimating beneficial adoption disincentivizes further risk management. • This raises serious concerns for CA's promotion, monitoring and evaluation. Commercial agriculture is central to problems of sustainability in food, water, energy and climate change. Appropriate solutions will depend on the effective promotion, monitoring and evaluation of changes in farming practice. Conservation agriculture (CA) is an important example of sustainable intensification and climate-smart agriculture, increasing the productivity and reliability of grain production while reducing agricultural inputs and future climate risks when adopted comprehensively. But to understand its implementation and benefits, researchers often rely on simplified measures of CA adoption (e.g., single proxies, binary measures, broad self-assessments, expert estimates). Here we use a national survey of South Africa's commercial grain farmers (n = 441), contextualized by previous interviews, to investigate common measures of adoption and their implications for CA's promotion, monitoring and evaluation. These farmers are unusually informative, because they are unsubsidized but have the capacity, incentive and willingness to adapt to climate change. We find that they are adopting CA autonomously, but that their implementation is highly variable and their interpretation of farming practice differs from that of local experts. Single proxies, binary adoption variables and broad farmer self-assessments suggest that between 40 and 80% of farmers have adopted CA. However, when evaluated across the three CA principles using UN-defined adoption thresholds, the comprehensive adoption rate is only 14%. Farmers' definition of "conservation" differs substantially from that of the local experts most likely to be asked to contribute adoption estimates to global monitoring efforts, creating the potential for miscommunication. There is therefore substantial cause for concern in how CA is currently promoted, monitored and evaluated. Inaccurate adoption estimates jeopardize CA's potential as a climate change adaptation strategy, creating illusory progress that may disincentivize further substantive efforts towards agricultural sustainability and climate resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Mekong Delta Plan translates Dutch climate adaptation knowledge to Vietnam. • Dutch advisors established themselves and their approach as indispensable. • Tensions produced as Dutch approach confronted Vietnamese system of governance. • Meanings were altered, but long-term transformative vision applied to new context. • Vietnamese government has adopted this vision to implement own development goals. With the identification of river deltas as especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, efforts are underway to mainstream climate change adaptation into development planning in many delta countries. Yet understanding how these processes unfold demands attention to how knowledge is translated from one context to another and across levels of governance to influence action. This paper examines the "Mekong Delta Plan" (MDP), produced in partnership between the Vietnamese and Dutch governments in 2013, as a vehicle for the translation of knowledge to shape climate change adaptation in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Drawing on ethnographic research at sites in Vietnam and the Netherlands, the findings illustrate how the MDP has come to play a key role in the governance of climate change adaptation in the Delta, driven first by Dutch advisors and then by the Vietnamese government. This study suggests that attention to the politics of translation in climate change adaptation governance can shed light on important factors shaping the socio-material evolution of both the Mekong Delta in particular and deltas more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There were local institutional setups that implement climate change adaptation polices in broader development framework in order to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the rural poor. However, some of the federal level policy provisions were not being implemented at local level. • Policy implementation had limited success so far because of various reasons. Some of these include limited resources (human, material and financial), low level of awareness on intervention strategies (by the community, some of the experts, and by the district leadership), and lack of detailed implementation manuals and guide lines to instrument the policy at local level. • The institutions had no formal platforms to synergize policy implementations. They often meet during the times of emergencies and this has limited their successes. • There was lack of continuity of the interventions which were usually implemented in the form of campaign. Adaptive measures such as terracing, seedling plantations were carried out in the form of seasonal campaign and lack continuous follow up to yield the intended results. • There is no program monitoring and evaluation system and the programs were being implemented despite limited successes in transforming farmers' livelihood. Local institutions play pivotal role in climate change adaptation though less attention has been given to them compared with other components of adaptation. The conventional approach to study local institutional roles focuses on how institutions can support climate change adaptation with little emphasis to other institutional dimensions. Thus, the current study deconstructs the conventional institutional roles in climate change adaptation to reframe them on broader institutional dimensions inspired by Young (2002). Data were collected from households, experts and community leaders on institutional frontiers of local public local institution. The study used mixed methods to analyse the data. The findings indicated that despite the presence of institutional set ups, most of the national policy provisions had not been implemented at local levels due to various reasons. Further, even the implemented policies had limited success because of lack of participation in policy making processes, absence of policy implementation guidelines and limited institutional capacity. The study also revealed very weak coordination among institutions working on climate change adaptation. As the result, climate adaptation policy implementation lack continuity, monitoring and evaluation system, and failed to yield transformative changes to the farmers. Therefore, there is an urgent need to participate, capacitate, and synergize local institutions, and establish policy monitoring and evaluation system so that national policy provisions can yield intended results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• How extreme events impact actor's climate adaptation work remains understudied. • Extreme events influence the risk perception and learning of professionals. • Distinction of professionals' regulative and expanded institutional risk framing is crucial. • Collaborative learning processes can influence knowledge and innovation pathways. • Localized extreme events affect risk framing thus changing urban climate resilience. While existing research suggests that extreme weather events influence perceptions of climate risk, the mechanisms shaping innovation in urban climate adaptation work remain understudied. In this article, we inquire into how recent localized extreme weather events in Copenhagen, Denmark, have spurred processes of innovation in adaptation pathways. We suggest that risk-framing work by professionals plays an important part in understanding urban innovation processes, since changes in public risk perceptions become part of collaborative learning processes amongst communities of professionals. Such learning processes can result in new technological pathways of innovation, as part of wider urban knowledge systems. We analyze these processes through 32 semi-structured interviews with professionals involved in creating knowledge about climate adaptation in urban Copenhagen. Specifically, we compare two knowledge and innovation pathways, for pluvial and coastal flooding, representing, respectively, an actualized extreme event and a near miss. Overall, we find that the presence (pluvial) or absence (coastal) of damage from localized extreme events matters to the knowledge and innovation pathways. Innovation in dominant technological solution spans, as well as related institutional decision-making routines, is more pervasive in pluvial flooding, whereas coastal flooding is widely considered as temporally distant. Analytically, we suggest that a distinction between regulative and expanded institutional framings of risk matters to how professionals understand their own room for manoeuvre. Recent pluvial flood events have not changed the official technical risk assessments. Yet when professionals consider such events in an expanded institutional frame, they incorporate increased public and political risk perceptions as they construct pathways for further innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Climate service production constraints hinder adaptation processes. • Knowledge production constraints create/exacerbate other adaptation constraints. • Stakeholder interactions lacked direct users and producers of climate services. • Human system uncertainties were rarely discussed during stakeholder interactions. • Constraints were variously experienced based on agency, role, status, institution. Abstract Climate change adaptation efforts continue to increase as the impacts of climate change increase, intensify, and become more apparent. However, many adaptation efforts fail to result in adaptation actions. This inaction has been linked to several constraining factors including a lack of actionable information for adaptation decision-making processes. We wonder if climate service producers face constraints as they try to create and deliver actionable information for adaptation decision-making efforts? This paper draws on semi-structured interviews and participant-observations across climate service production environments in Sweden to answer our research question and finds that climate service producers engage in research, coordination, and communication to varying degrees and experience constraints related to the production and dissemination of actionable information and stakeholder engagement, as well as funding, professional, and institutional constraints. Some constraints are experienced differently by climate service producers depending on their specific role, institutional affiliation, agency, and experience. Additionally, some climate service production constraints create or exacerbate additional constraints for adaptation decision-making stakeholders. Therefore, climate service production constraints limit the effectiveness of climate services, and overcoming them would help make progress towards more adaptation implementation in specific contexts. However, for adaptation actions to be widespread, the production and dissemination of climate services must be met with additional support and guidance for adaptation efforts beyond the provision of actionable information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An assessment of 54 national adaptation plans and strategies using criteria developed from the Paris Agreement. • Tracking adaptation planning at an international level can help guide adaptation planning nationally and support global-scale consistency in planning and action. • There is significant consistency in current national adaptation planning with a focus on economic development and growth. • Adaptation planning aligned to the Paris Agreement can encourage development pathways that promote synergies between environmental, social and economic goals. Abstract The Paris Agreement commits state parties to a global adaptation goal and the inclusion of adaptation into their National Communications. This requires national level planning, monitoring and reporting and methods for effective global-scale adaptation tracking. However, unlike mitigation, where clear targets and goals have been agreed, adaptation is a process with varied and changing goals and risk context. Assessing adaptation plans and strategies can provide valuable insights into ongoing adaptation policy, because the plans give good indications of priorities and institutional thinking. To assess how adaptation planning aligns to the Paris Agreement, this paper used Article 7 of the agreement to develop criteria and applied these to assess national adaptation plans and strategies available in English from 36 least developed, 8 developing and 10 developed countries. The results suggest that adaptation planning aligned to the Paris Agreement can help bring a different focus to development pathways that promotes synergies rather than trade-offs between environmental, social and economic goals. Importantly, tracking adaptation planning can help ensure the continued mobilisation of the parties, guide adaptation planning nationally and locally, and support global-scale consistency in planning and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Motivation to act on climate adaptation exists in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. • External influence and workplace environment affect motivation and capacity to act. • Inadequate staffing and budget dispensation promote reliance on donor funds. Abstract Government ministries are increasingly mainstreaming climate change adaptation within policies and plans. However, government staff in key implementing ministries need to be empowered to ensure effective delivery of policy goals. Motivation to act on climate change, combined with the capacity to make decisions and apply resources to programmes, is crucial. Informed by theories of motivation and workplace environments from social psychology and organisational theory, this paper reports findings from a questionnaire of government staff (103 respondents) in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. The questionnaire was designed using self-determination theory to investigate the role of external influences, institutional structures and resources and how these, in turn, affect staff motivation and capacities to design and implement new policies and strategies. The study finds that whilst external influences and hierarchical structures are recognised, these do not have a strong direct influence on staff motivation, but they do appear to inhibit capacities to act. The results show that lack of staff and limited government-allocated budget reduce the ability of ministries to be self-determined and set their own agendas. Instead they are dependent on donor-determined projects which may be selective in the aspects of climate change adaptation plans and policies they support and even divert focus away from government priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]