Personal connections key to climate adaptation

Date:
August 10, 2020
Source:
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Summary:
Connections with friends and family are key to helping communities
adapt to the devastating impact of climate change on their homes
and livelihoods. The research found people are more empowered to
deal with the impact of encroaching sea-levels and dwindling fish
stocks when they see others doing the same.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Connections with friends and family are key to helping communities
adapt to the devastating impact of climate change on their homes and livelihoods, a new study shows.


==========================================================================
The research found people are more empowered to respond when they see
others doing the same.

Scientists analysed how an island community in Papua New Guinea of around
700 people coped with the impact of encroaching sea-levels and dwindling
fish stocks. The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, examined the actions households took to deal with these impacts.

Lead author Dr Michele Barnes, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral
Reef Studies (Coral CoE), said: "We found their actions were related to
their social networks, the ways they are connected to other people within
the community." "To cope with the impacts of climate change, existing practices or behaviours can be tweaked -- this is adaptation. However,
in some cases this won't be enough, and people need to enact more
fundamental changes -- transformation." "In our case, adaptation
included things like building sea walls to protect existing land use,"
said co-author Dr Jacqueline Lau, from Coral CoE and WorldFish. "And transformation involved developing alternative food and income sources
away from fish and fishing-related activities." Essentially both sets
of actions are necessary to combat the impacts of climate change. Dr
Barnes says influence within social networks is what encouraged this:
the households more socially connected to others taking action were more
likely to do the same.



==========================================================================
"It may be a situation of 'like-attracts-like' where households with
particular mindsets are more socially connected to similar households,"
Dr Barnes said.

"Another explanation is that households were influencing each other's
actions.

It's likely a combination of the two," she said.

The authors also found household connections with the marine environment
played an important role in determining the responses to climate impacts.

"Climate change and other human impacts rapidly degrade coral reef
ecosystems and alter the composition of reef fish communities," said
co-author Professor Nick Graham, of Lancaster University in the UK.

"The adaptation of coastal communities is becoming essential. Our research highlights that interacting with and learning from the marine environment
is one mechanism through which this adaptation can be achieved," he said.

Dr Barnes says the policies and programs seeking to reduce vulnerability
to climate change often focus on building up material assets or creating infrastructure.

"Our research emphasises a broader set of factors can play an important
part in the actions communities end up taking," she said.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by ARC_Centre_of_Excellence_for_Coral_Reef_Studies. Note: Content may be
edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Michele L. Barnes, Peng Wang, Joshua E. Cinner, Nicholas
A. J. Graham,
Angela M. Guerrero, Lorien Jasny, Jacqueline Lau, Sarah
R. Sutcliffe, Jessica Zamborain-Mason. Social determinants of
adaptive and transformative responses to climate change. Nature
Climate Change, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41558-020-0871-4 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200810113208.htm

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