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Mainstreaming climate adaptation: taking stock about “what works” from empirical research worldwide

Adaptation to a changing climate is unavoidable. Mainstreaming climate adaptation objectives into existing policies, as opposed to developing dedicated adaptation policy, is widely advocated for public action.

Åsa Persson / Published on 19 December 2017

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Citation

Hens Runhaar, Bettina Wilk, Åsa Persson, Caroline Uittenbroek, Christine Wamsler. Mainstreaming climate adaptation: taking stock about “what works” from empirical research worldwide. Regional Environmental Change, 2018, Volume 18, Number 4, Page 1201-1210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-017-1259-5

Woman hands connecting two jigsaw puzzle pieces against sunset sky.

The puzzle of mainstreaming. How to connect climate adaptation to other policies? Photo: Getty/baona

Knowledge on what makes adaptation mainstreaming effective is scarce and fragmented. This paper takes stock of peer-reviewed empirical analyses of climate adaptation mainstreaming in order to assess current achievements and identify the critical factors that render mainstreaming effective.

The effectiveness of mainstreaming outputs and outcomes varies greatly across country groupings.

The results show that although in most cases adaptation policy outputs are identified, only in a minority of cases does this translate into policy outcomes. This “implementation gap” is most strongly seen in developing countries. However, when it comes to the effectiveness of outcomes, no difference across countries was found.

The authors conclude that more explicit definitions and unified frameworks for adaptation mainstreaming research are required to allow for future research syntheses and well-informed policy recommendations.

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SEI author

Åsa Persson
Åsa Persson

Research Director and Deputy Director

SEI Headquarters

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Topics and subtopics
Climate : Adaptation / Governance : Public policy

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