Responding to climate change impacts demands decisive action to adapt, yet there is a well-documented and growing ‘adaptation gap’. Action has been very limited, as institutions, governance systems and societies can appear largely resistant to change. The barriers to adaptation are multiple and widely documented, but solutions to overcome these remain elusive.
Adapt Lock-in was an interdisciplinary project to analyse the non-linear, complex systems within which climate change adaptation occurs, and uncover reinforcing, stabilising dynamics which can maintain a specific course of action and discourage alternatives:
- Identification and attribution – To what extent are lock-in dynamics responsible for observed adaptation gaps?
- Evolution – How do lock-in dynamics form, persist and evolve over time? Under what conditions do these dynamics flourish?
- Comparison – How do lock-in dynamics compare across different problem domains, within and between countries?
- Transformation – How can an understanding of lock-in dynamics inform ‘unlocking strategies’ to accelerate adaptation action?
We addressed these questions through a comparative mixed-methods research design based on cases across three countries (Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (UK) and six problem domains central to the climate adaptation challenge in these countries:
- i) coastal adaptation, ii) water scarcity, iii) forestry, iv) biodiversity and nature conservation, mental health, and vi) heat stress as a health threat.
For more information, including the latest publications, contact:
