WP7.Dissemination of ADAPT-MED results

 

 

The main objective of WP7 is the dissemination of research results in particular to decision makers and stakeholders involved in, or potentially relevant to, initiatives in the field of climate change adaption. Different mechanisms are developed in ADAPT-MED for supporting dissemination:

 

 

• The development of the project web site that will provide regular updates and news on ADAPT-MED activities (in particular: dates of ADAPT-MED workshops, specific adaptation-related policy decision in partner countries and at the EU level, publication of specific project report, etc.). The main pages of the web sites will be available in the partner country languages (French, Portuguese and Greek) and in English;

 

•  The development of an electronic newsletter every 5-6 months (thus, 5 newsletter in total – in English) that will be widely disseminated;

 

•  The organisation of three national workshops (one for each partner country) on ”adapting decision making to climate change adaptation”. To limit travel costs and the emission of of greenhouse gazes, these workshops will be organised back-to-back with the ADAPT-MED management meetings. Their focus and content will be adapted to the stages of ADAPT-MED research, mobilising decision makers, experts and researchers for presentations and discussions.

 

•  The organisation of a final Mediterranean Regional Workshop at the science-policy interface that will provide a forum for presenting and discussions ADAPT-MED project results. It is expected that representatives from the three countries who participated in the policy exercise will attend the Regional workshop and make presentations/contribute to the debates. Results from parallel studies and research that address decision making in the field of climate change adaptation will also be presented so ADAPT-MED results are put in a wider contexte. Participants from other EU (non-Med) countries will also be invited. The synthesis of the workshop will be prepared French, Portuguese, Greek and English;

 

•  Building on the results of WP2 to WP5, and in particular the results of WP5 & WP6, four policy briefs (4 page document written in ”policy-like” language) with a common layout will be produced at the end of the project: one policy brief dedicated to each partner country and developed in the language of the country; one policy brief combining all results and developed in the language of each partner country, in Arabic and in English – as this will facilitate the dissemination of research results to the Mediterranean region and to Europe.

 

Similar to all research projects, ADAPT-MED partners will also develop scientific publications. Whenever possible and relevant, they will present ADAPT-MED methodology and results to different seminars, workshops and conferences at the regional (case study), national, Mediterranean and European levels.

 

Some consortium members (e.g. G. Le Cozannet for BRGM) being involved in the review process of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), they will be able to bring ADAPT- MED research results (when relevant) to appropriate meetings, working groups and new publications dealing with the state of the art in vulnerability and adaptation science.

 

Baixo Vouga Lagunar

 

Several brochures were prepared to disseminate the ADAPT-MED project among local stakeholders (see WP5 section).

 

The results of ADAPT-MED in BVL were also disseminated through the oral communication Understanding the spatial dimension of climate change:  Two case studies on the individuals’ causal attributions of environmental issues

 

Abstract: Recent studies show that there is a linear decrease in climate change belief from coastal towards inland areas. One of the reasons is that people living far from the coast might lack first-hand experience of climate change consequences (e.g. coastline retreat, storm surges, or coastal erosion). Using the coastal lagoon region of Ria de Aveiro we noted that individuals living at the lagoon/coastal boundary express more concern over the impacts of climate change than those living at the lagoon/freshwater boundary (the Baixo Vouga Lagunar area). Our analysis, based on ADAPT-MED project results and on previous work by Pinho (2012), showed that the proximity to the coast is associated with increased experience of climate change-attributed effects, such as coastline retreat, whilst the presence of the lagoon, which is 10 km wide, might buffer the indirect impacts of climate change. In fact, climate change is not a major concern in the Baixo Vouga Lagunar, as the causes for most environmental impacts are attributed to the Aveiro Port related activities, namely the dredging of the channels for navigation. This has significantly altered the coastal lagoon tidal prism and water velocity, contributing to enhance the surface saltwater intrusion in agricultural land. These spatial differences in perception might translate into different sets of priorities when dealing with the direct effects of anthropogenic impacts as well as variations in the willingness to adapt to climate change, both of which should be taken into account in land-use planning.

 

Reference:  Luís, S ; Freitas, F.; Rodrigues, N.; Nogueira, A.J.A.; Roseta-Palma, C.; Lima, M.L..; Pinho L.; Martins, F.C.; Betâmio de Almeida, A.;  Le Cozannet, G.; Jolivet, V.; Lillebø, A.I.(2015). Compreender a dimensão espacial das alterações climáticas: Dois casos de estudo acerca das atribuições causais dos problemas ambientais. [Understanding the spatial dimension of climate change: Two case studies on the individuals’ causal attributions of environmental issues.] Oral communication presented at the VIII Congresso sobre Planeamento e Gestão Integrada das Zonas Costeiras dos Países de Expressão Portuguesa [VIII Congress on Planning and Integrated Coastal Zone of Portuguese-Speaking Countries], Aveiro, Portugal

 

For all case studies

 

Scientific activities:

 

Paper Is it all about awareness? The normalization of coastal risk coastal risk

 

Abstract: Coastal risk is already high in several parts of the world and is expected to be amplified by climate change, which makes it necessary to outline effective risk management strategies. Risk managers assume that increasing awareness of coastal risk is the key to public support and endorsement of risk management strategies – an assumption that underlies a common worldview on the public understanding of science, which has been named the deficit model. We argue that the effects of awareness are not as straightforward. In particular, awareness of coastal hazards might not lead to more technically accurate risk perceptions. Based on research on risk perception normalization, we explored the hypothesis that coastal risk awareness reduces coastal risk perception – in particular the perceived likelihood of occurrence of coastal hazards – through its effect on reliance on protective measures to prevent risk. Individuals can rely on protective measures, even when those are not effective, as a positive illusion to reduce risk perception. This effect might be stronger for higher probability hazards and for permanent residents of costal zones. Data from 410 individuals living in coastal zones corroborated most of our expectations. Global results demonstrated a risk normalization effect mediated by reliance on current measures. Additional analyses made clear that this effect occurred in 2 of the 5 high-probability hazards (flood and storm), and not in the low-probability hazard (tsunami). Normalization might be more likely among high-probability hazards which entail catastrophic and immediate impacts. This effect was also found among permanent residents, but not among temporary residents. Results imply that coastal risk management might benefit from (a) taking risk perception normalization effects into account, (b) tailoring strategies for permanent and temporary residents and (c) promoting a higher public engagement, which would facilitate a more adaptive and effective coping with coastal risk than the use of positive illusions.

 

Reference: Luís, S.; Pinho, L.; Lima, M.L.; Roseta-Palma, C.; Cardoso Martins, F.; & Betâmio de Almeida, A. (2015). Is it all about awareness? The normalization of coastal risk. Journal of risk research. Advanced online publication. doi: 10.1080/13669877.2015.1042507

 

Poster Using the theory of planned behaviour to understand and promote stakeholder engagement in local adaptation to climate change

 

Abstract: Most policy documents on climate change highlight the need for stakeholder engagement on policy making regarding local adaptation to climate change. There appear to different rationales for this. Engagement is promoted as way to achieve greater acceptance of policies and environmental awareness and to improve quality in decision making. In parallel, engagement ensures democratic legitimacy because citizens have a right to be included in climate-change related decisions that affect their lives. However, the levels of engagement in climate change issues are not typically high and more research is needed to learn how engagement can be increased and improved. The theory of planned behaviour can be used to understand and promote engagement in adaptation to climate change. Even if several theories explain human behaviour and decision-making, this is one of most influential and powerful, both for its ability to predict and explain behaviour and for its contribution towards framing and evaluating behaviour change interventions. Previous studies have used it to understand climate change mitigation. In this study, we explored its usefulness to understand stakeholder engagement in adaptation to climate change. The theory of planned behaviour is a useful conceptual framework that incorporates central concepts in the social and behaviour sciences. It postulates that behaviour is motivated by situation-specific beliefs about the likely consequences of the behaviour (behavioural beliefs), beliefs about the normative expectations of others (normative beliefs), and beliefs about the presence of factors that may influence performance of the behaviour (control beliefs). Behavioural beliefs create a favourable or unfavourable evaluation of the behavior (attitude toward the behaviour); normative beliefs produce the perceived social pressure regarding the behaviour (subjective norm); and control beliefs create the perceived ability to perform the behaviour (perceived behavioural control). Behavioural intention, which is the immediate antecedent of behaviour, is formed based on the attitude towards the behaviour, subjective norm, and perception of behavioural control. Based on previous research and on a literature review, we explored different types of behavioural beliefs (e.g., costs and benefits of adaptation, attitudes towards public participation), normative beliefs (descriptive and injunctive) and control beliefs (e.g., information on climate change and public participation, stakeholder salience). Stakeholders from different case studies in the Mediterranean (France, Portugal, and Greece) were surveyed (e.g., policymakers, elected officers, researchers). Results show that the behavioural intention to engage in the process of planning adaptation to climate change was significantly predicted by particular variables of the theory of planned behaviour, depending on the characteristics of the case studies. Furthermore, descriptive results indicate which specific beliefs should be stressed in future interventions to promote stakeholder engagement

 

Reference: Luís, S., Lima, M.L., Roseta-Palma, C., Rodrigues, N., Sousa, L., Alves, F., Lillebø, A.I., Freitas, F., Parrod, C., Jolivet, V., Poulos, S., Alexandrakis, G., Paramana, T. (2015). Using the theory of planned behaviour to understand and promote stakeholder engagement in local adaptation to climate change. Poster presented at Our Common Future Under Climate Change, Paris, France.