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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Moving Beyond Short-Term Coping And Adaptation, Christine Wamsler, Ebba Brink Jan 2014

Moving Beyond Short-Term Coping And Adaptation, Christine Wamsler, Ebba Brink

Christine Wamsler

Throughout human history, people have coped with, and adapted to, their environment. This accumulated capacity at local level is increasingly recognized to be critical in improving resilience and transformation. Nevertheless, city dwellers’ coping and adaptive practices are little known, poorly documented and often not taken into account in the work of municipal authorities and aid organizations. Against this background, this study provides a systematic overview of urban residents’ coping and adaptive practices, presents critical insights into their risk-reducing effects and discusses their role in the development of policies and projects to increase resilience. It shows that coping should not automatically …


Local Levers For Change: Mainstreaming Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Into Municipal Planning To Foster Sustainability Transitions, Christine Wamsler, Christopher Luederitz, Ebba Brink Jan 2014

Local Levers For Change: Mainstreaming Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Into Municipal Planning To Foster Sustainability Transitions, Christine Wamsler, Christopher Luederitz, Ebba Brink

Christine Wamsler

Unprecedented global challenges demand wide-reaching societal modification to ensure life support functions and human well-being. In the absence of adequate international responses to climate change and the need for place-based adaptation, local governments have a pivotal role in fostering sustainability transitions. In this context, the importance of ecosystem-based adaptation is increasingly recognized as a multi-benefit approach that utilizes ecosystem services to harmonize human-environment systems. Although research advocates the mainstreaming of ecosystem-based adaptation to advance sustainable planning, the pathways for its systematic implementation are missing and it remains unclear how local authorities can best integrate this new approach into their core …