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Hidden costs and disparate uncertainties: trade-offs involved in approaches to climate policy

Hidden costs and disparate uncertainties: trade-offs involved in approaches to climate policy
Hidden costs and disparate uncertainties: trade-offs involved in approaches to climate policy
As policy-makers struggle to define the policy agenda to address the challenge of climate change, three distinct influential approaches to climate policy are emerging in the climate change literature: implementing climate change adaptation; reducing social vulnerability; and managing ecosystem resilience. Each of these approaches has been developed in specific policy contexts associated respectively with natural hazard mitigation, poverty and social welfare investment, and natural resource management. In these contexts each approach has met with varying levels of past success. The fact that climate change is characterized by a high probability of surprise events; significant scientific uncertainty; and a need for long-term planning horizons only makes policy development more difficult.

In this chapter we argue that each of the three approaches involves implicit trade-offs in both the process of policy formation and in policy outcomes. These trade-offs are rarely considered in the evaluation of policy options, yet may have important implications for social welfare and sustainability. Through the analysis of case studies of adaptation to climate variability and change, we illustrate how the different ways of approaching the process of adjusting to future change can inadvertently lead to, for example, the privileging of efficiency over equitable distribution of resources (for example, risk-based adaptation approach), equity at the expense of cost (for example, social vulnerability approach), or intergenerational equity over political legitimacy (resilience approach).
climatology and climate change, natural resource and environmental economics
9780511596667
212-226
Cambridge University Press
Eakin, Hallie
9e5a9d35-deb0-41ce-809d-e3659e4c76c3
Tompkins, Emma L.
a6116704-7140-4e37-bea1-2cbf39b138c3
Nelson, Donald R.
92d711be-330d-46fc-9831-00fc8ea3c0fa
Anderies, John M.
1c222f14-b28f-421e-8937-15ac1719d054
Adger, W. Neil
Lorenzoni, Irene
O'Brien, Karen L.
Eakin, Hallie
9e5a9d35-deb0-41ce-809d-e3659e4c76c3
Tompkins, Emma L.
a6116704-7140-4e37-bea1-2cbf39b138c3
Nelson, Donald R.
92d711be-330d-46fc-9831-00fc8ea3c0fa
Anderies, John M.
1c222f14-b28f-421e-8937-15ac1719d054
Adger, W. Neil
Lorenzoni, Irene
O'Brien, Karen L.

Eakin, Hallie, Tompkins, Emma L., Nelson, Donald R. and Anderies, John M. (2009) Hidden costs and disparate uncertainties: trade-offs involved in approaches to climate policy. Adger, W. Neil, Lorenzoni, Irene and O'Brien, Karen L. (eds.) In Adapting to Climate Change: Thresholds, Values, Governance. Cambridge University Press. pp. 212-226 . (doi:10.1017/CBO9780511596667.014).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

As policy-makers struggle to define the policy agenda to address the challenge of climate change, three distinct influential approaches to climate policy are emerging in the climate change literature: implementing climate change adaptation; reducing social vulnerability; and managing ecosystem resilience. Each of these approaches has been developed in specific policy contexts associated respectively with natural hazard mitigation, poverty and social welfare investment, and natural resource management. In these contexts each approach has met with varying levels of past success. The fact that climate change is characterized by a high probability of surprise events; significant scientific uncertainty; and a need for long-term planning horizons only makes policy development more difficult.

In this chapter we argue that each of the three approaches involves implicit trade-offs in both the process of policy formation and in policy outcomes. These trade-offs are rarely considered in the evaluation of policy options, yet may have important implications for social welfare and sustainability. Through the analysis of case studies of adaptation to climate variability and change, we illustrate how the different ways of approaching the process of adjusting to future change can inadvertently lead to, for example, the privileging of efficiency over equitable distribution of resources (for example, risk-based adaptation approach), equity at the expense of cost (for example, social vulnerability approach), or intergenerational equity over political legitimacy (resilience approach).

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More information

Published date: August 2009
Venue - Dates: conference; gb; 2009-08-01, London, United Kingdom, 2009-08-01
Keywords: climatology and climate change, natural resource and environmental economics
Organisations: Global Env Change & Earth Observation

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 200003
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/200003
ISBN: 9780511596667
PURE UUID: dabaa9e5-0d91-4e0f-af8e-9b589a32b0c0
ORCID for Emma L. Tompkins: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4825-9797

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 17 Oct 2011 16:14
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:39

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Contributors

Author: Hallie Eakin
Author: Donald R. Nelson
Author: John M. Anderies
Editor: W. Neil Adger
Editor: Irene Lorenzoni
Editor: Karen L. O'Brien

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