Climate adaptation science is a multidisciplinary research field dedicated to understanding, assessing, and responding to the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems. It investigates vulnerabilities, evaluates risks, and develops practical strategies and policies to reduce harm, enhance resilience, and facilitate adjustments to changing climatic conditions.
Ontological type
Adaptation Strategies
Core Methods
Impact Assessment
Adaptive Governance Foundations
1997 - 2003
Uncertainty-aware Transdisciplinary Governance
2004 - 2024
Adaptive Governance Foundations era
Thomas Dietz [1], associated with Indiana University Bloomington [3] and Michigan State University [4], shaped early climate adaptation governance in this era. His contributions center on analyses of common-pool resource governance and the need for robust, flexible, boundary-spanning approaches to manage nonlinear risks under deep uncertainty, as reflected in The Struggle to Govern the Commons [5], which helped define governance challenges of the era. Paul C. Stern [2], associated with Indiana University Bloomington [3] and Michigan State University [4], contributed to early adaptive governance through policy-relevant analysis and the development of decision-support tools. His key contributions, especially the arguments in The Struggle to Govern the Commons [5], helped emphasize simple actionable rules and flexible policy instruments to manage cross-scale coordination and nonlinear risks.
Uncertainty-aware Transdisciplinary Governance era
W. Neil Adger [1] is a leading figure in climate adaptation research in this era, with affiliations at University of Wisconsin–Madison [3] and University of Dundee [4]. His contributions in this era include Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability [7], the exploration of social limits to adaptation [8], and Observed adaptation to climate change: UK evidence of transition to a well-adapting society [9], collectively shaping how social vulnerability, adaptive capacity, and transformability inform robust, uncertainty-aware governance. Steven J. Smith [2] is associated with Washington University in St. Louis [5] and University of Washington [6]. His sole paper, The next generation of scenarios for climate change research and assessment [10], advanced scenario frameworks and ensemble projections that underpin uncertainty-aware transdisciplinary governance.