Transformative adaptation to climate change for sustainable social-ecological systems

In the face of major shifts in temperature and precipitation, some conventional strategies that help people to cope or incrementally adapt to climate change may become inappropriate in the long-term. Transformative adaptation, i.e. fundamental systems’ changes that address root causes of vulnerability may be needed. However, we have a limited understanding of what transformative adaptation looks like in social-ecological systems and when it can be implemented. We applied an interdisciplinary perspective to describing social-ecological shifts driven by climate change. We reviewed 80 recent conceptual publications about responses of social, ecological, and social-ecological systems to climate change. Our review suggests that transformative adaptation is characterized as being restructuring, path-shifting, innovative, multiscale, systemwide, and persistent. Despite several barriers to implement transformative adaptation, policy makers and practitioners should consider this option in adaptation plans to help societies to anticipate, guide, or recover from radical climate change impact. Using transformative adaptation to navigate shifts driven by climate change can increase the efficiency and sustainability of climate solutions.