Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture

Abstract

There is global consensus that we must immediately prioritize climate change adaptation-change in response to or anticipation of risks from climate change. Some researchers and policymakers urge 'transformative change', a complete break from past practices, yet report having little data on whether new practices reduce the risks communities face, even over the short term. However, researchers have some leads: human communities have long generated solutions to changing climate, and scientists who study culture have examples of effective and persistent solutions. This theme issue discusses cultural adaptation to climate change, and in this paper, we review how processes of biological adaptation, including innovation, modification, selective retention and transmission, shape the landscapes decision-makers care about-from which solutions emerge in communities, to the spread of effective adaptations, to regional or global collective action. We introduce a comprehensive portal of data and models on cultural adaptation to climate change, and we outline ways forward. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture'.

Keywords: adaptation; climate change; climate change adaptation; cultural evolution; culture.

Figure 1.

A review of the innovation and adoption, selective retention, and transmission (IARMT) of candidate climate change adaptations. For another overview in this issue, see [15]. At time point 1, an organization introduces candidate adaptations to community A (striped purple); A has existing local adaptations (solid orange) and a new innovation: a local candidate adaptation (striped orange). Nearby is community B, with their own local adaptations (solid green). At time point 2 in community A, in addition to one preexisting local adaptation, one introduced candidate adaptation and one local candidate adaptation were retained from time point 1; we now call these candidate adaptations ‘adaptations’ (and use solid colours accordingly) because they persisted, presumably (although not always) because they reduce risk. Community B adopts a local adaptation from A; this is now a local candidate adaptation in B (striped orange) because it has not yet reduced risk locally. At time point 3, community B has retained the local candidate adaptation from A, making it a local adaptation in B (solid orange). Under ideal circumstances, the organization will learn and perhaps adopt local adaptations from A or B as well.