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Christine Wamsler. Photo

Christine Wamsler

Professor, Docent, appointed Excellent Teaching Practitioner (ETP)

Christine Wamsler. Photo

Making headway in climate policy mainstreaming and ecosystem-based adaptation : two pioneering countries, different pathways, one goal

Author

  • Christine Wamsler
  • Stephan Pauleit

Summary, in English

Ecosystem-based adaptation (i.e. the use of ecosystem services to adapt to climate change) and its mainstreaming into municipal planning to foster sustainable transformation is receiving increasing interest from both academic and governmental bodies. However, little is known about the pathways for its systematic implementation, or the extent to which it is already mainstreamed in municipal planning practice. This article reports on a study in which local pathways to sustainably mainstream ecosystem-based adaptation were compared in 12 municipalities in Germany and Sweden. The results show that while progress is seemingly similar in the two countries, there are noticeable differences regarding the local triggers, the importance given to particular mainstreaming strategies and their link to climate policy integration. Ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation are not labelled or systematised in either country. In addition, the mainstreaming of ecosystem-based adaptation is enabled through municipalities’ level of experience in mainstreaming other issues. In Sweden, the ecosystem service concept drives adaptation mainstreaming, which is often disconnected from the integration of climate mitigation policy. In contrast, German structures and planning processes established for climate change mitigation are paving the way. We conclude that systematic adaptation mainstreaming and its potential linkages and disconnects with climate mitigation policy integration require more explicit consideration, both in research and practice. We call for more research on the role of inclusive (as opposed to fragmented) climate policy integration to assure sustainable planning and transformation.

Department/s

  • LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)

Publishing year

2016-07

Language

English

Pages

71-87

Publication/Series

Climatic Change

Volume

137

Issue

1-2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Climate Research

Status

Published

Project

  • Increasing Societies´ Adaptive Capacities to Climate Change: Distributed Urban Risk Governance for Achieving Sustainable Transformation and Resilience of Cities.

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0165-0009