Douglas K. Bardsley

Prioritizing Engagement for Sustainable Adaptation to Climate Change: An Example from Natural Resource Management in South Australia

This article describes a regional approach to climate change adaption that focuses on engaging the natural resource management community. In a world tempered by increasing climatic uncertainty as a result of projected climate change, natural resource management practitioners are looking for approaches to respond through effective adaptation, yet the availability of practical tools to guide and inform their decision-making processes is limited. The social learning approach described was developed between the South Australian Government and the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management Board. The approach successfully engaged stakeholders and provided a foundation upon which informed adaptation planning and action could take place. Techniques ranged from direct relationship building and participatory action learning, through to a regional vulnerability analysis and the development and application of a comprehensive regional adaptation response framework to guide future decisions.

Risk Alleviation via in Situ Agrobiodiversity Conservation: Drawing from Experiences in Switzerland, Turkey and Nepal

The unification of societies is increasing social and ecological risks, nowhere more so than within agro-ecological systems. Opportunities for conserving agrobiodiversity in situ could offer solutions to these concerns within regions marginal for agricultural production. Key stakeholders in the process of on-farm conservation in Switzerland, Turkey and Nepal were interviewed to gather their perceptions of the methods that could be applied for diversity conservation in the margins. It is argued that the appropriate application of in situ conservation approaches offer opportunities for sustaining diversity, particularly where productivity increases are likely to have minimal impacts on the profitability of agricultural activities. A human ecology paradigm, alternative to the dominant neo-classical approach, could focus primarily on issues of socio-ecological sustainability by ensuring that development supports local diversity.

Guiding climate change adaptation within vulnerable natural resource management systems.

Climate change has the potential to compromise the sustainability of natural resources in Mediterranean climatic systems, such that short-term reactive responses will increasingly be insufficient to ensure effective management. There is a simultaneous need for both the clear articulation of the vulnerabilities of specific management systems to climate risk, and the development of appropriate short- and long-term strategic planning responses that anticipate environmental change or allow for sustainable adaptive management in response to trends in resource condition. Governments are developing climate change adaptation policy frameworks, but without the recognition of the importance of responding strategically, regional stakeholders will struggle to manage future climate risk. In a partnership between the South Australian Government, the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management Board and the regional community, a range of available research approaches to support regional climate change adaptation decision-making, were applied and critically examined, including: scenario modelling; applied and participatory Geographical Information Systems modelling; environmental risk analysis; and participatory action learning. As managers apply ideas for adaptation within their own biophysical and socio-cultural contexts, there would be both successes and failures, but a learning orientation to societal change will enable improvements over time. A base-line target for regional responses to climate change is the ownership of the issue by stakeholders, which leads to an acceptance that effective actions to adapt are now both possible and vitally important. Beyond such baseline knowledge, the research suggests that there is a range of tools from the social and physical sciences available to guide adaptation decision-making.

Planned retreat as a management response to coastal risk: a case study from the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia

Australian coastal areas have been identified as highly vulnerable to climate change, with major projected impacts including sea level rise, extreme weather events, increased erosion, and a change in coastal processes and wave patterns. Such impacts would cause coastal settlements and ecosystems to face increasingly uncertain conditions. In response to increased risk, effective coastal management at local and regional scales is needed, with governing bodies providing significant leadership. This research explores the challenges of applying effective adaptation responses to projected climate change in vulnerable coastal systems on the South Coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. In particular, the option of planned retreat as a management response to coastal risk is critically examined, with the incorporation of learning from Byron Bay, NSW. A mixed methods approach was undertaken by integrating documentary interrogation with the analysis of interview responses from key coastal managers. It was determined that despite the increase in adaptation planning and development of management strategy options to manage sea level rise on the Fleurieu Peninsula, there is a lack of implementation of adaptation responses. In addition, planning seems to focus largely on the implications of sea level rise on infrastructure, often overlooking other risks and possible ecological impacts. Inconsistencies in governance are reflected at all levels, indicating a need for comprehensive improvements to ensure the incorporation of appropriate risk responses into planning decisions.

Education for All in a Global Era? The Social Justice of Australian Secondary School Education in a Risk Society.

The article examines the importance of effective secondary education for all children as Australian society embraces globalization. In a global era, where societal development will rely on the knowledge and skills of the workforce, an effective education will become even more important for socio‐economic engagement and equality. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are the most vulnerable to globalization as they are less likely to achieve academically or go on to benefit from the restructured neo‐liberal economy. Education policy will need to continue to support the right of each individual to be prepared for life in general, and employment in particular. Opportunities for democratic pedagogy, curriculum and education policy to respond to risk are outlined and critiqued in relation to the ongoing need for justice in education systems. If adequate funding is not provided for secondary education and directed to ensure an effective education is available for all students, obtaining a quality education will increasingly shift from a right to a privilege in Australian society.

The viticultural system and climate change: coping with long-term trends in temperature and rainfall in Roussillon, France

Mediterranean viticulture could suffer from hotter and drier growing seasons over the coming decades. The present article focuses on the wine-producing area Côtes-du-Roussillon-Villages near Perpignan, in southern France. We used observational daily data (1925–2010) from Perpignan weather station and daily outputs (2001–2060) of the regional climate model ARPEGE-RETIC-V4 from Météo-France with scenarios A2, A1B and B1, to assess the exposure of the regional wine system to changes in temperature and precipitation, both in the recent past and the coming decades (1925–2060). Temperatures during the growing season and summer temperature extremes have been increasing continuously since the mid-1980s and are projected to increase faster from the mid-2040s. Precipitation is highly variable and very low in summer, and projections suggest greater uncertainty, and more extreme drought events could be expected. The analysis of climate data was complemented by thirty-two in-depth interviews with local actors of the wine industry to assess the impacts of climate change on their activities and potential adaptive options. Producers reported negative impacts of recent changes in climate in conjunction with a difficult economic situation. Analyses of historical, social and economic backgrounds are important to fully conceptualize the nature and extent of climate change risks in the region. This case study provides important insights into the roles of non-climatic factors in the generation of vulnerability for Mediterranean agricultural systems facing rapid climate change.

Limits to adaptation or a second modernity? Responses to climate change risk in the context of failing socio-ecosystems

There is a concerning fallacy at the heart of the debate on climate change adaptation—that adaptation will involve re-adjustments primarily on the periphery of functioning socio-ecological systems. Yet, dominant modern systems are already in crisis. Case study examples from research across global, continental and regional scales are used to argue that gaps between sustainability goals and outcomes are already significant. Analyses of global food security and lost diversity; human migration in Asia; and natural resource management systems in core and remote regions of Australia indicate that climate change forms only part of a failing relationship between people and the environment. There is a need to transform socio-ecosystems so that they become resilient in the context of broader learning on environmental uncertainty, variability, change and risk. Such transformations will occur both in situ, to ensure that local environments are not further degraded or people entrenched in failing systems, and ex situ, as people, systems and infrastructure become increasingly mobile to deal with changing circumstances.

Climate change and indigenous natural resource management: a review of socio-ecological interactions in the Alinytjara Wilurara NRM region

This article examines key socio-ecological interactions identified during a climate change vulnerability assessment in the Alinytjara Wilurara natural resources management (NRM) region of South Australia. The complex local socio-ecological interactions are highlighted to guide a response to the challenge of adapting to climate change within the region. Recognising several key desert drivers which perpetuate degraded socio-ecological systems, this article recommends that a range of strategies be employed simultaneously to enhance local environmental management in association with remote indigenous communities, including: linking people and NRM more closely; tracking funding but ensuring systems can withstand periods of limited financial support; developing cross-sectoral and cross-institutional links; empowering and engaging communities; communicating effectively; and actively supporting local and traditional environmental knowledge. Unless climate change adaptation responses within the region are conceptualised and enacted within the context of complex local socio-ecological systems, NRM will not improve and social vulnerability will increase.

Regional agricultural governance in peri-urban and rural South Australia: strategies to improve multifunctionality

Historically, agricultural policy in Australia has focused on maximising the economic productivity and efficiency of the sector. The issues that have arisen from this governance focus are manyfold. In this study, we illustrate the regional disparity and implications for agricultural sustainability caused by such a policy model. We surveyed farmers in two South Australian case study regions, the adjoining peri-urban Barossa-Light region, and the rural area of Loxton. It was found that respondents from Loxton had larger properties, saw more benefits from government support for agriculture, and were more likely to prioritise support for their local community and increases in productivity. Respondents from Barossa-Light were more concerned about risks of urban encroachment, prioritised keeping their farms in their families, and were generally more concerned about government support. These results highlight the complexity involved with applying appropriate government support mechanisms across a diverse industry such as agriculture, with various regional sustainability issues driving respondent priorities. We also suggest that regional variation will require explicit planning which aims for heterogeneous goals and that educational and cooperative pursuits may help to increase the capacity of the land managers in the case study regions. These suggestions have broader implications for other regions where agricultural diversity complicates policy to support the industry within historically productivist agricultural regimes.

In situ agrobiodiversity conservation: Examples from Nepal, Turkey and Switzerland in the first decade of the convention on Biological Diversity

Abstract Applications of in situ agrobiodiversity conservation practices within agricultural production systems have the potential to reduce the risks of agricultural modernisation and enhance sustainable development. The aims and approaches for in situ conservation differ according to the requirements of communities and nations. Approaches to in situ conservation in the decade after the Convention of Biological Diversity are reviewed within the contexts of marginal agricultural systems in Nepal, Turkey and Switzerland. Numerous approaches are currently utilised, including: the informal de facto retention of agrobiodiversity; the provision of state assistance; the marketing of agrobiodiversity products; the use of technological innovations to develop local diversity; the establishment of conservation reserves; community assistance programmes and the raising of awareness of the issue amongst all sectors of societies. Emerging complementary in situ approaches applicable in the rural margins suggest a framework for effectively conserving agrobiodiversity by working with local people.