Adaptation Actions for a Changing Arctic: Perspectives from the Barents Area

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Chapter 9 · Adaptation options

9.2 Adaptation as a policy issue

Resilience Interim Report emphasized that policy can prepare and enable Arctic peoples to adapt through strengthening livelihood flexibility and maintaining diversity inArctic social- ecological systems (Arctic Council, 2013b). In its latest assessment,the IPCC reported significant differences in adaptation planning among countries and communities that are related to the needs, values, resources, and perceptions within and among populations, as well as to the different attitudes and awareness among agencies, countries, and international organizations that fund adaptation (Mimura et al., 2014). There are also clear ethical implications about the selection and implementation of adaptation options owing to the differences in the very values that adaptation is seeking to protect, as well as in the ways that adaptation funds are distributed (Klein et al., 2014).The IPCC noted that adaptation is not necessarily focused on biophysical vulnerabilities but more on the broader socio-economic drivers of vulnerability (gender, ethnicity, age, health, social status) (Noble et al., 2014). In recent years, the definition of ‘needs’has changed to focus on the underlying causes of vulnerability (financial, institutional, technological, informational, capacity etc.) rather than on impacts (Noble et al., 2014). Recognition that climate change is but one of several change processes affecting Arctic societies is highlighted in the 2014 Arctic Human Development Report (Larsen and Fondahl, 2015). With its specific emphasis on gender, climate change and globalization, the report highlights the connectivity of different change processes and their combined influence on human development across and within Arctic societies (Larsen and Fondahl, 2015). Gender dimensions are shown to influence factors such as risk perception,migration patterns and decision-making; factors that have clear linkages to adaptation and adaptive capacity. The report also shows that processes of (economic, political and cultural) globalization influence employment, natural resource use and settlement patterns in the Arctic.Adaptation to changes in markets, employment and income are highlighted as equally or more challenging than climate change (Keskitalo, 2008; Keskitalo and Southcott, 2015). However, globalization is also shown to have strengthened Arctic (especially indigenous) identities, which may constitute a motivation for adaptation. In light of the changes resulting fromglobalization,the report emphasizes that public policy and mobility will shape how communities adapt and observes that stable populations that are gender and age balanced are key to maintaining viableArctic communities (Rasmussen et al.,2015). The 2014 Arctic Social Indicators Report (Larsen et al., 2015) focuses on tracking critical domains for Arctic human development and social wellbeing across seven indicators.Along with more commonly used human development indicators, such as life expectancy and degree of education, this report adds three areas specific to Arctic human development; fate control, cultural vitality and contact with nature. Fate control ‘the ability to guide one’s destiny’is important in order to be able to adapt to interacting change processes – whether it concerns adopting new and global tendencies or maintaining traditional lifestyles (Larsen et al., 2015). Fate control is often related to opportunities and resources provided in relation to regulative and market frameworks.

9.2.1 Adaptation in major reports: A brief overview

The 2015 Paris Agreement (UNFCCC, 2015) seeks to strengthen adaptation efforts and requires countries to take action on adaptation.While it remains to be seen how the 2015 Paris Agreement will play out in the Barents area countries, it is likely to influence how adaptation work proceeds. Under the agreement, the objective of adaptation is ‘enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change’, and countries are to plan their adaptation activities and implement adaptation actions accordingly.Thus adaptation planning should preferably include vulnerability and impact assessments, national adaptation priorities, and a description of how actions are to be implemented, followed up and evaluated.The agreement requires countries to submit and periodically update an adaptation communication; outlining adaptation priorities, actions and support needs. Strengthened international and regional cooperation on adaptation is called for, which may facilitate Barents Region cooperation on adaptation. The 2014 IPCC Assessment Report contains no fewer than four chapters dedicated to adaptation (IPCC, 2014a), illustrating the importance and complexity of the issue and also that the focus on adaptation has increased significantly in science and policy in recent years.The report shows there are significant regional variations in the degree to which adaptation has been studied and implemented, ranging from detailed, cooperative national adaptation strategies (e.g. Europe) to limited small-scale community-based research case studies (e.g.Africa/Asia), with implementation generally lagging behind planning in most countries (IPCC, 2014a). In the polar regions, the focus is on indigenous, isolated, and rural populations in the Arctic, owing to their close relationship with the environment for food, culture and way of life.The IPCC concluded that indigenous peoples are facing unprecedented climate impacts (such as increasingly risky harvesting) while, in some cases, communities are already beginning to plan and implement creative adaptation strategies (Larsen et al., 2014; see also Chapter 7). Examples of indigenous adaptation strategies include changing resource bases, shifting land use and/or settlement areas, combining technologies with traditional knowledge, changing the timing and location of hunting, gathering, herding, and fishing areas, and improving communications and education (Larsen et al., 2014). The 2013 Arctic Resilience Interim Report (Arctic Council, 2013b) also acknowledges that Arctic peoples and cultures have a long history of adapting to a highly variable environment, and maintains that the factors that have enabled them to adapt and maintain resilience are primarily linked to flexibility and diversity in food, subsistence and livelihood practices.However, it should also be acknowledged that indigenous and rural populations constitute a minority in these regions and that urbanization has proceeded rapidly around the world,including in northern areas. However, there is a continuum from rural and urban (e.g. Hedberg and Haandrikman, 2014).The Arctic