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- Title
LEARNING TO ADAPT: ORGANISATIONAL ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS.
- Authors
Berkhout, Frans; Hertin, Julia; Gann, David M.
- Abstract
Analysis of human adaptation to climate change should be based on realistic models of adaptive behaviour at the level of organisations and individuals. The paper sets out a framework for analysing adaptation to the direct and indirect impacts of climate change in business organisations with new evidence presented from empirical research into adaptation in nine case-study companies. It argues that adaptation to climate change has many similarities with processes of organisational learning. The paper suggests that business organisations face a number of obstacles in learning how to adapt to climate change impacts, especially in relation to the weakness and ambiguity of signals about climate change and the uncertainty about benefits flowing from adaptation measures. Organisations rarely adapt 'autonomously', since their adaptive behaviour is influenced by policy and market conditions, and draws on resources external to the organisation. The paper identifies four adaptation strategies that pattern organisational adaptive behaviour.
- Subjects
BUSINESS enterprises &; the environment; CLIMATE change research; PRECIPITATION anomalies; ADAPTIVE natural resource management; PRECIPITATION variability; ADAPTIVE harvest management; ECOLOGICAL integrity; METEOROLOGY; ENVIRONMENTAL standards
- Publication
Climatic Change, 2006, Vol 78, Issue 1, p135
- ISSN
0165-0009
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10584-006-9089-3