An integrative research framework for enabling transformative adaptation

Transformative adaptation will be increasingly important to effectively address the impacts of climate change and other global drivers on social-ecological systems. Enabling transformative adaptation requires new ways to evaluate and adaptively manage trade-offs between maintaining desirable aspects of current social-ecological systems and adapting to major biophysical changes to those systems. We outline such an approach, based on three elements developed by the Transformative Adaptation Research Alliance (TARA): (1) the benefits of adaptation services; that sub-set of ecosystem services that help people adapt to environmental change; (2) The values-rules-knowledge perspective (vrk) for identifying those aspects of societal decision-making contexts that enable or constrain adaptation and (3) the adaptation pathways approach for implementing adaptation, that builds on and integrates adaptation services and the vrk perspective. Together, these elements provide a future-oriented approach to evaluation and use of ecosystem services, a dynamic, grounded understanding of governance and decision-making and a logical, sequential approach that connects decisions over time. The TARA approach represents a means for achieving changes in institutions and governance needed to support transformative adaptationThe research was supported by CSIRO Land and Water. We thank the Embassy of France in Australia and the Australian Academy of Sciences for funding the first Transformative Adaptation Research Alliance workshop in Canberra, October 27-31, 2014. We thank Craig Beatty, Mirjam Kuzee (IUCN) and Alistair Hobday (CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere) for reviewing the manuscript and providing constructive comments. The funding partners that have supported this research include the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP-FTA) with financial support from the CGIAR Fun

Expertise for biodiversity policies: How can experts deal with current reforms ?

International audienceFrench environmental public policies on biodiversity are designed drawing upon scientific expertise. The framework of this expertise has been deeply remodeled in the past decade through a series of reforms and the creation of new institutions. This exploratory study is based on interviews with stakeholders working at the interface between scientific knowledge and political action. The concept of “expertise” describes the difficult and complicated relationship between science and action, which is not specific to biodiversity policies but which lead to a feeling of uneasiness for scientists and policymakers. The reforms engaged in the last decade are then often justified by this uneasiness described by interviewees when thinking about expertise processes. However, our results indicate that the recent institutional proliferation is perceived as unsettling by both scientists and policymakers, comforting the existing difficulties. To go beyond these difficulties and meet the demand for expertise, experts adopt what can be described as three archetypal postures – ensuring sound science as “guarantors”, defending conservation principles as “guardians”, or working closely with policymakers as “agents”. The two latters’ influence has grown over time at the expense of traditional “guardians”. Results are analyzed with regard to the strategic stakes of each stakeholder and to the recent changes in academic and political actions

L’expertise pour les politiques nationales de biodiversité en France : quelles stratégies face aux mutations en cours ?

Le paysage français de l’expertise scientifique sur la biodiversité, mobilisée dans la construction des politiques publiques de protection de la nature, fait l’objet depuis une dizaine d’années d’une intense activité de réforme et de création institutionnelles. Cette étude exploratoire s’appuie sur des entretiens avec un panel d’acteurs agissant à l’interface entre les connaissances et l’action publique. Le champ de l’expertise, en biodiversité comme pour d’autres domaines, est le lieu d’une difficile rencontre entre science et politique. L’inconfort ressenti vis-à-vis du fonctionnement actuel des dispositifs d’expertise est souvent avancé comme argument pour justifier les différentes réformes engagées ces dernières années. Notre travail montre cependant qu’à l’inverse le foisonnement institutionnel récent est source de déstabilisation pour les acteurs, tant du côté des scientifiques que des décideurs politiques. Pour répondre malgré tout à la demande d’expertise, le positionnement des experts peut être décrit par trois figures archétypales - le « garant » de la qualité scientifique, le « gardien » des principes de protection de la nature et l’« agent » spécialisé dans l’expertise au plus près des politiques - dont la légitimité et le pouvoir ont évolué au cours du temps, au détriment des « gardiens ». Cette situation est analysée au regard des enjeux stratégiques de chacun des acteurs et des évolutions récentes du contexte académique et des modes d’élaboration des politiques publiques. Enfin, de nouvelles perspectives de recherche sont identifiées pour approfondir ces résultats.French environmental public policies on biodiversity are designed drawing upon scientific expertise. The framework of this expertise has been deeply remodeled in the past decade through a series of reforms and the creation of new institutions. This exploratory study was based on interviews with stakeholders working at the interface between scientific knowledge and political action. The concept of “expertise” describes the difficult and complicated relationship between science and action, which is not specific to biodiversity policies but which lead to a feeling of uneasiness for scientists and policymakers. The reforms engaged in the last decade are then often justified by this uneasiness described by interviewees when thinking about expertise processes. However, our results indicate that the recent institutional proliferation is perceived as unsettling by both scientists and policymakers, comforting the existing difficulties. To go beyond these difficulties and meet the demand for expertise, experts adopt what can be described as three archetypal postures – ensuring sound science as “guarantors”, defending conservation principles as “guardians”, or working closely with policymakers as “agents”. "The influence of "guarantors" and "agents" has grown" over time at the expense of traditional “guardians”. Results are analyzed with regard to the strategic stakes of each stakeholder and to the recent changes in academic and political actions. Finally, new research perspectives are discussed to enlarge our results

Dialogue entre des chiffres et des lettres (imaginer et construire des futurs possibles en écologie)

Comprendre et prédire les futurs possibles des systèmes écologiques est un des objectifs des écologues, dans un contexte de changements planétaires. L'hypothèse majeure de cette thèse est que les concepts et méthodes de la prospective pourraient permettre d'élargir les connaissances en écologie. La construction de prédictions modélisées est en effet la méthode principale utilisée par les écologues pour étudier les futurs, alors que les prospectivistes utilisent aussi des méthodes qualitatives. Pour analyser les causes de cette limitation, nous avons réalisé des entretiens avec des chercheurs en écologie en adoptant une posture réflexive. Ceux-ci utilisent majoritairement une démarche réductionniste face à des systèmes écologiques complexes. C'est une des principales raisons de l'utilisation majoritaire de la prédiction en écologie. La construction de conjectures fondées sur des récits pour étudier les futurs possibles d'un paysage méditerranéen montre par ailleurs que les futurs écologiques peuvent être multiples. L'incomplétude des connaissances, le caractère aléatoire de certains évènements et la multiplicité des théories existantes, sont la source de paysages futurs diversifiés. Nous illustrons de plus, à l'aide de simulations numériques des changements futurs possibles de ce paysage, la complémentarité entre prédiction et narration. Ce travail ouvre des perspectives intéressantes pour (i) l'écologie, lorsque nous mettons en évidence l'importance des interactions et de la contingence pour comprendre les futurs possibles (ii) la prospective, en approfondissant les concepts de problématique conjecturale et de proférance et (iii) l'interaction entre ces deux disciplinesStudying and predicting possible futures for ecological systems has become an objective of ecological research, particularly because of a growing awareness of the consequences of global changes. We propose here that the methods and concepts developed by the academic field of futures studies could be useful to enlarge ecological knowledge. Building model predictions has been the main method used by ecologists to study futures, whereas more qualitative methods are common in futures studies. We therefore adopted a reflexive viewpoint and conducted detailed interviews with ecologists to analyse the reasons for their limited application to ecological problems. The use of a reductionist approach to deal with complex systems and the lack of acknowledgement of futures' specificities appear as the major reasons for the continued preference for predictive approaches. We built conjectures based mainly on narratives to study possible futures for a Mediterranean landscape and showed that one can imagine several ecological futures. Incomplete knowledge, contingent events and the coexistence of several theories, play an important role in understanding possible future dynamics. By using numerical simulations of possible future changes in this Mediterranean landscape, we also illustrated the complementarities between prediction and narration. This study opens interesting perspectives for (i) ecological research, here we underline the importance of interactions and contingency to understand possible futures, (ii) futures studies, by going further in our understanding of the concepts of conjectural problematic', and diachronisation' and (iii) the link between these two disciplinesMONTPELLIER-BU Sciences (341722106) / SudocSudocFranceF

Who really wants an ambitious large-scale restoration of the Seine estuary?: A strategic analysis of a science–policy Interface locked in a stalemate

The development of ecosystem knowledge is an essential condition for effective environmental management but using available knowledge to solve environmental controversies is still difficult in "real" situations. This paper explores the conditions under which ecological knowledge could contribute to the environmental strategies and actions of stakeholders at science-policy interface. Ecological restoration of the Seine estuary is an example of an environmental issue whose overall management has run into difficulties despite the production of a large amount of knowledge by a dedicated organization, GIP Seine Aval. Thanks to an action-research project, based on a futures study, we analyze the reasons of these difficulties and help the GIP Seine Aval adopt a robust strategy to overcome them. According to our results, most local stakeholders involved in the large-scale restoration project emphasize the need for a clear divide between knowledge production and environmental action. This kind of divide may be strategic in a context where the robustness of environmental decisions is strongly depending on the mobilization of "neutral" scientific knowledge. But in our case study, this rather blocks action because some powerful stakeholders continuously ask for more knowledge before taking action. The construction and analysis of possible future scenarios has led to three alternative strategies being identified to counter this stalemate situation: (1) to circumvent difficulties by creating indirect links between knowledge and actions; (2) to use knowledge to sustain advocacy for the interests of each and every stakeholder; (3) to involve citizens in decisions about knowledge production and use, so that environmental issues weight more on the local political agenda

Prediction in ecology: promises, obstacles and clarifications

International audienceIn the current context of global change and a biodiversity crisis, there are increasing demands for greater predictive power in ecology, in both the scientific literature and at the science–policy interface. The implicit assumption is that this will increase knowledge and, in turn, lead to better decision‐making. However, the justification for this assumption remains uncertain, not least because the definition of ‘prediction’ is unclear. We propose that two types of prediction should be distinguished: corroboratory‐prediction is linked to the validation of theories; and anticipatory‐prediction is linked to the description of possible futures. We then discuss four families of obstacles to prediction, linked to the specific features of ecosystems: 1) they are historical entities, 2) they are complex, 3) their dynamics are stochastic, and 4) they are influenced by socio‐economic drivers. A naïve understanding of ecological science suggests that the two types of predictions are simply two phases in a sequence in which scientists first improve their knowledge of ecological systems via corroboratory‐predictions, and then apply this knowledge in order to forecast future states of ecosystems via anticipatory‐predictions in order to help policy makers taking decisions. This sequence is however not straightforward, partly because corroboration and anticipation are not affected by the obstacles to prediction in the same way. We thus invite to reconsider the role of ecological prediction as a tool in a deliberative model of decision‐making rather than as external scientific information aimed at enlightening the political process. Doing so would be beneficial for both the policy‐relevance of anticipatory‐prediction and the theoretical‐relevance of corroboratory‐prediction

Female polymorphisms, sexual conflict and limits to speciation processes in animals

Heritable and visually detectable polymorphisms, such as trophic polymorphisms, ecotypes, or colour morphs, have become classical model systems among ecological geneticists and evolutionary biologists. The relatively simple genetic basis of many polymorphisms (one or a few loci) makes such species well-suited to study evolutionary processes in natural settings. More recently, polymorphic systems have become popular when studying the early stages of the speciation process and mechanisms facilitating or constraining the evolution of reproductive isolation. Although colour polymorphisms have been studied extensively in the past, we argue that they have been underutilized as model systems of constraints on speciation processes. Colouration traits may function as signalling characters in sexual selection contexts, and the maintenance of colour polymorphisms is often due to frequency-dependent selection. One important issue is why there are so few described cases of female polymorphisms. Here we present a synthetic overview of female sexual polymorphisms, drawing from our previous work on female colour polymorphisms in lizards and damselflies. We argue that female sexual polymorphisms have probably been overlooked in the past, since workers have mainly focused on male-male competition over mates and have not realized the ecological sources of genetic variation in female fitness. Recent experimental evolution studies on fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) have demonstrated significant heritable variation among female genotypes in the fitness costs of resistance or tolerance to male mating harassment. In addition, female-female competition over resources could also generate genetic variation in female fitness and promote the maintenance of female sexual polymorphisms. Female sexual polymorphisms could subsequently either be maintained as intrapopulational polymorphisms or provide the raw material for the formation of new species

An integrative research framework for enabling transformative adaptation

International audienceTransformative adaptation will be increasingly important to effectively address the impacts of climate change and other global drivers on social-ecological systems. Enabling transformative adaptation requires new ways to evaluate and adaptively manage trade-offs between maintaining desirable aspects of current social-ecological systems and adapting to major biophysical changes to those systems. We outline such an approach, based on three elements developed by the Transformative Adaptation Research Alliance (TARA): (1) the benefits of adaptation services; that subset of ecosystem services that help people adapt to environmental change; (2) The values-rules-knowledge perspective (vrk) for identifying those aspects of societal decision-making contexts that enable or constrain adaptation and (3) the adaptation pathways approach for implementing adaptation, that builds on and integrates adaptation services and the vrk perspective. Together, these elements provide a future-oriented approach to evaluation and use of ecosystem services, a dynamic, grounded understanding of governance and decision-making and a logical, sequential approach that connects decisions over time. The TARA approach represents a means for achieving changes in institutions and governance needed to support transformative adaptation