Climate change has the potential lead to significant and widespread changes to the ecology of natural and agricultural systems that are the basis for people’s livelihoods, are a fundamental part of the character of landscapes and nations, and contribute to the wellbeing of all. These changes will have transformational impacts on rural and urban people connected to these systems. Current approaches to planning and management of landscapes are unlikely to be able to effectively address these large and novel changes. We have been trialling an ‘adaptation pathway approach’ to exploring the adaptation challenge with people managing biodiversity and other natural resources in Australia and Colombia. The approach has focussed on building the capacity of participants to understand: (a) the consequences of climate-driven transformation of their landscapes and the need for new ways of managing, (b) and the nature of the societal changes that would be required to create options and enable future changes in management. These capacities are designed to enable participants to develop their conceptualisation of adaptation, identify options for near-term action and recognise key social and institutional barriers to adaptation.

( This talk is intended to be one in a session organised by Dr Judy Lawrence and Dr Karyn Bosomworth entitled The practice and challenges of using an Adaptation Pathways planning approach. )