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From barriers to limits to climate change adaptation: path dependency and the speed of change

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Barnett, Jon, Evans, Louisa S., Gross, Catherine, Kiem, Anthony S., Kingsford, Richard T., Palutikof, Jean P., Pickering, Catherine M., Smithers, Scott G.·2015·Ecology and Society
DOI 10.5751/es-07698-200305
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Barnett, J., L. S. Evans, C. Gross, A. S. Kiem, R. T. Kingsford, J. P. Palutikof, C. M. Pickering, and S. G. Smithers. 2015. From barriers to limits to climate change adaptation: path dependency and the speed of change. Ecology and Society 20(3): 5. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-07698-200305

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  • Governance of ecosystems can be a hard limit to adaptation or restoration, unless radical changes can be achieved.

    “Governance of ecosystems can be a hard limit to adaptation or restoration, unless radical changes can be achieved (142, 143).”

    From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [142]

    The Small inland communities section describes persistent governance failures as possible limits to adaptation for downstream ecosystems, and the Conclusions say radical changes in governance may push back adaptation limits. But the paper calls governance-related limits “soft,” reserving “hard” limits for cases where species or ecosystems cannot adjust to climate change. It does not establish the claim about restoration. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Barnett, J., Evans, L. S., Gross, C., Kiem, A. S., Kingsford, R. T., Palutikof, J. P., Pickering, C. M., & Smithers, S. G.
Affiliations
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
  • Australian Research Council (AU)
  • Australian National University (AU)
  • University of Newcastle Australia (AU)
  • UNSW Sydney (AU)
  • Griffith University (AU)
  • James Cook University (AU)
ORCID
Venue
Ecology and Society
Publisher
Resilience Alliance, Inc.
Published
2015
Volume
20
Issue
3
ISSN
1708-3087 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.5751/es-07698-200305
OpenAlex
W2201794131
Cited by
283
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 3
FWCI
13.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Ecology and Society (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • ResearchOnline at James Cook University (James Cook University) (submittedVersion)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
  • Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) (submittedVersion)
  • Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion)
  • NOVA (University of Newcastle Australia) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility
  • Australian Government
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Sustainability and Climate Change Governance
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Climate change impacts on agriculture
Keywords
climate change adaptation, path dependence, barriers to adaptation, rate of change, adaptation limits, social-ecological systems

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