Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture

2023/09/18 by Anne C. Pisor, J. Stephen Lansing, Kate Magargal · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Indigenous Studies and Ecology #Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration

paper · doi:10.1098/rstb.2022.0390

openalex publication_date 2023/09/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15

Abstract

There is global consensus that we must immediately prioritize climate change adaptation-change in response to or anticipation of risks from climate change. Some researchers and policymakers urge 'transformative change', a complete break from past practices, yet report having little data on whether new practices reduce the risks communities face, even over the short term. However, researchers have some leads: human communities have long generated solutions to changing climate, and scientists who study culture have examples of effective and persistent solutions. This theme issue discusses cultural adaptation to climate change, and in this paper, we review how processes of biological adaptation, including innovation, modification, selective retention and transmission, shape the landscapes decision-makers care about-from which solutions emerge in communities, to the spread of effective adaptations, to regional or global collective action. We introduce a comprehensive portal of data and models on cultural adaptation to climate change, and we outline ways forward. This article is part of the theme issue 'Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture'.

Citations

• Analyzing adaptive strategies: Human behavioral ecology at twenty-five
• Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges
• Cultural Evolution: A Review of Theory, Findings and Controversies
• REDISCOVERY OF TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AS ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT
• “All the problems in the community are multifaceted and related to each other”: Inuit concerns in an era of climate change
• A systematic global stocktake of evidence on human adaptation to climate change
• Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios
• Climate change and long-term human behaviour in the Neotropics: an archaeological view from the Global South
• Socio-economic predictors of Inuit hunting choices and their implications for climate change adaptation
• Understanding constraints to adaptation using a community-centred toolkit
• Minority-group incubators and majority-group reservoirs support the diffusion of climate change adaptations

Discussions

• [13 papers] Theme issue: Climate change adaptation needs a science of culture. [lemmy, 0 points, 0 comments]