Defining Climate Adaptation: Insights from Colorado Plateau Natural Resource Managers

Natural resource managers apply and utilize the concept of adaptation in different ways, posing challenges for adopting effective climate adaptation actions, according to a recent publication by Southwest CASC-funded researchers. This research focused on the perspectives of natural resource practitioners on the Colorado Plateau, a region of the Southwestern U.S. where ecological stressors pose significant challenges to managers working across different agencies and vast public lands. Through interviews and surveys, researchers aimed to better understand how natural resource managers on the Colorado Plateau define climate adaptation, apply adaptation actions, and observe barriers to implementation. They also wanted to learn the extent to which managers see proactive climate adaptation actions taking place on the ground. 

The study revealed that inconsistent and subjective understandings of adaptation can create significant barriers to enacting adaptation. Managers also described how limited resource funding, inadequate and inconsistent planning protocols, and a lack of clear, regionally-specific adaptation guidelines limit meaningful, proactive actions. Current priorities instead tend to favor business-as-usual, reactive approaches that may fail to build ecological resilience under a changing climate. 

The insights from Colorado Plateau resource practitioners highlight a gap between climate adaptation goals and real-world management actions, driven in large part by how adaptation is defined and constrained within planning frameworks. To overcome these challenges and encourage adaptation efforts that are proactive and transformative, the authors suggest system-wide changes, collaboration across agencies and a shared understanding of the meaning and application of adaptation actions.

Read the full publication in the Journal of Environmental Management.