This research will build and test a framework for designing and appraising pathways towards climate-resilient land and water systems. Assessments of past and future pathways will be undertaken at sites where Lumbricus partners have been operating. Insights from these assessments will inform discussions with stakeholders towards a high-quality climate-resilient living environment. A key innovation is the appraisal of (transformative) pathways under global change, which will link resilience thinking and sustainability targets. Previous pathway studies (e.g., Haasnoot et al. 2012; Ranger et al. 2013; Lawrence et al. 2018) considered mainly incremental adaptation, while future visions may demand a shift to more radical transformative measures and associated pathways. Similarly, appraisals of resilience have largely focused on aspects of robustness and adaptability, with transformability elaborated more recently (e.g., Meuwissen et al. 2019). The pathways identified in the current research will be accompanied by a set of indicators to appraise activities undertaken by diverse stakeholders (in cooperation with the other PhDs). We will appraise pathways in terms of resilience, encompassing robustness, adaptability and transformability. Special attention will be given to decisions and action that create traction for, or lock-in to alternative preferred states (with WP 3 in particular). Insights from these assessments will inform discussions with multiple stakeholders towards a high-quality climate-resilient living environment.
Objectives
1. Develop a framework to appraise pathways towards climate-resilient land and water systems and adapt these for sandy soil regions in south and east Netherlands (together with other WPs).
2. Use the framework to appraise historic pathways of actions undertaken by various stakeholders, with special attention to collaborative efforts of diverse stakeholders (public and private) and path-dependent processes, at the living lab and community level and at the landscape level.
3. Co-create climate-resilient development pathways appropriate for sandy soil land and water systems, climatic conditions, decision context and community.
4. Appraise the contribution of the pathways towards climate resilience and long-lasting achievement of a high quality living environment, in order to create capacity for mobilizing and incentivizing action.