A network approach for moving from planning to implementation in climate change adaptation: Evidence from southern Mexico. Issue 93 (March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Calliari, Elisa; Michetti, Melania; Farnia, Luca; Ramieri, Emiliano
• Is Part Of: Environmental science & policy. Issue 93(2019)
• Page Start: 146
• Page End: 157
• Publication Date: 2019-03
• Subjects: Adaptation barriers -- Social network analysis -- Collaborative governance -- Institutions; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Environnement -- Politique gouvernementale -- Périodiques; Sciences de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Environmental policy; Environmental sciences; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 363.70561
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.11.025
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1462-9011

Abstract

Highlights: Collaboration barriers are analysed as constraints to effective climate adaptation. The paper presents a mixed-method approach based on Social Network Analysis. The method is tested in a fragile coastal socio-ecosystem is Southern Mexico. The method reveals the complex socio-institutional interplay driving adaptation outcomes. Abstract: Collaboration barriers have been reported among the most frequent institutional constraints to adaptation. Yet, the growing literature on the topic has been largely descriptive and little attention has been placed on how to transform barriers into enablers for action. By taking a fragile socio-ecological lagoon system in Southern Mexico as a case study, the paper applies a social network analytical approach to: i) reveal the actual web of connections tying stakeholders through local governance arrangements; ii) identify shortcomings in multi-actor collaboration networks; and iii) propose ways to tackle them so that the full potential of adaptation can be exploited. The paper employs a mixed-method approach combining both a quantitative and qualitative Social Network Analysis (SNA). The quantitative SNA is used to assess the quality and strength of relationships among formal public organisations working on climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the site. The qualitative SNA is employed to both assess linking ties between formal organizations and local coastal communities potentially targeted with adaptation interventions, and bonding ties connecting community members. The approach proves to be useful to map the relational architecture of the system of interest and to reveal network characteristics that are important for collective action including: network fragmentation in subgroups; density of relations; centralization around a few actors. The actual topology of the network, as revealed, can then be compared with what is required for achieving societally desired adaptation outcomes and for identifying agents that can promote change. The paper acknowledges that a social analytical approach might be limited in unveiling the interests and motives behind actors' participation in the network, and that the latter ultimately determine actors' contribution in defining and enacting a joint solution for a common problem. However, the mixed-methods approach presented in this paper allows for gaining first insights on the way a mismatch between formal and informal institutions might drive socio-ecological systems towards inadequate adaptation outcomes.