Quantifying stakeholder learning in climate change adaptation across multiple relational and participatory networks

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Social Science
• Climate Change Adaptation

Background:

• Effective climate change adaptation necessitates broad stakeholder engagement across various levels.
• Stakeholder participation is recognized for promoting social learning and collective action but lacks clear evaluation metrics.
• Existing approaches to evaluating stakeholder participation in climate change adaptation are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between social relations emerging from stakeholder participation and changes in climate change perceptions.
• To test the hypothesis that reciprocal ties of understanding, respect, and influence predict stakeholder learning.
• To develop and implement a network-based approach for quantitatively measuring the performance of stakeholder participation in climate change adaptation.

Main Methods:

• Social Network Analysis (SNA) was employed to map and analyze social relations among diverse stakeholders.
• A case study on the Deal Island Peninsula, Maryland (USA), focused on collaborative management of sea-level rise impacts.
• Data were collected from local residents, scientists, and government officials involved in the project from 2016 to 2018.

Main Results:

• Social relations characterized by mutual understanding, respect, and influence were found to be positively associated with changes in perceptions of climate change.
• The study identified specific network structures and interaction patterns that correlate with enhanced social learning.
• Empirical evidence demonstrated how emerging social relations can either enhance or constrain social learning processes.

Conclusions:

• Reciprocal social ties among stakeholders are crucial for effective social learning in climate change adaptation.
• The developed network-based approach offers a quantitative method for evaluating stakeholder participation effectiveness.
• Understanding and strengthening social relations within stakeholder networks can improve climate change adaptation strategies.