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6.4.3. Thinking in terms of pathways toward adaptation
This form of categorization may appear somewhat artificial as the
dimensions of process , state and strategy are interrelated through
causality relationships and they come together more than they differ.
However, this distinction is useful, as in addition to encouraging
conceptual thinking, the exercise can favor the tailoring of scientific
knowledge around adaptation to the discourse of different types of
stakeholders whose culture and filters of analysis may be different.
Not everyone of them speaks the same language, although they all talk
about the same thing, i.e. implementing adaptation. Theoretically,
national political leaders will for instance be more interested in the
strategy entry angle (what political choices should be made for what
medium- to long-term vision?). Tourism operators facing problems of
coastal erosion for example will look for solutions on a shorter term,
and will therefore look at adaptation as a state . As to anthropologists
or sociologists for instance, they will probably be more inclined to
looking at the process dimension of adaptation. So we support the idea
according to which these three dimensions can help in improving the
integration of scientific knowledge within complex social dynamics,
including at different territorial scales. It can help bringing
stakeholders together around a similar language. Elaborating
adaptation strategies that are relevant because they are adapted to the
context, can be greatly beneficial within this three-dimensional
analysis framework. The latter enables through segmentation, on the
one hand to identify all the components of a territory/society which
are involved in adaptation, and on the other hand, to make different
pathways emerge with different types of tools (political, regulatory,
social, etc.) so as to persue adaptation. The challenge consists of
establishing a link between these components and the stakeholders,
which involves gathering them around the notion of adaptation
trajectory .
By adaptation trajectory we mean the pathway through which a
territory attempts to adapt to climate variability and change. The
notion of trajectory expresses the idea that adaptation is necessarily
dynamic. Adaptation should not be understood as the quest for a still
image in the future ('being adapted in 2050 or in 2100'), but rather as
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