Adaptive Management to Climate Change and Its Barriers in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Studies on barriers to climate change adaptation identify many underlying drivers but describe few processes whereby adaptation is implemented. We contribute to the literature by describing how adaptive capacity relates to project cycle in small-scale communities where local stakeholders combine knowledge and barriers affecting adaptive management. Our study focused on two floodplain landscapes in the Brazilian Amazon where fisheries were identified as a current concern, potentially leading to future social conflict if not properly addressed. At both sites, we adopted participatory research to design an adaptive management framework for the analysis of socio-ecological barriers influencing local decision-making by fishermen and farmers. The comparative analysis provided insights into several actions that could support overcoming barriers to the governance of natural resources in each phase of the project cycle. Adaptation actions included fostering local participation and tools to facilitate knowledge generation and revising the role of the central government in natural resource management. We found that due to the slow capacity to adapt their practices, institutions regulating fisheries tend to work as a barrier for adaptation processes.