Jones, Roger ORCID: 0000-0001-6970-2797, Young, Celeste, Handmer, John, Keating, Adriana, Mekala, Gayathri Devi and Sheehan, Peter (2013) Valuing adaptation under rapid change. National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, Australia.

Abstract

The methods used to plan adaptation to climate change have been heavily influenced by scientific narratives of gradual change and economic narratives of marginal adjustments to that change. An investigation of the theoretical aspects of how the climate changes suggests that scientific narratives of climate change are socially constructed, biasing scientific narratives to descriptions of gradual as opposed rapid, non-linear change. Evidence of widespread step changes in recent climate records and in model projections of future climate is being overlooked because of this. Step-wise climate change has the potential to produce rapid increases in extreme events that can cross institutional, geographical and sectoral domains.

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