Tracking adaptation across scales

Abstract

Developing coherent, consistent, comparable, and comprehensive frameworks for tracking adaptation to climate change impacts is a key challenge in light of the Paris Agreement’s global goal for adaptation. What does adaptation tracking mean in this context? How are adaptation tracking frameworks evolving to deal with major issues like data scarcity? What contribution does adaptation tracking make to the scientific study of adaptation?  This talk will provide an overview of how current approaches in adaptation tracking are addressing the methodological and data limitations of earlier efforts, and present preliminary results on the application of one such approach (the policy instruments approach) to tracking adaptation policy across local governments.

Biography

Alexandra Lesnikowski is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at McGill University. She began working with the Climate Change Adaptation Research Group in 2010 on the development of experimental frameworks for tracking adaptation policies across countries. The results of this research are published in a number of journals, including Nature Climate Change, Environmental Research Letters, and Global Environmental Change. Her doctoral research is focused on advancing these methods for assessing adaptation policy patterns among local governments. She holds a Masters of Arts (Urban Planning) from The University of British Columbia (2014) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from McGill University (2010).