Table 11.

Examples of information and science as barriers to and opportunities for adaptation

Information and science
Perceived barrier	Opportunity	Examples
Often no inventory or baseline information exists, and nothing is in place to detect climate change impacts	Identify existing monitoring programs for management; develop a suite of climate change indicators and incorporate them into existing programs	• Use programs such as the National Park Service vital signs for the Inventory and Monitoring Program, Global Fiducial Program, Long Term Ecological Research networks, and National Ecological Observatory Network to monitor climate change impacts and effectiveness of adaptation options (Baron and others 2008)
Historic conditions may no longer sufficiently inform future planning (e.g., “100-year” flood events may occur more often)	Evaluate policies that use historic conditions and determine how to better reflect accurate baselines in the face of climate change; modify design assumptions to account for changing climate conditions	• Change emphasis from maintenance of “minimum flows” to the more sophisticated and scientifically based “natural flow paradigm,” as is happening in some places (Palmer and others 2008)
Lack of decision support tools, uncertainty in climate change science, and gaps in scientific data limits assessments of risks and efficacies	Identify and use all available tools/mechanisms currently in place to deal with existing problems to apply to climate-change related impacts	• Hedge bets and optimize practices in situations where system dynamics and responses are fairly certain (Baron and others 2008)
		• Use adaptive management in situations with greater uncertainty (Baron and others 2008)
Occurrence of extreme climate events outside historical experience	Use disturbed landscapes as templates for “management experiments” that provide data to improve adaptive management	• After fire, reforest with genotypes that are better adjusted to the new or unfolding regional climate with nursery stock tolerant to low soil moisture and high temperature, or with a variety of genotypes (Joyce and others 2008)
Stakeholders have insufficient information to properly evaluate adaptation actions, and thus may oppose/prevent implementation of adaptation (e.g., salvaging harvests after disturbance). Appeals and litigation from external public results in no action	Inform public and promote consensus-building on tough decisions; invite input from a broad range of sources to generate buy-in across stakeholder interests	• Conduct public outreach activities with information on climate impacts and adaptation options—including demonstration projects with concrete results—through workshops, scoping meetings, face-to-face dialog, and informal disposition processes to increase buy in for management actions (Julius and others 2008)
		• Use state and local stakeholders to develop management plans to gain support and participation in implementation and oversight of planning activities, as do the National Estuaries (Peterson and others 2008), the Coastal Habitat Protection Plans for fisheries management (Peterson and others 2008), and some National Forests (Joyce and others 2008)