Table 1.

Research fields and focus areas that assess—directly and indirectly—the potential influence of mindfulness on climate adaptation. Related gaps are highlighted

Research field	Focus areas—researched aspects	Related gaps
Disaster management—with a focus on psychological resilience (risk perception and communication)	Psychological resilience in post-disaster contexts Post-traumatic stress reduction Post-disaster trauma and compassion fatigue/fade Post-disaster growth Recovery of meaning, sense of self and place Policy support for climate action Faith-based organisations and coping for response and recovery Do no harm principle Risk perception Risk and climate change communication	The link to climate change is marginal, which also explains the focus on (large-scale) disasters as opposed to small-scale events and climate variability (Wamsler 2014) Focus on agency-based solutions, rather than structural, systemic change (Wamsler et al. 2017) No adequate baseline: little knowledge of the psychological impacts of climate/natural hazards and the prevalence of related post-traumatic stress disorders (Udomratn 2009) Studies concerning stress and coping among natural/climate disaster workers are still scarce (Argentero and Setti 2011; Brown et al. 2002; Hytten and Hasle 1989) Sustainability and resilience research based on religious beliefs and spirituality are new to the traditional disaster literature (Chen n.d.) Longer term follow-ups with participants of mindfulness-based practices to assess whether the benefits of the intervention are maintained over time are missing (Hechanova et al. 2015) Religious/spiritual coping has received little attention in organisational responses following climate/natural hazards (Chan and Rhodes 2013)
Individual well-being—with a focus on adaptive behaviour, health, and compassion	Ability to cope with stressful situations Cognitive flexibility and adaptive behaviour Psychological and physical health Empathy, compassion for others ↔ reduction of compassion fade Human–nature connection/nature connectedness Capacity for minimizing automatic, habitual, or impulsive reactions Activation of core values/empowerment	Links with climate adaptation are mainly indirect Little attention paid to health effects of climate change and, consequently, prevention, preparedness, etc. of these effects through, for instance, mindfulness (e.g., Costello et al. 2011)
Organisational management—with a focus on organisational reliability and innovation	Organisational mindfulness Mindful organising/organising (for) mindfulness Workplace mindfulness Compassion organising/organisational compassion/compassionate decision-making Organisation’s corporate philanthropic disaster response Resilience performance Corporate social responsibility/social entrepreneurship Sacred activism Organisational learning Job satisfaction and performance Good leadership and decision-taking Moral identification/moralised and ethical leadership (cf. Fehr et al. 2014)	Not linked to adaptation-related frameworks, such as adaptation policy integration/mainstreaming (Wamsler 2014) Organisational concepts require further construct validation and empirical testing regarding its responsiveness to interventions (Carroll and Rudolph 2006; Vogus 2011; Thomas et al. 2015) Potential negative impacts of compassion have been little assessed (Simpson et al. 2014a, b) The mindfulness term is, in parts, used quite loosely, without close linkages to broader issues (e.g. origins, inner change processes) While there are studies that show the importance of special leadership capacities for managing unpredictable and/or extreme events (Paté-Cornell and Cox 2014; Kapucu and Van Wart 2008) and the importance of mindfulness for good leadership, there are hardly any studies that look into the interface of both aspects
Environmental behaviour—with a focus on ecological well-being and resilience	Nature connectedness, compassion for the environment Pro-environmental values Pro-environmental intentions and engagement Mindful consumption and sustainable lifestyle Sustainability-oriented innovations Environmental justice Erosion of mindfulness/culture (linked to vulnerability) Personal-to-planetary well-being, ecopsychology, animism	Focus is on climate mitigation, not climate adaptation (Wamsler et al. 2017), e.g., research on well-being and ecologically responsible behaviour In the context of climate adaptation, there is a lack of critical consideration of how mindfulness could counteract maladaptation (e.g., in urban planning) The term mindfulness is, in parts, used without close linkages to its origins (e.g., mindful consumption). More critical approaches are often missing
Social justice—with a focus on social activism and change	Political mindfulness Social and sacred activism Mindful social change Mindful engagement—do no harm principle Moral awareness/judgement Compassion for others Non-judgemental attitude Activation of core values/empowerment	Few scholarly articles/studies that explicitly address the mindfulness–adaptation nexus More practice-based advancements with, so far, little empirical evidence (e.g., mindful social change)
Knowledge production—with a focus on more holistic research	Deep listening Mindful engagement Mind–body distinction/connection Ontological hybridity—cross-hybrid learning Non-material paradigm/causation	Few scholarly articles/studies that explicitly address the mindfulness–adaptation nexus and its implications for research approaches and methodologies There is a disconnect between science and human experience that does not capture the holistic picture necessary for adaptation to, and resilience in the face of, climate change (cf. Knodel 2012; Gibbson and Wisner 2016)
Across the six research fields	Compassion-related studies are creating implicit links between mindfulness and climate adaptation	Few linkages between the different research areas and across-scales Little attention is given to proactive adaptation and risk reduction Almost no targeted research on climate adaptation and mindfulness