News
October 2018: 5th TARA workshop, October 10-12, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain. Participants: Front row, left to right: Unai Ortega (UPV/EHU Bilbao, Spain); Ioana Andra Horcea-Milcu (Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany); Sandra Lavorel (CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes, France); Enora Bruley (Université Grenoble Alpes, France); Nicolas Saillou (ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Claudia Munera (Australian National University, Canberra); Nicolas Elleaume (Université Grenoble Alpes, France); Bruno Locatelli (CIFOR/CIRAD, Lima, Peru); back row, left to right: David Lam (Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany); Adrienne Grêt-Regamey (ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Sandra Bhatasara (University of Zimbabwe, Harare); Jacqueline Loos (Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany); Berta Martin-Lopez (Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany); Giacomo Fedele (Conservation International, Washington, USA); Améline Vallet (AgroParis Tech, France); Houria Djoudi (CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia); Russell Gorddard (CSIRO, Canberra, Australia); Matt Colloff (Australian National University, Canberra); Ignacio Palomo (BC3, UPV-EHU, Bilbao, Spain)
Sept. 2018: Values, rules and knowledge in adaptation decision making
Values-rules-knowledge (VRK) is a framework for analysing the decision making for adaptation, focusing on the decision context: the societal factors that influence decision making processes and the resulting options and choices. Our first paper on VRK (Gorddard et al., 2016) addressed three case studies on adaptation to sea level rise and was intended primarily for a researcher audience in environmental science and policy. Our newly published paper (cf. below) introduces the VRK framework for a wider readership of researchers, practitioners and students interested in adaptation to global change. The paper covers how the VRK framework can be used to (1)reveal and describe aspects of the decision context (i.e. the societal factors that influence decision making); (2) analyse how the decision context influences decisions; (3) examine how and why a decision context has developed and persisted or changed and (4) identify strategies for influencing and changing a decision context.
Colloff, M.J., Gorddard, R. and Dunlop, M. (2018) The values-rules-knowledge framework in adaptation decision-making: a primer. CSIRO Land and Water, Canberra. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.13783.11688/2
Feb. 2018: Global crop production during the Green Revolution fits the Jevons Paradox: efficiency gains do not lead to resource savings
Please see the paper just published by Pedro Pellegrini and TARA member Roberto Fernández: Crop intensification, land use, and on-farm energy-use efficiency during the worldwide spread of the green revolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717072115
Feb. 2018: Please see the blog about reflections on the Fourth TARA workshop at Oaxaca, Mexico, by Maraja Riechters: https://leveragepoints.org/2018/02/08/heated-discussions-in-a-tropical-climate-the-4th-meeting-of-the-transformative-adaptation-research-alliance-in-oaxaca-mexico/
Nov. 2017: Please see the blog by TARA member Claudia Múnera Roldan on frameworks for linking theory to practice for adaptation at the recent highly successful PECSII conference at Oaxaca, Mexico: http://www.pecsii.org/single-post/2017/11/24/Frame-this%E2%80%A6-It%E2%80%99s-all-about-the-framework
Nov. 2017: Participants at the 4th TARA workshop, PECSII, Oaxaca, Mexico, 6-7 & 11 November, 2017. Front row, left to right: Violeta Gutierrez Zamora (Finland), Lorrae van Kerkhoff (Australia), Catherine Tucker (USA), Sandra Luz Malagón Garcia (Mexico), Yanin Rodriguez Velazquez (Mexico), Leonie Bellina (Germany), Sandra Lavorel (France), Liz Clarke (Germany). Second row, left to right: Roberto Fernandez (Argentina), Claudia Múnera Roldan (Australia), Matt Colloff (Australia), Nicolas Dendoncker (Belgium), Eliska Lorencova (Czech Republic), Giacomo Fedele (USA), Maraja Riechers (Germany), Zuzana Harmackova (Czech Republic), Mike Dunlop (Australia), Rachel Williams (Australia), Bruno Locatelli (Peru)
June 2017: Please see the new blog by Russell Gorddard, Matt Colloff, Mike Dunlop and Russ Wise, Keys to transformation: interactions of values, rules and knowledge. Integration and Implementation Insights https://i2insights.org/2017/06/20/values-rules-knowledge-and-transformation
Mar. 2017: TARA will be holding its 4th international workshop and a symposium, “Putting transformative adaptation into action”, at the Second Conference of the Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECSII), Oaxaca, Mexico, 7-10 November, 2017 http://www.pecsii.org/program-symposia The symposium will include a mix of open and invited speaking slots.
Jan. 2017: Please see the new blog post by Lorrae van Kerkhoff Enabling co-creation: From learning cycles to aligning values, rules and knowledge https://i2insights.org/2017/01/19/operationalizing-co-creation/
Nov. 2016: Several members of TARA – Berta Martín-López, Irene Iniesta-Arandia, Houria Djoudi and Bruno Locatelli – have been involved in the production of an important special issue of Ambio on gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change.
Why does a gender-lens matter for an effective and equitable adaptation strategies to global environmental change?
A new special issue published by Ambio highlights the importance of making gender a central aspect of research on resilience to global environmental change.
The literature in global environmental change, including climate change, has scarcely focused to date on the intersectional character of gender and power relations in building resilience and adaptive capacities. Additionally, there has been a tendency to frame women as being especially vulnerable or virtuous in the context of environmental change without much empirical analysis of how gender relations operate in different contexts. In this context, two main aims are addressed through the special issue ‘Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change’ published in the interdisciplinary journal AMBIO: (1) to frame and advance the research on gender in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary way and (2) to apply such interdisciplinary approach in a number of empirical cases from around the world.
The special issue is comprised by twelve peer reviewed research articles that provide reflections and evidence of how gender and feminist studies can link with novel understandings about vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to global environmental change. Nine of the articles present empirical research, two reviews the state of the art literature and another article is the ‘insight’ contribution, reflecting on the key topic of intersectional framings within research and development programming.
This is a timely special issue which will allow scientists and those interested in global environmental change, to better understand emerging patterns whereby gendered diversity in knowledge and everyday practices matters in fostering options for enhancing social-ecological resilience. The rich texture of the case studies contributes to show the importance of contextualizing the gender debate within different socio-cultural situations to identify effective and equitable decision-making options to respond to the adverse impacts of global environmental change.
Special Issue: Ravera F, Iniesta-Arandia I, Martín-López B, Pascual U, Bose P (2016) Gender perspectives in resilience, vulnerability and adaptation to global environmental change. AMBIO 45, Issue 8, Supplement 3. http://link.springer.com/journal/13280/45/3/suppl/page/1
Aug.-Sep. 2016: The third international TARA workshop was held at Lautaret in the French Alps, 24-26th August, 2016, the week prior to the TARA session at the Ecosummit Conference in Montpellier. Thanks to everyone who attended a very successful and productive three days, and a huge thank you to Sandra Lavorel and Karl Grigulis for organising a wonderful event. Thanks to Bruno Locatelli for the excellent photographs.
