Ford James D, Berrang-Ford Lea
Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A0B9 Canada.
Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Chang. 2016;21(6):839-859. doi: 10.1007/s11027-014-9627-7. Epub 2015 Jan 10.
Adaptation tracking seeks to characterize, monitor, and compare general trends in climate change adaptation over time and across nations. Recognized as essential for evaluating adaptation progress, there have been few attempts to develop systematic approaches for tracking adaptation. This is reflected in polarized opinions, contradictory findings, and lack of understanding on the state of adaptation globally. In this paper, we outline key methodological considerations necessary for adaptation tracking research to produce systematic, rigorous, comparable, and usable insights that can capture the current state of adaptation globally, provide the basis for characterizing and evaluating adaptations taking place, facilitate examination of what conditions explain differences in adaptation action across jurisdictions, and can underpin the monitoring of change in adaptation over time. Specifically, we argue that approaches to adaptation tracking need to (i) utilize a consistent and operational conceptualization of adaptation, (ii) focus on comparable units of analysis, (iii) use and develop comprehensive datasets on adaptation action, and (iv) be coherent with our understanding of what constitutes real adaptation. Collectively, these form the 4Cs of adaptation tracking (consistency, comparability, comprehensiveness, and coherency).
适应跟踪旨在描述、监测和比较气候变化适应在不同时间和不同国家的总体趋势。尽管人们认识到这对于评估适应进展至关重要，但很少有人尝试开发用于跟踪适应的系统方法。这反映在两极分化的观点、相互矛盾的研究结果以及对全球适应状况的缺乏了解上。在本文中，我们概述了适应跟踪研究所需的关键方法考量，以便得出系统、严谨、可比且有用的见解，这些见解能够反映全球适应的当前状态，为描述和评估正在进行的适应提供基础，有助于考察哪些条件能够解释不同司法管辖区在适应行动上的差异，并且能够为监测适应随时间的变化提供支撑。具体而言，我们认为适应跟踪方法需要：（i）采用一致且可操作的适应概念；（ii）关注可比的分析单位；（iii）使用并开发关于适应行动的综合数据集；（iv）与我们对真正适应的构成要素的理解保持一致。这些共同构成了适应跟踪的4C原则（一致性、可比性、全面性和连贯性）。
