About this Research Topic
Climate change adaptation monitoring and evaluation (M&E) at different levels of organization and governance is a pressing policy issue and advances need to be made in practice and research. Current M&E frameworks and practices are often designed for specific governance levels or sectors without always connection to the adaptation plans and the M&E of related sectors, policies, and levels of governance.
There are two challenges in particular. First, it is not clear how adaptation success or effectiveness should be measured and what methods and data could be used. Second, it is unclear how adaptation monitoring and evaluation are linked to national adaptation policy.
In terms of the first issue, there is a lack of M&E frameworks and measuring methods specifically for adaptation. While some of the issues have been raised in the literature, there are neighboring fields, such as sustainability and energy efficiency fields, which may offer unique insights into how success and effectiveness measuring may be developed in the field of adaptation. Especially given that the outcomes of adaptation often reach beyond the planning context which stresses the need to develop the M&E practices towards a more comprehensive approach that would allow identifying the jurisdictional and sectoral boundary crossing impacts of adaptation.
Second, the integration of adaptation assessments and M&E frameworks with adaptation policy is by no means an easy task. Adaptation takes place across sectors and there are challenges associated with capturing advances in measures that target cross-sectoral risks. Furthermore, the temporal scope of the M&E frameworks is often bound to the relatively short adaptation policy cycles, e.g., five-year national adaptation policy cycle, which leaves out important long-term impact evaluations. This may lead to a biased focus on incremental and short-term measures at the cost of long-term investments in transformational adaptation.
We encourage submitting original research articles and reviews that deal with the theme broadly ranging from adaptation assessments, M&E frameworks, and policy implementation case studies to governance analyses of how to organize national, regional, or local assessments that broaden the understanding of adaptation assessment.
There are two challenges in particular. First, it is not clear how adaptation success or effectiveness should be measured and what methods and data could be used. Second, it is unclear how adaptation monitoring and evaluation are linked to national adaptation policy.
In terms of the first issue, there is a lack of M&E frameworks and measuring methods specifically for adaptation. While some of the issues have been raised in the literature, there are neighboring fields, such as sustainability and energy efficiency fields, which may offer unique insights into how success and effectiveness measuring may be developed in the field of adaptation. Especially given that the outcomes of adaptation often reach beyond the planning context which stresses the need to develop the M&E practices towards a more comprehensive approach that would allow identifying the jurisdictional and sectoral boundary crossing impacts of adaptation.
Second, the integration of adaptation assessments and M&E frameworks with adaptation policy is by no means an easy task. Adaptation takes place across sectors and there are challenges associated with capturing advances in measures that target cross-sectoral risks. Furthermore, the temporal scope of the M&E frameworks is often bound to the relatively short adaptation policy cycles, e.g., five-year national adaptation policy cycle, which leaves out important long-term impact evaluations. This may lead to a biased focus on incremental and short-term measures at the cost of long-term investments in transformational adaptation.
We encourage submitting original research articles and reviews that deal with the theme broadly ranging from adaptation assessments, M&E frameworks, and policy implementation case studies to governance analyses of how to organize national, regional, or local assessments that broaden the understanding of adaptation assessment.
Keywords: Climate change adaptation monitoring and evaluation, M&E frameworks, Adaptation plans, Climate Policy, M&E practices, Adaptation policy
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