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Abstract Private woodland owners (PWOs) face an increasing number of considerations for climate change adaptation and mitigation activities in their forest management. Evidence suggests there may be a disconnect between PWOs’ climate change perceptions and behaviors, which can limit implementation. We conducted seventeen semistructured interviews in Maine to develop a typological framework of PWOs based on their perceptions of climate-induced threats and efficacy. Our results produced three types of PWOs: the steady-as-they-go landowner (low perceived threat), the science-driven landowner (high perceived threat; high efficacy), and the seeking-support landowner (high perceived threat; low efficacy). Although all three types of PWOs regularly implemented resistance and resilience practices, their attitudes toward transition practices (i.e., assisted migration) diverged based on their perceptions of threat and efficacy. This typological framework can be used when targeting communications to PWOs regarding the overlap between climate adaptive management and traditional best management practices. Study Implications: PWOs in our study recognized climate-related impacts while implementing diverse forest management practices to meet both climate-related and non-climate-related objectives. The divergent attitudes toward transition practices exhibited by our three PWO types highlight the notion that adaptive practices can be both intentional and incidental. Our findings suggest that outreach efforts should understand PWO perceptions of climate change threats and their feelings of efficacy in responding to such threats. When combined with knowledge about the overlap between traditional best management practices and new climate-adaptive strategies, extension and outreach efforts can tailor their messaging to fit the appropriate audience.
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Muddling through Climate Change: A Qualitative Exploration of India and U.S. Climate Experts’ Perspectives on Solutions, Pathways, and Barriers
Climate solutions related to mitigation and adaptation vary across the United States and India, given their unique current socio-political–technological abilities and their histories. Here, we discuss results from online face-to-face interviews undertaken with 33 U.S.-based climate experts and 30 India-based climate experts. Using qualitative grounded theory, we explore open-ended responses to questions related to mitigation and adaptation and find the following: (1) there is broad agreement among experts in both countries on the main mitigation solutions focused on the decarbonization of energy systems, but (2) there are a diversity of views between experts on what to prioritize and how to achieve it. Similarly, there is substantial agreement that adaptation solutions are needed to address agriculture, water management, and infrastructure, but there is a wide variety of perspectives on other priorities and how best to proceed. Experts across both countries generally perceived mitigation as needing national policies to succeed, while adaptation is perceived as more local and challenging given the larger number of stakeholders involved in planning and implementation. Our findings indicate that experts agree on the goals of decarbonization, but there was no consensus on how best to accomplish implementation.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1754740
- PAR ID:
- 10553751
- Publisher / Repository:
- MDPI
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainability
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 13
- ISSN:
- 2071-1050
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5275
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135275
