A new study, part of the AGORA project and involving Ibercivis researchers Judith Bielsa and Lucía Moreno, analyses the barriers that hinder stakeholder participation in climate adaptation and how to overcome them.
The systematic review concludes that citizen participation requires clear objectives, trust, methods adapted to the context and contributions that genuinely influence decisions.
Authors: Judith Bielsa and Lucía Moreno.
Climate change is already transforming the way we live and relate to our territory. From the increase in extreme events such as heatwaves, floods and droughts, to the changes affecting ecosystems, agriculture and people’s health, adaptation has become one of the great social, political and environmental challenges of our time.
However, developing effective adaptation strategies does not depend solely on having scientific knowledge or new technologies. Decisions about how to prepare our territories for the impacts of climate change affect multiple sectors of society, from public administrations and local communities to social organisations, businesses, researchers and citizens. For this reason, the active participation of these stakeholder groups is essential to design solutions that truly respond to local needs and contexts.
Science and practical experience have shown that involving citizens can improve the quality of decisions, foster collective learning and increase the acceptance and implementation of adaptation measures. However, achieving meaningful participation is not always easy. Institutional, organisational, economic and social barriers can limit collaboration between the different actors.
A European analysis of how to improve participation in climate adaptation
A new scientific article, produced by an international team, analyses precisely these challenges. Entitled Advancing stakeholder engagement in climate adaptation: a systematic review of structural barriers and operational enablers, it has been published in the journal Sustainability Science and has Judith Bielsa and Lucía Moreno, researchers at Fundación Ibercivis, as co-authors. The article is part of the European project Adaptation AGORA and reviews the existing scientific literature to identify the main barriers that hinder stakeholder participation and the conditions that can foster more effective participatory processes.
The research starts from a reality: although the importance of participation in climate adaptation is increasingly recognised, there is still a gap between the design of adaptation policies and strategies and their actual implementation. Closing this gap requires a better understanding of what makes some participatory processes work while others run into difficulties.
To this end, the research team carried out a systematic review of previous studies on participation in climate adaptation. The analysis identified different types of obstacles, related both to broader structures, such as institutional frameworks, availability of resources or coordination between organisations, and to operational aspects of the design of the participatory processes themselves.
From consultation to real collaboration
One of the main messages of the article is that participation should not be understood solely as an informational process or a one-off consultation. To generate useful results, participatory processes need to create spaces where the different actors can exchange knowledge, contribute their experiences and build solutions together.
This means recognising that there are different forms of knowledge relevant to tackling climate change. Alongside scientific knowledge, the experiences of local communities, territorial knowledge and the practices developed by organisations and groups can provide essential information to better understand problems and design appropriate responses.
The study also highlights the importance of practical aspects that determine the success of these processes: setting clear objectives, building trust among participants, adapting participation methods to the specific context and ensuring that the contributions made have a real influence on final decisions.
Citizen science and participation to tackle complex challenges
These lessons connect directly with the work Ibercivis carries out through citizen science. Participatory projects make it possible not only to generate new data and knowledge, but also to build communities around scientific and social challenges, enabling people to move from being recipients of information to active participants in research and innovation processes.
In areas such as climate adaptation, biodiversity, environmental quality and the health of the planet, collaboration between science, institutions and citizens makes it possible to address complex problems from multiple perspectives and to generate solutions that are more closely connected to the reality of each territory.
This article offers a key insight for continuing to improve these processes: effective participation requires planning, resources and appropriate methodologies. It is not enough to invite different actors to take part; it is necessary to create the conditions for that participation to be meaningful and to have a real capacity to contribute to transformation.
Moving towards societies that are better prepared for climate change therefore means combining scientific knowledge, social innovation and collaboration among all the sectors involved. Adaptation is not only a technological or environmental challenge: it is also a collective one.