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Considerable barriers can emerge in developing and implementing climate change adaptation strategies. Understanding the nature of barriers to adaptation is important so as to find strategic ways of dealing with them. However, our current understanding is limited and highly fragmented across the academic community. This paper aims to bring some conceptual convergence in these debates by applying a systematic review method to assess the current state of knowledge on barriers to adaptation in the peer-reviewed literature. The review results show that: (1) Barriers to adaptation have hardly been defined in the literature and no clear indicators exist so as to identify and assess them systematically. (2) An impressive number of barriers have been reported, but the list of possible barriers is seemingly endless. (3) The most frequently reported barriers relate to the institutional and social dimensions of adaptation. (4) Barriers are identified as configurations of climate and non-climate factors and conditions that emerge from the actor, the governance system, or the system of concern. (5) Barriers are mainly studied in developed countries with a strong focus on water-related domains. (6) The majority of studies on barriers use small-n inductive case approaches while comparative studies across different contexts are limited. (7) Although interventions to overcome barriers are recommended by most studies, empirical studies on interventions are scarce. We present further conceptual clarification and a more precise definition of barriers to adaptation. We conclude that future research should go beyond asking the questions ‘if’ and ‘which’ barriers to adaptation exist and begin asking ‘how’ and ‘why’ barriers emerge.

The literature on barriers to climate change adaptation has largely focused on non-climatic barriers and has provided less insight into climate-induced barriers. Responding to this lacuna, this paper examines the connections between climate change and agricultural adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers in northern Ghana. Results from the qualitative fieldwork show that climatic changes have been accompanied by increases in climate change extremes (CCEs) over the last three decades. In order to adapt, smallholder farmers use improved crop varieties and other support strategies. Paradoxically, however, CCEs have undermined these strategies in several instances, causing crop yields to fall short of their actual potential and leading to financial indebtedness. Therefore, the results showcase that overcoming non-climatic barriers to the uptake of agricultural adaptation strategies is a necessary but insufficient condition for achieving successful adaptation outcomes. This is the case since new barriers to the adaptation process are constantly emerging, and CCEs are an example of this.

Local communities around the world are directly exposed to impacts of climate change. It is also clear that many local governments are politically and economically constrained in their capacity to implement needed adaptations. These constraints can restrict adaptation options to incremental, or even maladaptive, practices. At the same time, necessary transformational actions may remain out of reach for local actors. Building on five years of collaborative research with the city of Flagler Beach (FL, USA), we draw on political process theories to describe how incremental adaptation activities that are possible within current constraints can serve to build local capacity for instigating reforms at higher scales of social organization. We use the concept of a collective action strategy to conceptualize how context-specific barriers to adaptation can be overcome. From our analysis, an idealized multi-step process for designing collective action strategies is presented. The study advances scholarship on limits to adaptation beyond the diagnosis of barriers to action by taking steps towards developing context-specific strategies for overcoming these barriers.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore pathways in which adaptation challenges may occur. Focus is on the barriers to adaptation, challenges to adaptation and maladaptation with reference to smallholder farmers in the Southern African Development Community region.Design/methodology/approachBibliometric analysis techniques were used to track the literature on smallholder farmers’ adaptation challenges. Web of Science was the main data source. A total of 41 articles were retained for analysis and exported into Visualization of Similarities Viewer Software where the development of research on the subject, co-occurrence of keywords analysis, top publishers, citations and total link strength was done.FindingsResults indicate that research on smallholder farmers’ adaptation challenges is not new but has gained more consideration post-2020. The main adaptation challenges emanate from perception barriers and constraints based on determinants of adoption, limitations for resilience building and achieving sustainable adaptation as well as contestations around Climate Smart Agriculture technologies.Practical implicationsEffective design of adaptation policies should center on prioritizing the needs of the local people. This would reduce the occurrences of smallholder farmers’ adaptation challenges, promote resilience building and contribute toward achieving sustainable adaptation.Originality/valueIt is equally important to document adaptation challenges. However, adaptation challenges are rarely shared with the same enthusiasm as its successes. This work focuses on the matter with the intention of conscientizing smallholder farmers to reduce the risk of repeating the same adaptation mistakes.

Southeast Asian countries are confronting climate variability, challenging agricultural sustainability and rural livelihoods. However, little research effort has been devoted to exploring how farmers in those countries perceive climate variability and how the perceptions link to adaptive responses. This paper deploys information from three focus group discussions with 30 male farmers; and six in-depth interviews with one female and five male agricultural officers in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Recorded 34-year meteorological data in the delta from 1978 to 2011 is also incorporated to demonstrate the actual climate variability of the region. We find that farmers are becoming increasingly conscious of local climate variability issues. However, they have limited understanding of the importance of adaptation to their livelihoods. They also have limited knowledge of where and who to contact for appropriate climate change adaptation information. No opinions about the link between global warming and local climate variability and change were observed. Casual observation via public media and personal experience dominated farmers’ sources of information. Barriers to farmers’ adaptation are not exclusively restricted to socio-economic factors and resource constraints; e.g. land tenure, technical knowledge, market, social relationship, credit, information, health care, and demographics. Maladaptation, habit, and the perception of the importance of climate variability and adaptation are found as additional constraints. Observed differences in farmers’ and agricultural officers’ perspectives regarding barriers to farmers’ adaptation suggest important policy implications.

This research article describes Chile’s climate change adaptation policies and plans for marine aquaculture in Chile, with a focus on the nationally important salmon farming industry, and assesses whether they have adequately addressed legal barriers to adaptation and the need for legal transformation. The article first outlines Chile’s climate change law, policies, and institutional framework, as reflected in the 2022 Framework Act on Climate Change, the 2020 updated Nationally Determined Contribution, the 2022 Strengthening of the Nationally Determined Contribution, and the 2022 Long-Term Climate Strategy. The article highlights the special attention given to the ocean-climate nexus in both international and national policy agendas. It then summarizes and assesses the adaptation policies and plans for the aquaculture sector. Three main shortcomings are identified: the lack of implementation of committed activities, the lack of a strategic vision for the role of aquaculture in a changing climate and oceans, and the lack of attention to the limits of adaptation resulting from existing regulatory frameworks. The article then strengthens this assessment with a legal analysis of the adaptive capacity of aquaculture planning and leasing frameworks. This assessment concludes that mainstreaming climate change into existing planning instruments is an ineffective adaptation measure due to the fragmented, rigid, and inefficient legal framework for the planning of aquaculture and other uses of the coastal zone. In turn, the leasing system is too rigid to allow for effective adaptation. Various mechanisms to introduce flexibility are suggested. The article concludes by highlighting an unprecedented window of opportunity to advance strategic, coherent, long-term, and transformative adaptation, resulting from concurrent initiatives to reform or update aquaculture law, policy, and adaptation planning and the principled approach to climate action embedded in the Framework Act on Climate Change.

Developing generalized theories about adaptation to climate change requires common concepts to map different adaptation situations. The paper aims to contribute to this endeavor by presenting a novel framework that conceptualizes adaptations to climate change as actions. The framework is intended to systematically analyze the actor relations involved in adaptations and the barriers to their implementation. By combining established scientific action theories with terminology from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in an innovative way, it can be used to clarify the notion of adaptation used in adaptation assessments. The framework’s potential is illustrated by a case study on cooling water management in the river Rhine catchment and by the elucidation of some prominent concepts in adaptation research. We show that by framing adaptations as actions, the purpose of adaptations and how they tend to connect up in means-ends-chains becomes crucial. Actors can take different functional roles as exposure unit, operator and receptor of adaptation. A mismatch of these roles can lead to barriers to adaptation, of which we deduce four types: complex actor relations, missing operators, missing means and unemployed means. The case study yields a complex bundle of adaptations, and shows that the potential barriers involved are quite diverse. There is thus no blueprint solution. Although we identify entry points for adaptation, the analysis leads to a skeptical conclusion for adapting cooling water management in the whole Rhine catchment.

Climate change will affect water resources by altering the quantity, variability, timing, form, and intensity of precipitation. This study provides a framework for assessing the adaptive capacity of water resources to the effects of climate change. This paper has been designed in two parts: in part I, adaptive capacity was evaluated, and in part II, the barriers to adaptation to climate change were identified. Adaptive capacity has been assessed in two sections: informal and formal institutions. A questionnaire was designed to assess the adaptive capacity of informal institutions, and the adaptive capacity score was calculated. In addition, the laws related to water resources management from 1905 to 2021 were evaluated as formal institutions of water. The findings in part I show that the adaptive capacity of the informal institution is -0.139, and the adaptive capacity of the formal institution during the period 1905–2021 is − 0.101, − 0.114, − 0.114, − 0.133, and − 0.101. According to the results, the adaptive capacity of formal and informal institutions in this basin is weak. In part II, the barriers to adaptation have been identified. This issue was further investigated by interviews with key actors. The interviews were analyzed by the Thematic method and Maxqda2020 software. Afterward, the adaptation barriers to climate change were categorized into three Themes: actor's characteristics, structural quality, and environmental quality. Finally, the causal relationships between these barriers were indicated, and proper solutions such as open access to information, expansion of research and development, access to empowerment programs, decentralization, and also development of a comprehensive plan for adapting to climate change were proposed.

Effective coping with type 2 diabetes is often hindered by insufficient understanding of the disease, its management, associated comorbidities, complications, and mental health challenges. This study aims to identify barriers to adaptation to type 2 diabetes, examine their associations with complications, and characterize patient adaptation profiles to inform tailored management strategies. A cross-sectional sample of 151 outpatients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes was analyzed. Data were collected using the diabetes obstacles questionnaire-30 and analyzed using statistical methods, including latent profile analysis, to identify distinct adaptation profiles and their association with clinical and demographic factors. The mean age at disease onset was 50.39 years (standard deviation (SD) = 11.02), with an average body mass index (BMI) of 32.90 (SD = 6.64) and a mean glycohemoglobin (HbA1c) level of 7.7% (SD = 1.30). Hypertension (78.1%), retinopathy (33.1%), and neuropathy (22.5%) were the most common complications. Patients expressed fear of diagnosis (mean (M) = 2.99, SD = 1.28), high blood sugar readings (M = 3.19, SD = 1.23), and insulin therapy (M = 3.38, SD = 1.30), along with low motivation for physical activity (M = 3.04, SD = 1.30). Four distinct adaptation profiles were identified, influenced by information needs, social support, and the presence of complications such as neuropathy, which significantly affected adaptation. Adaptation to type 2 diabetes varies significantly across patients, influenced by clinical, psychological, and social factors. Identifying and addressing individual barriers – including the need for tailored education, social support, and comorbidity management – is critical. Personalized medicine approaches that integrate these factors can enhance disease adaptation and improve outcomes, emphasizing the need for holistic and patient-centered care in diabetes management.

Decision-making barriers challenge port administrators to adapt and build resilience to natural hazards. Heavy rains, storms, sea level rise (SLR), and extreme heat can damage the critical coastal infrastructure upon which coastal communities depend. There is limited understanding of what impedes port decision makers from investing resources in climate and extreme weather adaptations. Through semi-structured interviews of 30 port directors/managers, environmental specialists, and safety planners at 15 medium- and high-use ports of the U.S. North Atlantic, this paper contributes a typology of seven key adaptation barriers. We measured shared knowledge of the identified barriers using a cultural consensus model (CCM). Knowledge of the barriers that prevent or delay resilience investments can help the decision makers direct their resources to help reduce coastal vulnerability and support safe and sustainable operations of U.S. ports. Such actions also serve to help prepare the marine transportation system for future climate and extreme weather events.