Informed adaptation: ethical considerations for adaptation researchers and decision-makers

Abstract

Given the significant and irreversible impacts of climate change on communities and the environment,
 there is increasing focus on how to best support decision-makers to adapt to climate change. Generally,
 the research on this tends to focus on assessing how decision-makers navigate elements of risk and
 uncertainty in deciding to what extent they should adapt their practice if at all, however, scientific
 researchers also have a key role to play in supporting these adaptation decisions. Given the applied
 nature of adaptation research, we argue that an examination of the roles and responsibilities of
 researchers is critical to understanding the ethical aspects of professional research practice in the
 adaptation context. This includes identifying how researchers can best support adaptation, and
 exploring the responsibilities that researchers have, not only to decision-makers but also to the broader
 membership of the adaptation community. In this paper we examine the ethical responsibility of
 researchers in supporting decision-makers to adapt to climate change, using agricultural producers as a
 case-study and focal group. Specifically, in undertaking this examination of risk and responsibility in
 adaptation research and decision-making, we use the lens of professional ethics to outline how research
 might better contribute to informed adaptation. We argue that clarifying the distinction between the
 research and operational aspects of agricultural adaptation, and how the interface between the two is
 disclosed, is critical. We also describe and explore the ethical considerations of researchers associated
 with stakeholder engagement in relation to adaptation science, and identify the need for institutional
 innovation for more effective engagement. In doing so, we seek to demonstrate how ethical research
 practice can support greater alignment of science and public values in agricultural adaptation, thus
 increasing the likely success of decisions.

This research was funded by CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation
 National Research Flagship.