ADCAP: Strengthening the adaptive capacity of institutions in fisheries (completed)

About the project

Globally, marine ecosystems are under pressure from high exploitation and climatic changes. Some regions in the world are especially vulnerable, because ecosystem resilience is low, or their institutions are ill-equipped to adapt to a changing climate, for example because communities rely largely on fishing as a source of income. Thus, there is a pressing need to analyze how climate change alters marine ecosystem functioning, the fishing sector, and communities in areas that are particular at risk, such as the Arctic regions of Norway.

Our main international partner, the Fisheries Centre of the University of British Columbia, has expertise on global and regional analysis on climate change effects on marine biodiversity and fisheries and hosts a database comprising distribution maps, and ecosystem and catch data for more than 1,000 species. Thus, this project combines global insights from fisheries around the world with valuable Nordic expertise to meet challenges posed by a changing climate, with an emphasis on the fisheries in the Barents Sea/Lofoten area.

We will achieve our research goals by using a unique mix of theoretical modeling and empirical analysis, and benefiting from extensive experience with developing interdisciplinary bioeconomic models among all partners. In particular, instrumental variables will be used to disentangle the causal relationship between environmental conditions, institutions, and economic performance of a fishery.

The proposed project will disentangle the various aspects of adaptation to climate change by analyzing the multiple feedbacks between climate, formal and informal institutions, and ecological complexity, to strengthen the adaptive capacity of institutions that govern marine ecosystems. It will thus clarify the role of risk and uncertainty of climate change, both for managers and stakeholders, and will reveal how management could affect coastal communities, including important equity considerations.
 

Financing

This project is funded by The Research Council of Norway.
 

Collaborators

University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre (Canada)

Fiskeriforskinningsfondet v/Universitetet i Tromsø

Dalhousie University (Canada)

Period

Start: 1.4.2012. End: 30.04.2015.

 

Tags: USA, Nordic
Published May 9, 2012 11:34 AM - Last modified Feb. 2, 2021 10:36 AM

Participants

Detailed list of participants
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