TY - JOUR
T1 - Research to Confront Climate Change Complexity
T2 - Intersectionality, Integration, and Innovative Governance
AU - Mach, Katharine J.
AU - Jagannathan, Kripa
AU - Shi, Linda
AU - Turek-Hankins, Lynée L.
AU - Arnold, Jeffrey R.
AU - Brelsford, Christa
AU - Flores, Alejandro N.
AU - Gao, Jing
AU - Martín, Carlos E.
AU - McCollum, David L.
AU - Moss, Richard
AU - Niemann, Jennifer
AU - Rashleigh, Brenda
AU - Reed, Patrick M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024. The Author(s).
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - Climate impacts increasingly unfold in interlinked systems of people, nature, and infrastructure. The cascading consequences are revealing sometimes surprising connections across sectors and regions, and prospects for climate responses also depend on complex, difficult-to-understand interactions. In this commentary, we build on the innovations of the United States Fifth National Climate Assessment to suggest a framework for understanding and responding to complex climate challenges. This approach involves: (a) integration of disciplines and expertise to understand how intersectionality shapes complex climate impacts and the wide-ranging effects of climate responses, (b) collaborations among diverse knowledge holders to improve responses and better encompass intersectionality, and (c) sustained experimentation with and learning about governance approaches capable of handling the complexity of climate change. Together, these three pillars underscore that usability of climate-relevant knowledge requires transdisciplinary coordination of research and practice. We outline actionable steps for climate research to incorporate intersectionality, integration, and innovative governance, as is increasingly necessary for confronting climate complexity and sustaining equitable, ideally vibrant climate futures.
AB - Climate impacts increasingly unfold in interlinked systems of people, nature, and infrastructure. The cascading consequences are revealing sometimes surprising connections across sectors and regions, and prospects for climate responses also depend on complex, difficult-to-understand interactions. In this commentary, we build on the innovations of the United States Fifth National Climate Assessment to suggest a framework for understanding and responding to complex climate challenges. This approach involves: (a) integration of disciplines and expertise to understand how intersectionality shapes complex climate impacts and the wide-ranging effects of climate responses, (b) collaborations among diverse knowledge holders to improve responses and better encompass intersectionality, and (c) sustained experimentation with and learning about governance approaches capable of handling the complexity of climate change. Together, these three pillars underscore that usability of climate-relevant knowledge requires transdisciplinary coordination of research and practice. We outline actionable steps for climate research to incorporate intersectionality, integration, and innovative governance, as is increasingly necessary for confronting climate complexity and sustaining equitable, ideally vibrant climate futures.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85195664628&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1029/2023EF004392
DO - 10.1029/2023EF004392
M3 - Comment/debate
AN - SCOPUS:85195664628
SN - 2328-4277
VL - 12
JO - Earth's Future
JF - Earth's Future
IS - 6
M1 - e2023EF004392
ER -