PLAN - Potentials of and Limits to Adaptation in Norway (completed)

The lack of snow. Photo: Cecilie Straumann.

About the project

PLAN is an interdisciplinary social science-based research project funded by the Research Council of Norway's NORKLIMA program. The aim of the project is to investigate how individuals and communities in Norway adapt to climate change. PLAN addresses three key research questions:

  1. How do social processes influence the capacity to adapt to climate change?
  2. What are the limits to adaptation as a response to changing climate conditions?
  3. What are the implications of these limits for human security?

PLAN is based at the University of Oslo's Department of Sociology and Human Geography in Norway and includes geographers, political scientists, urban planners, and anthropologists from several leading Norwegian research institutions.

These pages are not updated with all the latest news. For more information about the project and its activities, visit our Norwegian website.

Background

Climate change represents an unprecedented challenge to society. The Earth's climate has always undergone change, and human societies have a long history of adapting to climate variability and change. However, the rate and magnitude of observed and projected changes associated with increasing greenhouse gas emissions are likely to pose new risks to humans, ecosystems, and species. As the impacts of climate change become more evident and better understood, there is a need to understand how different parts of society can adapt to projected changes and the uncertainties associated with global warming.

The PLAN project investigates the potentials of adaptation, as well as the limits to adaptation as a response to climate change. PLAN emphasizes that adaptation is a social process, and it explores how individuals, communities and groups can respond to new threats to human security.

Cooperation

Our international collaborators include researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP), and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

Published Sep. 25, 2010 10:20 AM - Last modified Sep. 21, 2020 2:28 PM

Contact

Project leader

Karen O'Brien

Visiting address

Moltke Moes street 31
Harriet Holters building
2nd floor

Postal address

P.O. Box 1096 Blindern
0317 Oslo
Norway