The contribution of science to community based climate adaptation initiatives

Profound uncertainties are inherent in a more local focus of the impacts of and responses to climate change. These uncertainties compound in the face of the unique interactions among the many natural and human factors affecting a community's vulnerability. Sound policies to reduce vulnerability must incorporate these profound uncertainties and the multiple values of the community. Minimizing vulnerability to climate change is generally only one of any community's interests, and must compete with other interests for limited time, attention, funds and other resources. Science cannot significantly reduce these uncertainties through extensive approaches, but intensive approaches can reconstruct and update local trends, clarify the underlying dynamics, and harvest experience for policy purposes. Overall, cognitive constraints may be the most important human dimension of climate change. Factoring the global problem into more tractable local problems would make the most of our cognitive capacity.