The concept of adaptation : interdisciplinary scope and involvement in climate change

Résumé 0

Adaptation refers to both a process and its outcome, leading to many interpretations and much debate. The origin of this semantic duality is related to the epistemological rupture that occurred during the 19th century when it collided with the emerging Theory of Evolution and established Creationism. The temporal scale of Evolution is an abstract concept that is outside the realm of immediate human perception, which makes the adaptation debate all the more complex. However, adaptation became a central concept in several major social disciplines, such as psychology, anthropology and geography, as well as in many fields of biology. In each discipline, the environment is strongly linked to the concept of adaptation. Environmental sciences are at the intersection of natural and social sciences and have strong interdisciplinary features as does adaptation. Because of the acceleration of global environmental and socio-economic change, there is a growing interest in adaptation in environmental science. Climate change has become one of the major topics concerned by adaptation since this subject became a priority in research and on the political agenda. However, implementation of adaptation to climate change faces barriers, because of its unclear definition, in particular. The objective of this paper is to contribute to a greater understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of the concept of adaptation in climate change through a comprehensive and interdisciplinary review of the literature.