Climate Change and Water Governance: Decision Making for Individual Vineyard Owners in Global Wine Regions

This study investigates the institutional, social, and ecological dynamics that influence regional water governance and individual vineyard owners' decision making in global wine regions. Global wine grape production has grown steadily over the past 20 years, and climate change has emerged as a driver of transformation in wine regions resulting in a range of impacts. Changes to the climate are anticipated to accelerate in the future and present a number of challenges for wine regions; including risks to human systems, e.g., agriculture, labor, and economics, as well as ecological systems, e.g., surface and groundwater. Water is a critical resource for environmental and economic sustainability in wine regions, and vulnerability to freshwater resources in wine producing regions is expected to increase as wine regions experience climate extremes like heat and drought. We use the Institutional-Social-Ecological Dynamics (ISED) framework to help understand individual vineyard owner decision making about water management within the context of institutional, social, and ecological systems. We ask how the relationships between these systems impact outcomes for individual grape farmers adapting to climate challenges. Our empirical research uses document review and interviews with vineyard owners, planners, and natural resource managers in wine regions in Oregon, USA and Tasmania, Australia as a means to explore climate vulnerabilities and adaptation approaches. Subsequently we focus on an example vignette in each region to better understand individual decision making at the farm scale within the unique institutional, social, and ecological contexts identified in each region. Our cases highlight the finding that entrenched institutional regimes, in the context of ecological variability contribute to a social unevenness in access to water. Landowner conflict over water resources is likely to increase in the context of a hotter, drier climate in regions with wine industry growth. Individual vineyard owners have a range of attitudes and approaches to climate change planning and management; and adaptation around water is dependent on both economic resources and social values. Lessons from the individual farm scale help to inform broader implications of how institutional, social, and ecological drivers influence opportunities or barriers to the implementation of climate change adaptation practices in wine regions.

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Navigating capitalist expansion and climate change in pastoral social-ecological systems: impacts, vulnerability and decision-making

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability ◽

10.1016/j.cosust.2021.07.002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 68-74

Author(s):

Julio C Postigo

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Decision Making ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological

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Decision-making through the grapevine: Winegrowers' perceptions on climate change and the barriers to adaptation planning in New Zealand

10.26686/wgtn.17136506.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Alyssa Ryan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Decision Making ◽

New Zealand ◽

Climate Science ◽

Wine Industry ◽

Adaptation Planning ◽

Climate Projections ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Wine Production ◽

Climate Change Research

<p>New Zealand wine is cultivated in cool climates that produce distinctive flavours and wine-styles, which are representative of the terroir of the region. The effects of climate change can impact the quality and quantity of winegrapes, and the production of premium wine. The aim of this research was to investigate adaptation planning in the New Zealand wine industry by evaluating winegrowers’ decision-making and perceptions of climate change. Research was conducted using primary survey data from New Zealand winegrowers and semi-structured interviews with winegrowers from three case study regions of Marlborough, Central Otago, and Hawke’s Bay. The study was designed to assess how climate change is understood throughout the industry, whether adaptation plans are being developed or employed and the barriers hindering winegrowers’ implementation of adaptation strategies. The results show that winegrowers are somewhat informed about climate change with some adaptation planning occurring. However, the majority of winegrowers have no plans to adapt to climate change. The uncertainty in the climate science and the availability of information were indicated as a barrier to adaptation planning. Winegrowers convey the need for regional information with a focus on reliable forecasting and climate projections for the next few years. The New Zealand wine industry is in a positive position to undertake adaptation with the opportunity to exploit the benefits of climate change for wine production.</p>

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Understanding Institutional, Social, and Ecological Systems Influencing Climate Change Adaptation and Water Governance in Wine Regions: A Comparative Case Study of Oregon's Willamette Valley, USA and Tasmania, Australia

10.15760/etd.7393 ◽

2000 ◽

Author(s):

Erin Upton

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Adaptation ◽

Water Governance ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Comparative Case Study ◽

Willamette Valley

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Decision-making through the grapevine: Winegrowers' perceptions on climate change and the barriers to adaptation planning in New Zealand

10.26686/wgtn.17136506 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Alyssa Ryan

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Decision Making ◽

New Zealand ◽

Climate Science ◽

Wine Industry ◽

Adaptation Planning ◽

Climate Projections ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Wine Production ◽

Climate Change Research

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Climate change, ecosystems and abrupt change: science priorities

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2019.0105 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 375 (1794) ◽

pp. 20190105 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Monica G. Turner ◽

W. John Calder ◽

Graeme S. Cumming ◽

Terry P. Hughes ◽

Anke Jentsch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Research Priorities ◽

Climate Extremes ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Ecological Memory ◽

Abrupt Changes ◽

The Face ◽

Mean Climate

Ecologists have long studied patterns, directions and tempos of change, but there is a pressing need to extend current understanding to empirical observations of abrupt changes as climate warming accelerates. Abrupt changes in ecological systems (ACES)—changes that are fast in time or fast relative to their drivers—are ubiquitous and increasing in frequency. Powerful theoretical frameworks exist, yet applications in real-world landscapes to detect, explain and anticipate ACES have lagged. We highlight five insights emerging from empirical studies of ACES across diverse ecosystems: (i) ecological systems show ACES in some dimensions but not others; (ii) climate extremes may be more important than mean climate in generating ACES; (iii) interactions among multiple drivers often produce ACES; (iv) contingencies, such as ecological memory, frequency and sequence of disturbances, and spatial context are important; and (v) tipping points are often (but not always) associated with ACES. We suggest research priorities to advance understanding of ACES in the face of climate change. Progress in understanding ACES requires strong integration of scientific approaches (theory, observations, experiments and process-based models) and high-quality empirical data drawn from a diverse array of ecosystems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’

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Structural and Contentual Complexity in Water Governance

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13179751 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (17) ◽

pp. 9751

Author(s):

Rudy Vannevel ◽

Peter L. M. Goethals

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Environmental Analysis ◽

Water Governance ◽

Structural Complexity ◽

Ecological Systems ◽

Social Ecological Systems ◽

Organization And Management ◽

Social Ecological ◽

Institutional Organization

Social-ecological systems and governance are complex systems and crises that affect those systems are likely to be complex as well. Environmental topics are multi-faceted with respect to both structure and content. Structural complexity is about societal and institutional organization and management, whereas contentual complexity deals with environmental (or societal) analyses, knowledge, and problem-solving. Interactions between both are manifold, and it is essential they are included in decision-making. Describing these interactions results in a series of nineteen units, arranged in a matrix according to their prevailing mutual dependencies. These units show dominant processes and concepts, representative of environmental analysis. This approach, called ACCU (aggregation of concepts and complex adapted systems units), is provided with evidence through practices of, in particular, water governance.

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Megadrought and Collapse

10.1093/oso/9780199329199.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Decision Making ◽

Case Studies ◽

Agricultural Landscapes ◽

15Th Century ◽

Societal Collapse ◽

The Face ◽

Time Periods ◽

Paleoclimate Proxy ◽

Habitat Tracking

This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer Empire capital at Angkor, and ranging from the Near East to South America. Previous enquiries have stressed the possible multiple and internal causes of collapse, such overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, warfare, and poor leadership and decision-making. In contrast, Megadrought and Collapse presents case studies of nine major episodes of societal collapse in which megadrought was the major and independent cause of societal collapse. In each case the most recent paleoclimatic evidence for megadroughts, multiple decades to multiple centuries in duration, is presented alongside the archaeological records for synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from paleoclimate proxy sources (lake, marine, and glacial cores; speleothems, or cave stalagmites; and tree-rings) and are explained by researchers directly engaged in their analysis. Researchers directly responsible for them discuss the relevant current archaeological records. Two arguments are developed through these case studies. The first is that societal collapse in different time periods and regions and at levels of social complexity ranging from simple foragers to complex empires would not have occurred without megadrought. The second is that similar responses to megadrought extend across these historical episodes: societal collapse in the face of insurmountable climate change, abandonment of settlements and regions, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural landscapes. As we confront megadrought today, and in the likely future, Megadrought and Collapse brings together the latest contributions to our understanding of past societal responses to the crisis on an equally global and diverse scale.

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Synergistic impacts of nutrient enrichment and climate change on long‐term water quality and ecological dynamics in contrasting shallow‐lake zones

Limnology and Oceanography ◽

10.1002/lno.11878 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Qi Lin ◽

Ke Zhang ◽

Suzanne McGowan ◽

Eric Capo ◽

Ji Shen

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Water Quality ◽

Shallow Lake ◽

Nutrient Enrichment ◽

Ecological Dynamics

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Challenges in Applied Human Biometeorology

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12030296 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 296

Author(s):

Andreas Matzarakis ◽

Sorin Cheval ◽

Tzu-Ping Lin ◽

Oded Potchter

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Extremes ◽

Human Biometeorology ◽

Global Concern ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

Facing the impacts of climate change and urbanization, adaptation and resilience to climate extremes have become important issues of global concern. [...]

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