Climate change adaptation is essential for reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience. On the municipal scale, 50-70% of the surface area is privately owned. However, 60% of municipalities have subsidies to reduce water nuisance. How can these funds effectively be used towards measures on privately owned land? Already municipalities invest in measures such as garden tile removal, subsidies for rain barrels or green roofs, and green coaches. However, not all adaptation is beneficial. Some actions inadvertently increase vulnerability or reduce future adaptive capacity, or have negative impacts on other sectors.
This phenomenon is known as maladaptation. It is increasingly recognized as a critical challenge in climate governance. As defined by the Resilience self-assessment tool, ‘maladaptation refers to the process that an intentional adaptation action may lead to negative effects which increase vulnerability, diminish wellbeing or undermine sustainable development. This can happen in the same or other regions, systems, sectors, or social groups than those targeted by the adaptation action’ (Regilience). While this phenomenon has some examination at a national level, there is still a research gap on the local level.
This project aims to examine the risk of maladaptation for commonly used municipal policy instruments that aim to stimulate adaptation by Dutch households, and how this risk can be reduced. You will build upon previous research (Evers 2025) with specific attention to maladaptation based on Magnan (2014, 2016) and Higuera Roa (2025).
For this research, you will closely collaborate with WDO Delta and municipality Hardenberg. Through these organizations you will also work with various municipalities (Hengelo, Hellendoorn, Enschede, etc.), waterboard, province. Data will be collected using a combination of qualitative methods (documents, assessment tools, interviews).
Further information
- Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., and Tompkins, E. L. (2005). Successful adaptation to climate change across scales. Glob. Environ. Change 15, 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2004.12.005
- Seddon N, Chausson A, Berry P, Girardin CAJ, Smith A, Turner B. Understanding the value and limits of nature-based solutions to climate change and other global challenges. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020 Mar 16;375(1794):20190120. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0120 Epub 2020 Jan 27. PMID: 31983344; PMCID: PMC7017763
- Torabi, Z.-A., Khavarian-Garmsir, A. R., Hall, C. M., & Khatibi, N. B. (2023). Unintended Maladaptation: How Agritourism Development Policies in Iran Have Increased Vulnerability to Climate Change. Sustainability, 15(17), 13003. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151713003
- M.A. Ibrahim, M. Johansson. Combating climate change – what, where and how to implement adaptive measures in the agriculture sector of Öland, Sweden, keeping in view the constraints of carrying capacities and risk of maladaptation. Land Use Policy, 122 (2022), Article 106358, 10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106358
- Work, C., Rong, V., Song, D., & Scheidel, A. (2018). Maladaptation and development as usual? Investigating climate change mitigation and adaptation projects in Cambodia. Climate Policy, 19(sup1), S47–S62. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2018.1527677
- Granberg, M., & Glover, L. (2013). Adaptation and Maladaptation in Australian National Climate Change Policy. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 16(2), 147–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2013.823857
- David, C.G., Hennig, A., Ratter, B.M.W. et al. Considering socio-political framings when analyzing coastal climate change effects can prevent maldevelopment on small islands. Nat Commun 12, 5882 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26082-5
References
- Higuera Roa, O., Walz, Y. & Nehren, U. How to avoid the risk of maladaptation? From a conceptual understanding to a systematic approach for analyzing potential adverse effects in adaptation actions. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 30, 27 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-025-10217-w
- https://regilience.eu/self-assessment-tool-for-maladaptation/
- Evers, N. Improving the effectiveness of climate adaptation instruments for households. UTwente repository (2025). https://essay.utwente.nl/fileshare/file/108763/Master%20thesis%20Niels%20Evers%20Final%20version.pdf
- E.L.F. Schipper, Maladaptation: when adaptation to climate change goes very wrong, One Earth, 3 (2020), pp. 409-414, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.09.014
- Alexandre Magnan, “Avoiding maladaptation to climate change: towards guiding principles”, S.A.P.I.EN.S [Online], 7.1 | 2014, Online since 17 September 2014, connection on 12 September 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/sapiens/1680
- A. K. Magnan, E.L.F. Schipper, M. Burkett, S. Bharwani, I. Burton, S. Eriksen, F. Gemenne, J. Schaar, G. Ziervogel, Addressing the risk of maladaptation to climate change, Volume7, Issue5, September/October 2016, Pages 646-665, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.409
- Chi, C.-F., Lu, S.-Y., Hallgren, W., Ware, D., & Tomlinson, R. (2021). Role of Spatial Analysis in Avoiding Climate Change Maladaptation: A Systematic Review. Sustainability, 13(6), 3450. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063450
- Rouzaneh D and Savari M (2024) Redefining maladaptation to climate change: a conceptual examination of the unintended consequences of adaptation strategies on ecological-human systems. Front. For. Glob. Change. 7:1506295. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2024.1506295
- R. Biella, M. Mazzoleni, L. Brandimarte, G. Di Baldassarre. Thinking systemically about climate services: using archetypes to reveal maladaptation. Clim. Serv., 34 (2024), Article 100490
Supervision
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