Testing a participatory integrated assessment (PIA) approach to select climate change adaptation actions to enhance wetland sustainability: The case of Poyang Lake region in China

The necessity of mainstreaming climate adaptation strategies or policies into natural resource management plans has been recognized by the UNFCCC. The IPCC AR5 report suggests a growing demand for research to provide information for a deeper and more useful understanding of climate adaptation options, and indicates a lack of effective methods to meet this increasing demand of policymakers. In this respect, a participatory integrated assessment (PIA) approach is presented in this paper to provide an effective means to mainstream wetland climate change adaptation in rural sustainable development strategies, and thus to reduce climate vulnerability and to enhance rural community livelihood. The PIA approach includes a series of research activities required to assess climate impacts on wetland ecosystems, and to prioritize adaptation responses. A range of adaptation options that address key aspects of the wetland ecosystem resilience and concerns are evaluated against community based on sustainable development indicators. The PIA approach is able to identify desirable adaptation options which can then be implemented to improve wetland ecosystem health and to enhance regional sustainable development in a changing climate.For illustration purpose, the PIA was applied in a case study in Poyang Lake (PYL) region, a critical wetland and water ecosystem in central China with important international biodiversity linkages, and a locale for key policy experiments with ecosystem rehabilitation. The PIA was used to facilitate the integration of wetland climate change adaptation in rural sustainable development actions with multi-stakeholders participation. In particular, the case shows how the PIA can be designed and implemented to select effective and practical climate change adaptation options to enhance ecosystem services management and to reduce resource use conflicts and rural poverty. Worked in partnership with multi-stakeholders and assisted with a multi-criteria decision making tool, the case identified alternative desirable adaptation measures which could be used to deal with climate risks. Several desirable adaptation options were implemented as pilot projects to showcase the effectiveness of these measures which resulted in benefits to the well-being and productivity of all people living in the region.It should be noted that while the case study evaluated adaptation policies or options to climate change, it was not completed in terms of discussing in detail all the key components of the PIA approach. However, the case study represents the state-of-the-arts research in climate change impact assessment and adaptation option evaluation, particularly in linking with wetland ecosystem sustainability. Findings of the case study have indicated that the potential effects of climate change on wetland sustainability are quite significant. The case has also identified adaptation measures considered by stakeholders to be potentially effective for reducing vulnerability of wetland ecosystems. It is clear that wetland ecosystem sustainability goals will be unachievable without mainstreaming adaptation measures into wetland conservation and health programs under a changing climate.