Adapting institutions, adaptive governance and complexity: an introduction

People shape the planet and at the same time depend on its functioning. Global environmental change is currently occurring at a rate faster than humans have ever experienced and may result in potentially devastating consequences at the planetary scale (Rockström et al. 2009). The well-being of people on the planet faces two dominant global environmental crises: climate change and the loss of the world's ecosystem services. Following the collapse of the financial markets in 2008 the global community also faces turbulent times in terms of economic development. These crises are complex and all are interlinked (Young et al. 2006, Walker et al. 2009a). Human actions are having serious consequences on the earth's climate system and on the capacity of landscapes and seascapes to generate important ecosystem services upon which societal development rests (Daily 1997).