2015): Pathways to transformational change in the face of climate impacts: an analytical framework, Climate and Development,Unprecedented impacts of climate change and climate variability in the twenty-first century are likely to require transformational social, organizational and human responses. Yet, little existing empirical work examines how decisionmakers can facilitate such responses. This paper suggests that in order to assess whether responses to climate risks and threats are transformational, it is necessary to move away from a focus only on outcomes and scale and towards the multiple dimensions of social responses and the processes through which transformational changes are realized. In so doing, the paper seeks to move the discussion on transformational change towards the processes and sustainability of adaptation interventions, and the changes they trigger. Drawing on the literature on transformational change in organizational theory and social-ecological systems, the paper first develops a framework with which to examine and assess development and adaptation interventions. The framework is then applied to eight interventions made between 2005 and 2011 in diverse socioecological settings across Africa. All interventions were underpinned by participatory action research methodologies. Our analysis shows how a focus on change agents, generalizability of field-scale adaptation mechanisms and pathways, and sustainability of outcomes, combined with attention to the scale and scope of change processes, provides information that can inform policy on the kinds of intervention that are likely to support longterm and sustainable responses to climate impacts. Although several of the cases mainly illustrate incremental adaptations, use of the analytical framework pointed towards the wider processes of systems change that might lead to transformative trajectories.
The tensions between adaptation and development are considered for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of West Africa. Adaptation is development under uncertainty and involves implementing practices that will provide security and well-being to poor resource-dependent communities. Climate change impacts will very probably derail development deliverables, thus negating hard-won development gains. Encouraged by the mainstreaming of adaptation into development policy, there is a tendency to treat them as the same thing. However, this can lead to adaptation projects that neglect activities that do not typically fall under the remit of development. The main challenges to financing adaptation consist in the lack of sufficiently strong institutions to ensure behavioural change, and the lack of appropriate reliable sources of funding, as well as the strategies and processes to create resilient societies, make adaptation more sustainable, and facilitate knowledge-sharing and capacity-building. The best way to ensure appropriate adaptation is for there to be a burden-sharing mechanism that operates across West Africa, involving -and requiring the cooperation of -many extant institutions. Indeed, the introduction of energy and water considerations into the climate policies of LDCs provides an unprecedented opportunity to deal with the threat of climate change. The prospects of the Adaptation Fund in delivering adaptation and development are also discussed.
Les tensions entre adaptation et développement sont analysées pour les pays les moins avancés (PMA) de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. L'adaptation est synonyme de développement dans un climat d'incertitude et nécessite la mise en place de pratiques à même de procurer sécurité et bien-être aux communautés pauvres et dépendantes des ressources. Les conséquences des changements climatiques vont probablement entraver les prestations liées aux projets de développement, de ce fait annulant les progrès de développement durement acquis. Aidés par l'incorporation de l'adaptation dans les politiquesde développent, ces thèmes ont tendance à être traités de la même manière. Cependant, ceci peut amener à des projets d'adaptation omettant les activités qui ne font pas typiquement partie du domaine du développement. Les défis principaux au financement de l'adaptation sont le manque d'institutions suffisamment solides pour assurer un changement des comportements, de sources de financement fiables appropriées, ainsi que de stratégies et de processus pour construire des sociétés résilientes, pour rendre l'adaptation plus durable, faciliter l'échange des connaissances et le renforcement des capacités. La meilleure façon d'assurer une adaptation appropriée est par un mécanisme de partage du fardeau appliqué à l'ensemble de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, impliquant et nécessitant la coopération de nombreuses institutions existantes. En effet, l'introduction des considérations sur l'énergie et sur l'eau dans les politiques climatiques des PMA représente une opportunité sans précédent d'aborder la menace du chan...
Recent debates about Africa's energy future have been heated, often shaped by geopolitical interests, but detached from the context-specific climate and development realities that
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.