A stitch in time: General lessons from specific cases

Adaptation to climate change has become one of the focal points of current development discussion. This article summarises the findings from a multidisciplinary research project looking at climate change impacts and adaptation in the Mekong River Basin in Southeast Asia. The research highlights the central role that the hydrological cycle has in mediating climate change impacts on ecosystems and societies. The findings indicate that climate change should not be studied in isolation, as there are several other factors that are affecting the hydrological cycle. In the Mekong, the most important such factor is the on-going hydropower development that is likely to induce changes at least as radical as climate change, but with shorter timescales. The article concludes that climate change adaptation should broaden its view to consider environmental changes likely to occur due to different factors at various spatial and temporal scales. It is also important to recognise that climate change adaptation is a dynamic, development-orientated process that should consider also broader socio-political context. To enable this, we propose that an area-based adaptation approach should be used more actively to complement the dominant sector-based approaches.

Climate change and water resources in the Lower Mekong River Basin: putting adaptation into the context

Keskinen

Chinvanno

Kummu

et al. 2010

Water, livelihoods and climate change adaptation in the Tonle Sap Lake area, Cambodia: learning from the past to understand the future

Nuorteva

Keskinen

Varis

2010

The changing environment is expected to intensify the challenges that people in developing countries are facing, particularly among the groups whose livelihoods depend on natural resources. The adaptive capacity of livelihoods largely defines the extent to which people can cope with future environmental changes, whether caused by climate change or other factors such as land use changes and water resources development. This article analyses the resilience and adaptive capacity of rural livelihoods around Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake, an exceptional lake-floodplain system dominated by flood pulse. The research findings demonstrate that despite the people's tradition of adapting to the remarkable seasonal variation of water and related resources, their capacity to adapt to unusual environmental changes is weak, with the poorest being clearly the most vulnerable group. Reasons for the weak resilience include villages' relatively homogenous livelihood structures, unjust governance practices, increasing inequality and the lack of opportunities for livelihood diversification. It is concluded that while climate change is likely to pose a remarkable challenge to people's livelihoods in the longer term, climate change adaptation activities should also take into account other environmental changes. Equally critical is the understanding of the broader socio-political context and its dynamics in increasing—and decreasing—livelihood resilience.

Rural livelihoods and household adaptation to desiccation in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Motsholapheko

Vanderpost

Kgathi

2012

Desiccation of river channels, resulting from low inflows, is among the major shocks affecting household livelihoods in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Household coping and adaptive strategies against this shock are believed to be inadequate owing to changes in policy, land use and environmental conditions. This paper aims to improve knowledge on household capacity to adapt to desiccation in the Okavango Delta. It identifies and assesses the impacts of desiccation on rural livelihoods, the household strategies, and the impacts of institutional changes on household responses. Informed by the sustainable livelihood and socio-ecological frameworks, the study used a survey of 526 households and other qualitative methods. The results show that desiccation adversely affected livelihood activities. Household responses included livestock relocation to wetter areas, livelihood diversification, digging of wells and boreholes, and switching from flood recession to rain-fed cultivation. Land use and institutional changes inhibited household adaptation to desiccation. Additionally, households did not sufficiently use opportunities resulting from desiccation. The study concludes that the ability to capitalise on opportunities created by climatic shocks needs to be developed at all levels, as this can improve adaptation to the impacts of, and reduce losses from, future climate variability and change in Botswana and other developing countries.