Understanding Climate Change Adaptation

‘Strange changes’: Indigenous perspectives of climate change and adaptation in NE Arnhem Land (Australia)

“…to poverty and climate change) -so that policy makers can plan to support and build on existing adaptive capacities of communities and strengthen these in effective ways. Ensor and Berger (2009) support this finding, and claim that placing attention on understanding ways to improve the general adaptive capacity -derived from perspectives from within the community -is a valuable approach in strengthening adaptation to climate change. Other authors, such as Robinson et al (2006) and Eriksen and O'Brien (2007), recommend further that in some locations the frame of climate change needs to be shifted to (a broader) one of sustainable development.…”

Can community-based adaptation increase resilience?

“…Field staff observed that changes to seasonal weather patterns and extreme events were rendering rural communities increasingly unable to rely on traditional livelihood practices, such as planting calendars, pest/disease control methods, or animal husbandry (Ensor and Berger, 2009). …”

“…Rooted in the evolving praxis of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) and Participatory Action Research (PAR), CBA interventions typically draw on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) methods to understand the impact of climate change, the social and ecological context, and the efficacy of potential adaptation interventions Reid et al 2009). The rise of interest in CBA among practitioners (Ensor, 2014;Ensor and Berger, 2009;Mitchell and Tanner, 2006;Schipper et al, 2014) has been mirrored in recent years by an increasing body of critical reflections in the academic literature (Dodman and Mitlin, 2011;Forsyth, 2013;Spires et al, 2014). For many, a central claim of CBA is that it increases resilience (Ayers and Forsyth, 2009;Forsyth, 2013;Heltberg et al, 2012;Simane, 2013).…”

“…Elsewhere, the emphasis is placed on addressing underlying social vulnerability (Ayers and Forsyth, 2009) or, in stark contrast, reinforcing infrastructure (as discussed by Forsyth, 2013). In practice, many attempts at resilience building look to diversify livelihoods, reflecting a focus on coping, but with little explicit attention paid to the social and political determinants of adaptive capacity, or the need to effect future adaptations in response to emerging climate change (Ensor and Berger, 2009;Ludi et al, 2012). While recent reports from practitioners suggest a shift towards development focus on adaptive capacity and its determinants, the relationship to resilience continues to be overlooked or poorly defined Ensor, 2014;Ludi et al, 2014).…”

Uneven interventions and the scalar politics of governing livelihood adaptation in rural Nepal

“…Uncertainty in adaptive capacity, therefore, stems not only from uncertain climate models, but also from unreliable aggregate measurements of adaptive capacity, the unknown effects of adaptive practices, the inability to predict the ways in which adaptive capacity is transformed into adaptive action, and contested underlying theories of behaviour, politics, and risk Adger and Vincent, 2005;Ensor and Berger, 2009).…”