Whose voices, whose choices? Pursuing climate resilient trajectories for the poor

Abstract

Climate Resilient Trajectories are routes to development progress that take into account aspects of climate change adaptation and mitigation in a sustainability context, offering a way to explicitly consider impacts of development and climate change choices on different sectors, scales, and socio-economic effects. Due to their scope and relevance, Climate Resilient Trajectories are of great interest to climate scientists, governments and the private sector, based on the urgent need to consider different strategies to decarbonize the economy. Pursuing such trajectories may also be beneficial in processes to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) up to 2030 and beyond. This Communication describes the concept of Climate Resilient Trajectories and clarifies its relevance, with particular attention to the poor. It also outlines some of the necessary considerations to ensure no one is left behind. It highlights the need for the design of Climate Resilient Trajectories to be flexible enough to accommodate the specific and complex contexts in which poor and marginalized people operate; and that the involvement of all relevant stakeholders (e.g. governments, business and private organizations, policy makers, and whole communities) is necessary in order to ensure such trajectories yield the expected benefits. It further demonstrates that it is critical to consider both short-and long-term time frames when prioritizing and implementing development agendas for the poor.

Exploring the links between the use of NbS, mindshifts and transformative urban coalitions to promote climate resilience within an ongoing reurbanization process. The case of Villa 20, Buenos Aires

“…mitigation actions in marginalized communities, we reflect on the initial outcomes of the TUC program in Villa 20 currently underway. A growing body of literature points to the need for caution in framing resilience and climate adaptation related interventions as benefiting everyone (Chu et al, 2016;Meerow and Newell, 2016;Shi et al, 2016;Chu and Cannon, 2021;Johnson et al, 2021;Leal Filho et al, 2021). Therefore, right from the start, special consideration has been placed on: (1).…”

“…The incorporation of ideas in relation to SbN, sustainability and transformative change involves mindshifts and requires reflection on how ideas are transferred, co-created and circulated, together with a question mark regarding those whose needs and aspirations are being addressed (Romero Lankao et al, 2018;Chu and Cannon, 2021;Leal Filho et al, 2021). Díaz-Márquez (2019) brings attention to how in the process of circulating ideas, initial chore ideas are modified and new, unexpected, outperforming ideas emerge.…”

“…Climate change is disrupting lives and livelihoods, especially for those who are the most vulnerable. Literature covers well how climate related risks are amplified for those who live and work in informal settlements and deprived neighborhoods (Revi et al, 2014;Hallegatte et al, 2016;Bazaz et al, 2018;UN-Habitat, 2018;Dodman et al, 2019;Satterthwaite et al, 2020;Leal Filho et al, 2021;Castellanos and Lemos, 2022) and how cities need to systematically address environmental risks together with social change (Revi et al, 2014;Ziervogel, 2019).…”

Livelihood, WASH related hardships and needs assessment of climate migrants: evidence from urban slums in Bangladesh

“…Therefore, this assessment may guide both the public and private sectors in the development of effective and evidence-based programmatic interventions to improve the WASH facilities and livelihood possibilities of these disadvantaged populations. Furthermore, the participation of all essential stakeholders (e.g., governments, private organizations, policymakers, and whole communities) is required in order to meet the needs of climate migrants because literature has indicated the necessity of such integration as the effort of guaranteeing climate-resilient trajectories for the underprivileged ( Leal Filho et al., 2021 ).…”

Advancing climate resilient development pathways since the IPCC’s fifth assessment report

“…This draws attention to who is involved in climate resilient development pathways. It is recommended that the practice of climate resilient development pathways gives space for participation of non-government actors (including micro and small business entrepreneurs and community leaders) (Dovie et al, 2020) as well as those that are the most marginalised and vulnerable (Leal Filho et al, 2021). Partnerships between researchers, stakeholders, and decision makers enable collaboration on desired futures, pathways, and best practices for sustainability, while maintaining broad levels of support (cf.…”