Adapting to Climate Change: Transforming Development? (original) (raw)
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The debate: Is global development adapting to climate change
World Development Perspectives, 2020
The debate about the relationship between adaptation to climate change and development has been ongoing for over two decades. Adaptation is about risk reduction, the pursuit of opportunity and rethinking investments, planning and behaviour, which is also in many ways what development is about. Yet a distinction between the two is necessary for the existing funding architecture, and to ensure that adaptation is more than just business as usual. We summarise a debate held at the Adaptation Futures 2018 conference to explore whether global development is adapting to climate change, with one side arguing for, the other arguing against. The outcome suggests no obvious winner, in part because there is no clear distinction between what qualifies as exclusively adaptation or development, since some dimensions of each put them in opposition to one another, while other dimensions are mutually reinforcing. Yet, to say that adaptation will take place through development does not sufficiently underscore the need for development to be rethought. Adaptation will require transformative development – that is, development that takes everyone into account and places issues of equity and justice in the centre and adheres to principles of sustainability.
Turbulent transformation: abrupt societal disruption and climate resilient development
Climate and Development, 2020
COVID-19 has triggered major upheavals to life as we know it in every corner of the planet. The governance response has been deep and far-reaching, albeit variable and contradictory. Disruptions like the pandemic inspire new perspectives on climate resilient development, especially with respect to the role of governance in navigating transformations. We reflect on what reactions and responses to COVID-19 around the world suggest about society’s ability to transform – and what types of global development we need to transform away from – in order to support more climate resilient and equitable futures. We identify three key pivot points to stimulate further thinking on governance for climate resilient development: the tension between engendering transformation and returning back to normal; the role of disruption and uncertainty for triggering transformation; and the role of systemic inequality in how people are affected by crises. In particular, we spotlight the turbulent nature of transformation, and challenge the dominant belief that predicted, controlled and desired outcomes can be engineered through rational policy decisions. Climate resilient development navigates the turbulence of transformation through solidarity and socially equitable governance by opening up space for inclusive and even contestatory politics.
Who determines transformational change in development and climate finance?
The language of transformational change is increasingly applied to climate policy, and particularly in climate finance. Transformationalchange in this context is used with respect to low-carbon development futures, with the emphasis on mitigation andGHG metrics. But, for many developing countries, climate policy is embedded in a larger context of sustainable developmentobjectives, defined through a national process. Viewed thus, there is a potential tension between mitigation-focused transformationand nationally driven sustainable development. We explore this tension in the context of operationalizing the GreenClimate Fund (GCF), which has to deal with the fundamental tension between country ownership and transformational change. Inrelation to climate finance, acceptance of diverse interpretations of transformation are essential conditions for avoiding risk oftransformational change becoming a conditionality on development. We further draw lessons from climate governance and thedevelopment aid literature. The article examines how in the case of both the Clean Development Mechanism and NationallyAppropriate Mitigation Actions, there has been limited success in achieving both development objectives and ‘nationallyappropriate’ mitigation. The development aid literature points to process-based approaches as a possible alternative, but thereare limitations to this approach.
Transformational Adaptation to Climate Change
As the failure of efforts to hold global average temperature increase below the internationally agreed thresholds becomes increasingly obvious, policy has turned to adaptation as essential to responding to climate change. Adaptation could be a way to avoid fundamental transformation of global economic, political, and social institutions. However, global capitalism has no more capacity to adapt humanely and equitably to the climate crisis than it does to preventing it from happening. Consequently, transformational institutional change will be required to prevent catastrophe. This suggests an important role for those advocating a progressive ecological civilization or eco-socialism to contribute to the dialogue on how to adapt to now-inevitable higher temperatures and consequent effects on human interests. Transformation of global political, economic, and social institutions might provide the context for successful adaptation to catastrophic climate change.
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2022
Many climate change responses focus on form rather than substance. As a result, they invariably look at the consequences but ignore the drivers of climate change. Since past approaches towards climate change adaptation have had limited success, the most effective and sustainable way to minimize future climate change impacts on humanity is through transformative adaptation (TA). This paper defines and characterizes the conceptual foundations of this term and outlines how TA influences current and future climate change adaptation challenges. This paper reviews the meaning and purpose of transformation in climate change adaptation and, by means of a set of case studies, explains how their commonalities can help define good TA practice. Deploying a range of situations, this study shows how this approach is being implemented in a set of countries, and considers its potential transformative impact, its benefits, and challenges. The results obtained have shown that when implemented with due care, TA can yield long-term benefits to local communities. The paper conclude by listing some measures by which TA may be further deployed as a means of helping communities to meet the future challenges posed by a changing climate.
Achieving peaceful climate change adaptation through transformative governance
World Development, 2021
Abstract Which form of governance is required to bridge tensions that stem from the urgent need of climate change adaptation (CCA) on the one hand, and the imperative of upholding peace and social stability in vulnerable areas on the other? This article proposes transformative governance as a framework and methodology for addressing this question. It recognizes that the increased pace of climate change requires urgent and thorough adjustments to actual or expected climate change effects through a transformation of societies to increase their capacity to build sustainability. Our framework for transformative governance approach responds to this imperative and is based on three components: a theoretical framework for peaceful CCA governance derived from the fields of sustainability governance, political ecology and peacebuilding, second, a ‘glocal’ and bottom-up approach illustrated by two examples of cross-border collaboration, that demonstrate peaceful CCA governance as necessarily glocal, thirdly a learning methodology that implies context-based, goal-oriented, pluralistic and interactive co-production of knowledge. These are argued to be vital conditions for implementing CCA governance that is transformative and supports peaceful societies.
The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies, 2021
As climate change impacts intensify so too is the research, policy, and implementation focus on adaptation. To date, however, the majority of approaches to adaptation policy development and implementation have focused on an incremental adjustments approach, often activated via mainstreaming climate change risks and resilience building into existing social and economic development systems and processes. This incremental approach holds a serious risk of locking in maladaptive development-as-usual pathways, which would undermine the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, particularly the poor and climate vulnerable. This chapter argues that in order to achieve climate justice, adaptation must move beyond an incrementalist approach to pursue to genuine transformational change. The concept of transformational adaptation is emerging as the scale of the challenge becomes clearer. However, transformational adaptation is not likely to be easily implementable or politically feasible, due to its potential to threaten the status quo. In this context, mainstreaming could serve as a critical pathway from incremental to transformational adaptation, in order to facilitate the shift to equitable and locally led climate resilient development. While this would be a pragmatic approach, the potential remains that it will continue with top-down, technocratic processes, which would have ongoing implications for the distribution of power and resources. This chapter argues that, in order to achieve climate justice, any pathways to transformational adaptation must incorporate a human rights approach to guide its development and implementation.