The Human Dimension of Climate Adaption

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|a The Human Dimension of Climate Adaption |h [electronic resource] |b The importance of local and institutional issues |y English.

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|a [S.l.] : |b Commission on Climate Change and Development, |c 2009.

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|a Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.

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|a Christopolos, I., Anderson, S., Arnold, M., Galaz, V., Hedger, M., Klein, R., & Le Goulven, K. (2009). The human dimension of climate adaptation: the importance of local and institutional issues. Commission on Climate Change and Development

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|a This document presents a framework that conceptualizes autonomous adaptation to climate change within communities as a bridge between broader international, regional, and national objectives of adaptation to climate change and economic development. This conceptual paper is part of a Swedish government initiative to advise the Commission on Climate Change and Development, and the international development community more generally. The authors contend that the technocratic approach to climate change adaptation has failed to address the root causes of vulnerability, primarily because it has ignored the poor in its adaptation strategies. Not only are the poor, they argue, highly vulnerable to climate-change, have fewer means of absorbing such shocks, and thus should be the focus of adaptation, they also develop some of the most innovative and sophisticated strategies to cope with their shifting realities. The document is advocating that adaptation build on efforts to support individuals, households, and local businesses as they struggle to adapt to climate change, taking into account the social, economic, cultural, and political forces that shape their actions, incentives, opportunities, and limitations for action. The paper is organized into four parts. The first part looks at how climate change is making the already vulnerable more so. The second section examines local communities adaptive capacities, particularly the importance of agency in this process. Agency is not only examined in terms of the choices that individuals and households make, but also the choices that they are denied due to unequal relations of power. In the next section the document focuses on strengthening capacities for sustainable development. Since it is uncertain when and how climate change will affect societies, building the climate resilience of individuals and households must be placed at the center of adaptation. The final section presents recommendations for making autonomous adaptation the focal point of managing climate change risks. It argues that adaptation priorities should be set by those who must adapt by through their inclusion in structures of governance. In addition, it calls for improving the poor’s access to livelihoods, health, knowledge, and social organization as means to strengthen their capacity for resilience. This means a reconceptualization of the poor away from being viewed as ‘climate victims,’ towards being viewed as active agents in their own adaptation given the removal of systemic barriers.

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|a Climate Change Adaptation

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|a Climate change, economies, and society.

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|a Christoplos, Ian.

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|a Anderson, Simon.

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|a Arnold, Margaret.

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|a Galaz, Victor.

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|a Hedger, Merylyn.

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|a Klein, Richard J.T..

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|a Le Goulven, Katell.

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|a Disaster Risk Reduction Program, Florida International University (DRR/FIU), |e summary contributor.

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|u http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI13042412/00001 |y Click here for full text

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