Abstract
In this paper, we use an inductive approach and longitudinal analysis to explore political influences on the emergence and evolution of climate change adaptation policy and planning at national level, as well as the institutions within which it is embedded, for three countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia). Data collection involved quantitative and qualitative methods applied over a 6-year period from 2012 to 2017. This included a survey of 103 government staff (20 in Malawi, 29 in Tanzania and 54 in Zambia) and 242 interviews (106 in Malawi, 86 in Tanzania and 50 in Zambia) with a wide range of stakeholders, many of whom were interviewed multiple times over the study period, together with content analysis of relevant policy and programme documents. Whilst the climate adaptation agenda emerged in all three countries around 2007–2009, associated with multilateral funding initiatives, the rate and nature of progress has varied—until roughly 2015 when, for different reasons, momentum slowed. We find differences between the countries in terms of specifics of how they operated, but roles of two factors in common emerge in the evolution of the climate change adaptation agendas: national leadership and allied political priorities, and the role of additional funding provided by donors. These influences lead to changes in the policy and institutional frameworks for addressing climate change, as well as in the emphasis placed on climate change adaptation. By examining the different ways through which ideas, power and resources converge and by learning from the specific configurations in the country examples, we identify opportunities to address existing barriers to action and thus present implications that enable more effective adaptation planning in other countries. We show that more socially just and inclusive national climate adaptation planning requires a critical approach to understanding these configurations of power and politics.
Highlights
Addressing climate change requires appropriate plans and institutions to be put in place
We find this to be the case for Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia—neighbouring countries in the SADC region in sub-Saharan Africa ranked 156, 149 and 142, respectively, in ND-GAIN’s Global Adaptation Index—that combines vulnerability with readiness to respond to climate change
We applied purposive sampling of government and non-government stakeholders in the climate policy arena and complementary data from a survey and interviews and document analysis to conduct a longitudinal analysis of the political influences on the evolution of the national climate adaptation agenda in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia
Summary
Addressing climate change requires appropriate plans and institutions to be put in place. By examining the emergence and evolution of climate adaptation policy over approximately the last decade, and the governance and institutional structures in which it is embedded, we identify the particular roles of two factors: national leadership and the role of international donors This contributes to the political economy literature in two ways: firstly, by providing upstream analysis, compared with a focus on distributional outcomes (“winners” and “losers”) and implementation effectiveness, which are affected by the upstream situation; and secondly, by surfacing two political factors that are common across several countries— the ways in which they manifest differ according to the context
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