Adaptive Capacity Building Research Articles

Urbanization and Its Environmental Impact on Rangareddy's Peri-Urban Landscape: Insights from Secondary Data

This study investigates the dynamics of urbanization and its environmental implications in peri-urban areas of Rangareddy, focusing on key regions including Shamshabad, Manikonda, Gachibowli, and Shadnagar over the past two decades. Through a comprehensive analysis of land use changes, environmental assessments, socio-economic dynamics, and sustainability challenges, the research highlights significant transformations driven by rapid urban expansion. The findings reveal a notable shift in land use patterns characterized by a substantial increase in residential and commercial developments, leading to a decline in agricultural lands and natural ecosystems. This urban sprawl is fueled by population growth, economic activities, and infrastructural developments, reflecting broader urbanization trends observed across Indian cities. Environmental assessments underscore critical challenges associated with urban growth, including deteriorating air and water quality attributed to increased industrial activities and vehicular emissions. The reduction in green spaces exacerbates environmental concerns such as heat island effects and biodiversity loss, necessitating urgent interventions to integrate sustainable land management practices into urban planning strategies. Demographic shifts in peri-urban Rangareddy reveal accelerated population growth rates, surpassing national averages. While urbanization has brought enhanced access to amenities and economic opportunities, it has also exacerbated socio-economic disparities among residents. Addressing these disparities requires inclusive development strategies that ensure equitable access to resources and opportunities, fostering social cohesion and community resilience. The study identifies critical sustainability challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, water scarcity, and inefficient waste management systems. These challenges underscore the imperative for effective policy interventions and governance frameworks aimed at promoting environmental conservation and enhancing urban resilience. Policy recommendations emphasize the need for integrated urban planning approaches that prioritize green infrastructure development, pollution control measures, and community engagement initiatives. Looking forward, future research should focus on longitudinal studies to monitor urbanization trends and evaluate the effectiveness of policy interventions in mitigating environmental impacts and enhancing socio-economic conditions in peri-urban areas. Long-term strategies should emphasize adaptive governance mechanisms, stakeholder engagement, and capacity building to support sustainable urban development goals.

The effect of carbon farming training on food security and development resilience in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACT Carbon farming has recently been advocated for as climate change and variability mitigation and/or adaptation strategy in global agriculture. In this study, we address an important research question of whether carbon farming training can improve household resilience capacity as well as food security by employing internationally standardized indicators. Household resilience capacity and its components are measured using the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s resilience capacity index while the food security measures used include household and child food insecurity experience scale (FIES and CFIES), food consumption score (FCS) and household dietary diversity score (HDDS). We relied on doubly robust treatment effect estimators to account for potential selection bias and heterogeneity. We find that carbon farming training has no statistically significant effect on overall household resilience capacity. However, we find a large and statistically significant effect on key components of resilience (specifically, access to basic services, assets and social safety nets) and a marginal improvement in adaptive capacity. We also find statistically significant effect on FCS and HDDS but not for the other food security indicators (FIES and CFIES). Overall, the results suggest that agricultural training programs, particularly climate change adaptation capacity building initiatives, could improve important welfare measures in developing countries.

How Do Digital Capabilities Affect Organizational Performance in the Public Sector? The Mediating Role of the Organizational Agility

As public sector agencies face rising imperatives to digitally transform citizen services, data systems, and internal operations, questions persist as to whether investments in big data analytics and automation capabilities, evidenced to drive organizational performance in private industry, translate to bureaucratic government contexts. This research quantitatively investigates the link between digital capabilities and organizational performance in the Jordanian ministry of Justice. Survey data collected from 292 public officials assessed capabilities in data-driven decision making, flexible automation, and interactive constituent communications alongside organizational agility and performance indexes spanning efficiency, quality, and satisfaction metrics. Structural equation modeling analysis reveals that digital capabilities relate significantly to heightened agility and all targeted performance areas. Improved agility mediates over half the performance impact attributable to upgraded technical systems, highlighting the vital role of evolving digitally enabled flexibility in realizing returns on analytics and process modernization initiatives. Findings validate the applicability of conclusions on digitization returns formed in corporate environments to public sector contexts, contingent on bundled change management programming enabling both technical and adaptive capacity building across the workforce. As global regions expand e-governance programs premised on harnessing emerging technologies to enhance civic institutions, this research offers generalizable models guiding multifaceted preparations to amplify impact.

Local Context Capacity Building Needs for Climate Change Adaptation among Smallholder Farmers in Uganda: Policy and Practice Implications

Climate change impacts threaten sustainable development efforts. The magnitude of the impacts, however, varies with the socio-ecological characteristics of locations. This is the reason there is consensus on the necessity for climate change adaptive capacity building that is country driven, and based on, and responsive to, local needs. However, information on context specific capacity building needs in developing countries is not readily available. The objective of this study was to establish location specific awareness, training, educational research and technology capacity building needs for climate change adaptation among smallholder farmers in Uganda. Semi-structured questionnaires were used with 465 households from five agro-ecological zones, selected based on the level of vulnerability of agricultural systems to the main climate variation and change hazards. Results reveal substantial capacity building needs in all the zones. The majority of the farmers needed capacity building for interventions on soil-water conservation practices for adapting to drought and unpredictable rainfall. For all zones, education, research, and technology were perceived as key needs. However, the needs varied among zones. These results demonstrate the importance of context specificity in adaptation efforts. The study provides agro-ecological and social system specific information for climate change adaptation planning and policy interventions for effective capacity building.

Structural Adaptation Triggers in the CAP: Regional Implementation 2007–2013 in the East Midlands, England

This case study explores how policy structures support agricultural adaptation. Using the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms of 2007–2013, this case study analyses regional implementation in the East Midlands, England. We investigate how the structures of CAP implementation and supporting regional policies might enhance adaptive capacity and resilience building. Methods include a review of the policy, qualitative analysis of policy structures as well as linguistic analysis of policy documents. The case study is an exercise of looking back to look forward—an approach to understand the preconditions for today’s decision-making structures, which have changed tremendously due to Brexit as well as new climate agreements and policies. It provides insights into the starting point of climate adaptation structures for agricultural adaptation decisions that are relevant in the gradual layering of climate change concerns into agricultural reforms after the 2007–2013 reforms of CAP. The article provides insight into (a) what kind of regulatory aspects promote adaptation the agricultural sector (b) if the implementation of the agricultural policy is characterized by adaptive governance as defined in the social-ecological systems and resilience literature. It further examines to what extent such governance arrangements can (c) result in adaptive capacity structures and, finally (d) lead to assumptions on resilience promotion.

Determinants of the choice of adaptation strategies to climate variability and extremes among pastoralist and agro-pastoralist households in Yabello and Arero Districts, Southeast Ethiopia

Climate variability and extremes adversely affect the livestock sector by reducing pasture availability, polluting and depleting water resources, aggravating livestock diseases, and distorting the production systems. The cumulative effect of climate variability undermines the adaptive capacity of pastoralists and worsens food insecurity. This study assesses the impact of climate variability and the determinants of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists adaptation strategies in Yabello and Arero Districts, southern Ethiopia. Accordingly, data were collected from randomly selected 296 sample households using a questionnaire survey. Data were also gathered from a purposively selected key informants and focus group discussion participants. Areal gridded dikadal rainfall and temperature data were collected from the National Meteorological Institute. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression data analysis methods were used. The results show that all seasons were significantly warming, while rainfall declined at various degrees and the distribution was highly variable across the study period. The ever rising minimum and maximum temperature and the erratic nature of rainfall has undermined the availability of pasture and water resources, especially during drought years resulting in the prevalence of livestock diseases. The age of the household head, poor access to information, lack of credit and saving services, limited knowledge, and erratic rainfall were found to be the determinant factors in the choice of adaptation options to climate variability and extremes. The study also found that lack of appropriate intervention and support mechanisms by government and non-government actors as well as the reluctance of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists to accept the stakeholders’ advice were the barriers to climate variability adaptation. Thus, it is clear that pastoralists’ and agro-pastoralists’ livelihood is at risk for climate variability and extremes and hence, requires context specific adaptive capacity building intervention that ranges from awareness creation to strengthening basic infrastructures and rangeland management.

Be prepared! Local politicians’ proclivity for local government adaptive capacity building in response to COVID-19: the role of risk perceptions

ABSTRACT Although it is argued that organizational leaders’ perceptions of external shocks determine organizations’ willingness to prepare for future shocks, insights on the sensemaking processes leading local politicians to invest in adaptive capacity building after a crisis are scarce. Therefore, this study examines how politicians’ COVID-19 risk perceptions relate to their proclivity to invest in organizational adaptive capacity building. Results, based on data from 710 local Flemish politicians, confirm that perceived severity of COVID-19 relates to politicians’ willingness to invest in adaptive capacity building, while sociodemographic and event-related variables as well as socio-political attitudes are relevant predictors of politicians’ risk perceptions.

Local governments as key agents in climate change adaptation: challenges and opportunities for institutional capacity-building in Mexico

ABSTRACT Institutional capacity is one of the dimensions of adaptive capacity that determines the level and pace of climate change adaptation at the local level. Local governments are key actors in climate change adaptation because they have the responsibility to translate top-down risk information to vulnerable populations and can scale bottom-up initiatives of communities in adaptation planning. There is a need for integrated approaches for adaptive capacity building that incorporate specific capacities to tackle multiple climate risks and generic capacities to address basic needs for human development. In this analysis, we assess the institutional capacity profiles of local governments in Mexico through a cluster analysis to understand how different aspects of generic and specific capacities, which operate through bottom-up or top-down approaches, coincide in local governments. Our results show that local governments in Mexico can be grouped by type and level of institutional capacity, as follows: those that (1) engage in intergovernmental coordination; (2) focus on safety-first; (3) exhibit high capacities in transparency and citizen participation; and (4) are in a poverty trap. These groups reflect challenges for local governments in Mexico, including the need to resolve short-term crises, the lack of climate change awareness, and a low capacity to access and mobilize economic resources for adaptation. Conversely, horizontal and vertical coordination, transparency, and citizen participation are found to be key elements able to strengthen institutional capacities for adaptation. In the context of multiple climate risks and underdeveloped enabling conditions for adaptation, there is a need for strategic investment in capacities that are contextually relevant and that can reduce the adaptation gap for climate action in Mexico. Further analysis will be needed to evaluate how the mobilization of the institutional capacities by local governments in each group influences climate change adaptation outcomes, particularly differentiated for urban and rural contexts, as well as for metropolitan scales. Key policy insights - Local governments in Mexico are faced with the challenge of resolving urgent and short-term issues, making it difficult to face climate change adaptation. - Intergovernmental coordination is a key attribute that local governments can develop to address and overcome deficiencies in institutional capacities for climate change adaptation - Administrative capacity, transparency, accountability, and public participation are critical elements for local governments and will assist them to access and mobilize economic resources for climate change adaptation.

Hotspots for social and ecological impacts from freshwater stress and storage loss

Humans and ecosystems are deeply connected to, and through, the hydrological cycle. However, impacts of hydrological change on social and ecological systems are infrequently evaluated together at the global scale. Here, we focus on the potential for social and ecological impacts from freshwater stress and storage loss. We find basins with existing freshwater stress are drying (losing storage) disproportionately, exacerbating the challenges facing the water stressed versus non-stressed basins of the world. We map the global gradient in social-ecological vulnerability to freshwater stress and storage loss and identify hotspot basins for prioritization (n = 168). These most-vulnerable basins encompass over 1.5 billion people, 17% of global food crop production, 13% of global gross domestic product, and hundreds of significant wetlands. There are thus substantial social and ecological benefits to reducing vulnerability in hotspot basins, which can be achieved through hydro-diplomacy, social adaptive capacity building, and integrated water resources management practices.

Identifying adaptation ‘on the ground’: Development of a UK adaptation Inventory

Adaptation plays a crucial role in managing the unavoidable risks from climate change. The UK is considered to be at the forefront of national adaptation planning. However, the extent to which plans and programmes translate into tangible risk reducing action on the ground, as opposed to adaptive capacity building, remains less clear. Given that there is no formal database of adaptation action for the UK, despite the various needs of government to identify, assess and report on adaptation progress, including the UK national stocktake on adaptation under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, this study outlines the development of an up-to-date and forward-looking UK Adaptation Inventory. The Inventory documents adaptation on the ground, based on national reporting to government by public and private sector organisations and a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature. The framework is centred on identifying and documenting current and planned adaptation; how it is being implemented in terms of the types of adaptation actions; and the sectors where adaptation is occurring and where gaps may remain. For the sub-set of sectors captured there is clear evidence of a wide range of cross-sectoral and sector-specific adaptation being implemented. In total, 360 examples were identified, over 80% of which have already been implemented. This comprises 134 different types of adaptation action, largely aimed at reducing vulnerability using engineered, built environment or technological mechanisms. Compared to the situation a decade earlier, this suggests that significant progress has occurred in the UK in terms of reporting and implementing adaptation, including adaptation by the private sector in climate sensitive sectors. At the broader level, the Inventory is a first step in providing a baseline assessment for the UK stocktake on adaptation; can help inform other organisations about adaptation options that are available; and provide case studies of actions in practice to help support decision-making.

Adaptability among e-governance projects in India: extending the adaptive capacity wheel framework

Lack of adaptability has been identified as a major roadblock in the success of e-Governance projects. The current research explores existing literature from strategic management and e-Governance to reconceptualise adaptability which is operationalised as adaptive capacity building based on the adaptive capacity wheel framework. We analyse adaptive capacity across four major e-Governance G2C projects in India by utilising secondary data sources and interpretive qualitative analysis across four case studies. Indicators of adaptive capacity were identified and further developed to present an expansive operationalisation of the dimensions of adaptive capacity. It is posited that adaptive capacity comprises multiple capabilities: ability to conceptualise a problem across multiple stakeholders, ability to learn, ability to sense and monitor the projects, ability to reconfigure, and ability to control costs of the project. We also cross-compare our results through a fuzzy AHP approach. The study contributes to both theory and practice by presenting an integrative approach to adaptability in an e-Governance context.

The role of aid agencies within environmental cooperation in Congo Basin: facilitators or policy entrepreneurs?

ABSTRACT Environmental cooperation in the Congo Basin region is facing a paradox as the region has an inflow of aid but deforestation and poverty continue to grow. We examine the role of aid agencies in this paradox, who we assume are policy entrepreneurs who influence and benefit from the process. To test these assumptions, we use policy entrepreneurship theory coupled with a comparative qualitative approach to conduct two case studies. The first case study is a climate change adaptation capacity building initiative with the German aid agency GIZ in the central role. We prove that GIZ led the project with high effectiveness, benefit from it but failed to align the initiative’s goals with the local needs. The second case study is the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), which functions without an aid agency in the central role. We observe that although the CBFP’s actions strongly matched local needs, it lacked some effectiveness and could not yield relevant policy outcomes. Therefore, we suggest that suboptimal institutions meeting a minimum standard in both management and orientation toward local needs should be built.

Multi-Stakeholder Efforts to Adapt to Climate Change in China’s Agricultural Sector

Agricultural production is a crucial and fundamental aspect of a stable society in China that depends heavily on the climate situation. With the desire to achieve future sustainable development, China’s government is taking actions to adapt to climate change and to ensure food self-sufficiency. This paper assesses the scientific literature from both domestic and international journals, and the review policies released by the Chinese government, in order to investigate the adaptive actions being taken in China at the scale of the central government, and at the local administration and individual farmer level. The results demonstrate that China’s government has undertaken a multitude of adaptation programs in order to cope with vulnerability in the agricultural sector, and these include the release of stimulus policies, the support of new technological research, and investments in field facilities to strengthen the building of adaptive capacity. At the farmer household level, we found that people are spontaneously adapting to climate change on their own accord by changing the timing of cultivations, and through the selection of other crop species and cultivars. People are also securing non-land-related jobs when confronted with climate disasters. A summary is presented of the various agricultural adaptation policies and technologies. Although China has made great progress in terms of adapting to climate change, there is still more work that needs to be done. This work entails not just agricultural policy stimulation but also non-structural components, such as raising public awareness and providing adaptive skill training, etc. It can be concluded that agriculture sector could seek advantages and avoid disadvantages from adaptation activities by multiple stakeholders from different perspectives, and reduce the adverse effects of climate change. Climate adaptation strategies and actions are important and indispensable components for agricultural development in China, and more advanced technologies and ideologies are needed for a secure future.

Characterising the vulnerability of fishing households to climate and environmental change: Insights from Ghana

Rural coastal communities in the global south are mostly natural resource-dependent and their livelihoods are therefore vulnerable to the impacts of climate and environmental changes. Efforts to improve their adaptive capacity often prove mal-adaptive due to misunderstanding the dynamics of the unique socioeconomic factors that shape their vulnerability. By integrating theories from climate change vulnerability and the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, this study draws upon household survey data from a fishing community in Ghana to assess the vulnerability of fishing households to climate change and explore how their vulnerability is differentiated within the community. The findings suggest that household incomes in the last decade have reduced significantly, attributable to an interaction of both climatic and non-climatic factors. Analysis of the characteristics of three vulnerability groups derived by quantile clustering showed that the most vulnerable household group is not necessarily women or poorer households as expected. Rather, it is dynamic and includes all gender and economic class categories in varying proportions depending on the success or failure of the fishing season. The findings suggest furthermore that the factors that significantly differentiates vulnerability between households differ, depending on whether households are categorised by economic class, gender of household-head or vulnerability group. Consequently, the study highlights the importance of looking beyond existing social categorizations like gender and economic classes when identifying and prioritizing households for climate change adaptive capacity building.

Testing a citizen science water monitoring approach in Tunisia

Citizen Science (CS) has been emerging in the last decade as a new field of environmental monitoring involving a direct collaboration between everyday citizens and scientists. In Tunisia, several recent governmental efforts aimed at reinforcing and renovating the existing official water monitoring systems. However, the lack of reliable hydrological data is still an issue, which could be better addressed through integrating a CS approach. The latter approach is tested for rainfall monitoring in the Medjerda catchment in Tunisia using cost-effective and publicly available manual rain gauges. We used a step-by-step approach to target, engage and train citizens on using the monitoring tools and transmitting the data to a user-friendly online platform. The ongoing approach involved 7 citizens from different generations and different educational backgrounds. The collected daily CS data are compared with data from reference stations. Results yield a significant correlation between CS data collected at 3 different sites and the reference stations with r (Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC)) ranges between 0.91 and 0.98 for all citizens. Student’s t-test was applied to evaluate the significance of the agreement between the CS and reference data. In addition, the variability of the CS data is compared with the variability associated with the official governmental data. The CS approach delivered consistent outcomes to complement existing Tunisian monitoring systems, and also to enhance innovation, adaptation, and local capacity building in the Tunisian water sector.

Smart University: A Premise for Regional Development. Evidence from South-East Region of Romania

INTRODUCTION: A Smart University is a creative environment with a high level of adaptive capacity building to current societies’ challenges. From regional development planning perspective, a Smart University proves an anticipatory rather than reactionary adaptation to the context condi

Mainstreaming sustainable adaptation to climate change into municipal planning: An analysis from the Eastern Cape, South Africa

ABSTRACTMunicipalities are well positioned to support adaptation of vulnerable people to climate change; however, they seldom integrate climate change into their planning for social development. The building of adaptive capacity for sustainable adaptation requires that municipalities understand and mainstream climate change into their plans, and develop context-specific adaptation strategies that address existing social development issues. A desktop analysis was conducted to compare the planning landscape in six District Municipalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, focusing on Municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs). A scoring system was developed for comparing the IDPs of the municipalities, based on levels of context-specific information about climate change, mainstreaming of climate change with other development concerns, and vertical integration across district and local municipalities, amongst other themes. Overall, the mainstreaming of climate change in municipal IDPs in the Eastern Cape remains weak, and requires critical attention if sustainable adaptation is to be achieved.

Towards adaptive tourism areas: using fitness landscapes for managing and futureproofing tourism area development

Purpose Tourism areas are challenged to become adaptive areas in the context of a dynamic networked society and globalizing economy. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an enhanced understanding and conceptualization of adaptive tourism areas by drawing attention to “fitness landscapes,” a metaphor that is used in complexity theories to visualize development trajectories of adaptive systems. Design/methodology/approach Fitness landscapes, and its underlying theories, are useful to conceptualize tourism area development as a stepwise movement through a dynamic landscape with peaks and valleys. Doing so allows us to highlight why adaptation is a crucial property for tourism areas that are embedded in dynamic contexts and offers a frame of thought for how tourism areas can be managed. Findings The article raises awareness about and draws attention to a set of factors and conditions that support tourism planners and managers in enhancing the capacity of tourism areas to adaptively respond to changing circumstances. Originality/value Introducing fitness landscapes contribute to the discussion on adaptive capacity building – a topic that contributes to managing uncertain futures and is likely to gain importance in the dynamic society. Moreover, it helps as well as stimulates tourism scholars to further develop this topic. Finally, it helps tourism planners to build adaptive capacity in practice.

An Integrated Approach to Evaluate Urban Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change

Climate change and accelerated urbanization have posed severe challenges to urban development, resulting in a growing series of climate and environmental problems that have a significant impact on industrial production and urban life. In a developing country such as China, more than 57% of the population lives in urban areas. It is vital for these cities to adapt to climate-induced risks. A better understanding of how to improve adaptive capacity could enhance the ability to achieve a desirable state when the city experiences stress. This paper used an integrated approach for evaluating the urban adaptive capacity to climate change. It developed the evaluation index system of urban adaptive capacity (UAC) based on the driver–pressure–state–impact–response model (DPSIR), and adopted grey relational analysis (GRA) and the entropy method to analyze the level of UAC in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province, from 2006 to 2015. The results revealed that the UAC of Changsha showed a significant increase from 2006 to 2015. Among the five first-grade indicators, the response dimension had the greatest influence on the improvement of UAC. The study may provide suggestions for adaptive capacity building and sustainable development in other urban areas.

Country, climate change adaptation and colonisation: insights from an Indigenous adaptation planning process, Australia

Indigenous peoples are going to be disproportionately affected by climate change. Developing tailored, place based, and culturally appropriate solutions will be necessary. Yet finding cultural and institutional ‘fit’ within and between competing values-based climate and environmental management governance regimes remains an ongoing challenge. This paper reports on a collaborative research project with the Arabana people of central Australia, that resulted in the production of the first Indigenous community-based climate change adaptation strategy in Australia. We aimed to try and understand what conditions are needed to support Indigenous driven adaptation initiatives, if there are any cultural differences that need accounting for and how, once developed they be integrated into existing governance arrangements. Our analysis found that climate change adaptation is based on the centrality of the connection to ‘country’ (traditional land), it needs to be aligned with cultural values, and focus on the building of adaptive capacity. We find that the development of climate change adaptation initiatives cannot be divorced from the historical context of how the Arabana experienced and collectively remember colonisation. We argue that in developing culturally responsive climate governance for and with Indigenous peoples, that that the history of colonisation and the ongoing dominance of entrenched Western governance regimes needs acknowledging and redressing into contemporary environmental/climate management.