Community-based Climate Change Adaptation Research Articles

Mobilising transformative community-based climate change adaptation

Under-resourced and marginalised communities often have limited government support, and therefore, must decide by themselves if and how they adapt to the uncertainties of climate change. Community-based climate change adaptation (CbA) forms a plausible approach here. In practice, however, CbA projects often fail to address the underlying causes of vulnerability like power relations and sociocultural structures that influence adaptation measures adopted and outcomes. In response, this perspective paper explores the concept of transformative community-based climate change adaption (TCbA), a reflexive approach that focuses on empowering communities by reframing the decision-making context. It discusses pathways of mobilising this shift to transformative CbA in three steps: (1) specifying the characteristics of a TCbA; (2) exploring the leverage points to mobilise it, and (3) recommending a set of actions and processes that facilitate co-decided interventions at the identified leverage points. These leverage points include "the structure of information flow", "rules of the system" and “power to change system structure or self-organise". The paper concludes by emphasising that the shift to transformative CbA begins when facilitators and members of the community undertaking a CbA project are reflexive about how the societal context of decision processes, like power relations, influence community adaptation decision-making, planning and implementation.

Implementation of the climate village program (Proklim) related to gender-based

The Climate Village Program (PROKLIM) experienced development and positive responses from 2011 to 2022 from various stakeholders. From the start, PROKLIM has prioritized sustainability aspects in climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts at the grassroots level. With an effectiveness level reaching 80%, the implementation of PROKLIM can be seen from the active participation of the community in every stage of decision-making, from planning and implementation to monitoring activities in climate village locations, strengthening the sense of ownership of ongoing programs and activities. Even though it is considered adequate at 80%, according to SRN-PPI data, PROKLIM coordinators in each region must remain vigilant and strive to change the community's mindset and knowledge regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. The success of PROKLIM activities depends on forming a sustainable community mindset in preserving and transforming the environment. The SIDIK, SPECTRUM, and SRNPPI platforms are expected to facilitate PROKLIM implementation and stakeholders, ensuring that community-based climate change adaptation and mitigation actions can be recorded, accounted for, and validated effectively. Keywords: PROKLIM, Effectiveness, Community Participation, Mitigation and Adaptation Actions, Gender Equality. Keywords: Proklim, Effectiveness, Community Participation, Mitigation and Adaptation Actions, Gender Equality.

Social Innovation Perspective of Community-Based Climate Change Adaptation: A Framework-Based Study of Ladakh, India

Indigenous knowledge of local environments is crucial for developing innovative and contextual climate change adaptation strategies. Although the significance of community-led efforts based on this knowledge has been well acknowledged, they have not been effectively incorporated into mainstream development processes. The mountainous region of Ladakh presents a novel case of water storage in the form of ice reservoirs as an adaptive strategy against intensified water scarcity. This study aims to assess community-based innovations in climate change adaptation strategies and find solutions for their effective integration. This study theorizes a framework for Social Innovation in Climate Change Adaptation (SICCA) for a structured analysis of the situation in Ladakh. This research was conducted through interviews, surveys, Geographic Information System-based mapping, and field observations to analyze the use of ice reservoirs as a solution to water scarcity issues. The results demonstrate the wide recognition of these techniques’ effectiveness and the role of the community in the planning, execution, and operation of the initiatives. The findings highlight the challenges in their scaling up and diffusion. The research emphasizes the need to recognize and value community-based adaptation strategies to address the challenges posed by climate change. It offers recommendations for integrating them into the mainstream development process, and the framework serves as a significant outcome to guide policymakers and civil society actors for practical implementation.

Vulnerability Assessment of Climate Change in Vietnam: A Case Study of Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City

Climate change poses additional obstacles to poverty eradication and social justice. Rising temperatures, abnormal rainfall increases, storms, floods, and droughts have become more frequent and severe phenomena in Vietnam. This causes serious consequences for the livelihood security of the poor. Binh Chanh district (Ho Chi Minh City) is an area subject to severe risks of climate change in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Here, the low-income groups are the most vulnerable because their adaptive capacity is still limited and low. This study uses the livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) to assess the level of vulnerability to climate change in households and communes in the Binh Chanh district. LVI includes three components: exposure (E), sensitivity (S), and adaptive capacity (AC) based on 23 indicators selected by reviewing the literature and consulting with experts. The article also conducted surveys with 931 households in 16 administrative communes in Binh Chanh for primary data. The research results showed that Tan Kien and An Phu Tay communes have the highest level of vulnerability since they are areas with mainly low-lying terrain and contiguous location rivers; the people in these towns are also vulnerable groups because they do not have a stable source of income, skills, and have low education and experience in climate change adaptation. The study also proposes some solutions to improve the capacity to adapt to climate change of vulnerable communes specifically: 1) creating diversified livelihoods with stable incomes; 2) deploying community-based climate change adaptation models for communes adjacent to rivers; 3) implementing adaptive agriculture and improving social capital for vulnerable households; 4) building resettlement areas for households heavily affected by disasters; and 5) raising awareness among low-income households to respond to natural hazards in the context of climate change.

Community-based climate change adaptation and disaster risk mitigation in the Mekong Delta by the transdisciplinary approach

The article is based on data from the research program "Greater Mekong Sub-region Flood and Drought Risk Management and Mitigation Project (ADB-GMS1)" jointly implemented by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Vietnam Institute of Water Resources Research in Tien Giang and Dong Thap province. The results show that, in recent years, due to the increasingly severe global climate change, the intensity of various types of natural disasters occurs more frequently, irregularly and with greater intensity. This has greatly affected the production, daily life and properties of the people in the vulnerable areas. To reduce the impact of various types of disasters on people living in vulnerable areas, it is necessary to combine two types of solutions in disaster prevention, namely construction solutions and non- construction solutions. In which, non-construction solutions play a very important role, namely, people living in communities are considered as the main actors in preventing and mitigating disaster risks occurring in the community.

The nexus of traditional knowledge and climate change adaptation: Romanian farmers’ behavior towards landraces

ABSTRACT Climate change adaptation at the farm level is vital to counterbalance rural poverty and maintain a sustainable agriculture ecosystem. Despite the many unknowns about what determines farmers’ adaptation, traditional knowledge on landraces (LRs) cultivation has demonstrated great potential for community-based climate change adaptation. The present study heightens our understanding of the Romanian farmers’ perceptions of climate change, their actual on-farm adaptation measures, and the driving and constraint factors towards their decision to cultivate LRs. Drawing on a survey on farmers, we found that those who face an increased number of crops damaged due to extreme climatic events are more likely to cultivate LRs. Findings point to the widespread adoption of LRs as a measure of climate change adaptation. The taste, healthiness, and environmental adaptability attributes are considered the most important reasons Romanian farmers cultivate LRs. The study provides supportive evidence for decision-makers to develop appropriate strategies and institutional responses for on-farm climate adaptation strategies bringing the contribution of LRs to the fore.

Shoreline change and community-based climate change adaptation: Lessons learnt from Brebes Regency, Indonesia

Little is known about the efficacy of community-based climate change adaptation (CBA) for adequately addressing shoreline change. This knowledge is especially urgent in developing countries where shoreline change is very likely to inflict economic burdens on coastal communities. Here, we review a CBA shoreline remediation project in Brebes Regency, Indonesia using a mixed method approach (shoreline change analysis, field visits with semi-structured interviews, and participatory community meetings). The findings reveal that the CBA dependent on reactive adaptation measures did not adequately control coastal erosion. Limited coordination between government agencies and the Brebes CBA practitioners, and a poor understanding of the physical processes occurring along the coast, were major barriers to the success of CBA actions. The CBA actions, in fact, exposed the areas to subsequent erosion, making the effort to manage the shoreline change unnecessary and costly. The CBA actions cannot be effective until coordination among the relevant stakeholders, and knowledge of coastal processes, both improve.

Strengthening Gender Responsiveness of the Green Climate Fund Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Programme in Namibia

Scholars of gender and climate change argue that gender-blind climate change actions could exacerbate existing inequalities and undermine sustained climate change adaptation actions. For this reason, since 2017, the Green Climate Fund placed gender among its key programming prerequisites, making it the first multilateral climate fund to do so worldwide. However, to date, no lessons to inform planned gender-responsive ecosystem-based interventions in Namibia have been drawn from community-based natural resource management. Thus, this paper aims to share key lessons regarding the way in which gender assessment is useful in enhancing equity in an ecosystem-based adaptation programme for the Green Climate Fund. To this end, we conducted in-depth interviews and group discussions in the 14 rural regions of Namibia with 151 participants from 107 community-based natural resource management organisations (73.5:26.5; male:female ratio). The results identified gender imbalances in leadership and decision-making due to intersecting historic inequalities, ethnicity and geography, as well as other socio-cultural factors in local community-based natural resource management institutions. We also identified income disparities and unequal opportunities to diversify livelihoods, gendered differentiated impacts of climate change and meaningful participation in public forums. Overall, the assessment indicates that considering gender analysis at the initiation of a community-based climate change adaptation project is crucial for achieving resilience to climate change, closing the gender gap, building capacity to increase equity and empowering women in resource-dependent environments in Namibia and Sub-Saharan Africa more broadly.

Socially just community-based climate change adaptation? Insights from Bangladesh

ABSTRACT Community-based planned adaptation has become a popular vehicle for building the adaptive capacity of communities vulnerable to climate change. In the global south, planned adaptation interventions are often implemented by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with the support of bilateral and multilateral donors. This paper examines the influence of external agencies involved in funding, planning and implementation of community-based adaptation (CBA) initiatives in Bangladesh. We show that the principles of CBA are negatively impacted by top-down project design, simplistic notions of “community”, lack of downward accountability and pressures to meet tight timeframes. We found that NGO-initiated CBA interventions tended to repeat the past mistakes of bottom-up approaches, primarily because of embedded institutional culture that inhibits the possibility of achieving socially just, effective and sustainable adaptation outcomes in Bangladesh. We argue that the automatic and normative attribution of NGO interventions as being “good” needs deconstructing to ensure that future initiatives are aligned with and prioritise community needs over external expectations. This requires flexible funding, planning and implementation structure for adaptation projects, which may forge new ways of engaging communities and locally led innovation to adapt to climate change.

Traditional knowledge and institutions for sustainable climate change adaptation in Ethiopia

Local values, institutions and knowledge have enabled people to understand the happenings and changes in their environment. Local perceptions and knowledge provide a crucial foundation for community-based climate change adaptation measures and natural resource conservation. This paper is specifically focused on the assessment of the opportunities and challenges of traditional knowledge and institutions for community's sustainable climate change adaptation in Ethiopia. We used knowledge products form journal articles, policy documents, working papers, policy briefs, and other gray literature. In addition, two case studies were conducted in central and eastern Ethiopia by interviewing 251 randomly selected households. This helped to determine the state-of-the art for knowledge co-products for community's sustainable climate change adaptation and natural resource management. Regardless of the challenges from global change, cultural erosion and transformation, traditional knowledge still serve as the bases for weather forecasting, agricultural and natural resource management thereby sustain community's livelihoods and landscape resilience against the impacts of climate change and variability. Traditional knowledge and institutions in Ethiopia have maintained landscapes for millennia: Konso cultural landscapes and Gedeo Agroforestry systems are some to mention. The knowledge systems have also contributed for the large diversity of crops and livestock breeds in Ethiopia which play roles in community's climate change adaptation. From this assessment, it can be concluded that both scientific and traditional knowledge have their own gaps and what will be better is the integration of the two to give an additive impact that can foster sustainable development and build livelihood and landscape resilience in times of climate change.

Community-based adaptation to climate change in villages of Western Province, Solomon Islands

People, local cultures and the environments they live in are complex and dynamic social-ecological systems that have evolved together over time and are continually affected by a myriad of factors, including climate and global changes. Escalating climate and global changes present an imminent threat to Pacific communities, particularly for food security, livelihoods, health and safety, cultural identity and biodiversity conservation. A participatory community-based climate change adaptation planning process was used to engage with communities on Rendova Island in Western Province, Solomon Islands to identify local adaptation priorities. The methodology recognized that local community members are the managers of the resources they use daily, have direct knowledge of the status of key local resources and have direct influence over ongoing resource governance. The study focused on two objectives: (1) identifying community priorities and documenting them in adaptation plans intended for local implementation, and (2) evaluating whether community adaptation priorities addressed key vulnerabilities identified independently using a semi-quantitative vulnerability assessment.The adaptation priorities identified by the communities encompassed: governance, leadership and planning; farming and livestock; sustainable livelihoods; natural resource management; and youth capacity building. The community adaptation priorities were found to address the key climate change vulnerabilities identified in the semi-quantitative assessment and also addressed additional drivers of social vulnerability and adaptive capacity. This finding reiterates the importance of fully inclusive and participatory vulnerability assessments and community-identification of adaptation priorities coupled with scientific climate projections to comprehensively assess the complexity of social-ecological systems. The climate change adaptation priorities have informed ongoing local actions and are intended to be used by communities, government and NGOs to focus local effort, funding and project development. A review of the suitability of the adaptation priorities by similar villages on neighbouring islands would determine the utility of scaling-up and applying these adaptations to other rural communities in the Solomon Islands, and possibly more widely in other Pacific communities.

What are the barriers to successful community-based climate change adaptation? A review of grey literature

ABSTRACTAcross the Global South, community-based adaptation (CBA) projects are increasingly being implemented in an effort to respond effectively and sustainably to the impacts of climate change, with a particular focus on people’s livelihoods. Despite an increase in the number of CBA projects being implemented, detailed analysis and evaluation of their efficacy and the barriers faced in achieving successful outcomes is lacking. This study draws on an analysis of grey literature (i.e. project and donor reports) to explore the barriers faced in achieving effective CBA. An extensive global search of online project evaluations yielded 25 documents comprising 69 projects from which this analysis is based. This paper first presents an overview of the 69 projects and highlights any trends. Second, this paper describes the barriers to CBA according to three broad themes: socio-political, resource, and physical systems and processes. Following this is a discussion of the most prevalent barriers: cognitive and behavioural, financial, and human resources. Third, this paper discusses the key findings elucidated from this review. This includes the need for greater sharing of project reports and findings so lessons can be learned across spatial and temporal scales, and the disparity between critical academic literature on CBA and what is implemented in practice.

Analysis of rural people’s attitude towards the management of tribal forests in South Africa

ABSTRACTThe management of forests for multiple purposes coupled with a varying socioeconomic profile of forest users can result in attitudinal differences towards forest management. This study examines the attitudes of rural people in South Africa towards the management of tribal forests. Attitude towards forest management was analysed with respect to five forest management objectives: 1, forest management for rural livelihood resilience to climate change; 2, forest management for reduction and management of forest fire risk; 3, forest management for sustainable forest-based livelihood; 4, forest management for household socioeconomic wellbeing; and 5, forest management for community-based climate change adaptation initiative. A household questionnaire survey was used to elicit information from 155 rural households using the proportionate random sampling procedure. Chi-square test was used to analyse data from the household survey. Factorial analysis was used to analyse variance in attitude towards forest management. The results showed that rural people generally have positive attitudes toward the management of tribal forests. Factor analysis isolated 2 major factors that explained 61% variance in attitude. Based on the findings we conclude that centralising forest management around the four management objectives (1, 3, 4 & 5) are likely to promote inclusive forest-based development in the study communities.

Evaluating participatory techniques for adaptation to climate change: Nepal case study

The community-based climate change adaptation plan of action (CAPA) ensures a bottom-up planning process to minimize climate impacts on the livelihood of vulnerable people and provides adaptation actions for increasing resilience capacity in Nepal. This paper mainly examines the role of participatory tools and techniques with the potential to identify the level of vulnerability and likely adaptation measures to increase the forest resilience capacities of communities where CAPA has been prepared (i.e. CAPA group). In total, 13 participatory qualitative tools were evaluated against 15 criteria for identifying their performance in nine CAPA groups representing three geo-graphical regions of Nepal. Multivariate analyses of the participatory tools and their performance allowed for selecting the most similar and dissimilar CAPA groups. The results indicated how CAPA groups are evaluating the likelihood of climate change impact, determining the vulnerability of specific ecosystem services and understanding the possible local adaptation measures. Many methods do not offer conditions for exploiting new innovative opportunities, assessing scenarios or identifying ecosystem services in the CAPA process. Tools are required that consider qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, measure vulnerability and ecosystem functions and services. Although many issues related to local conditions and vulnerabilities have not been tapped adequately, it is difficult to generalize individual case study results within the different geographical contexts of Nepal. The integration of adaptation planning in local institutions, in order to deal with different ecosystem-based adaptation options, along with identification of climate change scenarios, impacts, trade-offs, synergies and the sensitivity of management problems, is highly recommended.

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.

Communities, collaboration, and climate change adaptation: Case studies from coastal Maine and Oregon

ABSTRACTLocal communities are increasingly becoming concerned about what to do about changing climatic conditions and they want to know more about how to best work together to address complicated socioecological issues. This paper addresses this need by presenting findings from four exploratory case studies (two in Maine and two in Oregon). The investigation was framed around functional, organizational, epistemological, and discursive aspects of group interaction. Interviews were conducted with 39 participants and qualitative data coding and analysis was completed using NVivo software. The findings and recommendations presented are designed to support the application of collaborative community-based climate change adaptation efforts.

Pacific climate change adaptation: The use of participatory media to promote indigenous knowledge

Pacific Island communities are increasingly experiencing the impacts of climate change. Inaccessibility to relevant information about contemporary climate change adaptation strategies at the community level presents challenges. At the same time, indigenous strategies to adapt to climate changes have been overlooked in both local and global climate change debates. This article discusses a project undertaken with a community on Andra Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies were explored through photo essays developed by community members, engaging in approaches of visual participatory action research and indigenous research approaches. The collaboration with the Andra Island community created a space for reflective dialogue about challenges posed by climate change as well as how photo essays can be used to promote Indigenous Knowledge (IK) as a viable capital for community-based adaptation (CBA). Within this context, this article demonstrates how climate change is both a natural and cultural process of change which poses socio-economic challenges. These challenges can compel people to engage in unsustainable practices that might exacerbate natural climate change impacts. The article highlights that building community capacity in participatory media can be an important tool to forge collective synergy, dialogue and ownership in local climate change initiatives. In particular, the authors demonstrate how participatory media can be harnessed to integrate indigenous knowledge in community-based climate change adaptation.

“Other people’s initiatives”: exploring mediation and appropriation of place as barriers to community-based climate change adaptation

ABSTRACTAdaptation planning at the community level takes on various forms. It generally involves a process of defining climate impacts, vulnerabilities, and actions that can build community resilience. Typically, these processes rely on climate experts and policy-makers to define what is at risk, and therefore what is worthy of investment and protection. Emerging approaches to community-based adaptation-planning advocate for stronger community control over these processes. Drawing on a place-based approach to adaptation, this paper examines place meaning as a co-constructed process. It explores how this process shapes opportunities for community-based climate action in Churchill, Canada. Results indicate that community members acknowledge many competing threats to their sense of place, and suggest that this competition may reduce the perceived need to prioritise climate action to protect connections to place. Results also reveal a concern among community members that local place identity has been appropriated for economic gain, which may further reduce the drive to act in protection of an already exploited sense of place. Overall, findings support calls to adopt place-based perspectives to enhance the capacity of adaptation planning to understand local needs, values, and levers for action.

Analysis of observed and perceived climate change and variability in Arsi Negele District, Ethiopia

Climate change and variability has been detected in Ethiopia. Smallholder and subsistence farmers, pastoralists and forest-dependent households are the most hit by climate-related hazards. They have to have perception of climate change in order to respond it through making coping and/or adaptation strategies. Local perceptions and coping strategies provide a crucial foundation for community-based climate change adaptation measures. This study was specifically designed to (1) assess households’ perception and knowledge in climate change and/or variability, and (2) establish the observed changes in climate parameters with community perceptions and climate anomalies. Purposive stratified random sampling method has been used to gather information from 355 sample households for individual interviews supplemented by group discussion and key informants interviews. The analysis of observed and satellite climate data for the study district showed that mean maximum and minimum temperature for the period 1983–2014 has increased by 0.047 and 0.028 °C/year, respectively. However, the total rainfall has declined by 10.16 mm per annum. Seasonally, the rainfall has declined by 2.198, 4.541, 1.814 and 1.608 mm per annum for Ethiopian summer, spring, autumn and winter seasons, respectively. Similarly, the mean maximum temperature of the study area had showed an increment of 0.035, 0.049, 0.044 and 0.065 °C per year for spring, winter, autumn and summer seasons, respectively. The observed climate variation has been confirmed by people’s perception. Considering what had been the existed situations before 30 years ago as normal, an increase in temperature, an increase in drought frequency, a decrease in total rainfall, erratic nature of its distribution and the tardiness of its onset had been perceived by 88, 70, 97, 80 and 94% of the respondents, respectively, at current time—2015. Deforestation as a casual factor of climate change and variability had been perceived by 99.7% of the respondents. This had been also confirmed by scientific studies as it emits carbon dioxide and is the main driver of climate change and variability. Indigenous knowledge, including climate predictions, has been used by people to implement their day-to-day agricultural activities. Therefore, science should be integrated with the perception and indigenous knowledge of people to come up with concrete solution for climate change and variability impacts on human livelihoods.

Conditions for citizen co-production in a resilient, efficient and legitimate flood risk governance arrangement. A tentative framework

ABSTRACTAcross Europe, there is an increasing trend towards citizen involvement in the implementation of flood risk governance. Policy-makers increasingly advocate co-produced flood risk governance (FRG), whereby citizens are actively engaged in the implementation of flood risk policy, for example, by taking property-level protection measures. In doing so, they aim to make FRG more resilient, efficient and legitimate [Mees, H., Crabbé, A., Alexander, M., Kaufmann, M., Bruzzone, L., Levy, L., & Lewandowski, J. (2016a). Coproducing flood risk management through citizen involvement: Insights from cross-country comparison in Europe. Ecology and Society, 21(3), 7. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08500-210307]. Co-production, however, also raises important questions concerning these aims. In this paper, the opportunities and limitations of and barriers to citizen co-production in FRG in terms of resilience, efficiency and legitimacy are investigated by an extensive review of literature on citizen co-production in other public services and on individual and community-based climate change adaptation and FRG. Based on this, a tentative framework is developed on the required conditions to enable co-produced FRG, which benefits both the resilience, efficiency and legitimacy of FRG.