Adaptation spinoffs From technological and socio-economic Changes - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 174

1 evaluate and utilize widespread societal changes that have the potential to

reduce climate vulnerability

2 capitalize on new societal demands to promote and support low-emission

livelihood opportunities and

3 support empowerment initiatives that can boost local adaptive capacity for

handling climate-related impacts.

Recognition of existing societal groups (such as SHGs and farmers'
associations), emergent technologies (such as cellphones), and new lifestyle
choices (such as healthy foods and tourism) that show potential for enhancing
or creating new climate adaptation options are strong starting points for
understanding what is working and why. The utilization of spinoffs may be
either self-organized or externally initiated but, as Eriksen and O'Brien (2007)
point out, sustainable climate adaptation must be context sensitive. Government
interventions and NGO projects need to take global climate effects as well as
poverty reduction agendas into consideration when designing locally relevant
adaptation measures for vulnerable groups. As previously noted in the lifestyle
case: despite the positive effects for farmers' livelihoods and their adaptive
capacity to climate-related issues stemming from intensified livestock raising,
new tourism and food habits may also contribute to increased GHG emissions.
To what degree can spinoffs be facilitated and enabled by government policy?
More creative, adaptive and opportunistic policies are needed, emphasizing
the enabling role as well as the envisioning capacity of government agencies.
Furthermore, our cases have shown that spinoffs can manifest themselves
differently depending on the local context, and are thus likely to require policies and
support at or close to that level. Organizations operating at this level are probably
best equipped for assessing adaptation measures, contexts and spinoff potentials.
Both public and private organizations could play a facilitating role for
spinoffs, depending on the type of spinoff and the context. For instance,
in the ICT case the farmers themselves possess the platform, whereas the
government agencies could intervene by coordinating access to fire alerts and
setting up more inclusive emergency phone lists to bridge the gap between
socio-economic segments. In the empowerment case, both NGOs and the
state are involved in facilitating SHGs, which shows that different actors can
play a positive role in heightening adaptive capacity through positive spinoffs.
This supports the findings of Tompkins and Eakin (2011) who note that, since
the effects of adaptation spinoffs occur in a local context, it is advantageous to
involve a set of public and private actors that can collectively play an enabling
role at that level. Further, it is more important to incentivize the use of spinoffs
than to prescribe specific adaptation measures. This case also shows that there
is no general blueprint for responsibility, as roles are likely to differ according
to context. Study of changing trends and their potential adaptation spinoffs by
public or private actors will require open, ongoing dialogue and interaction with
local communities to be successful.