Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
10
sustainable adaptation
Lessons from Ethiopia
Siri Eriksen and Andrei Marin
introduction
Afar pastoralists manage their livelihoods in one of the hottest and driest
environments on Earth. At the same time, they face rising temperatures and
more frequent droughts induced by climate change, as well as increasing
socio-economic and political pressures on pastoral lifestyles. Adaptation and
development are closely intertwined for the Afar of Ethiopia, illustrating
the importance of identifying adaptation approaches that can contribute to
social sustainability, equity and justice on the ground. In the climate change
literature, there are increasing calls for new types of development that are not
mere adjustment to practices, technologies and institutions
within
the current
development regime, but which instead address the shortcomings of current
development pathways (see O'Brien 2012). In this chapter, we draw on the
case of Afar pastoralists in Ethiopia to examine how
sustainable adaptation
, a
concept that focuses specifically on development-adaptation interactions and
on addressing the vulnerability of the poor (Eriksen and O'Brien 2007), can be
broadened to transform development pathways.
Most adaptation policies and measures have been formulated as part of
dominant (and often unquestioned) development approaches, reinforcing
'development as usual'. Despite some promising work on community-based
adaptation (Sabates-Wheeler et al. 2008), many local and national adaptation
plans of action are often sectoral, top-down, technical or risk-reduction
measures (such as new agricultural technologies or flood protection measures)
focused on avoiding physical or monetary damage, human injuries and death
from extreme events (Vincent et al. 2013; Nightingale this volume). In addition,
many interventions initially designed as local development projects have later
been re-labelled 'adaptation' (McGray et al. 2007). Ireland and Keegan (2013)
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