A socionature approach to adaptation - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 223

climate change impacts (Adger et al. 2009). Yet, what is missing is a pathway
beyond vulnerability. How exactly does one go about designing 'inclusive'
institutions given the evidence that intersectional social differences play out
within institutions? This chapter contributes to creative development alternatives
by using feminist political ecology to hold contentious politics in view while
thinking through adaptation challenges.
nepal's napa and lapa
Like other developing countries, Nepal received international donor support
for writing its NAPA (GON/MoE 2010). Nepal's plan provides a baseline
assessment of vulnerabilities based on known biophysical conditions and
identifies seven priority areas for adaptation efforts including forestry and
biodiversity, disaster management, water, and urban issues (encompassing water
and energy concerns); note the focus on biophysical and technical domains. A
key purpose of the NAPA is to ensure that all development programmes take
climate change into consideration. In line with the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), 'adaptation' is defined as direct responses to perceived
environmental change that moderate harm or capitalize on possible benefits
(Klein et al. 2007, p. 750). 'Adaptation', is thus framed to be positive, but I
suggest this masks important questions about adaptation for whom, at what cost
and with what distributional justice consequences.
The publication of Nepal's NAPA was closely followed by the LAPA and
its training manual, as well as a Climate Change Strategy document and the
climate-finance focused Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR).
All these documents were produced by the Ministry of the Environment,
in collaboration with other ministries, top-level government officials, and
international consultants.
The development of the NAPA mirrored that of other developing countries,
but it was unique in assembling a multi-stakeholder design group, including
representatives from different political parties and civil society groups and
relevant international donor-supported projects. This was done to lend
legitimacy to the process in the context of political transition. The NAPA team
conducted 'transect walks' to consult with communities across the range of the
country's topographical zones. Nepal's plans are considered some of the best
globally (Wiseman and Pandit Chhetri 2011), but coordination between the
plans has been limited - the PPCR, for example, is not linked to the LAPA and
has a different office within the Ministry of Environment.
Nepal's experience served to transform how United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) processes are translated into
other contexts, however. During the NAPA meetings, a Nepalese employee of
an international donor suggested the scale of planning was flawed. He argued
the real action for change occurs at the grassroots. He recounted to me, 'I said,
“why are we talking about NAPA? We should be talking about LAPA, we need