A socionature approach to adaptation - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 230

Conclusion
Adaptation must be understood as a socionatural political process , one that both
constitutes and is derived from the trajectory of social-political change. There
is a growing recognition that adaptation is not free from ethical and political
concerns. Yet, within this recognition is the assumption that politics need to be
considered in order to ensure that the adaptation process is not derailed by messy
political contests. However, the analysis in this chapter has shown how politics
constitute adaptation - from the most abstract conceptions in policy documents,
to the implementation of plans on the ground. Climate adaptation strategies
need to tackle their political nature straight on, rather than sidestepping these
issues by referring to 'good governance'.
Nepal's climate adaptation documents all start with the assumption that
absolute quantities and qualities of resources and services determine the ability
of people to adapt. Gender is assumed to be relevant for the lives of individual
women - climate change puts them at risk, physically and mentally, from greater
workloads and increased sexual violence - heightening their vulnerability. I
have shown, however, how gender and intersectionality shape the very process
of adaptation planning itself. The expertise brought to bear on evaluating the
hazards, and the techno-engineering solutions prioritized, all entail assumptions
about who the right stakeholders are and who needs to be 'consulted'. Without
close attention to gender and intersectionality, these stakeholders and experts
are overwhelmingly composed of 'expert' men. Over-emphasis on the
biophysical drivers of adaptation and techno-engineering fixes also masks how
more powerful members of communities and nations can mobilize negative
changes in resources and services to their own benefit. Therefore, I argue that
less attention should be placed on techno-engineering schemes, and more on
intersectional power relations when devising adaptation plans.
The NAPA and LAPA propose that cooperative, locally based user groups
need to be empowered to manage their resources. This emphasis on community
solutions opens up some possibility for placing intersectional power relations in
the centre of adaptation planning, as a deliberative tool for thinking through
social inequalities and injustice. Nepal has been at the forefront of promoting
participatory resource governance, and many programmes have attempted to
tackle equity issues. However, such efforts have not managed to overcome
equity concerns; moreover, the political transition is now cementing, rather
than challenging, forms of patronage as a 'normal' way of conducting business.
Nepal's climate-change documents are silent on questions of resource control
and the fundamentally contested nature of the institutions that shape adaptation
efforts. Who is included in these efforts and how this serves to empower or
retrench social relations will shape the adaptive capacity of individuals and the
nation. The NAPA and LAPA documents, framed outside politics and without
provisions for dynamic revisions, are unlikely to prepare Nepal to cope with the
challenges of climate change.