Introduction - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 11

processes of marginalization. For example, the legal frameworks and trade
structures that leave rural producers of charcoal with very little revenue, while
quite literally fuelling a large part of the national economy through the provision
of cheap energy, need to be reformed. Supporting local capacity also involves
enhancing the position of small-scale producers of charcoal (as well as other
local strategies) in trade relations and within legal frameworks, so that they can
have a fair income and influence over their own circumstances. Recognizing
local strategies as far more than short-term survival strategies turn what might
be considered 'good adaptation' on its head.
The observation that rural people's own strategies are important for
adaptation, yet remain ignored in formal policies, is mirrored in urban contexts
in San Salvador and Rio de Janeiro. In Chapter 4 , Christine Wamsler and Ebba
Brink argue that urban dwellers' strategies for coping with disasters and climate
change should not automatically be seen as maladaptive. Instead, understanding
of such strategies and their strengths and weaknesses should form the basis for
formulating development policies and projects. Wamsler and Brink show that
disaster resilience depends on the level of flexibility and inclusiveness of the
combined set of strategies employed, rather than the effectiveness of a single
strategy. Supporting adaptive capacity in this context is not about targeting
one particular local response, but empowering urban dwellers more generally
in securing such flexibility and inclusiveness in their coping systems. Such
socially based adaptation can lead to transformation of the power relations and
development pathways that influence the opportunity space for managing risks.
Importantly, adaptive capacity is not uniform within a community. In Chapter
5 , Sara Gabrielsson analyses adaptation in communities around the Lake
Victoria Basin. The study shows how social relations create differentiated access
to adaptation strategies and how these relations are an important aspect of the
vulnerability context and local adaptive capacity. Gender-differentiated rights
and responsibilities, for example, often limit the opportunities for women. At the
same time, the local 'economy of affection' is becoming increasingly unreliable
as an adaptation strategy. Hence, it is not sufficient to empower local adaptation
strategies within formal economic and legal frameworks without considering
the issue of gender-differentiated rights and responsibilities. Gabrielsson's
observations show that it is critical for development organizations to understand
how social relations drive vulnerability patterns; they also indicate that local
adaptation processes can be a driver of change towards more sustainable and
equitable development pathways.
Nonetheless, technologies, and not social measures, often take precedence in
national adaptation planning. In Chapter 6 , Sara Trærup and Lars Christiansen
show how technologically focused adaptation can also provide an entry point for
targeting the social drivers of vulnerability and generating social development.
They point out that adaptation technologies often emphasize the soft aspects
of technology, like orgware and software, which have benefits for livelihoods,
institutions and local capacity building. How adaptation technologies are