Climate Change and development - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 280

Wamsler and Brink (this volume, pp. 75-6) emphasize the importance of
challenging such assumptions:
The way that marginal at-risk settlements are viewed influences the types
of solutions proposed for them. City authorities and aid organizations
may choose to focus on how appalling conditions are, and therefore look
for ways of clearing or replacing such 'eyesores'. Alternatively, they can
recognize and tap into the wealth of knowledge, experience and capacities
that people living in such areas possess and, within that perspective, their
need for more disaster-resilient housing, water and sanitation. This second
view opens the way to a different path: one that can lead to sustainable
transformation, not least by changing the power relations that dictate the
management of risk.
Gabrielsson ( Chapter 5 ) emphasizes the role of values, norms and traditions
in defining the space for responding to climate change in the political sphere.
Livelihood diversification plays an increasingly important role in communities
in the Lake Victoria Basin, but gender-differentiated rights and responsibilities
often limit the opportunities for women. She argues that empowerment has
the potential to challenge the very norms and structures that contribute to
vulnerability.
moving forward: transforming paradigms and practices
The three spheres of transformation are relational and interacting, and
indicate multiple entry points for adapting to climate change in ways that
can contribute to climate-resilient development pathways. However, most
development interventions to date have focused on the practical sphere, with
responses often directly linked to current variability or observed and projected
changes in climate conditions and associated impacts. This is not surprising, as
the success of adaptations in the practical sphere can be readily measured and
assessed according to a range of benchmarks and indicators, such as reduced
flood losses, increased crop yields, lower morbidity and mortality during
heat waves, or through lower air pollution levels, improved water access
and quality, reduced carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions or increased access to
renewable energy.
However, overemphasis on adaptation interventions in the practical sphere is
unlikely to address the underlying drivers of vulnerability to climate change that
reside in the political and personal spheres of transformation. It precludes seeing
adaptation as an opportunity for social reform or as a reason to question the values
that drive social injustice and inequalities in development and an unsustainable
relationship with the environment (Pelling 2011). Most adaptation projects have
preserved existing structures and relationships, instead of challenging them and
contributing to transformative change (Ireland and McKinnon 2013).