Introduction - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 14

is a socionatural political process: it both constitutes and is derived from current
social-political changes and relations. Social and political power relations
determine who can harness changes in resources and services to their own
benefit, and influence adaptation outcomes. Climate change programmes
become embroiled in already-politicized relationships and networks, without
challenging the relations that create inequities and vulnerability. However,
programmes tend to emphasize institution building and positive trajectories
for adaptation, largely delinked from the political context and institutional
fragilities. Such 'development-as-usual' approaches prove inadequate for
tackling vulnerability. Rather than treating politics as a negative externality that
threatens 'positive' adaptation, politics should be understood as constituting
adaptation. Nightingale argues that the current emphasis on how to adapt needs
to be replaced with a focus on adaptation for whom.
In order to go beyond 'development-as-usual' adaptation, the research
process itself may have to change. In Chapter 13 , Kassim Kulindwa and
Baruani Mshale investigate which actors are involved in generating and
applying knowledge for climate change adaptation, as well as which narratives
are employed in advancing different interests. Focusing on Tanzania, they find
that applying a participatory action research approach can help narrow the gap
between research and policy, providing an arena for testing and negotiating the
various interests and positions of different actors, and highlighting shared and
competing narratives. Importantly, involving relevant actors at all levels in the
research process, including policy-makers, civil servants, private sector and
civil society, combined with a policy-process analysis of actors' roles and power
relations, helped make explicit the different interests. In turn, this contributed
to making project outcomes more relevant to the actors involved, and to
identifying practical and workable adaptation activities.
Empowerment emerges as a critical part of adaptation. In Chapter 14 , Jakob
Kronik and Jennifer Hays investigate the vulnerability of indigenous peoples,
drawing on five case studies in Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East.
They argue that indigenous groups are particularly vulnerable to climate change
since their livelihoods are often dependent on climate-sensitive resources.
At the same time, environmental, social, economic and political processes,
in addition to many development initiatives, limit the room for manoeuvre
for these groups, undermining their ability to respond effectively to climate
change. Furthermore, the role of indigenous knowledge is often overlooked in
development initiatives aimed at reducing climate risk. The chapter also shows
the importance of empowerment for the adaptation process. Not only is the
socio-economic, legal and political room for manoeuvre available to any given
group in itself critical for the success of their adaptation strategies, even more
important for adaptive capacity is indigenous groups' ability to exercise their
rights and challenge this space, influencing their own space for manoeuvre.
The chapters in this topic show that adaptation must be understood in
different contexts, and how such adaptation challenges development as usual. In