Building adaptive Capacity in the informal settlements of maputo - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 23

way, the manner in which adaptation planning proceeds and is governed can be
central to supporting local adaptive capacity.
From this discussion we may conclude that the focus of development actions
on adaptive capacity must be structural rather than narrowly needs-based,
technical or economic. In the following, therefore, we attend to the structures
and processes that shape adaptation planning, thereby mediating the distribution
of information, knowledge and resources.

adaptive capacity: power, knowledge and
experimentation

The task of adaptation, then, is to identify thresholds, and do one of two things:
either increase the resilience of the existing system, reducing the risk of crossing
thresholds whereby the system may lose its ability to serve its desirable function;
or stimulate a deliberate transformation (O'Brien 2012) to a re-organized
system of new livelihoods and associated environmental management.
'Deliberate transformation' here is understood, in line with O'Brien (2012),
as changes carried out with a particular purpose or goal in mind, often by a
group of committed individuals, in order to bring about fundamental shifts in
the way that societies are organized. This is distinct from adaptation actions that
reinforce the status quo and support the existing system. Within these processes,
adaptive capacity is employed by actors to make livelihood changes that increase
resilience or transform the system altogether. Table 2.1 summarizes practical
lessons derived from the resilience thinking described in the section above,
along with the implications for adaptive capacity.

tabl e 2.1 Implications of resilience thinking for adaptive capacity

Insights from resilience thinking Implications for adaptive capacity

1. Opportunities for local livelihood

changes are limited, constrained or
regulated by processes that act at larger
scales

Securing local adaptation actions
may require influence over policies,
processes and regulations at the
district, national or even international
scales

2. The perspective of actors at different

scales are needed to build an
understanding of complex systems and
to respond to thresholds and changes
occurring at those scales

Adaptation decision-making needs to
integrate the knowledge of multiple
stakeholders, including but extending
beyond local actors

3. Links to cycles of experimenting and

testing provide the learning necessary
to respond to uncertainty and to
prevent systems passing dangerous
thresholds

The availability of appropriate local
adaptation options will depend on
access to information and knowledge
gained from experimentation and
testing