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Climate change adaptation

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  • Philip Ireland

Abstract

Purpose - Climate change adaptation (CCA) has emerged as a significant new theme in development and many large development agencies, including bilateral, multilateral or non‐government, are embarking on new programs focusing on CCA. However, the development sector has witnessed the rise and fall of many new development themes over the past 60 years around which funding has coalesced, only to see them fade away. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the new concept of CCA is being conceptualised and utilised by aid workers in order to shed light on challenges and opportunities for effective CCA and development practices. Design/methodology/approach - This paper has emerged from a broader study that involved 35 semi‐structured interviews, focus groups and participant observation with various stakeholders engaged in development and CCA. The research sought to understand how development actors defined CCA, what activities they associated with it, and how they were using the concept in their work. Findings - This paper finds that there is a range of different, and at points contradictory, conceptualisations of CCA within the field of development. CCA discourses are being used in at least two different ways: to enable the re‐legitimisation and repetition of old development practices as well as to open a space for new practices and imagining of alternatives. Originality/value - This paper offers a unique perspective of how a set of development actors are conceptualising and utilising the concept of climate change adaptation in their work. This timely contribution builds on a long history of critical development theory, which has interrogated development discourses, by investigating original data that explores this increasingly prominent theme in aid and development.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Ireland, 2012. "Climate change adaptation," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(2), pages 92-110, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijdipp:v:11:y:2012:i:2:p:92-110
    DOI: 10.1108/14468951211241100
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. W. Neil Adger & Saleemul Huq & Katrina Brown & Declan Conway & Mike Hulme, 2003. "Adaptation to climate change in the developing world," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 3(3), pages 179-195, July.
    2. Jessica Mercer, 2010. "Disaster risk reduction or climate change adaptation: Are we reinventing the wheel?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 247-264.
    3. Julie Guthman, 1997. "Representing Crisis: The Theory of Himalayan Environmental Degradation and the Project of Development in Post‐Rana Nepal," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 28(1), pages 45-69, January.
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    2. Turhan, Ethemcan, 2016. "Value-based adaptation to climate change and divergent developmentalisms in Turkish agriculture," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 140-148.

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