scholarly journals Do National Policies Translate into Local Actions? Analyzing Coherence between Climate Change Adaptation Policies and Implications for Local Adaptation in Nepal

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13115
Author(s):  
Kumar Bahadur Darjee ◽  
Ramesh Kumar Sunam ◽  
Michael Köhl ◽  
Prem Raj Neupane
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Change Policy

National climate change policy and strategies set out a framework for planning and undertaking climate change adaptation as well as mitigation activities at the national and local levels. In this article, we examine the coherence and contradictions between national policies and plans, and its impacts on the implementation of adaptation measures at the local level. We undertook a content review of key climate change policy documents (n = 4) of Nepal. In addition, we conducted a field study in the Rajdevi Community Forest User Group (CFUG) located in the mid-hills of Nepal, which has developed and implemented a community level adaptation plan of action (CAPA). The field study involved household interviews, focus group discussions, and an in-depth analysis of CAPA implementation. The paper found that while policies are coherent for targeting highly affected areas and communities, they deviate from discerning an appropriate planning and implanting unit. The local adaptation plan of action (LAPA) considers the local government as an implementing unit, while the national adaptation program of action (NAPA) puts an emphasis on the local community groups. It suggests that the existing LAPA implementation breaches the provision of community-level institutions for the implementation conceived in the central framework. Despite little attention to promoting food security in climate change policy, through the CAPA, local communities have planned and implemented adaptation measures envisioned in the thematic areas identified in the climate change policy of Nepal: agriculture and food security; forests and biodiversity; water resources and energy; climate-induced disasters; public health; and urban settlements and infrastructure. Nevertheless, the CAPA is not institutionalized under government policies and the institutional framework as a local level implementing unit. So, the consensus for a local implementing unit in the policies has remained a key issue. We suggest identifying a suitable and acceptable unit for implementing climate change adaptation at the community level. Only if an appropriate implementing unit is identified can the policies be successful with a broader acceptance and desirable outcomes enshrined in the climate change policy.

Challenges of Implementing Climate Change Adaptation Policy for Disaster Risk Reduction – Implications from Framing Gap Among Stakeholders and the General Public –

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenshi Baba ◽  
◽  
Mitsuru Tanaka ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
General Public ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Adaptation Policy ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation Policy

Local governments are expected to play a significant role in making cities resilient, especially in reducing disaster risks and adapting to climate change. To obtain the relevant actors’ understanding and cooperation in implementing adaptation measures, it is essential that the potential framing gaps which may arise between them in terms of the impacts and risks of climate change be filled in. In this study, we have identified the framing gaps between stakeholders and the general public. We analyzed the questionnaire data obtained from the general public and the stakeholder data obtained by means of a case study carried out in Tokyo. We then integrated the results and derived three implications: i) it is effective to implement climate change adaptation policy that local governments obtain an understanding of multi-benefit of the the policy as well as climate change risk from the public through community-based groups, avocational groups and other organizations in the local community. ii) as for a firmly locked-in view of climate change policy that the policy means just reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, communication strategies for accurately explaining the relationship between adaptation measures and mitigation measures is required, and iii) as for the challenges of agenda setting for incorporating climate change risk into administrative plans, the department of the environment who is in charge of climate change policy is required to take a leadership in a coordinating function, for example, raising the awareness of other departments in terms of adaptation measures and providing them with scientific knowledge of climate change risk.

BUILDING URBAN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION STRATEGIES: THE CASE OF RUSSIAN ARCTIC CITIES

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai Bobylev ◽  
Sebastien Gadal ◽  
Valery Konyshev ◽  
Maria Lagutina ◽  
Alexander Sergunin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Adaptation Strategy ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation Strategies

AbstractRussian Arctic is a highly urbanized region, with most towns built in the Soviet era to facilitate extraction industries as well as provide and maintain military facilities. Global environmental and developmental changes, as well as national political decisions open up Russia’s Arctic to massive investment, industrial and socioeconomic development. How do Russian Arctic cities, towns, and municipalities reflect on new opportunities in terms of designing their climate change adaptation strategies at a local level? Starting with theoretical discourse on urban climate change adaptation strategy, this research examines state-of-the-art, challenges and trends in planning for adaptation measures in Russia’s Arctic industrial centers. Special attention is given to a comparative analysis of the cities’ climate change adaptation strategies. The role of civil society institutions and business community in the adaptation strategy planning process is explored. Moreover, conflict sensitive approaches to ensure participatory processes for designing and implementing adaptation measures are discussed. The field component of research is based on cities of Apatity, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Norilsk, Salekhard, Severodvinsk and towns of Monchegorsk, Nickel and Vorkuta. The study concludes that in spite of significant challenges identified, the total “balance sheet” of the Arctic cities’ efforts to enhance their adaptive capacities is quite positive: Russian northern urban settlements do their best in addressing existing challenges via planning for sustainability approach. However, there is more to do and municipalities should learn from one another’s experiences, as the different approaches can be helpful in developing adequate climate change adaptation strategies at the local level.

Part II Predominant Security Challenges and International Law, Environmental Security, Ch.30 Climate Change and Security

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gupta Joyeeta ◽  
Bosch Hilmer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Change Issue ◽  
Mitigation And Adaptation ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
Governance Institutions

This chapter describes the relationship between climate change and security. Successive reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have provided growing evidence of the impacts of climate change. Climate change can affect human well-being in terms of access to water, food, energy, and land, as well as in terms of risks to human health. Thus, climate change is seen as a driver of other socio-ecological problems worldwide. Climate change is also seen as a risk and threat multiplier, as it can exacerbate existing challenges faced by States, including poor governance institutions and poverty. However, climate change policy could potentially be a ‘threat minimizer’ if mitigation and adaptation measures are integrated into the development paradigm. Against this background, the chapter addresses the following issue: What is the nature of the security debate raised by the climate change issue and how is this being addressed within scholarly, policy, and legal fora? It looks at the different ways in which security has been defined in the literature and its diverse implications for law and policy.

scholarly journals New Policy Approaches for Increasing Response to Climate Change in Small Rural Municipalities

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1894
Author(s):  
Thomas Bausch ◽  
Karin Koziol
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
World Population ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Comprehensive Survey

Although nearly half of the world population lives in rural small municipalities, research on climate change policy at this level is widely neglected. Frequently climate change adaptation is not a policy field in these small municipalities, which is both a problem and a risk. This paper aims at analyzing the climate policy of small and medium-sized local authorities with specific focus on adaptation. It presents results from a comprehensive survey among approximately 400 small municipalities in Bavaria, Germany. The study analyzes the perception of climate change risks and the perceived need for response, the fields of action, the triggering and influencing factors in the political process, and the people and bodies involved. Our findings reveal that in most cases small municipalities do not follow a strategic and holistic approach for climate change adaptation. Especially among small and very small municipalities, the study shows a gap between discussing climate change and setting up mitigation or adaptation measures. In conclusion, we present three policy implications for increasing the adaptive capacity of small municipalities. These address the increase of awareness of adaptation needs, effective management structures and the mandatory integration of a climate strategy into the long-term local political agenda.

scholarly journals Resiliens i et globalt klimaperspektiv

2018 ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Mikkel Fugl Eskjær
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
And Function ◽  
Role And Function ◽  
Climate Change Resilience

Resilience has become a key concept in the global climate change discourse, not least in relation to climate change adaptation in the Global South. Taking Bangladesh as an example, this paper explores the role and function of resilience in one of the most climate vulnerable nations. The aim is to examine and critically discuss the popularity of resilience in recent climate change policy. The paper looks into the following aspects of climate change resilience: (i) the relation between resilience and the concepts of mitigation/adaptation; (ii) resilience as a re-description of existing socio-ecological means of adaptation; (iii) resilience as an example of the integration of climate change adaptation and development; (iv) resilience as a strategic resource in obtaining international climate change funding. The four aspects illustrate how the discourse of resilience is surrounded by rather diverse mechanisms and dynamics, which may account for the concepts popularity. It further indicates that while the concept promises a pro-poor and context sensitive approach to climate change resilience, it also risks effacing the principal differences between development and climate change adaptation.

Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Forsyth
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Economic Resilience ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Community Based Adaptation

Community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change is an approach to adaptation that aims to include vulnerable people in the design and implementation of adaptation measures. The most obvious forms of CBA include simple, but accessible, technologies such as storing freshwater during flooding or raising the level of houses near the sea. It can also include more complex forms of social and economic resilience such as increasing access to a wider range of livelihoods or reducing the vulnerability of social groups that are especially exposed to climate risks. CBA has been promoted by some development nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies as a means of demonstrating the importance of participatory and deliberative methods within adaptation to climate change, and the role of longer-term development and social empowerment as ways of reducing vulnerability to climate change. Critics, however, have argued that focusing on “community” initiatives can often be romantic and can give the mistaken impression that communities are homogeneous when in fact they contain many inequalities and social exclusions. Accordingly, many analysts see CBA as an important, but insufficient, step toward the representation of vulnerable local people in climate change policy, but that it also offers useful lessons for a broader transformation to socially inclusive forms of climate change policy, and towards seeing resilience to climate change as lying within socio-economic organization rather than in infrastructure and technology alone.

Climate Change Adaptation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Schmidt-Thomé
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Scientific Results

Climate change adaptation is the ability of a society or a natural system to adjust to the (changing) conditions that support life in a certain climate region, including weather extremes in that region. The current discussion on climate change adaptation began in the 1990s, with the publication of the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Since the beginning of the 21st century, most countries, and many regions and municipalities have started to develop and implement climate change adaptation strategies and plans. But since the implementation of adaptation measures must be planned and conducted at the local level, a major challenge is to actually implement adaptation to climate change in practice. One challenge is that scientific results are mainly published on international or national levels, and political guidelines are written at transnational (e.g., European Union), national, or regional levels—these scientific results must be downscaled, interpreted, and adapted to local municipal or community levels. Needless to say, the challenges for implementation are also rooted in a large number of uncertainties, from long time spans to matters of scale, as well as in economic, political, and social interests. From a human perspective, climate change impacts occur rather slowly, while local decision makers are engaged with daily business over much shorter time spans.Among the obstacles to implementing adaptation measures to climate change are three major groups of uncertainties: (a) the uncertainties surrounding the development of our future climate, which include the exact climate sensitivity of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the reliability of emission scenarios and underlying storylines, and inherent uncertainties in climate models; (b) uncertainties about anthropogenically induced climate change impacts (e.g., long-term sea level changes, changing weather patterns, and extreme events); and (c) uncertainties about the future development of socioeconomic and political structures as well as legislative frameworks.Besides slow changes, such as changing sea levels and vegetation zones, extreme events (natural hazards) are a factor of major importance. Many societies and their socioeconomic systems are not properly adapted to their current climate zones (e.g., intensive agriculture in dry zones) or to extreme events (e.g., housing built in flood-prone areas). Adaptation measures can be successful only by gaining common societal agreement on their necessity and overall benefit. Ideally, climate change adaptation measures are combined with disaster risk reduction measures to enhance resilience on short, medium, and long time scales.The role of uncertainties and time horizons is addressed by developing climate change adaptation measures on community level and in close cooperation with local actors and stakeholders, focusing on strengthening resilience by addressing current and emerging vulnerability patterns. Successful adaptation measures are usually achieved by developing “no-regret” measures, in other words—measures that have at least one function of immediate social and/or economic benefit as well as long-term, future benefits. To identify socially acceptable and financially viable adaptation measures successfully, it is useful to employ participatory tools that give all involved parties and decision makers the possibility to engage in the process of identifying adaptation measures that best fit collective needs.

Climate Change Adaptation to Heat Risk at the Local Level: A Bayesian Network Analysis of Local Land-Use Plan Implementation

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (02) ◽  
pp. 1750010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Donner ◽  
Nora Friederike Sprondel ◽  
Johann Köppel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Bayesian Network ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Heat Effects ◽  
Land Use Plan ◽  
German Cities

Urban and environmental planning plays an important role in climate change adaptation. In this area, most German cities have developed adaptation strategies, inter alia tackling growing urban heat effects. Still in question, however, is how these measures will be implemented at the local level. The goal of this paper is to assess the implementation probability of climate change adaptation measures via local land-use plans using a Bayesian Network approach. Six plans were analysed in-depth. We used expert interviews to estimate the likelihood of implementing climate-adapted measures. Whether a local land-use plan stimulates climate change adaptation depends on a combination of different factors, e.g. the setting of the borough councillor in exchange with an investor, in a next step the willingness of the plans’ creator to implement adaptation strategies as well as an existing environmental report.

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