Global Warming and Natural Disasters

Effective Adaption

Current and future climate change necessitates urgent adaptation action, especially in semi-arid regions across Africa and India which are home to millions of people, many of whom are acutely vulnerable to climatic and non-climatic risks. While researchers, practitioners and funders converge to accept the urgency for adaptation, there is less agreement on what this adaptation should entail. What outcomes should adaptation deliver? Which options should be implemented? Who should benefit? Where adaptation should be prioritized? What rules and institutional arrangements should apply? In ASSAR, we examined what ‘effective adaptation’ can mean for different disciplines, perspectives and actors, and explored the implications of these different meanings for adaptation in practice. Our findings are based on a review of the theoretical advances in adaptation and related research, as well as primary case studies across semi-arid Africa and India.