Analyzing the risk of Maladaptation: Implications for adaptation projects among development agencies
(2023) VBRM15 20231Division of Risk Management and Societal Safety
- Abstract
- The need for climate change adaptation is widely acknowledged and adaptation projects around the world are proliferating. Despite being one of the key actors for the implementation of adaptation projects, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding the potential maladaptive outcomes of such projects for international non-governmental organizations. This study analyses practitioners' perspectives on effective adaptation, maladaptation, and existing challenges and opportunities to provide recommendations for better practice. A qualitative descriptive case study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach, including 15 semi-structured interviews, a systematic literature review, and project document analysis. The research highlights the need... (More)
- The need for climate change adaptation is widely acknowledged and adaptation projects around the world are proliferating. Despite being one of the key actors for the implementation of adaptation projects, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding the potential maladaptive outcomes of such projects for international non-governmental organizations. This study analyses practitioners' perspectives on effective adaptation, maladaptation, and existing challenges and opportunities to provide recommendations for better practice. A qualitative descriptive case study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach, including 15 semi-structured interviews, a systematic literature review, and project document analysis. The research highlights the need for a holistic understanding of successful adaptation, with justice and equity as the central focus of adaptation planning. This study also identifies key challenges in addressing the risk of maladaptation, including funding mechanisms, insufficient contextual understanding, conceptual ambiguity, inadequate adaptive learning, and poor project practice. Additionally, this paper contributes to the emerging literature on maladaptation from practitioners' perspectives and provides recommendations and guiding questions to consider potential adverse outcomes of projects. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that maladaptation could be a useful tool to transform adaptation practices among organizations and ensure sustainable and effective adaptation projects. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- The need for adaptation is inevitable as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense due to anthropogenic climate change. Despite growing interest and increasing aid for adaptation projects, major knowledge gaps persist in addressing the risk of the adverse impacts of such projects. There has been growing empirical evidence of maladaptation, and a wider consensus among academics and practitioners that not all adaptations are good. While non-governmental organizations are the principal implementers of adaptation projects, the negative outcomes of these projects are not often studied.
This thesis investigates practitioners’ perspectives on adaptation actions and how they might lead to adverse impacts, so that they could be... (More) - The need for adaptation is inevitable as extreme weather events become more frequent and intense due to anthropogenic climate change. Despite growing interest and increasing aid for adaptation projects, major knowledge gaps persist in addressing the risk of the adverse impacts of such projects. There has been growing empirical evidence of maladaptation, and a wider consensus among academics and practitioners that not all adaptations are good. While non-governmental organizations are the principal implementers of adaptation projects, the negative outcomes of these projects are not often studied.
This thesis investigates practitioners’ perspectives on adaptation actions and how they might lead to adverse impacts, so that they could be reduced in future planning and implementation of adaptation projects among non-governmental organizations. Using a mixed-method approach by conducting 15 semi-structured interviews, project document analysis, and systematic literature review, this thesis identified multiple factors affecting adaptation pathways. They were sorted into eight main categories: contextual understanding, justice and equity, monitoring and evaluation, funding structure and mechanism, conceptual ambiguity, learning culture, holistic perspective, and project practice.
These results suggest that practitioners have a common understanding of the need for community-based, just, and equitable adaptation. However, there are challenges in existing practices, such as the funding mechanism, conceptual ambiguity, and narrow project practices, which eventually leverage the risk of maladaptive outcomes. Similarly, inadequate understanding of contextual situations and poor monitoring and evaluation were found to be the major factors determining maladaptive pathways.
Overall, this study contributes to the ongoing discussion on maladaptation literature by providing insights from practitioners at different levels and recommendations to critically assess organizations’ planning and implementation of projects, highlighting areas that may require improvement. The study also identified the need for further research exploring the concept of maladaptation to reshape adaptation practices, foster learning across all stakeholders, and ensure effective and sustainable adaptation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9124592
- author
- Sedhai, Bikram LU
- supervisor
-
- Mo Hamza LU
- organization
- course
- VBRM15 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Climate Change Adaptation, Maladaptation, Non-Governmental Organizations, Transformational Adaptation, International aid
- language
- English
- id
- 9124592
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-15 13:49:22
- date last changed
- 2023-06-15 13:49:22
@misc{9124592,
abstract = {{The need for climate change adaptation is widely acknowledged and adaptation projects around the world are proliferating. Despite being one of the key actors for the implementation of adaptation projects, significant knowledge gaps persist regarding the potential maladaptive outcomes of such projects for international non-governmental organizations. This study analyses practitioners' perspectives on effective adaptation, maladaptation, and existing challenges and opportunities to provide recommendations for better practice. A qualitative descriptive case study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach, including 15 semi-structured interviews, a systematic literature review, and project document analysis. The research highlights the need for a holistic understanding of successful adaptation, with justice and equity as the central focus of adaptation planning. This study also identifies key challenges in addressing the risk of maladaptation, including funding mechanisms, insufficient contextual understanding, conceptual ambiguity, inadequate adaptive learning, and poor project practice. Additionally, this paper contributes to the emerging literature on maladaptation from practitioners' perspectives and provides recommendations and guiding questions to consider potential adverse outcomes of projects. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that maladaptation could be a useful tool to transform adaptation practices among organizations and ensure sustainable and effective adaptation projects.}},
author = {{Sedhai, Bikram}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Analyzing the risk of Maladaptation: Implications for adaptation projects among development agencies}},
year = {{2023}},
}