Adaptation to Climate Change

Bol

ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHNAGE: Agricultural Ecosystems and Gender Dimensions is a product of over four years of painstaking and rigorous research by a multidisciplinary team. It brings together empirical knowledge on farmers adaptation to climate change in a developing country. The book is comprehensive as well as broad in its coverage. Detailed analysis of various dimensions of climate change on dryland and wetland agriculture as well as fishing sector is presented from developing countrys perspectives. The book is made of thirteen chapters. The first chapter provide the setting of the climate change research environment wherein the rational, objectives and scope of climate change investigation are discussed. Chapter two provides an update of climate change adaptation research while the third chapter discusses the framework for analyzing climate change. The authors used their rich backgrounds in social science, gender and agricultural economics, and extension research to present their experiences in collecting and analyzing climate change data in real life situation in chapter four. The empirical evidence of trends in climate change, climate change information sources to farmers and fisherfolks, their knowledge level and vulnerability to climate change impacts are discussed in chapters five, six, seven, eight and nine. Chapter ten of the book looks at the impact of climate variability and long term change while adaptation to climate change is discussed in the eleventh chapter. The final chapter contains actions for climate change adaptation in developing countrys setting. The actions for climate change adaption are not only useful for policy but are as well actionable. The book is, therefore, a must for all genuinely interested in addressing the growing problem of climate change impacts in the most vulnerable section of the world- the developing countries.

Bol Partner

The impacts of climate change are already being felt. This book argues that without care, adaptive actions can deny the deeper political and cultural roots that call for significant change in social and political relations if human vulnerability to climate change associated risk is to be reduced. The impacts of climate change are already being felt. Learning how to live with these impacts is a priority for human development. In this context, it is too easy to see adaptation as a narrowly defensive task – protecting core assets or functions from the risks of climate change. A more profound engagement, which sees climate change risks as a product and driver of social as well as natural systems, and their interaction, is called for. Adaptation to Climate Change argues that, without care, adaptive actions can deny the deeper political and cultural roots that call for significant change in social and political relations if human vulnerability to climate change associated risk is to be reduced. This book presents a framework for making sense of the range of choices facing humanity, structured around resilience (stability), transition (incremental social change and the exercising of existing rights) and transformation (new rights claims and changes in political regimes). The resilience-transition-transformation framework is supported by three detailed case study chapters. These also illustrate the diversity of contexts where adaption is unfolding, from organizations to urban governance and the national polity. This text is the first comprehensive analysis of the social dimensions to climate change adaptation. Clearly written in an engaging style, it provides detailed theoretical and empirical chapters and serves as an invaluable reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in climate change, geography and development studies.