Collective Learning through Climate Knowledge Systems: the Case of South Africa

Abstract

Climate knowledge systems capture how collective learning takes place in climate governance. The pragmatic-constructivist concept advances Emanuel Adler's cognitive evolution approach. It shows how different types of knowledge, communities of practice, power and feedback-loops connect systematically and influence processes of change in domestic climate governance. This paper develops the concept and tests two hypotheses in an exploratory way for the case of South Africa, (1) on the existence and impact of the knowledge system and (2) on the relevance of the knowledge type 'pragmatic knowledge' for advancing climate governance. The study has a mixed-methods design, drawing on data from an expert survey and a series of semi-structured interviews. The results confirm the existence of a knowledge system in South Africa that revolves around a small number of communities of practice. It has begun to provide a dynamic order and advances learning and change, but as yet communities of practice lack power to widely institutionalize new knowledge and practices.

Who Drives Change? Comparing the Evolution of Domestic Climate Governance in India and South Africa

“…This applies to parts of the general public as well. Differences according to specific types of knowledge exist (Never, 2012). A parallel increase in debate among and actions by governance actors points toward a collective learning process.…”

“…Adler developed it as a communitarian approach to explain collective learning and change in IR, based on constructivist thinking. I have extensively discussed and advanced his approach with a focus on knowledge and learning elsewhere (Never 2011). Here, I restrict myself to a brief description of the main elements relevant for the empirical actor-centered analysis, and contrast them to formal network approaches in the next subsection.…”

The Green Economy in South Africa: Global Discourses and Local Politics

“…It hosted the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development and the 2011 Durban COP17 climate change conference, and initiatives such as the LongTerm Mitigation Scenario attracted a great deal of attention nationally and internationally (Raubenheimer 2011). Prior to the 2009 Copenhagen COP15 conference South Africa made a high-profile commitment to reduce national emissions to 34% below business as usual levels by 2020 and 42% by 2025, dependent on finance, technology and capacity-building support from industrialised countries (Death 2011;Never 2012). This, if achieved, would enable South Africa's emissions 'to peak between 2020 and 2025, plateau for approximately a decade and decline in absolute terms thereafter' (RSA 2011a, 25), promising a significant transformation of one of the most carbon intensive economies in the world.…”