Contextual and interdependent causes of climate change adaptation barriers: Insights from water management institutions in Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

Research on adaptation barriers is increasing as the need for climate change adaptation becomes evident. However, empirical studies regarding the emergence, causes and sustenance of adaptation barriers remain limited. This research identifies key contextual causes of adaptation barriers in water institutions in the mountainous Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with representatives from twenty-six key governmental, non-governmental, academic and research institutions in the State with responsibilities spanning domestic water supply, irrigation and hydropower generation, environmental monitoring and research. It identified low knowledge capacity and resources, policy implementation gaps, normative attitudes, and unavailability and inaccessibility of data and information compounded with weak interinstitutional networks as key adaptation barriers. Although these barriers are similar to those reported elsewhere, they have important locally-contextual root causes. For instance, inadequate resources result from fragmented resources allocation due to competing developmental priorities and the desire of the political leadership to please diverse electors, rather than climate scepticism. The identified individual barriers are found to be highly inter-dependent and closely intertwined which enables the identification of leverage points for interventions to maximise barrier removal. For instance, breaking down key barriers hindering accessibility to data and information, which are shaped by systemic bureaucracies and cultural attitudes, will involve attitudinal change through sensitisation to the importance of accurate and accessible data and information and the building trust between different actors, in addition to institutional structural changes through legislation and inter-institutional agreements. Approaching barriers as a system of contextually interconnected cultural, systemic, geographical and political underlying factors enriches the understanding of adaptation enablers, thereby contributing to achieving a better adapted society.

Institutional Determinants to Climate Variability Adaptation by Smallholder Irish Potato Farmers in Rubanda District, South Western Uganda

“…Notably, in the financial year 2016/2017, the Natural Resource and Production and Marketing departments that are directly mandated to handle natural resource management and agriculture issues, were allocated 0.02% and 0.37% of the Total budget [44]. This is in tandem with [16] who reported that inadequate funding and budgetary allocation to the concerned departments was a big challenge to climate variability and change adaptation in Uganda which clearly agrees with the study findings.…”

Rural climate resilience through built-environment interventions: modified deliberation with analysis as a tool to address barriers to adaptive capacity

“…While some nationally or globally comprehensive studies on barriers exist (Bierbaum et al, 2013;Biesbroek et al, 2013) most research has been context specific (e.g., Azhoni et al, 2017;Carmin et al, 2012;Measham et al, 2011;Raymond & Robinson, 2013). This study sought to follow this trend of location-specific studies while filling a gap focusing on a unresearched geography.…”

“…With such localized planning, it is important to understand where gaps exist in community planning research. Additionally, barriers preventing adaptation planning and implementation have been noted by Beisbroek et al (2013) as 'potentially endless' (Azhoni et al, 2017;Cuevas, 2016;Eisenack et al, 2014) and highly contextual and interdependent (Eisenack et al, 2014). With such localized planning and context-dependent barriers an understanding of climate change adaptation planning in the understudied rural, non-agricultural-based context, is necessary.…”

Big Data Approaches for coastal flood risk assessment and emergency response

“…Inaccessibility to information and data was found to result from barriers including negative work culture and attitudes, resource limitations, and weak intra‐institutional networks. Inaccessibility to information and data was in turn found to propagate governance challenges and result in low implementation of adaptation options (Azhoni et al, ). This study draws attention to the context in which data is collected, stored, and made publicly accessible (or not) and highlights a wider set of challenges for attention before BDAs can realistically provide input to coastal flood risk assessment.…”