Global environmental change III: Political economies of adaptation to climate change

Abstract

This progress report reviews research on climate change adaptation through a political economy lens, explaining the way ideas, institutions and interests enable diverse forms of adaptation practice. It reviews research on community-based adaptation, and spatial planning and investments in capital works for the purposes of adaptation. The analysis explains how practices that reduce vulnerability to climate change come into being, though it is as yet unclear if these existing political economies of adaptation are able to bring about the kind of (re)assembling of environments, technologies and practices over space and time necessary to sustain human needs and values through a dramatically changed climate.

Implementing local planetary health: Case study of Blue Mountains, Australia

“…This misalignment means that local governments might be challenged in convincing their community of their approach unless planetary health framing can serve as a dialogue between Council and community. For example, spatial planning is among local governments' most valuable tools for shaping the future of LGAs (Barnett, 2022), and BMCC has used it extensively to limit the urban footprint through its "Sustainable Development Threshold." Yet, unrestricted urban development (9%) was stressor ranked the lowest when respondents were asked about what concerned them and no one believed that limiting urban expansion should be prioritised as a way to recover from disasters.…”

“…This misalignment means that local governments might be challenged in convincing their community of their approach unless planetary health framing can serve as a dialogue between Council and community. For example, spatial planning is among local governments’ most valuable tools for shaping the future of LGAs (Barnett, 2022), and BMCC has used it extensively to limit the urban footprint through its “Sustainable Development Threshold.” Yet, unrestricted urban development (9%) was stressor ranked the lowest when respondents were asked about what concerned them and no one believed that limiting urban expansion should be prioritised as a way to recover from disasters. Also, by way of example, whereas advocating for affordable housing (31%) and developing more green spaces (18%) were the most often chosen means of improving resilience, limited capacity of local councils (14%) was another of the low‐ranked stressors, despite councils’ important role in pursuing both affordable housing and green space development.…”

“…Indigenous peoples and scholars (International Union for Health Promotion and Education [IUHPE], 2019; Redvers et al, 2022) draw upon relational, reciprocal, and non‐anthropocentric ways of knowing to point to alternative ontological foundations for understanding planetary health. Although they make critical contributions in their own right, they tie into broader deliberation about the ability for leading contemporary approaches for future‐shaping to move beyond incremental changes to human systems that affect the Earth’s health (Barnett, 2022; Woltering et al, 2019). Although these live debates are important for understanding the effectiveness of future‐shaping concepts in urging sustainability, planetary health—as one such concept—is relatively untested.…”

“…There is a complex constellation of factors that Australian local governments must navigate as they enact sustainability policy. They can include the influence of private capital on provision of public goods (Barnett, 2022), policy and funding frameworks of state and federal governments (Greenway, 2021), and operational realities of financial sustainability and expertise present (Dollery et al, 2006)—especially in a regime of an intensifying disaster continuum. Additional complexities are associated with the community, which is critically relevant for enabling the success of local government policy and the focus of this article.…”

A review of climate security risk assessment tools

“…This would increase their relevance and effectiveness. Environmental assessments fostering representation and empowerment of underrepresented groups enhance the legitimacy and effectiveness of decision-making (Barnett, 2022; Busby, 2018; Kowarsch, 2016; Kowarsch et al, 2016; Medina et al, 2024; Sitati et al, 2021). In particular, consideration of local and/or indigenous perspective of the natural environment improves the climate security outcomes (Amador-Jimenez et al,2024; Nalbo, 2024).…”