TSITICA project highlighted at Adaptation Futures 2023

TSITICA researchers co-host session at the Adaptation Futures Conference in Montreal, highlighting key themes within the climate change adaptation arena.

The Adaptation Futures Conference is an international conference devoted to climate change adaptation, bringing together researchers, policymakers, practitioners, industry representatives and communicators. The conference allows participants to present their work on adaptation, discuss emerging and cutting-edge issues, learn what others are doing, and build networks.

The 7th edition of Adaptation Futures (AF2023) was held from 2-6 October 2023, with the main hub of the conference located at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, Québec, Canada. An innovative format facilitated the participation of a wide range of stakeholders around the world.

More information on the conference, programme, sessions and masterclasses can be found on the Adaptation Futures website.

Highlighting the role of local knowledge systems in climate change

TSITICA researchers,  Sheona Shackleton and Nadine Methner, co-hosted Session 969 - The role of local and indigenous knowledge systems in climate change adaptation: Case studies. The title of their presentation being, "In search of equity in place-based climate change adaptation projects (TSITICA): Insights from Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa."

Session abstract

With justice and equity lying at the heart of sustainable development, it is essential to consider what is needed to achieve fairness and reduce vulnerability when tackling one of the greatest global challenges of our time – climate change. In this presentation, we consider how placed-based climate change adaptation projects can better promote equity and justice, while reducing poverty, inequality, and climate risk, by understanding: 1) whether and how recognitional and procedural equity have been included in the design and implementation of projects, thus ensuring that the voices and needs of marginalised people are acknowledged and accounted for; and 2) who benefits, doesn’t benefit, or bears burdens from adaptation projects across different social groups (distribution equity). To guide our research, we used an equity framework that builds on well-known social justice framings. We undertook online interviews with over 35 practitioners involved in different place-based adaptation projects across South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya. Our engagements were designed to unpack the ways in which equity concerns are included in project design and implementation, as well as the contextual (across scales) and project-related factors that hinder or enable inclusive climate action. In this talk, we share key findings from our analysis, elaborating on the challenges and trade-offs that emerged, as well as how projects were able (or not) to support equitable adaptation in their approaches, design, and implementation.

Click here for the full conference programme and more details on each session

Original article source: https://arua-cd.org/arua-cd-at-adaptation-futures-2023/