Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Community-based adaptation (CBA), a decentralized bottom-up climate
planning approach, has become increasingly important in the corresponding
literature and in practice. CBA is a significant part of the debate of how to
create and provide sustainable and adaptive solutions to the negative effects
of climate change. Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPA) in Nepal is the
first national legislation implementing CBA on a broader scale. By giving
communities an opportunity to participate in local climate planning processes,
LAPA aims to better incorporate site-specific climate-, geographical,
and socio-economic realities into the development of responses to climate
risk and climate change. LAPA therefore intends to recognise local people as
active agents to foster their resilience and adaptive capacity. This study examines
the benefits and limitations of LAPA to gain new insights for future
CBA-based climate adaptive projects. Focus was given on how participatory
LAPA is in practice and whether implemented projects help to reduce a community’s
climate vulnerability. Data collection occurred in four districts of
Nepal (Kathmandu District, Ramechhap, Dang and Chitwan) and generated
24 interviews using qualitative research methods. The findings reveal that
much LAPA-planning does not incorporate all stakeholders as specifically
local participation is limited to labour only. Hence, crucial site-specific socioeconomic
realities are missing in the planning and implementation process.
The study shows that realizing the objectives of CBA in the case of LAPA is
not likely to be a straightforward effect of participatory policies, but requires
deeper institutional changes to bring about more substantive local participation.
At the same time, attention to the wide range of challenges that households
face, both climatic and non-climatic, is needed to address the conditions
that make households vulnerable in the first place. Initiatives based on LAPA
aiming to address these factors are already being implemented in Nepal.