Work

The Role of Global Political Economy in Community‐Based Adaptation to Climate Change—Practitioners' Experience and Opinions

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Community‐based adaptation scholars and practitioners acknowledge that power asymmetries pose significant barriers to project impact. Nevertheless, there is little research on the role of the global political economy as the root cause of vulnerability. This study examines the phenomenon of Accumulation by Adaptation and utilizes it as a deductive framework for key informant interviews with practitioners. The objective is to investigate how the political economic processes are dealt with. Results indicate a partial shift towards privatization, commodification, marketization, and investment—prominent for carbon markets and consultancies. Four inductive categories offer an explanation on how interviewees deflect normative answers: a tendency towards pragmatic optimism, a prioritization on context specificity over general claims, community romanticism, and a lack of alternatives. Further research should investigate the different political economic processes as well as inductive categories in more detail to foster a pathway to confront and navigate the global political economy more thoroughly.

Source: Sustainable Development

DOI: 10.1002/sd.71057

Authors: Tom Selje, Alexandra Klepp, Boris Heinz

Institutions: Technische Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Hudara gGmbH

Language: English

Topic: Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,250