Exploring Social Barriers to Community-level Adaptation Lindsey Jones Research Officer: Climate Change Adaptation and Water Policy Overseas Development Institute (ODI)

Characterising Limits and Barriers to Adaptation o Findings based on ODI Background Note- 8 week field research in Mid & Far Western Nepal o Explore the role of caste and gender in determining how individuals and collectives cope with climate hazard/variability/change Key Definitions: Barrier: ‘a political, social, or behavioural obstacle to change’ Limit: an absolute obstacle or barrier: i.e. one that is unsurpassable Institution: shared set of rules and norms which shape individual and organisational behaviour

What are the Limits and Barriers to Adaptation? Source: Jones, 2010

What are the Social Barriers to Adaptation? o Social barriers to adaptation are concerned with the social and cultural processes that govern how people react and adapt to climate hazard/variability/ change o Made up of, amongst others, normative (behavioural) and cognitive (psychological) restrictions that prevent appropriate adaptation o Relates to the organisation and structure of social institutions: Institutions dictate, to a large extent, the appropriate adaptation actions taken when faced with climate hazard/variability and change

Importance of rules and norms: may consist of various institutional layers For example: Behavioural environment of lower caste Hindu women in Mid-Western Nepal will consist of: o Local informal institutional ‘rules of the game’ that apply for women: unequal access to education in comparison to males; inability to participate in village meetings and politics; limited vocational opportunities: household duties o It will also include the appropriate behavioural norms that are afforded to the lower castes: restrictions in the ability to own land; restrictions in access to key resources; and ‘untouchability’; compliance with Hindu rituals, values, and beliefs; abiding by caste structures; and dietary restrictions. Each of these institutional layers will combine to determine, to a large extent, the individual’s behaviour, access, and entitlement in the face of climate stress and shock Exploring Social Barriers to Adaptation

o Restricted Entitlement: Caste inequalities in access and entitlement to key social safety nets, such as credit and the distribution of aid (both government and NGOs), as well as a reluctance to support members of the community outside particular castes. o Constrained Behaviour: The ways in which individuals react to climate stress will be shaped largely by what is deemed appropriate and acceptable behaviour within the cultural setting o Maladaptation: Difficulties/reluctance/lack of knowledge in changing from ‘traditional’ coping strategies Implications of social barriers on Adaptation: Lessons from Mid-Far Western Nepal

Policy Responses and relevance to CBA o Awareness, education and empowerment: Increase education and awareness in order to overcome social barriers, address institutional restrictions in behaviour and entitlement, and alter restrictive and maladaptive perceptions, norms, and cultural constraints- Ethics of cultural change o Combining and learning climate adaptation from parallel approaches: Many approaches deal with similar underlying drivers of vulnerability, and face same social barriers. o Supporting informed autonomous adaptation- the role of CBA: Social Barriers will impact at the local level. Most adaptation actions will be autonomous. Need for support of informed and logical autonomous adaptation, build on appropriate cultural norms, prevent restrictive institution and maladaptation

For more see ODI website: Lindsey Jones Research Officer: Climate Change Adaptation and Water Policy Overseas Development Institute (ODI)