1. NWO, LANDac and IDS-Utrecht Conference Utrecht 24-25th November 2016 Climate Change Interventions as a Source of Conflict, Competing Claims and New Mobilities
Assessing adaptation and adapting assessment: how to better account for the specificities of climate change?
a PANEL prepared by
Abigail Fallot, M.-G. Piketty, F. Gérard, Martine Antona Nadine Andrieu, Marcela Brugnach, H. Rey-Valette, Safiétou Sanfo
As designed and promoted by experts in the framework of adaptation projects, sectoral strategies or national plans, a local adaptation response to climate change may become maladaptation if considered from another standpoint, in another context or after an unexpected event. The sustainability in time of adaptation responses depends on the possibilities to adjust them to different stakeholders and changing conditions. Having observed that adaptation actions regarding land use and agricultural practices are often assessed to support one-shot decisions, we propose to discuss and illustrate with concrete examples, how the assessment of local adaptation measures can better account for the specificities of climate change and land use issues. Such improvement would be achieved by : 1) accounting for the diversity of viewpoints and contexts according to which a measure results in desired adaptation or not; 2) nurturing a process with several entry points (adaptation or vulnerability for instance) and iterations between the definition of adaptation and its assessment; 3) addressing uncertainties of different types (on climate change and its impacts, on the adaptation response and its results) and the role of uncertainty on adaption and its assessment.
The objective of the panel is to bring together the concepts, lessons learnt and ideas on these three leads, and several emblematic cases of adaptation regarding land use and agricultural practices in Latin America and in Africa. For that matter, at least one main article on each lead (diversity of viewpoints, iterative processes, uncertainties) has been identified whose contribution will be highlighted and discussed in terms of improved assessment of on-going adaptation responses.
The panel will contribute to building together a companion assessment approach that aims for more consistency between principles and actions, to embody the principles of successful adaptation to climate change, and to improve the relevance and timeliness of adaptation responses beyond the perimeter of a project or a plan. Participation to this panel will be supported by CIRAD's Eval4A initiative (Evaluation d'Accompagnement, par les Acteurs, des réponses d'Adaptation au changement climatique dans l'Agriculture, which means: Companion assessment, by stakeholders, of adaptation to climate change in agriculture).

2. Adapting For example Diversification in agriculture (climate risks)
Reforestation (ecological regulating services)
Off-farm work (additional revenue offsetting losses in agriculture)
Definitions are very general
Typologies try to make up for the vagueness of the term but are difficult to use because of the transversality of many adaptation
Many definitions and typologies of adaptation try to make up for the blurry k

3. Adapting… or not Same examples
Diversification in agriculture (uncertainty on market opportunities)
Reforestation (many processes)
Off-farm work (farming unsustainable by itself)

4. Assessing adaptation For whom? Donors and policy-makers
What about the actors of adaptation?
What for?
Quantified argument for adaptation strategy
What about comparing different ways of implementing an adaptation strategy?
The criteria and their scope
Related to sustainability
What about the long term?

5. Eval4A
An assessment that aims at being useful to the actors of adaptation
A diversity of stakeholders and their viewpoints
On-going processes
Uncertainty-ies and new information within a long term perspective

6. The panel Viewpoints on adaptation Processes Uncertainty and you!
Nadine Andrieu
Safiétou Sanfo
Abigail Fallot
Marcela Brugnach
Martine Antona
Viewpoints on adaptation
Processes
Uncertainty
and you!
WHICH ADAPTATION?
HOW TO ASSESS ADAPTATION
ADAPTING ASSESSMENT