ABSTRACT

Climate change is becoming a defining factor for communities in South Asia. Forming one-fifth of the world population, the region increasingly faces climate-induced disasters such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, cyclones etc. This region also has one of the world’s poorest people who struggle to cope with the rapidly changing climatic conditions. Agriculture still employs many people in the region, one of the worst-hit sectors. Agriculture will become untenable in some parts of the region due to climate change. Monsoon patterns have changed, and agriculture does not guarantee sustainable income for the vast majority. Many climate change adaptations have been initiated in the region in response to the threat of climate change. Scholars and practitioners feel that these adaptations must be transformative to be effective. In this paper, we examine eight such adaptations from three South Asian Countries – Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, from the lens of transformative adaptation. We found that no single adaptation initiative meets all the criteria for sustainable socio-ecological transformations. However, there is a significant overlap between different typologies of transformation as envisaged in the paper and literature. We conclude that the concept of socio-ecological transformation is new for South Asia, so integrating it into the programmes and policies is the need of the hour.

摘要

气候变化正在成为南亚社区的决定性因素。该地区人口占世界人口的五分之一，日益面临气候引发的灾害，如洪水、干旱、热浪、飓风等。该地区也是世界上最贫困的地区之一，他们努力应对迅速变化的气候条件。该地区的农业仍然雇用着许多人，这是受灾最严重的行业之一。由于气候变化，该地区某些地区的农业将变得难以为继。季风模式已经改变，农业并不能保证绝大多数人的可持续收入。为了应对气候变化的威胁，该地区已经启动了许多气候变化适应措施。学者和实践者认为，这些调整必须具有变革性才能有效。在本文中，我们从变革性适应的角度研究了来自三个南亚国家——孟加拉国、印度和尼泊尔的八种此类适应。我们发现，没有任何一项适应举措能够满足可持续社会生态转型的所有标准。然而，本文和文献中设想的不同类型的转型之间存在显着的重叠。我们的结论是，社会生态转型的概念对于南亚来说是新的，因此将其纳入计划和政策是当前的需要。本文和文献中设想的不同类型的转型之间存在显着重叠。我们的结论是，社会生态转型的概念对于南亚来说是新的，因此将其纳入计划和政策是当前的需要。本文和文献中设想的不同类型的转型之间存在显着重叠。我们的结论是，社会生态转型的概念对于南亚来说是新的，因此将其纳入计划和政策是当前的需要。