Abdul-Wahab Tahiru, Silas Uwumborge Takal, Samuel Jerry Cobbina, Wilhemina Asare · 5 authors
Northern Ghana faces acute climate vulnerabilities, yet adaptation pathways remain fragmented and poorly synthesized. This study systematically reviewed 15 peer-reviewed literature covering the Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, North East, and Northern regions to assess climate impacts on agro-pastoral communities, evaluate existing adaptation strategies, and explore policy implications. Findings reveal that erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, rising temperatures, and land degradation have undermined food security and livestock systems, while increasing pest outbreaks and intensifying farmer–pastoralist conflicts. Communities have responded through water harvesting, livelihood diversification (including agroforestry, shea processing, small livestock rearing, and seasonal migration), and reliance on indigenous knowledge systems. However, these strategies remain constrained by inadequate finance, weak infrastructure such as faulty hand pumps, gender inequalities, and limited integration with formal climate services. The review underscores the need for coherent policies that expand decentralized water infrastructure, scale climate-smart financing, institutionalize conflict-resolution platforms, and embed gender-responsive and indigenous approaches into national adaptation planning. Strengthening the interface between local innovation and formal governance is critical for building inclusive and scalable resilience across Northern Ghana’s agro-pastoral systems.
This research investigates the barriers to effective climate finance in Bangladesh, a Least Developed Country (LDC) highly vulnerable to climate threats such as sea-level rise, cyclones, salinity intrusion, and flooding. Despite receiving a significant share of international climate funds for LDCs, Bangladesh faces persistent challenges including complex access procedures, reliance on loan-based financing, institutional limitations, and centralized governance. The study examines Bangladesh's legal and institutional frameworks, including the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) and the Climate Change Trust Act 2010, alongside constitutional and judicial environmental commitments. Findings reveal systemic issues such as limited local participation, donor-driven management, and concerns over debt sustainability. Key recommendations include shifting towards grant-based finance, expanding legal standing for environmental litigation, decentralizing fund access to local governments, and enacting a dedicated Climate Change Act. The study underscores the imperative for Bangladesh to embed climate justice within its legal and financial systems and to advocate strongly in international climate forums. This research contributes valuable insights to the global discourse on climate justice and resilience for the most vulnerable nations.
Disaster risk, climate change, and unsustainable development are growing and interconnected challenges across Africa, where socio-economic vulnerabilities, environmental degradation, and institutional fragility converge to amplify risks. While the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change provide complementary global frameworks for tackling these complex issues, the true extent of their integrated implementation in the African context has remained largely unexplored. Existing research has tended to examine these frameworks in isolation, failing to capture their potential synergies and combined impact. This study fills this gap by assessing the integration of these global frameworks into national and sub-national planning and implementation processes in Africa. The study conducted a systematic review, complemented by a review of grey literature, covering the period from 2000 to 2024. The analysis combined qualitative thematic synthesis with quantitative assessment using MATLAB to identify trends, patterns, and integration gaps. Key funding reveals that while these frameworks are formally endorsed in Africa, their integration remains limited and inconsistent. Analysis shows that only 6.5% of Africa’s measurable SDG targets are on track, with 67.7% requiring acceleration and 25.8% off track for achieving the 2030 goals. Furthermore, fewer than 30% of African countries have adopted comprehensive strategies aligning DRR, climate adaptation, and SDGs. The study also confirms that fragmented financing, weak decentralization, and incompatible data systems persist as major barriers, limiting operational coherence and impact.
Through a careful analysis of official government documents such as national statutes, national agency memorandum orders, policy directives reports, and national and local plans, among others, pertinent to the Philippine Government's response to climate change mitigation and adaptation, the paper elucidated the policy directions of the country concerning climate change response. Aimed at proposing recommendations to enhance the current legal, organizational, and fiscal frameworks of the Philippine Government in its efforts to mainstream its climate change strategy, the paper identified some of the gaps and possible areas of improvement in the standing legal and structural constellations of policies employed in the country. It has been found by the research that though there have been actions related to the international mandate of promoting sustainable development, there are still areas that can be reformed and revisited if the government programs and institutions are to remain in fidelity to the commitments of the Philippines to combat the impacts and mitigate the effects of climate change. As the title suggests, the paper offers policy directions to strengthen government and academic institutions to better respond to this daunting challenge.References2013 Typhoon Haiyan: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. (n.d.). World vision. https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2013-typhoon-haiyan-facts.Asian Disaster Reduction Center. (n.d.). Information on disaster risk reduction of member countries. https://www.adrc.asia/nationinformation.php?NationCode=608&Lang=en.Asian Development Bank. (2012). Addressing migration and climate change in Asia and the Pacific: Final report. ADB.Blair, H. (2000). 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(2015). Climate change adaptation for health and social services. CSIRO Publishing.
The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2013-2014 was the most comprehensive analysis of anthropogenic climate change, its impacts, and potential responses. It concluded that climate change is “unequivocal” and human activities are the dominant cause. Avoidance of “dangerous” climate change will require sustained substantial reductions of emissions by mid-century and that net emissions decrease to zero before 2100. This paper describes, reviews and explains the place of tourism in AR5 and AR5’s relevance for tourism’s future, including impacts, adaptation, vulnerabilities, and mitigation. Tourism’s position in AR5 has strengthened, particularly with respect to the recognition of transboundary impacts, the sector’s contribution to climate change and its mitigation requirements. Major regional knowledge gaps persist. A lack of understanding of the integrated impacts of climate change and the effectiveness of adaptation strategies potentially hinders the development of resilient tourism operations and destinations. Uncertainties regarding tourist response to climate change impacts and mitigation policy impede predictions of tourism demand. The implications of different decarbonization pathways for the future of international tourism represent a key knowledge gap. The limited response of key tourism organizations to AR5 contributes to the risks climate change poses to the sector. Keywords: climate change; mitigation; adaptation; emissions; impacts; development Please note that the version provided here is the uncorrected proof version. For the authoritative version please go to the journal website: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2015.1062021#.VbMDLEV30os
Locally led adaptation recognizes that people closest to the effects of climate change, especially those facing structural marginalization, require the financing and decision-making power to ensure that adaptation investments reflect their priorities. Supporters of locally led adaptation can leverage monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) processes to balance power, promote mutual accountability, elevate local knowledge and priorities, and create value for local actors. This paper recommends a systemic shift toward MEL that is locally led, context-aware, and itself adaptive. It provides steps throughout the MEL cycle and specific approaches, methods and tools that promote local agency in the interest of more effective and equitable locally led adaptation interventions. It builds on the recommendations of the Global Commission on Adaptation to increase decentralization of adaptation finance to the local level, and aims to support implementation of the eight Principles for Locally Led Adaptation that were developed for the Commission.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015–30, calls for countries to strengthen disaster risk governance systems as a pathway to disaster risk reduction. This paper assesses the disaster risk governance system in Malawi, Sub‐Saharan Africa, to understand how the positioning of multiple actors is contributing to the creation of an environment generating either positive or negative outcomes. The study utilizes a landscape governance analytical framework grounded within network governance theory and predominantly relies on qualitative approaches. The study finds that non‐governmental organizations are delivering the majority of disaster risk management services in the country. However, there are shortfalls within and across key actors and institutions that are frustrating progress and could reverse isolated gains that the country has made. While central government is largely detached from community‐level implementation, its incapacity is worsened by politicians and local government actors who have positioned themselves to capture risk reduction finance. The paper, therefore, questions the rationale behind the urgency in decentralizing disaster risk governance before addressing critical challenges within the local government system. These findings, while specifically for Malawi, are also pertinent to other developing countries struggling to deal with the consequences of climate variability and change.
Adaptation finance is designed to help vulnerable populations withstand effects of climate variability and change. However, levels of vulnerability seldom determine finance distribution. Political and economic preferences of national and local government decision-makers tend to direct funding streams. This article takes an institutional approach to adaptation finance allocation by comparing decentralized and devolved local governance structures managing adaptation finance in Kenya before and after the Constitution of 2010. Prior to reforms, funding was directed through decentralized mechanisms operating within district councils and local authorities; recently, devolution of political, administrative, and fiscal decision-making to county governments coincided with piloting of new local adaptation funds. Theory suggests that devolution institutionalizes more participative decision-making and fairer allocations. Evidence suggests vulnerable communities are indeed more likely to access, design, and receive allocations of finance in devolved political systems.
The transnational nature of many environmental problems may demand international collaboration, but whether environmentalists supply such cooperation depends on political factors. Doherty and Doyle examine such processes at one of the world’s leading environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In Environmentalism, Resistance, and Solidarity, they use the case of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) to explore whether and how activists from North and South can develop “common responses” to global problems (p. 25).The book’s major contribution is its detailed look inside this major NGO. Doherty and Doyle were granted access by senior leadership, allowing them to amass a wide array of resources. They designed a survey of the NGO’s national chapters that allowed them to trace the flow of resources and information. Using site visits, observations of international meetings, and archival material, Doherty and Doyle offer a rich understanding of what it means to “think globally, act locally.”This close perspective allows them to explore how Northern and Southern chapters have shaped FoEI over time. David Brower founded the organization in the United States in 1969, but its center of gravity quickly moved to Western Europe, where national chapters employed a mix of tactics, including public demonstrations, expert research, and traditional lobbying. In the 1980s, the focus moved from mostly local environmental concerns to a more international perspective. The authors identify the jointly conducted rainforest campaign (orchestrated by the English and Malaysian chapters) as an important milestone in the NGO’s transnational campaigning.Doherty and Doyle explain how resistance from Southern chapters has pushed FoEI to embrace a more radical and less strictly environmental sensibility. In 2002, Equador’s national chapter resigned from FoEI, decrying the domination of Northern groups. This “bombshell” (p. 49) rocked the weak federation and led to a reexamination of its structure and mission.Three elements of the federation’s new mission are noteworthy. First, people and nature now receive equal treatment. Many Southern chapters work closely with indigenous communities on land rights and pollution, and FoEI has strategic alliances with La Via Campesina (a small farmers movement) and the World March of Women. Second, national chapters of FoEI do not agree on whether capitalism is sustainable. Latin American chapters adopt explicit critiques of neoliberalism, while European chapters prefer the more moderate language of economic justice; FoEI provided a forum for debate on these matters but found no resolution. Finally, FoEI is fairly united in resistance to corporate power. The different national chapters have abandoned the reformist agenda of corporate social responsibility and targeted specific corporate practices. In sum, of the many possible frames within the environmental movement, FoEI comes together around the frame of environmental justice.Doherty and Doyle argue that, compared to other major environmental NGOs like Greenpeace and WWF, Friends of the Earth is engaging in a more “emancipatory environmental politics” (p. 212) by providing an international forum at which North and South can meet. They argue that the weakness of the Friends of the Earth brand (most national chapters do not use that name) is actually a strength, allowing FoEI to build effective networks and set aside potentially distorting concerns over securing donors. Against these optimistic assessments, however, the authors hint at important questions about the efficacy of the group’s international structure. The forum model reveals conflicts but does not resolve them. The ties among national chapters are weak, so that no one chapter is challenged to alter its practices or redistribute its resources. Resources are still concentrated in Europe, which also has its own strong regional-level organization (FoE Europe). The capacity of the international secretariat is limited, and relatively few staff in the global federation work on international issues. In short, FoEI’s egalitarian and decentralized structure has created space for Southern voices but failed to challenge underlying inequalities.A more extensive assessment of FoEI’s political impact could have complemented the book’s insights into the group’s organizational structure. Doherty and Doyle explore two campaigns that are widely pursued across the FoEI federation, but the cases of food security and climate change reveal a diversity of strategies with mixed results. In food security, for example, the call for “redressing fundamental imbalances” (p. 159) is most needed but least apparent in the North, as Northern chapters largely neglect the question of rebuilding global structures of food production. Doherty and Doyle focus their attention inside the organization, but a full assessment of organization’s political achievements likely requires interviews and data gathered from the external targets and partners of FoEI.Those interested in international NGOs, Southern environmentalism, and organizational structure will all find valuable insights in this book. Problematically, a book that seeks to inform actual practice is being sold at a price point (more than US$95) that is inaccessible for most practitioners and individual scholars. A paperback release would increase its accessibility and readership.For Doherty and Doyle, Friends of the Earth today “remains a coalition of largely autonomous national organizations rather than a single global NGO, and the price it pays for this is possibly that its impact on international politics is therefore weaker than that of other more centralized NGOs” (p. 211). The key question is whether a structure that favors long-term engagement of Northern and Southern voices is a path towards the resistance politics that NGOs are often thought to embody.
In the last two decades a new form of social movement has spread internationally, characterized by political autonomy, direct action, radical change, and decentralized organization. In response to academic misunderstandings of these new movements, critical geographers have coined the term 'autonomous geographies' to allow effective documentation and communication of these struggles. This research uses autonomous geographies and related discourses to explore how autonomous political collective Camp for Climate Action Aotearoa contributes to the politics of climate change in New Zealand. As an active participant in Camp for Climate Action Aotearoa I have utilized a scholar activist epistemological framework throughout the research process, allowing successful navigation of these interconnected identities. Critical discussion of qualitative data gathered in semi-structured interviews with long-term participants indicates that Camp for Climate Action Aotearoa provides significant support to activists through community and affective solidarity. Camp for Climate Action Aotearoa uses direct action and direct democracy processes which contribute to everyday activist practices and express a non-hegemonic 'logic of affinity'. Data analysis indicates Camp for Climate Action Aotearoa contributes to the creation of alternative futures in the present. These alternative futures are necessary for healthy democracies. Physical climate camps are particularly significant in providing opportunities for creating these alternative visions. Climate Camp Aotearoa is a genuinely political collective that contributes to a repoliticization of climate change in New Zealand.