Journal Articles

Shrimp and coastal adaptation: on the politics of climate justice March 2017. Kasia Paprocki & Saleemul Huq

Adaptation measures which do not first and foremost address power and equity are part of the problem, not the solution.


The Role of Microfinance in Household Livelihood Adaptation in Satkhira District, Southwest Bangladesh January 2017. Adrian Fenton, Jouni Paavola, Anne Tallontire

This journal article investigates the role of microfinance on climate change adaptation


Detecting climate adaptation with mobile network data in Bangladesh: anomalies in communication, mobility and consumption patterns during cyclone Mahasen Auguest 2016. Xin Lu, David J. Wrathall, Pål Roe Sundsøy, Md. Nadiruzzaman, Erik Wetter, Asif Iqbal, Taimur Qureshi, Andrew J. Tatem, Geoffrey S. Canright, Kenth Engø-Monsen and
Linus Bengtsson

This article used mobile phone network data to provide rich information on the behavior of people affected by cyclone Mahasen


Effect of salinity on food security in the context of interior coast of Bangladesh June 2016. Tanzinia Khanom

This article explored local people’s experience with salinity intrusion in interior coast of Southwest coast of Bangladesh.


A people-centred perspective on climate change, environmental stress, and livelihood resilience in Bangladesh June 2016. Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Kees van der Geest, Istiakh Ahmed, Saleemul Huq, Koko Warner

This study aims to understand how people in the study sites build resilience against environmental stresses, such as cyclones, floods, riverbank erosion, and drought, and in what ways their strategies sometimes fail.


Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation: evidence from two sites in Bangladesh May 2016. Hannah Reid & Sarder Shafiqul Alam

This research looks at two components of effective EbA: ecosystem resilience and the maintenance of ecosystem services. It assesses EbA effectiveness in terms of how such approaches support community adaptive capacity and resilience at two sites in Bangladesh: Chanda Beel wetland and Balukhali Village in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.


Bangladesh and the Global Climate Debate. April 2015. Masroora Haque and Saleemul Huq.

How can we deliver climate finance to those who need it most? We examine the choices countries make in financing low-carbon resilient development, focusing on experiences in Bangladesh. Case studies of two financial institutions, Central Bank of Bangladesh and Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (IDCOL), illustrate how core actors and incentives shape the delivery of climate finance, and how well-designed systems and carefully chosen intermediaries can provide lower-income communities with access to this finance.our analysis suggests some key principles and strategies for ensuring finance are inclusive and reach the poorest.


 Knowledge and adaptive capacityFebruary 2015, Casey Williams, Adrian Fenton and Saleemul Huq.
 

Climate change adaptation has, over the last decade, become an increasingly important topic in international policy discussions. In the research community, considerable work has been devoted to adaptation, and especially to understanding the factors that determine an individual, community, organization or nation’s ability to adapt to the effects
of climate variability and change. This research has produced important insights into the nature of adaptive capacity, and yet the concept remains difficult to bound and measure.


Resilience synergies in the post-2015 development agenda December 2015. Erin Roberts, Stephanie Andrei, Saleemul Huq and Lawrence Flint

Policymakers have committed to tackling loss and damage as a result of climate change across three high-profile international processes. Framing post-2015 development as a means to address loss and damage can synergize these agendas.


Coming full circle: the history of loss and damage under the UNFCCC January 2015. Erin Louise Roberts and Saleemul Huq

This paper chronicles the history of the rise of loss and damage in the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in bringing about this paradigm shift.


 Meaningful Measurement for Community-Based Adaptation, 2015, Lucy Faulkner, Jessica Ayers, Saleemul Huq.

Evidence indicates ongoing tensions over effective climate change adaptation measurement. Focusing on community-based adaptation (CBA), we stress that some of these tensions stem from a lack of transparency around the knowledge and learning needs of different stakeholders engaged in CBA investments. Drawing on a participatory assessment of stakeholder information needs and appropriate scales required for effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for CBA, this article presents a new M&E for CBA framework. The framework identi-fies four levels at which M&E is to be undertaken by CBA practitioners and associated project stakeholders: participatory M&E at community level; M&E at individual project level and comparison across multiple project sites; M&E of capacity of institutions implementing CBA; and M&E of community of practice. The proposed framework tailors its M&E approaches according to these levels. By moving beyond the existing dominant donor-driven M&E perspective, we argue that this more nuanced approach enhances the usefulness of M&E by ensuring that the accountability of stakeholders engaged in CBA landscapes is legitimate across multiple scales. The framework is applicable for M&E of general development practice, as well as the climate change adaptation and resilience remit.


  Livelihood resilience in the face of climate change. December 2014, Saleemul Huq et al.

The resilience concept requires greater attention to human livelihoods if it is to address the limits to adaptation strategies, and the development needs of the planet’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Although the concept of resilience is increasingly informing research and policy, its transfer from ecological theory to social systems leads to weak engagement with normative, social and political dimensions of climate change adaptation. A livelihood perspective helps to strengthen resilience thinking by placing greater emphasis on human needs and their agency, empowerment and human rights, and considering adaptive livelihood systems in the context of wider transformational changes.


 Mainstreaming community-based adaptation into national and local planning. November 2014, Hannah Reid and Saleemul Huq.

Community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change can be defined as ‘a community-led process, based on commu- nities’ priorities, needs, knowledge, and capacities, which should empower people to plan for and cope with the impacts of climate change’ (Reid, Cannon, Berger, Alam, & Milligan, 2009). Early CBA initiatives were generally implemented by non-government organizations, and oper- ated primarily at the local level. Emphasis was placed on applying ‘bottom-up’ participatory processes to identify the climate change problem and appropriate local responses to this problem (Ayers & Forsyth, 2009).


 Knowledge flows in climate change adaptation: exploring friction between scales. November 2014. Saleemul Huq and Clare Stott.

Effective mainstreaming of climate change adaptation (CCA) into related policy and development initiatives relies on comprehensive knowledge sharing between multiple stakeholders. In Bangladesh, community-based adaptation (CBA) practitioners are critical for facilitating communication among global, national and local scales. They can also take responsibility for finding appropriate channels through which to share relevant information. Interviews with CBA practitioners examine how knowledge is gained and transmitted between practitioners and other CCA stakeholders, focusing on the challenges experienced. These challenges represent friction in knowledge transmittal. Key to lubricating smooth knowledge flows is an understanding of the specific contexts within which knowledge is to be exchanged. At the professional level, multidisciplinary knowledge must be made accessible through provision of widely comprehensible content shared in an appropriate format. At the local level, understandings of trust, priorities and power relations are vital for ensuring relevance in the knowledge shared by professional stakeholders. Mobilizing appropriate knowledge can allow widespread comprehension of adaptation aims, enabling the mainstreaming of CCA and ensuring that resulting action is beneficial at the local level, for communities that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.


Commentary: Debt relief and financing of climate change action. August 2014, Adrian Fenton, Helena Wright, Stavros Afionis, Jouni Paavola and Saleemul Huq.

Slow progress in scaling-up climate finance has emerged as a major bottleneck in international negotiations. Debt relief for climate finance swaps could provide an alternative source for financing mitigation and adaptation action in developing countries. 


Climate resilient planning in Bangladesh: a review of progress and early experiences of moving from planning to implementation.  August 2014, Neha Rai, Saleemul Huq & Muhammad Jahedul Huq.

Bangladesh is one of the first least developed countries (LDCs) to develop a long-term climate change strategy, the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP). Two funds were set up after developing the BCCSAP, one using government resources (BCCTF) and the other using donor resources (BCCRF). This paper uses the “building blocks” framework to analyse changes that occur when progressing from planning to finance and implementation by comparing the BCCRF and BCCTF. This analysis reveals how governance enablers are influenced by political economy dynamics that steer funding decisions and implementation outcomes, and provides lessons for countries pursuing climate resilience.


  Commentary: Loss and Damage. November 2013, Saleemul Huq, Erin Roberts and Adrian Fenton

Loss and damage is a relative newcomer to the climate change agenda. It has the potential to reinvigorate existing mitigation and adaptation efforts, but this will ultimately require leadership from developed countries and enhanced understanding of several key issues, such as limits to adaptation.