Thread by @schipper_lisa

I've been asked by many journalists about the concept of #maladaptation in the new #WGII #IPCC report out last week. Since this is a topic that I have been working on for a while, here comes a brief thread with a bit of history and some resources for further insights 🧵👇🏼

Unlike some claims, maladaptation is not a 'new' concept for the #IPCC. In fact, in my 2004 PhD I cite #WGII's Third Assessment Report - chapter 20 by Smit et al is the place to go for that background. Bob Kates and Tony Oliver-Smith are others who have written on #maladaptation

Maladaptation in its most basic form refers to when adaptation strategies go wrong ('mal'). This means that people become more sensitive or exposed to climate change such as closing off opportunities for income-generation or creating new hazards. ++ examples below, 1st reading👇🏼

We brought together a number of adaptation thinkers for a @RockefellerFdn Bellagio conference in 2012 to identify a good definition of maladaptation. A paper summarising these discussions was led by Alex Magnan. Find it here: doi.org/10.1002/wcc.409

Initially, maladaptation referred to adverse impacts in the location where the strategies were implemented, but the definition has become broader. I explored this here: doi.org/10.1016/j.onee…

There have been some fantastic contributions on maladaptation, & you must not miss the paper by Juhola et al. They advance thinking & outline three types of maladaptation: rebounding vulnerability, shifting vulnerability & eroding sustainable development doi.org/10.1016/j.envs…

Another must-read is @pantwiagyei et al's look at how #maladaptation takes place in unfunded adaptation strategies - that is, people make decisions to adjust to lack of rainfall, for example, but this makes them more vulnerable to climate change.
doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.…

Interestingly, a lot of the work emerging recently points to how lack of inclusive planning leads to maladaptation. Eg @MMikulewicz work in Sao Tome & Principe showed how only those who owned land were included in adaptation projects, thereby marginalising the landless = poorest

We summarised a number of these examples in a paper led by @sirieriksen7. The paper outlines multiple examples of #maladaptation from around the world. You will find here a rich source of additional papers on adaptation projects that don't work out. doi.org/10.1016/j.worl…

A briefer version of these points is carbonbrief.org/guest-post-why… and also here developmentresearch.eu/?p=889

Maladaptation is very typically the outcome of poor planning, but also misunderstanding the way the climate is changing. It can be found all over the planet, not just in the Global South. But when local people are not included in planning, there is a higher risk of it happening.

With more funding for adaptation the risk is that we spend a lot of money actually making people MORE vulnerable to climate change. The major knowledge gap on #maladaptation is how to identify it before it happens so that projects can adjust rather than with hindsight only./

Oops no my brain is wrong! It was Chapter 18 - ipcc.ch/site/assets/up…

Of course! I have forgotten to mention the work that @L_P_Jones @lizcarabine and I did to try to identify a framework for evaluating #maladaptation. It can be found here papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

ALSO: In case you cannot access any of the #maladaptation papers mentioned here, please write directly to the authors who will be more than happy to share them and any others.

Adding on here to consolidate some additional fantastic threads, via @AndrewSPotts. See his thread here:

https://twitter.com/AndrewSPotts/status/1500168127065247753

Worth calling out the thread by @timmcdonnell that highlights examples from Chapter 16 of #WGII #IPCC.

https://twitter.com/timmcdonnell/status/1498278860965974027

I also want to point to really interesting work done on the Politics of Maladaptation by Glover and Granberg (cannot find them on twitter). doi.org/10.3390/cli905…

And if you are interested in other #IPCC authors working in this space, don't miss @_chandnisingh, @mkvaalst, @CoughlanClimate, Diana Reckien & Alexandre Magnan (the latter two not on Twitter)