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Political economy, poverty, and polycentrism in the global environment facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) for climate change adaptation

Sovacool, Benjamin K.; Tan-Mullins, May; Ockwell, David; Newell, Peter

Authors

Benjamin K. Sovacool

May Tan-Mullins

David Ockwell

Peter Newell



Abstract

Climate change adaptation refers to altering infrastructure, institutions or ecosystems to respond to the impacts of climate change. Least developed countries often lack the requisite capacity to implement adaptation projects. The Global Environment Facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) is a scheme where industrialised countries have disbursed $934.5 million in voluntary contributions to support 213 adaptation projects across 51 least developed countries. But how effective are its efforts—and what sort of challenges have arisen as it implements projects? To provide some answers, this article documents the presence of four “political economy” attributes of adaptation projects—processes we have termed enclosure, exclusion, encroachment and entrenchment—cutting across economic, political, ecological and social dimensions. Based on extensive field research, we find the four processes at work simultaneously in our case studies of five LDCF projects being implemented in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, the Maldives and Vanuatu. The article concludes with a discussion of the broader implications of the political economy of adaptation for analysts, program managers and climate researchers at large. In sum, the politics of adaptation must be taken into account so that projects can maximise their efficacy and avoid marginalising those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Citation

Sovacool, B. K., Tan-Mullins, M., Ockwell, D., & Newell, P. (2017). Political economy, poverty, and polycentrism in the global environment facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) for climate change adaptation. Third World Quarterly, 38(6), 1249-1271. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1282816

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 12, 2017
Online Publication Date Feb 13, 2017
Publication Date Feb 13, 2017
Deposit Date Apr 10, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Third World Quarterly
Print ISSN 0143-6597
Electronic ISSN 1360-2241
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 38
Issue 6
Pages 1249-1271
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2017.1282816
Keywords Political economy; political ecology; resilience; vulnerability; adaptive capacity; climate change
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/846161
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2017.1282816
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Africa Review on 13/02/2017, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436597.2017.1282816

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