This practicum examines how planners can exchange tacit knowledge about climate change adaptation, in order to create better communities and to further the profession. Two regions of British Columbia - the Lower Mainland and the Kootenay’s - provided case studies to determine if and how tacit knowledge was exchanged. These two regions are provincial leaders in climate change adaptation, yet their constituent communities are at different stages of adaptation. Through a literature review and case study analysis - featuring key informant interviews, the practicum demonstrates that tacit knowledge is indeed being exchanged within the regions, yet not as strongly between them. Recommendations are offered aiming to improve tacit knowledge exchange within the profession of planning – among planners and through their professional planning Institutes, and for such exchange to be better supported by planning education.

Over the last decade climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been promoted as a new approach to deal with the impacts of climate change on agriculture while simultaneously trying to mitigate emissions and improve food security. This approach suggests that these multiple goals – adaptation, mitigation and food security - could be achieved simultaneously by adopting specific technologies. At its core, CSA describes agricultural interventions that can 1) sustainably increase agricultural productivity, and hence food security and farm incomes; 2) help adapt and build resilience of agricultural systems to climate change; and 3) reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture (including crops, livestock and fisheries). The main focus of CSA is on smallholder producers, many of whom are already marginalized by existing food production systems, their livelihoods increasingly affected by changes in climate. Unsustainable agricultural practices are common amongst these groups. However, there is an increasing awareness of the need to sustain the natural resource base in order to maintain or increase productivity. Malawi is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with chronic food insecurity affecting large parts of the population, and climate variability increasingly noticeable across the country. Agriculture is practiced predominantly on small holdings, with more than 80% of the population depending on land-based income. In this context, the introduction of climate-smart projects and technologies with the potential to deliver triple wins could improve farmers’ incomes and food security, increase their resilience to climate change impacts, as well as deliver global benefits via climate change mitigation. This dissertation looks at the adoption levels of various, potentially climate-smart agricultural practices by smallholder dairy farmers in Malawi, with the view of establishing the current level of engagement in these practices, and identifying the factors that influence adoption. Results show the importance of the socio-economic and institutional factors in explaining the probability of adopting different agricultural practices. In particular, the findings indicate the importance of well-informed and targeted extension support as one of the major enabling factors for the adoption of improved practices. The findings further show that farmers’ climate change perceptions play a key role in the adoption of climate-smart practices. Overall, the thesis concludes that a number of currently unsustainable dairy farm management practices could be improved upon to achieve double or triple-win benefits within a reasonably short timescale, many of them at low cost. In addition, limited adoption rates of several sustainable practices that are already in place could be improved with the provision of more training, knowledge sharing and extension advice and support on the benefits of these practices. However, the thesis argues that before implementing projects and policies that promise triple wins, a careful evaluation of benefits, including mitigation, adaptation, and food security, and risks must be carried out, as triple wins will not be achievable in many cases due to the local and external constraints including lack of skills and knowledge, and lack of funding. In this respect, whether climate-smart agriculture could become a globally sustainable approach to the climate change problem in agriculture, remains to be seen.

This research investigates the linkages that exist between climate change impacts, adaptation and information and communication technologies (ICTs) within developing country livelihoods. The analysis is based on an original conceptual framework that explores the notion of 'e-resilience' as a key property through which ICTs may strengthen the capacity of vulnerable systems to adapt and potentially transform in the face of increasing climate change impacts and uncertainty. By drawing key principles from the sustainable livelihoods framework, new institutionalism and Sen's capabilities approach, and based on a critical realist view of the world, the research provides a novel approach to the understanding of ICTs' role in contexts vulnerable to climate change. Based on the experience of Colombia's coffee producers, the analysis demonstrates that ICTs can contribute to the ability of vulnerable livelihoods to adapt to the impacts of climate change and variability through improved short-term informational efficiency and knowledge sharing, and long-term decision-making effectiveness, capacity building and behavioural change. The analysis explores the main factors that enable or constrain ICTs' contribution to the implementation of adaptive actions, arguing that the extent and impact of those contributions are best understood through the concept of e-resilience. As an increasingly relevant property of vulnerable systems, e-resilience integrates foundational (robustness, self-organisation and learning) and enabling attributes (redundancy, rapidity, scale, flexibility, diversity and equality) that may have been overlooked from a traditional 'asset-based' approach, while allowing a systemic (multi-scale/multi-temporal/multi-stressor) understanding of the context within which developing country stakeholders operate. The research findings reveal numerous linkages between ICTs' role and resilience building, suggesting that the e-resilience sub-properties strengthen the ability of vulnerable systems to enact adaptation actions, and better cope with the process of change and increasing uncertainty associated with (but not limited to) climate change. The analysis shows that, while ICT tools have not been explicitly integrated into national or sectoral climate change adaptation strategies, they are playing an increasing role in the adaptive capacity and resilience of developing country livelihoods. The study concludes by recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the e-resilience approach, providing recommendations to facilitate its use in development practice and suggesting key areas for future research.

Marginal communities living in semi-arid Namibia face significant challenges in sustaining rural livelihoods due to environmental degradation and poverty. Research has shown that livestock farming depends on rain-fed agriculture among other things, thus making communal farmers vulnerable to climate change in the future. Given this, it often makes sense for farmers to sell their livestock and explore alternative livelihood options. However, farmers in northcentral Namibia are reluctant to sell their livestock despite a noticeable temperature increase and rainfall decrease over the past forty years. This study analyses the barriers to selling livestock in the face of a drought in the Omusati region of north-central Namibia. The study was carried out in three villages namely Omahanene, Okathitukeengombe and Oshihau, in the north-central Omusati region of Namibia. Household livestock distribution, perceptions of climate change, barriers to the sale of livestock and alternative livelihood strategies from other semi-arid regions were explored among 30 households using semi-structured household interviews and a systematic literature review. Results from the study indicate that 80% of communal farmers predict future droughts in the region and able to recall climate change through frequent droughts, increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall. Farmers claimed that these changes have affected their livestock numbers. However, several barriers including cultural beliefs, lack of financial security, access to information, lack of institutional support and lack of efficient markets hinder livestock sales. The study suggests that the imminent impact of climate change coupled with the reluctance to sell livestock will threaten food security in the future. The study argues that rural livelihood diversification strategies are critical to safeguarding sustainable livelihoods in the future, including those of communal livestock farmers specifically. Additionally, policy recommendations like access to credit through public and private funding, access to markets by providing transportation facilities, encouraging market participation by improving quality of grazing lands, increasing water availability, building veterinary facilities, employing extension officers and access to information through reliable channels can help build a sustainable future in the face of climate risks.

Africa, especially tropical West Africa, is increasingly affected by climate change making it one of the most vulnerable regions in the world. Developing countries, including Burkina Faso, are severely hit due to their high exposure to climate stress and low adaptive capacity. Adequate climate change adaptation policies and plans are therefore essential to increase their resilience. This master thesis research project focuses on the science-policy interface for climate change adaptation in Burkina Faso, more precisely on how scientific information on climate impacts and adaptation is produced and integrated into policy formulation at a national level. The document analysis and the interviews conducted with ministerial technical units, independent academics, research agencies, civil society organisations and technical and financial partners confirm that climate change is a major threat to Burkina Faso and its impacts are increasingly being felt across numerous sectors. The recently elaborated National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) prove that adaptation has gained importance on the political agenda. However, the scientific basis of these documents and other sectoral development policies remains weak. It was identified that this was mainly due to a lack of financial and human resources, gaps in existing data and difficult access to this data. In addition, there is a need for increased awareness on the issue of climate change across all levels, institutionalisation linking researchers and policy-makers, capacity building of the stakeholders and dissemination of scientific information with the support of knowledge brokers. Reinforcing this science-policy interface would allow Burkina Faso to anticipate the impacts of climate change and plan adaptation measures accordingly, ultimately reducing the risks its population is exposed to. / Afrika, särskilt tropiskt Västafrika, påverkas allt mer av klimatförändringar vilket gör det till en av de mest utsatta regionerna i världen. Utvecklingsländerna, inklusive Burkina Faso, drabbas hårt på grund av deras höga exponering för klimatbelastning och låg adaptiv kapacitet. Lämpliga anpassningsstrategier och planer för klimatförändringar är därför avgörande för att öka deras motståndskraft. Detta examensarbete fokuserar på vetenskapspolitiska gränssnittet för anpassning av klimatförändringar i Burkina Faso, närmare bestämt hur vetenskaplig information om klimatpåverkan och anpassning är producerat och integrerat i politisk formulering på nationell nivå. Dokumentanalysen och intervjuerna med ministeriska tekniska enheter, oberoende akademiker, forskningsorgan, civila samhällsorganisationer och tekniska och finansiella partner bekräftar att klimatförändringarna utgör ett stort hot mot Burkina Faso och dess konsekvenser blir alltmer känt inom flera sektorer. De nyligen utarbetade nationella anpassningsplanerna visar att anpassningen har fått betydelse för den politiska agendan. Den vetenskapliga grunden för dessa dokument och andra sektors utvecklingspolitiska åtgärder är dock fortsatt svag. Det visade sig att detta främst berodde på brist på finansiella och mänskliga resurser, luckor i befintliga data och svår tillgång till dessa uppgifter. Dessutom finns det behov av ökad medvetenhet om klimatfrågan på alla nivåer, institutionalisering som kopplar forskare och beslutsfattare, aktörernas kapacitetsuppbyggnad och spridning av vetenskaplig information med stöd av kunskapsmäklare. Förstärkning av detta vetenskapspolitiska gränssnitt skulle göra det möjligt för Burkina Faso att förutse klimatpåverkanens konsekvenser och planera anpassningsåtgärder i enlighet därmed, och i sista hand minska riskerna som befolkningen utsätts för.

Entrepreneurship-based factors to foster climate adaptation among Indigenous communities Indunil Prabodha Dharmasiri Ebawala Pitiyalage ABSTRACT (ACADEMIC) This thesis investigates the factors that cause the emergence of entrepreneurship to foster climate adaptation responses among Indigenous communities. These factors can influence, enhance, or degrade the potential for entrepreneurship in the climate change adaptation context. While these factors are well-studied for non-Indigenous communities, they remain understudied for Indigenous communities' contexts. The objectives of this study are to identify the factors that shape the emergence of entrepreneurship to foster adaptive responses to climatic risks faced by Indigenous communities and to assess the identified entrepreneurship-based factors through a case study. I followed a two-stepped methodological approach through a systematic literature review and a case study analysis among Sri Lankan Indigenous 'Vedda' communities. The systematic review included 65 peer-reviewed articles from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, and the case study analysis involved 90 in-depth semi-structured interviews with nine Indigenous communities in Sri Lanka. I found 15 entrepreneurship-based factors that shape the emergence of entrepreneurship to foster climate adaptation. I categorized those 15 factors under five key themes. They are learning (crop failure, learning, prior entrepreneurial experience), institutions (social networks, institutional support, overcoming the agency-structure paradox), place (resource (un)availability, location, environmental risk factors), capacity (access to information, entrepreneurs' psychological traits, access to capital) and strategy (business characteristics, product range, market characteristics). I applied these factors to the Sri Lankan Indigenous community context and assessed them through case studies. My study frames the potential of entrepreneurship to foster climate adaptation among Indigenous communities. Further, the study provides insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in making climate change adaptation-related Indigenous policies and broader-level applications, such as the development of new adaptation measures to reduce the risks of climatic changes through entrepreneurship. / Master of Science / Entrepreneurship-based factors to foster climate adaptation among Indigenous communities Indunil Prabodha Dharmasiri Ebawala Pitiyalage GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT My study explores how entrepreneurship occurs to support Indigenous communities in adapting to the challenges and risks posed by climate change. I studied the factors that either help or hinder the emergence of entrepreneurship aimed at adapting to climate change. While these factors are well-studied in non-Indigenous communities, there is not much research on these factors focused on Indigenous contexts. My study aimed to identify the factors that support the emergence of entrepreneurship as an adaptive response to climate change and to apply those factors to the Sri Lankan Indigenous communities context. I used two main methods in this study. Firstly, I conducted a systematic review of the literature to explore documented knowledge on this topic through databases such as Web of Science and Scopus. Secondly, I conducted in-depth interviews with Indigenous community members ('Veddas') in Sri Lanka. This research identified 15 key factors that influence the emergence of entrepreneurship in response to climate change. I grouped these factors into five key themes: learning (crop failure, learning, prior entrepreneurial experience), institutions (social networks, institutional support, overcoming the agency-structure paradox), place (resource (un)availability, location, environmental risk factors), capacity (access to information, entrepreneurs' psychological traits, access to capital) and strategy (business characteristics, product range, market characteristics). I applied these factors to Indigenous community context in Sri Lanka and assessed those factors through detailed case studies. The findings of my study highlight the potential for entrepreneurship to support Indigenous communities in adapting to climate change. This research has important implications for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to develop policies and measures to promote entrepreneurial activities within Indigenous communities.

Extremväder som värmeböljor och skyfall blir alltmer framträdande till följd av ett förändrat klimat och orsakar stora belastningar på samhället. Värmeböljor bidrar till en rad olika hälsoproblem samtidigt som skyfall och förhöjda havsnivåer också skapar stor belastning på samhällets infrastruktur och bebyggelse. Sjukdomar, skogsbränder, brist på elektricitet, mat och vatten är exempel på problem som skapas till följd av klimatförändringarna. Detta innebär stora utmaningar för Sveriges kommuner, som är ansvariga för att arbeta med en stor del av dessa frågor genom den fysiska planeringen. Denna studie undersöker Ydre kommuns förutsättningar för att genomföra ett effektivt klimatanpassningsarbete sett till vilka barriärer kommunen står inför, vilka drivkrafter som finns, intervjupersonernas syn på klimatrisker och möjliga vägar framåt i klimatanpassningsarbetet. Fem semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med representanter för kommunstyrelsen, barn- och utbildningsförvaltningen, socialförvaltningen, ekonomiska sektorn och tekniska sektorn. Resultaten visar på att kommunen är i uppstarten av sitt arbete och har mycket kvar att göra. Klimatanpassningsfrågan har hamnat lite i skymundan, dels p.g.a. att varje tjänsteperson har breda arbetsuppgifter, där man tenderar att prioritera de kommunala kärnfrågorna, men också beroende på bristande resurser och intressekonflikter om hur resurserna ska fördelas. Närheten mellan tjänstepersonerna i kommunen innebär möjligheter för en god samverkan och att varje röst blir mer hörd, men samtidigt läggs ett större ansvar till varje tjänsteperson. Resultatet visar på att det finns en viss kunskapsbrist inom klimatanpassningsfrågan då klimatanpassning vid flera tillfällen blandades ihop med mitigering av intervjupersonerna. Att anställa en klimatanpassningssamordnare eller att ge en nuvarande anställd rollen som klimatanpassningssamordnare skulle tillföra en tydlighet i klimatanpassningsarbetet, och skulle också underlätta organiseringen samt effektivisera arbetet. / Extreme weathers such as heat waves and heavy rain are becoming increasingly prominent because of a changing climate and cause great strains on the society. Heat waves contribute to several different health problems, while heavy rain and rising sea levels also create a great strain on society ́s infrastructure and buildings. Diseases, bush fires, and shortages of electricity, water and food are examples of problems created because of climate change. This entails major challenges for Sweden ́s municipalities that have a part of the responsibility for dealing with these issues through the spatial planning. This study examines Ydre municipality ́s prerequisites for carrying out effective climate change adaptation work set to which barriers the municipality face, which driving forces there are, the interviewees approach on climate risks and possible ways forward. Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from the municipal executive committee, the children- and education department, the social services department, the economic sector and the technical sector. The results show that the municipality is at the start of its work and has a lot left to do. The issue of climate change adaptation has been a bit overshadowed, partly because each official has broad tasks, where one tends to prioritize the municipal core issues, but also due to lack of resources and conflicts of interest about how the resources should be distributed. The closeness between the officials in the municipalities can make opportunities for a good collaboration and that each voice is heard more, but at the same time, a greater responsibility is added to each official. The results show that there is a certain lack of knowledge in the climate adaptation issue as climate adaptation on several occasions was confused with mitigation of the interviewees. Hiring a climate adaptation coordinator would add clarity to the climate adaptation work and would ease the organization as well as streamline the work.

There is evidence that hotels are the highest energy use buildings of the tertiary sector in Europe and internationally because of their operational characteristics and the large number of users. Therefore, there is potential for significant energy savings. This study investigated the energy performance of the hotel sector in Greece and proposes a methodology for their energy classification and climate change mitigation strategies for an optimum building envelope design for a typical hotel building operated all year or seasonally. This was achieved by collecting operational energy data for 90 Greek hotels and analyzing them using the k-means algorithm. Then a typical hotel building was modelled using TRNSYS and climate change weather files to assess the impact on its energy demand and to propose climate change mitigation strategies. The assessment was performed via hourly simulations with real climatic data for the past and generated future data for the years 2020, 2050 and 2080. The analysis of the energy data (based on utilities supply) of 90 hotels shows average consumption approx 290 kWh/m2/year for hotels with annual operation and 200 kWh/m2/year for hotels with seasonal operation. Furthermore, the hotels were classified in well separated clusters in terms of their electricity and oil consumption. The classification showed that each cluster has high average energy consumption compared to other buildings in Greece. Cooling energy demand of the typical building increased by 33% and heating energy demand decreased by 22% in 2010 compared to 1970. Cooling load is expected to rise by 15% in year 2020, 34% in year 2050 and 63% in year 2080 compared to year 1970. Heating load is expected to decrease by 14% in year 2020, 29% in year 2050 and 46% in year 2080. It was found that different strategies can be applied to all year and seasonally operated buildings for the most energy efficient performance. These include: a. For all year operated buildings: insulation, double low e glazing, intelligently controlled night and day ventilation, ceiling fans and shading. The building of year 2050 would need more shading and the building of year 2080 would need additional shading and cool materials. b. For seasonally operated buildings: Intelligently controlled night and day ventilation, cool materials, ceiling fans, shading and double low e glazing. Only the building of year 2080 would need insulation. This study makes a contribution to understanding the impact of the climate change on the energy demand of hotel buildings and proposes mitigation strategies that focus on the building envelope in different periods and climatic zones of Greece.

One billion people currently live in basins that are likely to require action to address climate change-induced water stress. Rather than blaming dwindling resource availability as the key culprit for this global water crisis, the United Nations has dubbed the water crisis a "crisis in governance." One of the key prescriptions promoted by multilateral funders and international water experts for addressing the looming crisis has been water policy reform that follows the principles of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). While there has been significant research on the IWRM model, few people have conducted empirical studies that examine how IWRM water reform generates changes within the agricultural sector. It is particularly important to study the tight coupling of agricultural and water policy in light of a changing climate, which poses substantial challenges to water availability and agricultural production. In this thesis, I explore the salient case study of the Piura River Basin in northern Peru. I employ semi-structured interviews with key institutional actors in the agricultural and water sector, participant observation, and technical document review to examine how the IWRM-based 2009 Water Resources Law is reshaping agricultural land use under climate change and globalization pressures. I argue that 2009 Water Resources Law formalized and limited public participation within the newly formed river basin council, while concurrently strengthening technocratic water allocation institutions that limit the agency of smallholder water users to make agricultural land use decisions. Additionally, I find that climate change adaptation discourse is being operationalized within river basin council to legitimize these reforms, but these reforms are explicitly enrolled in agricultural development policy aimed at converting traditional agricultural systems to export-oriented production. This study contributes to the fledgling scholarship on the implications of the 2009 Water Resource Law for Peruvian agricultural communities. More broadly, my findings offer insight into how IWRM reshapes the agricultural sector, how this is situated into the continually shifting role of the state, and how these policy reforms integrate and animate climate change adaptation.

This dissertation assesses the long-term technological and policy implications of adapting to water constraints and climate change impacts in the energy sector. Energy systems are increasingly vulnerable to climate change and water resource variability. Yet, the majority of long-term energy infrastructure plans ignore adaptation strategy. New analytical approaches are needed to address the spatial and temporal scales relevant to both climate change and water resources. The research in this dissertation overcomes these challenges with improved engineering-economic modeling. Specifically, the conventional systems-engineering energy technology planning framework is extended to incorporate: (1) robust capacity decisions in the electricity sector in light of impacts from hydro-climatic change and uncertain environmental performance of technology options; (2) an endogenous, spatially-distributed representation of water systems and feedbacks with energy demand; and (3) multi-objective decision-making. The computational modeling framework is applied to four regional case study analyses to quantify previously unaccounted for policy-relevant interactions between water, energy and climate systems. Application of the robust adaptation planning framework to the power system in British Columbia, Canada, reveals technology configurations offering long-term operational flexibility will be needed to ensure reliability under projected climate change impacts to provincial hydropower resources and electricity demand. The imposed flexibility requirements affect the suitability of technology options, and increases the cost of long-term electricity system operation. The case study analysis then focuses on the interaction between groundwater conservation and concurrent policy aimed at reducing electricity sector carbon emissions in the water-stressed country of Saudi Arabia. Application of the novel water-energy infrastructure planning framework reveals that transitioning away from non-renewable groundwater use by the year 2050 could increase national electricity demand by more than 40 % relative to 2010 conditions, and require investments similar to strategies aimed at transitioning away from fossil fuels in the electricity sector. The research in this dissertation demonstrates the crucial need for regional planners to account for adaptation to climate change and water resource constraints when developing long-term energy strategy. / Graduate