Resistance to Climate Change Adaptation Projects: A Systematic Review

Keywords: adaptation, climate change, climate justice, resistance, politics
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Over the past two decades, hundreds of climate change adaptation projects have been implemented globally. The proliferation of adaptation, as a sphere of action and intellectual conception, has been accompanied by an expanding body of scholarship. Despite this growing body of work, resistance to and within adaptation has remained under-examined. We conducted a systematic review of the adaptation literature to understand why, how and by whom resistance to climate change adaptation initiatives is unfolding. In total, we identified 20 articles that substantially examined resistance to adaptation initiatives. Among these, we found varied strategies of resistance to adaptation in diverse contexts across six continents and relatively limited examination of the alternative visions of adaptation forwarded by dissenting actors. This review highlights the further need for study into local resistance to climate change adaptation initiatives, which should be seen as sites of political struggle between different conceptions of what adaptation is and should be.