Adaptation interventions and their effect on vulnerability in developing countries: Help, hindrance or irrelevance?

This paper critically reviews the outcomes of internationally-funded interventions aimed at climate change adaptation and vulnerability reduction. It highlights how some inadvertently reinforce, redistribute or create new sources vulnerability. Four mechanisms drive these maladaptive outcomes: (i) shallow understanding context; (ii) inequitable stakeholder participation in both design implementation; (iii) a retrofitting into existing development agendas; (iv) lack critical engagement with ‘adaptation success’ is defined. Emerging literature shows potential avenues for overcoming current failure to reduce vulnerability: first, shifting terms between practitioners local populations participating interventions; second, expanding ‘local’ encompass global contexts drivers An important lesson from past that within cum paradigms, ‘vulnerable’ are reproduced multi-scalar processes driving remain largely ignored. In particular, instead designing projects practices marginalised populations, learning organisations must be placed centre objectives. We pose question whether scholarship practice need take post-adaptation turn akin post-development, by seeking pluralism ideas about while interrogating form part politics potentially (re)producing caution unless framing scale explicitly tackled, transformational risk having even more adverse effects on than adaptation.