The Politics of Climate Change Adaptation in Development: Authority, Resource Control and State Intervention in Rural Zambia

Abstract

In this article, we call for more attention to the national and local politics of climate change in developing countries, and contribute to this through a study of climate change adaptation interventions in Zambia. We show how such interventions form part of central state efforts to extend authority and control over natural resources, and how competing institutional actors such as local governments and chiefs seek to counter this. The article thereby shows how climate change adaptation is emerging as a new arena for deep-seated political and institutional struggles over issues such as authority, land control and devolution in development.

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted as part of a grant from the Danish Consultative Research Committee for Development Research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In the following, we use the term “state agencies” to describe these central state agencies and their local branches. This is done in the interest of clarity. It does not imply that other actors discussed here – such as local governments or customary authorities – are remote from the state apparatus.

2. See Whitfield et al. (2015) for a broader discussion of conservation agriculture narratives in Zambia.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The Consultative Research Committee for Development Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark [Not applicable].