Jonathan Ensor

Understanding climate change adaptation : lessons from community-based approaches

Prelims (Preface, Acknowledgements) 1. Introduction: understanding community-based adaptation 2. Erosion and flooding in northern Bangladesh 3. Changing seasons and flash flooding in the foothills of the Nepal Himalaya 4. Desert and floodplain adaptation in Pakistan 5. Increasing paddy salinity in coastal Sri Lanka 6. Increasing drought in arid and semiarid Kenya 7. Multiple pressures on pastoralism in semi-arid Niger 8. Declining water resources in Sudans Red Sea coastal belt 9. Extreme weather in the Peruvian high Andes 10. Conclusion: community-based adaptation in practice Back Matter (References, Index)

Adapting to Climate Change: Community-based adaptation and culture in theory and practice

This chapter explores the relationship between culture and adaptation in theory and practice. Our aim is to make clear the important role that culture plays in enabling adaptation, and show how community-based adaptation is well placed to promote, rather than challenge, individual and shared concepts of well-being. Our intention is to step back from the typical jumping-off point for ‘good development’, which emphasises community participation, and to unpack the relationships between individual well-being, culture, community and adaptation. To this end, we commence with a brief review of the principles of community-based adaptation, before exploring its relationship to notions of the individual, community and culture taken from political philosophy. In particular, we rely on thinking that has emerged from debates over the role of culture and community in the life of the individual that have emerged from attempts to resolve liberal (predominantly individualist) and communitarian (community focused) views of society. This body of work is instructive as it reveals, fi rst, the importance of culture to individual well-being, and second, the limits that culture places on the freedom of individuals and communities to embrace change. In the fi nal section, the implications of this understanding for community-based adaptation are drawn out through examples of Practical Action’s experiences, demonstrating how the community based approach is able to recognise and respond to the different roles that culture assumes in adaptation . It should be recognised that this chapter refl ects Practical Action’s experiences of adaptation and as such is a fi rst step in exploring the complex relationship between cultures, communities and climate change. However, it is hoped that by 14

Output feedback eigenstructure assignment using a new reduced orthogonality condition

This paper presents a new method of output feedback eigenstructure assignment. A new, reduced orthogonality condition is derived which is less restrictive on the design degrees of freedom than others in the literature. From this a novel, general formulation for the gain matrix is admitted which utilizes a two stage design process. In the first stage, a subset of desired eigenvectors is assigned, either left or right. In the second stage, a dual set is assigned which adheres to the necessary and sufficient conditions for output feedback eigenstructure assignment proved earlier in the paper. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the whole procedure.

Building Collaborative Partnerships for Climate Change Action in Maputo, Mozambique

The authors examine partnerships as a policy strategy for climate change governance in cities in the Global South. Partnerships offer the opportunity to link the actions of diverse actors operating at different scales and, thus, they may be flexible enough to deal with uncertain futures and changing development demands. However, simultaneously, partnerships may lack effectiveness in delivering action at the local level, and may constitute a strategy for some actors to legitimate their objectives in spite of the interests of other partners. Engaging with the specific example of urban governance in Maputo, Mozambique, the authors present an analysis of potential partnerships in this context, in relation to the actors that are willing and able to intervene to deliver climate change action. What, they ask, are the challenges to achieving common objectives in partnerships from the perspective of local residents in informal settlements? The analysis describes a changing context of climate change governance in the city, in which the prospects of access to international finance for climate change adaptation are moving institutional actors towards engaging with participatory processes at the local level. However, the analysis suggests a question about the extent to which local communities are actually perceived as actors with legitimate interests who can intervene in partnerships, and whether their interests are recognised.

Can community-based adaptation increase resilience?

A central claim of community-based adaptation (CBA) is that it increases resilience. Yet, the concept of resilience is treated inconsistently in CBA, obscuring discussion of the limitations and benefits of resilience thinking and undermining evaluation of resilience outcomes in target communities. This paper examines different participatory assessment activities carried out as part of CBA case studies in Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands. The activities and their outputs were assessed against 10 characteristics of resilience previously identified in a systematic review. The findings offer support to the claim that CBA can build resilience in target communities, revealing the inherent strengths of CBA in relation to resilience. However, it is necessary for CBA assessments to simultaneously incorporate activities that consider cultural, political, economic and ecological factors influencing resilience within and between communities. This may demand multiple staff with different skills. The findings also highlight the importance of politics and power in shaping adaptive capacity. In particular, addressing the highly context specific nature of social, cultural and political relations demands an approach that is situated in and responsive to local realities. Overall, our case studies suggest that using the 10 characteristics as an analytical framework offers support to practitioners looking to develop, implement or evaluate CBA assessment activities. Yet within this, it is critical that a focus on increasing resilience through CBA does not preclude transformation in social relations. Realising the potential to support resilience and transformation requires CBA practitioners to acknowledge the multifaceted nature of resilience, whilst also paying close attention to multiple potential barriers to equitable adaptation.

Desirable eigenstructure for good short-term helicopter handling qualities: The attitude command response case

Abstract The eigenstructure necessary to achieve a good short-term attitude command response in a generic single-rotor helicopter is presented. It achieves appropriate mode decoupling and is consistent with the physical relationships between the state variables. This eigenstructure translates exactly into ideal transfer functions for use with a variety of control design methodologies. The paper discusses how such an eigenstructure is defined to satisfy the requirements of two important military rotorcraft specifications: US ADS 33 and UK DEF STAN 00970.

Changing a dysfunctional food system: Towards ecological food provision in the framework of food sovereignty

The dysfunctional food system that results in a billion hungry people and more than a billion obese people needs fundamental change. This includes a different governance structure and a model of production and consumption that at its centre has the provision of healthy food, produced sustainably and as locally as possible. The paper describes options, including governance by the reformed Committee on World Food Security, that include the implementation of the findings of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development and the call for ecological food provision in the framework of food sovereignty, as called for by social movements including Via Campesina.

What is equitable resilience

Highlights • The concept of resilience has often been critiqued as it underestimates issues of equity and power in human-environmental systems.• This paper, based on an analytical literature review, reveals four themes essential in understanding equitable resilience in practice.• The themes (subjectivities, inclusion, cross-scale interactions, and transformation) are embedded in a definition of ‘equitable resilience’.• By proposing a middle-range theory, we expand the system to include social, cultural and political factors that distribute resilience outcomes.• Equitable resilience can be applied alongside existing resilience indicators to drive resilience practice towards more equitable outcomes.

EIGENSTRUCTURE ASSIGNMENT FOR SEMI-PROPER SYSTEMS: PSEUDO-STATE FEEDBACK

Abstract The general problem of assigning the eigenstructure of semi-proper systems, using state feedback, is first considered. Standard eigenstructure assignment algorithms invariably assume the direct transmission matrix to be null. Consequently, they are suitable only for strictly proper systems. Algorithms do exist for assigning the eigenstructure of semi-proper systems, but they suffer from a lack of visibility and attention has not been paid to certain important aspects of the problem. A new exposition of the problem is presented here and then used directly to develop a novel algorithm which overcomes these issues. An extension to state feedback for semi-proper systems, the pseudo - state feedback case, is then considered.

A polynomial approach to eigenstructure assignment using projection with eigenvalue trade-off

A novel eigenstructure assignment method is presented which trades exact closed loop eigenvalue location against an improvement in the associated closed loop eigenvector match against membership of a desired set via either constrained or unconstrained optimizations. The polynomial approach removes the dependence of the cost functions on the closed loop eigenvector by describing the allowable desired eigenvector subspace as a function of the eigenvalue location. A fixed-wing aircraft example is used to demonstrates the benefit of eigenvalue trade-off over basic projection.