Opportunities for climate change adaptation in developing countries - a case of local governments in Pakistan

This thesis is one of the first attempts in the context of urban Pakistani local governments that starts with a comprehensive inventory of what is going on in the field of climate change adaptation and what sort of existing information is available in Pakistan. Further, it provides an analysis of what the major sources of resistance to climate change adaptation are, and what strategies could be used in urban Pakistani local governments to lower resistance to taking action on climate change adaptation.<br><br>In particular, this thesis reflects on the applicability of the learning organisation paradigm to the climate change adaptation agenda, by providing a theoretical underpinning to the organisational learning and learning organisation concepts. Subsequently, it applies a learning perspective to the climate change adaptation debate in the context of urban Pakistani local governments. Further, from a critical analysis of conceptual evidence, this thesis identifies a framing of six key characteristics for climate change adaptation learning and action often attributed to a learning organisation (described in this thesis as “change model for climate adaptation”). The characteristics or elements of the change model presented are categorised as: <br><br><em>• Leadership for adaptation;<br>• Vision for adaptation;<br>• Organisational culture for adaptation;<br>• Good governance for adaptation;<br>• Innovation and creativity for adaptation; and<br>• Resources for adaptation</em><br><br>Moreover, the thesis uses an actor-based approach to examine the key conceptual ideas noted above in the urban Pakistani local government context. It further assesses the broader applicability of the proposed change model for climate adaptation to local governments (around the globe) where climate change adaptation had been already planned, and to gain insight into the range of adaptation frameworks (strategies, plans) for designing a local level adaptation strategy in the context of urban Pakistani local governments. Finally, this thesis designs a Pakistan-specific strategy for building capacity to adapt to climate change impacts at the urban local government level in Pakistan. It discusses the proposed strategy itself by suggesting various initial practical actions for urban Pakistani local governments to take that would help assist in the implementation of relevant capacity-building. <br><br>