Inclusiveness in National Climate Change Adaptation Policies

Abstract

This thesis poses and answers the research questions: How should we conceive of 'inclusiveness' in the context of climate change adaptation (abbreviated to CCA in this thesis), and how should we evaluate 'inclusiveness' in national CCA policies? I address these overarching research questions through a series of six sub-questions that are presented in six chapters.

Chapter 1 is a systematic literature review to find out how the current literature informs the concept and scope of inclusiveness in CCA. The usage trends, scope, and nature of an inclusive approach to CCA are described to document a growing interest in the idea of inclusiveness in the CCA context. However, there are insufficient efforts to fully understand this concept as well as how to plan for, implement, and evaluate inclusiveness.

Chapter 2 is an ethical analysis to understand whether the concept and scope found in Chapter 1 is appropriate, or whether we should think about it differently in light of ethics, and how might this concept be translated into a framework of and indicators to evaluate inclusiveness in the context of CCA. The ethical analysis, drawing upon pluralistic values of climate ethics, organization management and CCA governance and policymaking, identifies four core components of the inclusiveness in CCA framework: good moral foundations, good stakeholders, good processes, and good outcomes. Asserting these four core components into common steps of logic models results in a suite of fifteen indicators for understanding, implementing, and evaluating the level of inclusiveness in CCA.

The framework is then used to evaluate inclusiveness in national CCA policies in Canada (Chapter 3) and Vietnam (Chapter 4) to solve the third and fourth sub-research questions: How inclusive are the national CCA policies in Canada and Vietnam, from the vantage point of the framework and indicators developed in previous chapter? In Canada, the analysis reveals an increasing positive response to inclusiveness priorities but also an urgency to synthesize key terms and concepts, develop consensus on perceptions and knowledge, and facilitate the learning process for collective adaptation purposes, solutions, and priorities. In Vietnam, the analysis highlights four inclusion gaps: moral standing gap, knowledge gap, management gap, and social learning gap.

Chapter 5 investigates how practitioners' perceptions of inclusive CCA inform the comprehensiveness and applicability of a framework and indicators for evaluating inclusiveness in CCA policies and practices. The semi-structured interviews with twenty-six practitioners in Canada and Vietnam reveal four practical paradoxes that require insights into these contradictions and the complex interrelationships surrounding them if we are to successfully achieve inclusive adaptation and resilience to climate change. The participants also shared their opinions on the relevance and feasibility of the inclusive CCA framework and indicators.

Chapter 6 synthesizes five chapters to answer the last sub-question: How can the framework and indicators could be improved, based on the existing policies and practitioners' perceptions? The final analysis distinguishes the differences between the original framework and indicators (what might occur) and how inclusive the policy system in Canada and Vietnam are and practitioners' view (what is occurring) to improve the inclusive CCA framework and indicators (what should occur). The thesis concludes with a modified framework and a list of indicators which if utilized potentially motivate the CCA policy and practices toward a better informed, complete, and balanced approach to inclusiveness.