New publication in "Social Sciences" - From practice to transformation: reorienting community-based adaptation in critical realism

A recent article entitled "From Practice to Transformation: Regrounding Community-Based Adaptation in Critical Realism" by Paul Strikker, Tom Selje and Boris Heinz was recently published in the journal Social Sciences (Vol. 14, Issue 12).

In the article, the authors discuss the concept of Community-Based Adaptation (CBA), which emphasises community-based adaptation strategies to climate change - i.e. the involvement and self-determination of local communities. It is critically noted that the transformative effect of CBA remains limited if structural causes of vulnerability - e.g. growth paradigm, social inequality or power asymmetries - are not addressed.

As a solution, Strikker, Selje and Heinz propose embedding CBA in the framework of the philosophy of science of critical realism. Critical realism allows a meta-theoretical view that enables a coherent causal analysis. Building on this, Critical Realism offers a fundamental theory of change that takes into account both individual agency and the selective pressure of social structures. In this way, CBA should not only enable short-term adaptation, but also fund profound, just and sustainable social transformation.

The Opinion thus makes an important contribution for researchers and practitioners: It opens up CBA to a politically and structurally reflective perspective - and emphasises that real climate adaptation requires more than locally limited measures: It must look at social and economic power relations beyond the specific context in order to permanently reduce vulnerabilities.