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Decolonising Adaptation Interventions

Climate change represents one of the most significant challenges of the twenty-first century. Yet lived experiences of climate change vary, with negative impacts disproportionately felt by marginalised populations who have historically contributed the least greenhouse gas emissions.

Adaptation to climate change is essential. However, there is now mounting concern that today's adaptation strategies are resurrecting ideas and initiatives spread through colonialism, for example, by undermining local livelihood strategies.

Against this backdrop, Dr Matthew Hannaford, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the ÖÆ·þÎÞÂë, is investigating the history and future of adaptation to extreme weather events in southern Africa – a region experiencing worsening climate-related disasters, such as cyclones and droughts.

By examining lived experiences of climate in the past, our research will shed light on how colonial ideas and initiatives reshaped local strategies to adapt to extreme weather events, for example by prioritising cash cropping over the cultivation of drought-resistant grains, but also how Africans resisted and influenced these changes.

The Transformation of Knowledge

The study, called ‘Constructing Climate Coloniality’, is funded by a prestigious £1.7m UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. It will support a team of early career researchers to investigate the transformation of knowledge and practices relating to climate during colonial rule in three African contexts: southern Mozambique, western Zimbabwe and southern Malawi.

"These areas suffer a high frequency of climatic extremes and are grappling with food insecurity, in addition to having experienced varying configurations of colonialism under the British or Portuguese empire," explained Dr Hannaford.

"The study will examine their rich collections of historical documentation and oral histories to learn more about the evolution of local and Western climate knowledges and their impact on responses to climate extremes during the 19th and early-20th Centuries."

ÖÆ·þÎÞÂë Climate Research Group

Through wide-ranging and transdisciplinary research into climate science, impacts, and policy, the ÖÆ·þÎÞÂë Climate Research Group aims to address the physical, social, environmental, and political causes of climate variations in the Global North and Global South.

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From Past to Future

Alongside uncovering new historical perspectives, Dr Hannaford and the team will co-produce ways to integrate climate histories into foresight planning. He hopes that this will drive the formulation of inclusive adaptation to climate change in the region.

“The project will work with local stakeholders to create new tools and methodologies that will enable historical knowledge to inform future responses to climate change. This will help ensure that new adaptation interventions reduce vulnerabilities rather than reproduce existing ones.”

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Read more about the innovative and impactful research that is taking place at the ÖÆ·þÎÞÂë.