Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Multi-Scalar Analysis of Environmental Variability Adaptation Projects

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This doctoral dissertation research improvement project analyzes the long-term impacts of projects that address adaptation to environmental variability. The goal of these projects is to assist communities to respond to the impacts of current and future environmental variability, safeguarding livelihoods and economic development. However, there have been few evaluations done of their long-term impacts. This research integrates political ecology with adaptation impact studies to examine the long-term impacts. The research links the transnational scale of climate finance to national adaptation governance and local outcomes of related projects, and will provide critical insights into the efficacy of adaptation projects. Findings will be disseminated via research publications, reports to local communities that have benefited from investment in adaption projects, and via curriculum development for graduate studies in adaptation research. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide critical support to a young scholar as they develop their independent research profile. This research poses the following questions: (1) At the national level, how do the organizations designing and implementing adaptation projects define and measure the success of these actions and translate lessons to future projects? (2) At the local level, what are the enduring impacts of internationally funded adaptation projects on the adaptive capacity of recipient communities? and (3) What alternative evaluation methodologies can provide additional insight into the long-term outcomes of adaptation projects? To answer these questions, this project uses mixed methods, integrating data derived from a systematic analysis of adaptation documents, semi-structured interviews with key informants, and participant observation, to build an institutional ethnography of adaptation governance to environmental variability. The project also advances a methodology by contributing to understanding the methods and analysis necessary for assessing the multi-dimensional outcomes of adaptation projects over time.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.