Go to the weekly report for 14 February 2013
Climate change adaptation is rising as a management priority for public and private sector organizations across the globe. This is being driven by a societal move towards the importance of climate change and the recognition that successful climate change adaptation reduces the consequences of climatic impacts. Persuading organizational change for climate change adaptation is imperative to the process by which developing-country organizations (public & private) can become climate resilient. However, attaining such a cultural move is in fact a significant challenge, particularly in public sector organizations working at the local level in developing courtiers.
Overall, I observe the developing-country local governments are organizations that deal with a range of challenging demands; consideration of climate change adaptation varies and, sometimes, it may not even be on the priority-agenda. Each office (working in a local government) has different rationales for being interested in climate change adaptation, and until the relevance of the concept is discovered and passed-on throughout the offices working in that local government, it is unlikely to give appropriate attention to climate change adaptation. Changing the local governments working in developing countries in the context of climate change adaptation will require a significant shift at the individual and organizational level. A developing-country local government organization can re-shape its policy, capacity and routine in the context of climate change adaptation if appropriate instruments of change are explored and implemented. Hence, climate change adaptation requires new organizational cultures and new governance structures in order for climate change adaptation to be accepted and as a priority within these organizations.
– Saleem Janjua, NAPSNet contributor
