by Carys Richards, TGT Volunteer
One of TGT’s aims is to help nurture the next generation of climate change adaptation professionals. In this guest blog, one of our volunteers, Carys Richards, charts her journey into the world of adaptation and the role The Glacier Trust has played.
Like most good things, I stumbled upon the world of climate adaptation almost by accident. Back in 2017, I was an undergraduate student studying Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews. Climate change was inescapable, but while my degree (due to my module choices) focused more on climate science, I was more concerned about what was happening to those already dealing with the impacts of climate change.
It is in this context that I stumbled across The Glacier Trust. The warm and enthusiastic welcome I received from my first email to Morgan (TGT's Co-Director) enquiring about climate adaptation sealed the deal, and I began supporting TGT as a volunteer.
We (Still!) Need to Talk about Adaptation
My main involvement has been with the We Need to Talk About Adaptation project which focused on assessing the degree to which UK NGOs (and the Green Party of England and Wales) have engaged with adaptation. Our reports in 2019 and 2020 were stark: adaptation was very much out of sight and out of mind in the UK, obscured by an immovable (and still important) focus on climate mitigation. Adaptation should not be a poor relation of mitigation. The two are complementary; they must go hand-in-hand. For many, mitigation is too little, too late, and adaptation has become vital for countless communities across the world to cope with the worsening impacts of climate change.
Framing Adaptation
After an eye-opening year spent studying in Canada and Singapore, I returned to St Andrews determined to further study climate adaptation. Along with making all of my essay titles adaptation-related, I decided to use the We Need to Talk about Adaptation data as the basis for my dissertation. Rather than focusing on whether organisations were talking about adaptation, I decided to focus on what they were saying - how were they framing adaptation?
In summary of that work, I found four main frames: (1) mitigation, (2) techno-economic, (3) security and (4) biological. Essentially, adaptation was either an afterthought of mitigation, a concept related to finance or technology, a development agenda useful to address security concerns (particularly related to climate-induced migration) or a process that animals were undertaking to cope with climate change. A multi-dimensional framing of adaptation, which we hoped to see, proved to be something of a 'unicorn'.
The Politics of Adaptation
With the pandemic in full swing, I decided to delay entering the 'real world' for a little longer to pursue an MSc in Environment, Politics and Society, purposefully opting into a programme where I would focus more on politics. If I had learned anything during my degree, it was that adaptation is highly political. It was at about this time that Morgan started collating all of his wisdom into writing Great Adaptations - an excellent introduction to climate adaptation - and something that I was privileged to read an early draft of.
My postgraduate dissertation with the (not so catchy) title of “’The Adaptation Project’: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Projectisation, Performativity and the Paper Trail” focused on the impact of the project form on adaptation by looking at the documents of 20 adaptation projects funded by the Least Developed Countries Fund. Why is adaptation, which many agree should be a long-term process, always broken down into chunks called projects? How does this process of “projectisation” shape adaptation? It gave me space to tackle an issue that I think has great bearing on the type of adaptation that is being funded.
In summer 2021, while preparing my dissertation, Morgan contacted me and asked if I would support TGT as a panellist for their Asia-Europe People's Forum (AEPF) discussion on "Just & Transformative Adaptations - A Foundation for Climate Justice". It was a very inspiring event, and was made even better by the opportunity to work and collaborate more closely with Andy (TGT Trustee) and Narayan and Anisha from TGT's partner in Nepal, EcoHimal. It was great to hear about adaptation action on the ground, and the incredible work being done in Nepal, and across Europe and Asia to support communities to adapt to climate change.
Context is everything
An important topic that is never too far from my thoughts surrounds how I fit into the context of adaptation. I am highly aware of my background as a white, middle-class woman with access to a good education, finance, and opportunities, not to mention being a citizen of a country responsible for a lot of historical and current societal and environmental damage. It is from this privileged context that I have learned about climate change and adaptation, about loss and damage and compensation that should be paid to those countries most affected by, and least responsible for climate change. It is also from reflections on my context and my interactions with knowledgeable and passionate individuals from all different backgrounds, that I have learned just how central justice must be to adaptation. From my exposure to climate adaptation so far, I am determined to work in a way that puts justice at the centre.
Reflections
While the thought of leaving education a few months ago filled me with fear, my experience with The Glacier Trust gave me a sense of direction...a direction which enabled me to find my current role with an organisation called PlanAdapt. Based in Berlin, PlanAdapt is a network-based organisation that provides knowledge services supporting just and effective climate adaptation, through collaboration between researchers, practitioners and communities in the Global South and the Global North. In my time at PlanAdapt, it is clear that principles which I learned while working with TGT - social and economic justice, inclusivity, collaboration, and trust - are also central to how PlanAdapt works. At this early stage in my career, I am excited to see what’s next, to collaborate with people from all walks of life, to continue to learn and to work towards more just and effective climate adaptation.
For me, with the ending and beginning of a new year, it feels important to reflect on how I got here. The truth is, I have been incredibly lucky to work (and to still get to work!) with The Glacier Trust, and to cross paths with the many individuals and organisations that have inspired and supported me on my ‘journey into adaptation’. One interaction with Morgan in 2017 has been the catalyst for many events and milestones that have happened in the last four years of my life, and will likely shape many more. If I were to sum up what I have learned about the adaptation world so far, I would say: it is really all about the people.
We are so delighted that Carys has joined PlanAdapt, they have got themselves a sharp and dedicated new team member. Carys is going to go far, and it is fantastic to have crossed paths with her on her journey. Thank you Carys for all your support, we hope to continue to work with you long into the future.
To learn more about our efforts to nurture the next generation of climate change adaptation professionals, please visit our Higher Education pages.
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