Adaptation to Climate Change: Resilience, Transition and Transformation

By Tanvi Deshpande and Mark Pelling

The first edition of this book made a case for adaptation to be seen as part of development, a logic which is now widely accepted in academia and with many practical applications. The frontline in the relationship between adaptation and development has shifted and is now less about vision and more about policy context and practical action. Fully updated and revised in its second edition, Adaptation to Climate Change argues that policy and practice on adaptation must address soical justice. Without this, we risk drifting into a better adapted but more unequal world.

This book argues that, without care, adaptive actions can deny the deeper political and cultural roots that call for significant change in social and political relations. This book presents a framework for making sense of the range of choices facing humanity, structured around resilience (stability), transition (incremental social change and the exercising of existing rights) and transformation (new rights claims and changes in political regimes). The resilience-transition-transformation framework is supported by three detailed case study chapters. These also illustrate the diversity of contexts where adaption is unfolding, from organizations to urban governance and the national polity.

Content new to this edition includes:

Fully updated chapters to reflect advances and recent scholarly debate in climate change adaptation research, policy, and practice. Each chapter is now accompanied by discussion questions to facilitate critical engagement. Integration of recent IPCC Assessment Report insights, examining economic dimensions of climate impacts, climate finance, and targeted adaptation through vulnerability, exposure, and adaptive capacity. Updated international case studies throughout to elucidate theory.

This text provides a comprehensive analysis of the social dimensions to climate change adaptation. Written in an engaging style, it provides detailed theoretical and empirical chapters and serves as an invaluable reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in climate change, geography and development studies.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0367758024
• ISBN13: 9780367758028
• Release Date: November 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 254 Pages