ABSTRACT

This chapter describes a range of experiences and examples of local climate change responses and actions from diverse contexts around the world, including Australia, Vanuatu, South Africa, Japan, India, Sweden and the USA. The collection of case studies on local climate change action offer insights into the range of complex social, institutional and political challenges and issues mediating the work of local actors as they grapple with climate change. The case studies also point to the inherent constraints to acting locally on climate change – particularly in terms of the capacity and power of local scale responses to effect transformational change. Understanding local climate action and the capacity to achieve particular outcomes requires a good appreciation of how forms of action are situated in an historical understanding of the social, environmental and economic history of the specific place being examined.