ABSTRACT
This book is based on discussions and material presented at the fifth International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) held in Dhaka in February 2011. Rather than publishing a set of commissioned papers presented at the conference, however, the book consists of a set of chapters produced by ‘writing teams’ who have focused on the subject areas identified as being central to CBA at the conference. Much of the material in this book is based on discussions held at the conference and also descriptions of experience with CBA provided by the many practitioners working in the field on CBA. By using writing teams, we hope to capture some of this more experiential knowledge on CBA, which is substantial but not widely written about in traditional scientific literature. This approach will, we hope, help the book capture a wider ranging set of emerging views and knowledge about CBA, and inform important processes such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which has a strong effect on policy, about both the latest science and best CBA practice on the ground. This balance of both scientific and practical knowledge on CBA is essential if any efforts to upscale CBA are to meet with success.
