ABSTRACT
Climate change adaptation is an influential discourse and a powerful political concept linked too many material practices. The climate change adaptation literature today offers various alternatives to the mainstream concepts and paves multiple ways for re-politicising climate change and climate change adaptation, and puts people, their agency, and their living conditions back in the focus of analysis. Adaptation strategies comprise technological innovation and infrastructure, a growing body of knowledge, and optimising the governance and management of society. Abundant use has been made of the concept of vulnerability since the very beginnings of climate change research. The primarily political and normative issues raised by climate change adaptation are framed in de-politicising natural science and ecosystem terms. The vulnerability discourses linked to the effects of climate change tend to emphasise the internal deficits of countries of the Global South. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
