ABSTRACT
Climate vulnerability and climate adaptation are associated with tropicality, with specific views and visions of the tropical world, evolved during the period of most intense European penetration into the geographic spaces and human worlds that bestride the equator. At a global scale – in the context of earth summits and climate agreements – the struggle over climate change and adaptation is largely determined by negotiations over funds and finance. Similar to the concept of resilience, adaptation research will only consider system elements, not unsustainable systems themselves. Climate knowledge in the Global South matches experiences, needs, and interests at multiple scales by different actors – especially in post-colonial societies. The idea of environmental management on a sustainable path of development and growth implies that ecosystem responses to human use are linear, predictable, and controllable, and that human and natural systems can be treated independently. Adaptive future-making may be understood in two ways: one defined by probabilities, and one searching for possibilities.
