Integrating livelihoods approaches with research on development and climate change adaptation

This article advances theory and methods for integrating sustainable livelihoods approaches (SLAs) with assessments of adaptive capacity to climate change. The livelihoods concept has been inconsistently applied in research on human dimensions of global environmental change, resulting in limited understanding about how development programmes and policies influence adaptive capacity. Encouraging reflection on the conceptual and methodological overlaps of livelihoods and adaptation, I suggest a process-oriented approach to adaptation that centres on how adaptive capacity is unevenly shaped. Livelihoods analytical frameworks can help visualize complex adaptation pathways, illuminating how households and individuals come to differ in their capacities to adapt to climate change.