Overcoming social barriers to adaptation

This background note explores the influence of social barriers to adaptation using insights drawn from field work in rural subsistence communities in Nepal and India. It states that interventions to address disaster risk reduction, social protection and climate adaptation deal with similar underlying drivers of vulnerability, and face similar social barriers.

It explores the role of social institutions in determining how individuals adapt to climate stress and shock, and examines how restrictive cultural environments can limit successful adaptation. It concludes by providing recommendations for adaptation policy interventions that seek to recognise, address and overcome social barriers to adaptation.