» Lisa Dilling and Meaghan Daly Receive New NSF Grant on Climate Adaptation in East Africa

Examining Processes of Knowledge Co-production for Climate Adaptation in East Africa

Lisa Dilling (ENVS), Mara Goldman (Geography), and grad students Meaghan Daly (ENVS) and Eric Lovell (Geog)

National Science Foundation

Abstract: The impacts of climate variability and anticipation of climate change have prompted least-developed countries to compile national adaptation plans and integrate climate change within development activities. There are increasing efforts to disseminate scientific climate data to support adaptation at local scales, but little consideration has been given to how this scientific knowledge interacts with indigenous climate knowledge and customary coping mechanisms. We suggest that persistent barriers to linking knowledge with adaptive actions stem from insufficient attention to understanding the varying criteria that constitute valid knowledge among actors across epistemologies and institutional scales that may enable use of various forms of knowledge. This research aims to understand how knowledge is produced and incorporated by actors across scales and with varying epistemologies, and to understand how power and the processes of co-production affect the salience, credibility and legitimacy of knowledge.  The project will utilize a mixed-method case study design, which will incorporate multiple embedded units of analysis situated at 3 different institutional scales in Tanzania, East Africa.