Abstract
The world is on track for four degrees Celsius of global warming under current carbon emission trends, and with this the limits for human and environmental adaptation are likely to be exceeded in many parts of the world. Climate changes affect normal people in their complex everyday lives in contexts of different risks and challenges Adaptation happens in different ways in different places, resulting in different local outcomes responding to a global phenomenon. Today’s climate change adaptation policies focus on increasing efficiency and optimizing the parts of sectors and social-ecological systems that can provide concrete economic results. This approach does not necessarily secure long-term sustainability or climate justice, since the debate is reduced to “who should pay” with focus on climate quotas, sustainability only focusing on separated sectors, and green economy within existing production systems promoting overconsumption of energy and resources. What is missing in such an approach to climate change adaptation is considering the subjective and human sides that can affect an adaptation process like worldviews, emotions and values. The NGO Centro Bartolome de las Casas works in El Salvador with an approach to climate change that challenges the existing and current focus in climate change adaptation. By exploring their work, this thesis addresses how climate change adaptation processes better can connect with local realities and engage people as subjects of change, capable of influencing their own future.