Asking the right questions in adaptation research and practice: seeing beyond climate impacts in rural Nepal

This research paper argues that mainstream climate adaptation research often focuses too narrowly on biophysical impacts and climate risk management, thereby overlooking the broader social, economic, and political contexts of rural populations. Using Nepal as a case study, the authors suggest that adaptation research should be reframed to include questions about the most significant changes in people's lives—such as migration and shifting rural political economies—rather than focusing solely on climate-driven risks.

• Mainstream adaptation research frequently focuses on the consequences of biophysical impacts, which the authors argue leads to asking the wrong questions by overlooking the wider social context of the climate change experience.
• In rural Nepal, adaptation efforts typically center on climate risk management and agricultural production, but this narrow framing fails to account for broader livelihood transformations, including declining farming populations, land abandonment, increased mechanization, rising education, and migration into global labor markets.
• The authors propose a shift in epistemology for adaptation research, suggesting that practitioners should ask 'what are the most significant changes taking place in people’s lives?' alongside standard questions regarding climate change impacts to better reveal vulnerabilities and opportunities.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2019). Asking the right questions in adaptation research and practice: seeing beyond climate impacts in rural Nepal. https://www.sei.org/publications/asking-the-right-questions-in-adaptation-research-and-practice-seeing-beyond-climate-impacts-in-rural-nepal/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Asking the right questions in adaptation research and practice: seeing beyond climate impacts in rural Nepal. 2019. https://www.sei.org/publications/asking-the-right-questions-in-adaptation-research-and-practice-seeing-beyond-climate-impacts-in-rural-nepal/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Asking the right questions in adaptation research and practice: seeing beyond climate impacts in rural Nepal |date=11 February 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/asking-the-right-questions-in-adaptation-research-and-practice-seeing-beyond-climate-impacts-in-rural-nepal/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2019asking, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Asking the right questions in adaptation research and practice: seeing beyond climate impacts in rural Nepal}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/asking-the-right-questions-in-adaptation-research-and-practice-seeing-beyond-climate-impacts-in-rural-nepal/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }