The Governance of Adaptation Financing: Pursuing Legitimacy at Multiple Levels

This research paper examines the legitimization of climate change adaptation funds in the Asia-Pacific region, analyzing how these funds are justified to various actors and the trade-offs between different sources of legitimacy.

• Adaptation funds utilize several sources of legitimacy to justify their existence and make them acceptable, including effectiveness, coherence, accountability, transparency, deliberation and participation, and arguments based on justice or ethics. Strengthening one of these sources can create either synergies or trade-offs with others.
• While adaptation funds and projects are justified as means to assist communities and vulnerable groups, they are primarily legitimized to state actors.
• International financing has contributed to the legitimization of adaptation as a policy and development objective. A multi-level financing architecture has developed, which presents new legitimacy challenges but also offers potential for better ground-level outcomes if access for vulnerable communities and groups is prioritized.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2017). The Governance of Adaptation Financing: Pursuing Legitimacy at Multiple Levels. https://www.sei.org/publications/the-governance-of-adaptation-financing-pursuing-legitimacy-at-multiple-levels/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. The Governance of Adaptation Financing: Pursuing Legitimacy at Multiple Levels. 2017. https://www.sei.org/publications/the-governance-of-adaptation-financing-pursuing-legitimacy-at-multiple-levels/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=The Governance of Adaptation Financing: Pursuing Legitimacy at Multiple Levels |date=22 February 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/the-governance-of-adaptation-financing-pursuing-legitimacy-at-multiple-levels/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2017governance, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{The Governance of Adaptation Financing: Pursuing Legitimacy at Multiple Levels}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = feb, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/the-governance-of-adaptation-financing-pursuing-legitimacy-at-multiple-levels/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }