A Just Transition for Climate Change Adaptation: Towards Just Resilience and Security in a Globalising World

The policy brief argues that climate adaptation measures often have cross-border effects that can redistribute vulnerability or create 'maladaptation' if not managed through a lens of justice and connectedness. It introduces a framework combining procedural and distributive justice with a systemic understanding of global connectivity to prevent the shifting of risks from wealthy to vulnerable actors. Using case studies from the Brazilian coffee supply chain and the Blue Nile Basin, the authors demonstrate how coordinated international action and improved efficiency can mitigate regional tensions and human security risks. The brief concludes with recommendations for strengthening multilateral cooperation, developing shared normative principles, and crafting incentives to prevent 'risk-dumping'.

• Adaptation measures in a globalised world can inadvertently reinforce or redistribute climate risks across national borders, potentially deepening inequality and threatening human security if systemic cross-border effects are ignored.
• The authors propose a framework for 'globally just resilience' based on two dimensions: justice (comprising procedural and distributive justice) and connectedness (the degree to which adaptation accounts for systems beyond the local place or sector).
• In the Brazilian coffee supply chain, adaptation by large traders or roasters—such as cancelling contracts to reduce exposure—could increase the vulnerability of smallholder farmers, who make up 80% of producers and often lack financial resources to absorb shocks.
• In the Blue Nile Basin, the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) could enable Sudan to expand irrigated agriculture, but doing so without improving water use efficiency could reduce downstream flows to Egypt and escalate regional tensions.
• Climate-driven stresses, such as water and food scarcity, can indirectly fuel conflict and be exploited by organized crime or terror groups; for example, droughts in Mali (2009) and Iraq (2008) aided recruitment for Al-Qaeda and ISIS respectively.
• To move from ambition to action, the brief suggests seven principles for just adaptation, including avoiding the creation of adaptation 'losers', providing international support for vulnerable regions, and ensuring planning processes are inclusive and transparent.

APA

Lager, F., Adams, K. M., Dzebo, A., Eriksson, M., Klein, R. J., & Klimes, M. (2021). A Just Transition for Climate Change Adaptation: Towards Just Resilience and Security in a Globalising World. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/justtransition-sei-awb-pb2-web.pdf

Chicago

Lager, Frida, Kevin M. Adams, Adis Dzebo, Mats Eriksson, Richard J.T. Klein, and Martina Klimes. A Just Transition for Climate Change Adaptation: Towards Just Resilience and Security in a Globalising World. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2021. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/justtransition-sei-awb-pb2-web.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{lager2021just, author = {Lager, Frida and Adams, Kevin M. and Dzebo, Adis and Eriksson, Mats and Klein, Richard J.T. and Klimes, Martina}, title = {{A Just Transition for Climate Change Adaptation: Towards Just Resilience and Security in a Globalising World}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/justtransition-sei-awb-pb2-web.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }