Driving System Shifts for Climate Resilience: Case Studies of Transformative Adaptation in Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica

The paper analyzes three case studies—water scarcity in Bhutan, landscape degradation in Ethiopia, and agricultural shifts in Costa Rica—to highlight the need for technical and financial support in transformative adaptation. It identifies community-led planning and change agents as drivers of success, while noting that a lack of systems data and M&E infrastructure limits scalability. Specific recommendations include investing in automated monitoring, integrating local knowledge, and providing targeted credit for farmers transitioning to new livelihoods.

• Communities facing climate-induced system failures often lack the financial and technical resources to plan for systemic shifts, and some may perceive long-term, irreversible changes as mere short-term fluctuations. This lack of external guidance limits the sustainability and scalability of autonomous community efforts.
• Key drivers for successful transformative adaptation include the mobilization of change agents, community-led planning, and the alignment of funding with sequenced planning. Conversely, the absence of national or international support for market incentives, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) infrastructure, and systems data acts as a barrier to sustaining these shifts.
• In Tsirang Toed, Bhutan, addressing water scarcity requires a shift toward sustainable measures like creating reservoirs and replacing invasive plants with native species, alongside investments in automated climate and water monitoring stations and better integration of local knowledge.
• Landscape restoration in Tigray, Ethiopia, can be scaled by improving collaboration between government and community members, mobilizing change agents, and investing in diverse data—including socioeconomic and natural resource data—to ensure equitable outcomes.
• In Guanacaste, Costa Rica, smallholder farmers are autonomously transitioning from coffee to citrus cultivation, though this is easier for those with more resources. To support less prosperous farmers, the paper recommends earmarked loans for livelihood transitions, impact assessments of crop viability, and public-private platforms to monitor climate-exacerbated citrus diseases.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Driving System Shifts for Climate Resilience: Case Studies of Transformative Adaptation in Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica. https://www.wri.org/research/driving-system-shifts-climate-resilience-case-studies-transformative-adaptation-bhutan

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Driving System Shifts for Climate Resilience: Case Studies of Transformative Adaptation in Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/driving-system-shifts-climate-resilience-case-studies-transformative-adaptation-bhutan.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Driving System Shifts for Climate Resilience: Case Studies of Transformative Adaptation in Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica |url=https://www.wri.org/research/driving-system-shifts-climate-resilience-case-studies-transformative-adaptation-bhutan |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutenddriving, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Driving System Shifts for Climate Resilience: Case Studies of Transformative Adaptation in Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Costa Rica}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/driving-system-shifts-climate-resilience-case-studies-transformative-adaptation-bhutan}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }