Entry Point

Huq states that risk reduction is the starting point for CBA (see Section 3.3) as the above linkage with DRR supports. This is no doubt true, however from a broader view it may be asserted that sustainable development is the real entry point for both CBA and more broadly, adaptation actions as a whole. Indeed, in her PhD thesis Schipper (2004) discusses sustainable development as the entry point for climate change adaptation. Subsequently this section identifies what sustainable development means and how it became a major development goal, and also how sustainable development provides an entry point for CBA practice and theory.

Sustainable Development entered the mainstream development field in the 1980s through the well-known  Brundtland  Report  of  1987,  which  published  “what  may  be   the   definitive   statement   on   sustainable   development”   (Stoesz et al., 1998, p. 156).

Through this sustainable development overcame the bias on economic growth that had overshadowed development practice until then and incorporated the importance of  intergenerational  equity;;  in  other  words  that  “it  is  crucial  that  improved  welfare  for  

the  present  not  be  made  at  the  expense  of  lowered  prospects  for  the  future”   (Ibid.).

As such sustainable development not only raised issues about environmental stewardship it also brought issues of future generations and conditions to the forefront of development thinking. Thus sustainable development required actions to be made with the future in mind, which is also a primary concern of adaptive strategies.

Secondly, sustainable development promoted the importance of sustaining culture and therefore valuing local and indigenous knowledge as a source of social capital and as a means to manage the environment responsibly for future generations (Treurnicht, 2000). Sustainable development therefore created support for grassroots and community development approaches that tackle issues at the local scale in partnership with communities, that devolve power, and that prioritise collective participation.    Thirdly,  sustainable  development  emphasized  the  role  of  ‘context’  in   creating development initiatives and that all components are addressed (that is, economic growth is not prioritized at the expense of environmental or cultural development). (Ibid.) Consequently sustainable development creates a more holistic understanding of development by giving equal value to economic, social, cultural, political, environmental and physical characteristics. Even though sustainable development began with a primary focus on the environment, it has now shifted to be more inclusive. Indeed the very goal of sustainable development is now understood to be sustainability (Hulme, 2009). In other words that development initiatives can be sustained in the long-term because they do not undermine any of the six characteristics of development listed above. As a result adaptation has a key role to play in making development initiatives sustainable: as Munasinghe and Swart state

“the  ability  to  incorporate  climate  change  into  development  plans  can help ensure that new  investments  in  infrastructure  reflect  likely  future  conditions”  and  thus  are  likely   to be more effective (2005, p. 150).

Sustainable development therefore provides an entry point for CBA into development agendas and policies at the local, national and global levels in several key ways:

firstly, because of its own emphasis on considering future environmental conditions and the future conditions and needs of people into development work; secondly, because of its prioritization of devolving power and development strategies to the local level through tools like participation; and thirdly due to its holistic view of development. Furthermore, sustainable development provides an entrance for CBA into the development field through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially   MDG   1   ‘End   poverty   and   hunger’   and   MDG   7   ‘Environmental   sustainability’,   that   stem   from   the   global   sustainable  development   agenda.     Finally,   just as CBA finds an entry point through sustainable development, so too is sustainable development dependent upon initiatives like CBA to achieve its own goal of  sustainability;;  thus  they  are  interlinked  as  “adaptation  can  be  mutually  enforcing   for  sustainable  development”  (Munasinghe & Swart, 2005, p. 149).

4.6 Summary

A schematic illustration of the theoretical framework underpinning CBA that has been presented in this chapter is given in Figure 11 and informs us what is successful CBA. This highlights that primarily CBA has its roots in both development and adaptation theories. Thus it proposes that from a development perspective CBA both requires social capital to function and needs to build social capital to be sustained; in this it should be based upon participatory methods that promote the empowerment of its communities and contribute to a form of multi-level governance of climate change by working amongst civil society. From an adaptation perspective CBA should reduce risk to climate change impacts by reducing vulnerability, building adaptive capacity and building resilience of its communities. Furthermore the illustration indicates that due to these dual theoretical links and conceptual components, it is necessary to view CBA practice through the Development and Adaptation Continuum

paradigm, which shows how adaptation manifests in a development context through a range of discrete to specific measures. In addition it acknowledges the linkages between DRR and CCA and identifies that sustainable development provides an entry point for CBA into policy and development agendas.

Figure 11. Schematic illustration of the theoretical framework underpinning CBA theory and practice

The following three chapters now turn to the empirical research of this doctoral work as it explores the current practice of CBA within the context of settlement development programmes among the poor in urban areas through case study research in the Philippines.