Framing climate changeadaptation learning and action:the case of Lahore, Pakistan

Saleem JanjuaSchool of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University,

Melbourne, Australia andClimate Change Adaptation Programme, Global Cities Research Institute,

RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Ian ThomasSchool of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University,

Melbourne, Australia, and

Darryn McEvoyClimate Change Adaptation Programme, Global Cities Research Institute,

RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and critically examine a framing of keycharacteristics for climate change adaptation learning and action in the context of urban Pakistanilocal government.

Design/methodology/approach – The research employed a combination of approaches;predominantly literature review and interview methodologies. Recognising the need to understandclimate change adaptation as an iterative learning process, the literature review concentrated onorganisational and policy learning, with special consideration given to those characteristics mostpertinent to urban governance in the Pakistani context. This analysis was then furthered throughprimary data collated through a series of interviews, with the City District Government of Lahore asthe chosen case study for this piece of research. Initial scoping interviews were followed up by a seriesof in-depth, semi-structured, interviews with local government officials, an assessment process used toexamine conceptual evidence and findings in the Pakistani urban context. A total of 21 Pakistaniprofessionals, working in a variety of roles for local government, were subject to the interview process.

Findings – From a critical analysis of conceptual and real world evidence, the authors identified sixdiscrete characteristics that could be used to frame the context of climate change adaptation learningand action in the Pakistani urban local government context. These have been categorised as:leadership for adaptation, vision for adaptation, culture for adaptation, good governance foradaptation, innovation and creativity for adaptation and resources for adaptation.

Originality/value – The value of this paper is several-fold: it applies a learning perspective to theclimate change adaptation debate, identifies a framing of key characteristics for climate changeadaptation learning and action, and uses an actor-based approach to examine some of the keyconceptual ideas in the Pakistani urban context.

Keywords Pakistan, Urban regions, Local government, Global warming, Learning

Paper type Case study

IntroductionAdaptation to climate change is increasingly becoming a management priority forgovernment and private sector organisations across the globe, partly driven by

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Received 22 December 2009Revised 15 February 2010

Accepted 9 March 2010

International Journal of ClimateChange Strategies and Management

Vol. 2 No. 3, 2010pp. 281-296

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited1756-8692

DOI 10.1108/17568691011063051

a rationale that successful adaptation will reduce the consequences of climatic impactsthat are unavoidable (Doria et al., 2009; Adger et al., 2005). As noted by Ayers andHuq (2008) as well as Oxfam (2007), organisational change which enables climateadaptation learning is considered crucial to a process of improving climate resilience inthe developing world. However, grasping such an opportunity is a major challenge,particularly in the urban public sector in developing countries such as Pakistan.

Senge et al. (1999, p. 5) set out some general aspirations that drive organisationalchange:

[. . .] they are trying to respond quickly to external changes and think more imaginativelyabout the future [. . .] they want better relationships, with less game-playing and more trustand openness [. . .] they want to unleash employees natural talents and enthusiasm [. . .] theyhope to move genuinely closer to their customers [. . .] through all of this they are striving toshape their destiny, and thereby achieve long-term success.

Despite the presence of these aspirations, a large number of change initiatives (both indeveloped and developing countries) have had limited success due to a variety ofinstitutional barriers (Stanleigh, 2008; Ndou, 2004; Polidano, 2001; Hamel, 2000; Sengeet al., 1999; Handy, 1989). Although these barriers differ according to local context, twogeneral themes can be distilled from such studies. First, there is often a failure to createenabling conditions that actively support and encourage change through organisationallearning, and second a failure to implement an effectual change process. Under such ascenario, the applicability of a learning organisation concept appears to be the mostappropriate in any change process.

The quintessence of the learning organisation paradigm is seeminglystraightforward, and rotates around developing a positive tendency to learn, adaptand change. In the developed-world context (Sette, 2008; Elkjaer, 2004; Nutley andDavies, 2001; Senge et al., 1999; Dodgson, 1993) there have been a large number of studiesthat have either made efforts to explore the dynamics of learning organisations or elsethe extent to which organisations could develop an internal environment that promotesand encourages learning for different purposes. However, such studies are much morelimited for developing countries, including Pakistan (Alam, 2009; Bhatnagar andSharma, 2005; Kharbanda, 2002). This could be due to the increasing number ofdefinitions and characterisations of learning organisations and the importance given bydifferent researchers to different features of the learning organisation.

Responding to this knowledge gap, this paper reflects on the application of thelearning organisation paradigm to the climate change adaptation agenda in the contextof urban Pakistani local government. Its structure is as follows. From the review ofacademic literature, the paper initially provides a theoretical underpinning to theorganisational learning paradigm, as well as highlighting some of the key characteristicsoften attributed to a learning organisation. These conceptual characteristics are thenexamined with primary data, as elicited from a series of 21 semi-structured interviewscarried out with Pakistani local government officials. A process of evaluation thenenables to consider how such an approach may help to encourage change for adaptationactivity in Pakistani urban local government.

Learning as a change catalyst in organisationsAs stated by Levitt and March (1988), it is important to develop a comprehension of howpublic sector organisations learn from their own experience, how they learn from other

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organisations, and how they develop their own internal understanding and frameworkfor action. Initially, one of the fundamental questions could be: who learns and what [. . .]the public sector organisations or the individuals [. . .] or both? Another fundamentalquestion is how learning takes place, i.e. how do public sector organisations learn?Individuals learn and afterwards change their attitudes and possibly their perceptionsof nearby settings. However, learning also has a number of implications at a collectivelevel, which could change the overall behaviour of groups or public sector organisations.This reveals that developing a better understanding of how public sector organisationsactually learn is vital for any change initiative.

Nevis et al. (1995) define organisational learning as the “capacity” or the “processeswithin an organisation” that actually allow it to increase the effectiveness of its working.Also, as Lopez et al. (2005, p. 228) indicate, organisational learning is a “dynamic andadaptive process that engages the creation, acquisition and integration of knowledge”.Pahor et al. (2008), Beeby and Booth (2000), Argyris and Schon (1996) and Senge (1990)are of the view that organisations learn by the efforts of individuals attached to thoseorganisations, particularly in relation to communications and interactions with internaland external groupings. Kim (1993) considers that almost all organisations learnwhether they knowingly choose to or not. Hence, what is critical to bring change withinan organisation is not only the learning rate, learning material and individuals wholearn, but also how learning is captured, transferred and converted internally as action.

In the academic literature, policy learning (ideas) is also considered to be animportant element for bringing change and innovation in government organisations(Szarka, 2006; Braun and Benninghoff, 2003; Benz, 2002; Braun and Busch, 1999;Sabatier, 1993; Fischer and Forester, 1993; Bennett and Howlett, 1992). Policy, in general,is considered to be a series of proposed actions taken up by a government. As stated byBennett and Howlett (1992), policy learning relates to a pre-arranged, planned andcognisant change in thoughts regarding a particular policy topic. Similarly, change andinnovation are considered to be a shift in actions, which is mostly due to a “change inthought”. However, it is important to take into account that change and innovation areboth directly and indirectly connected to “learning” and “knowledge”. The scale andmethod of change and innovation is further influenced by the form of the knowledgeimplicated in the change initiative, and the type and nature of the organisation. Sabatier(1993) is of the view that policy learning is a type of shared learning, as policy isformulated and implemented simultaneously by a number of different organisations.In general, a key feature of policy learning is that it engages intra-organisational as wellas inter-organisational learning to bring about change. However, this also creates someintricacy in relation to who learns “what” and “why”, as this involves both individualand collective thinking. Sabatier (1993) also considers policy learning as a long-termchange of thoughts or behavioural intentions that are related to the achievement of aspecific belief system, arguing that this is similar to the typical learning-based view(organisational learning) as it considers a long-term change of thoughts (within anorganisation) with simultaneously changes in frames, values and meanings to make it alearning-organisation in a specific context.

Linking the organisational learning paradigm to climate change adaptationLearning for climate change adaptation is a new, but an important and challenging,research area. McEvoy et al. (2008) stress the need for making space for adaptation

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learning in decision-making domains. Indeed, the authors consider the concept of“climate change adaptation as a learning process” a vital component of an adaptationframework for action at the local level (McEvoy et al., 2008). Other literature (Pelling et al.,2008; Adger et al., 2005; McCarthy et al., 2001) suggests that one of the key aims ofadaptation is to build “adaptive capacity”, commonly defined as the “ability of a systemto adjust to climate change, including climate variability and extremes, to moderatepotential dangers, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences”.Easterling et al. (2004) noted that adaptive capacity reflects how well an organisation iscapable of adjusting to dynamic climatic changes. Fazey et al. (2007) are of the view thatdeveloping the ability to learn flexibly in a variety of ways, contexts and circumstances,is an important element of developing adaptive capacity. They argue that thewidespread implementation of modern social science related approaches could make asubstantial contribution to building and maintaining adaptive capacity in the context ofclimate change. Eriksen (2000) claimed that a crucial part of building adaptive capacityis to develop a suitable policy to facilitate the learning for local people’s innate, dynamicand integrated adaptation approaches. Change in policy for climate change adaptationalone is not enough – enabling conditions (including learning) for the functioning of awide-ranging portfolio of policies is also necessary.

Lovell et al. (2002) suggest that without change in organisations (with learning as apart of that change), adaptation efforts will remain unproductive as the currenttop-down (scenario-based and technical) and bottom-up (vulnerability reduction andmoving towards resilience and social and organisational) approaches will remaindisconnected, and organisations will therefore continue to function with large, outdatedand ineffective structures. In one of its reports, ICSU (2005) places considerableimportance on considering soft organisational aspects such as: learning, culture, historyand psychology. Folke et al. (2002) stress the development of adaptive, flexible andlearning institutions in responding to the non-linear dynamics of natural and humansystems for environmental action. In the context of learning to adapt, the quality oflocal government operation will be critical. Huq et al. (2007, p. 6) consider that inwell-governed cities “good provision for storm and surface drainage can easily be builtinto the urban fabric, along with complementary measures to protect flooding”. Also,they consider that “in poorly governed cities this does not happen, and it is commonfor buildings and infrastructure to be constructed that actually disrupt drainagechannels”. This example highlights the pivotal role that the local public sector plays inimplementing actual adaptation measures, while needing to avoid instances ofmal-adaptation. However, little of the current literature has attempted to identify thefactors relevant to better adaptation performance at the urban local level, and the rolethat learning has in its facilitation.

In order to understand how an organisation could bring about change throughlearning, DiBella (1995) highlights three common perspectives of learning throughwhich change within organisations can be attained:

(1) A normative perspective that observes learning as taking place only underspecific settings, i.e. learning within organisations is captured by focusing oncharacteristics (for example, leadership, vision, culture, governance andcreativity) that make sure that learning is deliberately tailored.

(2) A developmental perspective which considers learning within organisations asemergent and growing over time.

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(3) A capability perspective that observes different learning approaches aslegitimate and does not specify characteristics.

DiBella (1995) considers learning as rooted in the customs, traditions and structure ofthe organisation. The review of contemporary literature about learning indicates thatthere are some similarities as well as differences in relation to the question “how tobring about change through aspirations of organisational learning”? However, a largenumber of studies (Berg and Chyung, 2008; Sheaff and Pilgrim, 2007; Vassalou, 2001;Pedler et al., 1991; DiBella, 1995) focus on the characteristics model of learning fororganisations through which change within organisations could be attained.

There are no noteworthy studies available for Pakistani context that address thenotion of learning in Pakistani organisations. Studies in the region are also very limitedbut are starting to materialise in some countries like India (Bhatnagar and Sharma,2005; Kharbanda, 2002), and Thailand (Hallinger and Kantamara, 2000). Differentthreads of research from these neighbouring Asian countries also point to commonthemes in discussions of learning and learning organisations, primarily revolvingaround the similar characteristics discussed above. In attempting to identify andexamine characteristics that could promote adaptation learning and action on thepart of Pakistani urban local government, it is appropriate to consider some of theaspirations (characteristics) that have emerged from the “organisational learning”literature (Fazey et al., 2007; Lovell et al., 2002; Folke et al., 2002; Eriksen, 2000). Fromthe analysis, five different framing characteristics were identified that would be ofpotential relevance to bring about change for climate change adaptation learning andaction in urban Pakistani local government. These were categorised as: leadership foradaptation, vision for adaptation, organisational culture for adaptation, goodgovernance for adaptation and innovation and creativity for adaptation.

Research methodology and data collectionFive initial scoping interviews (the exploratory stage) were conducted in Pakistan toconfirm the enabling characteristics that had been identified by the literature review.Interviews were conducted with one academic, one local climate change expert, oneperson from a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and two persons from DistrictOffice Environment, Rawalpindi. These specific stakeholders were selected on thebasis of their expertise and relevance to the aims of this research. The purpose of initialinterviewing was to establish convergence (agreement or disagreement), and thereforethe sample size was not as important as ensuring that convergence had been reached.The five characteristics that were identified during the literature review provided thebasis for the initial round of interviews. Provision was also made for the possibility ofnew characteristics emerging during this engagement process, therefore iterativeanalysis and reflection was needed before commencing the second part of the researchprogramme; the larger series of in-depth interviews.

The initial five interviews confirmed the different key characteristics considerednecessary for urban Pakistani local government to promote beneficial change in thecontext of climate change adaptation. The academic interviewee suggested including anadditional category of “resources for adaptation”, as well as the already identifiedcharacteristics, as he considered it a critical component of supporting learning and actionin the Pakistani context. One of the interviewees mentioned that “good governance

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for adaptation” should also involve those people who are most at risk, hence flagginga need to improve community engagement processes at the local level. The potentialrole for private actors was also highlighted at the urban local level in Pakistan;especially as local government alone cannot do this task. Interviewees (climate changeexpert and NGO representative) also suggested including “resources for adaptation” as acritical factor needed to support adaptation learning and action on the part of urbanPakistani local government. Another interviewee pointed out that the current level offinancial assistance for adaptation learning and action at the urban local governmentin Pakistan is negligible through provincial and federal levels, in comparison to theperceived high level of financial requirements actually needed for adaptation. Theacademic interviewee said:

[. . .] there could be some limitations for mainstreaming climate change adaptation into thecurrent development planning process at the urban local government level in Pakistan due tothe uncertainties involved with climate change impacts, as well as the future socio-economicsituation in Pakistan.

One of the interviewee from the District Office Environment, Rawalpindi argued that:

[. . .] the local decision makers in Pakistan would experience practical difficulties to allocateresources for undertaking initiatives for implementing various climate adaptation actions, asthe allocation of limited resources for different Pakistani local sectors are generally allocatedto balancing present day development priorities vis a vis managing unknown risks at afar-away future.

After concluding the round of initial interviews, it was observed that all intervieweesconfirmed the five initial characteristics identified by the literature review.Their consensual view was that these characteristics, if initiated and implementedproperly, could bring about change within urban Pakistani local government in thecontext of climate change adaptation learning and action. However, there was also astrong desire amongst interviewees to include the obviously important characteristic“resources for adaptation”. In summary, these initial interviews contributed to the aimsof the research in two key ways: first they confirmed the selection of the five initialcharacteristics; and second they identified an additional characteristic that had notbeen a primary consideration from the review of literature.

In the second part of the research programme, 16 in-depth interviews were carriedout. Interviewees were grouped into two cases (Cases I and II) of eight personnel ofone urban-based government organisation (City District Government, Lahore).This process was specifically designed to better understand the characteristics thathad been identified by the combination of literature review and scoping interviews, andto further examine and substantiate the framing of variables needed to support changewithin urban local government in the context of climate adaptation learning and action.Interviews were conducted with representatives of Lahore City District Government(senior and middle management staff), University of Engineering and Technology,Lahore and NGOs. Again, interviewees were selected on the basis of their expertise andrelevance to the aims of the research. There were two important rationales whyinterviews were conducted with a range of different government and non-governmentactors for this analysis. First, to match and cross-reference the views that wereobtained in the initial interviews. This increased the spread of data and hence itsvalidity. The second rationale was that by examining two cases in one urban local level

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public sector organisation, this further strengthened data validity across each of theindividual cases. The focus on one local authority was also governed by practicalconsiderations. First, these were operational; both in terms of time and gaining accessto a reasonable number of interviewees. Second, the great distances that would havebeen involved in travelling to other areas of Pakistan. Thus, both time and distanceconstraints made it impractical to interview staff members from urban localgovernment outside the Punjab province in Pakistan.

The interview notes were converted into data matrices (research issue, response andtheme), so that a pattern matching process could be established. Each data matrix wasdivided into two sections. The data matrices were then populated to analyse the data.The upper section was for the data gathered from Case-I and the lower section was forthe data gathered from Case-II. Each of the sections was comprised of eight cells, usedto display the views of each respondent. Each cell was further divided into a space foreach of the eight respondents. In each of the spaces the key response from that personwas recorded and from this a pattern matching process, as developed by Yin (1994),was carried out by identifying either the most common comment, or any dissentingcomment made concerning that question.

Research findings and discussionThe key findings arising from the analysis are discussed below by presenting the mostnotable comments and arguments that were associated with each of the pre-definedcharacteristics. The semi-structured nature of the interviews not only allowed viewsand commentary on the framing and detail of the six identified characteristics but alsoits applicability to the “reality” of urban Pakistani local government and how theframing may be affected by changes to its current situation. Overall, the generalconsensus was a high degree of support for the framing of the characteristics,i.e. leadership for adaptation, vision for adaptation, culture for adaptation, goodgovernance for adaptation, innovation and creativity for adaptation and resources foradaptation in urban Pakistani local government in order to bring about change in thecontext of climate adaptation learning and action. However, they also introduced astrong caveat that current government strategies are not explicitly placing anyattention on how to support these important characteristics, so that adaptation relatedactions could be started.

The case study interviewees indicated that the characteristic of effective leadershipfor adaptation learning and action was highly valued in Pakistani context. One of theacademic interviewees noted that in contrary to mitigation (actions that generatebenefits which are largely global), adaptation generates benefits that are largely local.This indicates that if Pakistani urban local government start adaptation learning andaction, they would actually capture benefits for themselves of the most of theirinitiatives, establishing a strong motivation to adapt. This also makes clear why a widerange of local adaptation plans and actions are being observed throughout the world tomanage and reduce climate risks. But why then do we, however, observe adaptationlearning and action deficits in Pakistani urban local government? Why does not selfinterest motivate Pakistani local government leaders to do more to protect their areafrom climate hazards? Some interviewees mentioned that Pakistani urban localgovernment leaders could find several barriers to obstruct adaptation learning andaction, including: competing priorities that put demands on scarce resources,

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insufficient financial resources that could limit capacity to adapt (especially insmall urban Pakistani local level environment offices), lack of knowledge, weak localgovernance, degraded natural resources, inadequate infrastructure and distortedincentives. Barriers such as these could sternly hamper what local government leadersshould do for climate adaptation learning and action in urban areas of Pakistan.However, some interviewees also thought that interventions by Pakistani urban localgovernment leaders can create “enabling conditions” that could better makestakeholders to overcome the barriers and take adaptation actions to help save theirarea. Hence, enabling the process for climate adaptation learning and action is also akey adaptation that Pakistani urban local government “leaders” could make.

Overall, the perceptions of the interviewees for first characteristic indicate that a keyingredient for successfully learning and action of adaptation is the presence of effectivelocal leadership that is enthusiastic to advance adaptation objectives further – in otherwords presence of a local adaptation champion. The local adaptation leaders in Pakistancould be the head of a local area from the political domain, or any other publicfunctionary who is eager and committed to initiate and advance its local adaptationagenda by kicking off many actions, such as:

. Initiate assessments of current climate change trends and future projections fortheir area of jurisdiction based on available local resources.

. Initiate undertaking climate risk and vulnerability assessments of their area ofjurisdiction (some interviewees mentioned that district office environment,Lahore as well as all other local environment offices in Punjab have not yetcollected and analysed this information and would therefore have to developthese assessments from scratch).

. Initiate identifying priority areas where adaptation learning and actions shouldbe focused.

. Initiate crafting adaptation learning plans using current and new tools.

. Initiate adaptation actions utilising various applicable tools.

. Initiate developing, implementing, monitoring, reviewing and modifyinglocal-level adaptation learning and action programmes within their normaldevelopment budgets.

. Initiate community participation (involving persons at risk – the intendedbeneficiaries) in the process of adaptation learning and action, which can increasethe effectiveness of adaptation to climate change in urban local areas of Pakistan.

The authors argue that a general benefit of participating in climate adaptation learningand action programmes is that it could facilitate climate risks being placed in contextwith other complex social settings and could provide opportunities to solutions thatcan be shared to achieve various objectives. While initiating the above-mentionedactions, Pakistani urban local government leaders may also engage stakeholders inorder to learn from their indigenous knowledge and to identify vulnerable areas andsome potential practical adaptation initiatives. This engagement process is vital tobring local actors together and to give them learning and sharing opportunities, so thatthey could get an insight into the projected climate change impacts and potentialadaptation strategies. Some of the interviewees also noted that it is essential to build“will” of Pakistani urban local government leaders so that they allocate sufficient

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financial resources for planning and implementation of adaptation strategies, becausesome of the adaptation actions may require significant funding or politically disliked.Moreover, some of the adaptation learning and action strategies may need sometrade-offs on which the stakeholders would also require to be planned. Intervieweesalso pointed out that the Pakistani urban local leaders should initiate assessments ofthe adaptive capacity of their local area to adapt to climate change impacts. In Pakistaniurban local government, there are presently no plans for assessing the adaptivecapacity of different sectors, but this is a gap that could be addressed through effectuallocal leadership for adaptation.

Interviewees also pointed out that in Pakistan, especially in urban local government,there is an embedded supposition that only those at executive level implement thevision, as those at junior level require simply carrying out their routine work as theyare just workers whose work is to “do”, rather than to “think”. In Pakistani urban localgovernments this supposition also appears to have been embraced. As a result some ofthose who take action in accordance with the vision, are involved in the process ofplanning and developing their local government’s vision. Unfortunately, manysubordinates working for the environmental protection in Pakistani urban localgovernment are even not aware of what the big picture is for environmental protectionand climate adaptation, nor their role within that bigger picture because they have noidea of the vision (based on one of the authors’ personal experience while working withthe Rawalpindi local government). Thus, if the rationale of the organisational vision isto give direction and guidance in a specific context, such as learning and action forclimate adaptation, then it appears feasible that those who are supposed to implementthe vision should also participate in its development (Hamel, 2000). In the case of urbanPakistani local government, the authors argue that the vision for climate adaptationshould be based on three interlinked guiding principles:

(1) Adaptation activities (learning and action) are planned on the basis of learningfrom current past climate inconsistency and extreme events.

(2) Adaptation activities (learning and action) are strongly connected todevelopment processes, and planned within the on-going local level planningand development programmes.

(3) Adaptation activities (learning and action) are taking place at different scaleswithin the urban local areas, primarily with the help of Pakistani localgovernment environment staff.

Once the vision for climate adaptation learning and action in urban Pakistani localgovernment is formulated and understood by the staff, strategies to adapt to climatechange can then be developed straight-forwardly.

The in-depth interviewees also mentioned that Pakistani urban local government,as with all other public sector organisations working in Pakistan, have an exclusiveand exceptional organisational culture. It is the culture that influences the way inwhich Pakistani staff working at the local level proceeds or is encouraged to proceed,corresponding to achieving both personal and organisational aims. Moreover, there is avery strong connection between the ethics, customs and actions of the stakeholdersrelated to Pakistani local government. One of the interviewees, having vast workingexperience for environmental protection in Pakistan, thought that the currentorganisational culture within Pakistani urban local government would avert them

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changing for climate adaptation as their culture does not encourage, support and valuelearning and action for climate change in most instances. Many researchers (Fazey et al.,2007; Ogbonna and Harris, 2000) argue that to build up an apposite organisationalculture, one that encourages and gives value to learning and action, a paradigm shift isneeded for those who show the way (leaders) before that new paradigm could beestablished. Hence, the development of an apposite organisational culture foradaptation in Pakistani local government would need more than just time, but thesetting up of an entirely novel set of collective values to make certain that this culturalchange can be attained; as this set of commonly shared values requires to embracetrusting each another, empowering others and to create innovation (Glanz, 1999).The goal of all this is to develop a value of learning for climate adaptation in Pakistanilocal government staff, and to convert them into what Collins (2001) names as“learning person”, which will then facilitate individual and shared learning for climateadaptation to happen more readily (Aram and Noble, 1999; Ahmed et al., 1999).

Assessing the means of urban Pakistani local government’ ability, capacity andwillingness (good governance for adaptation) to plan for learning and implementingclimate adaptation programmes were also seemed high valued during the in-depthinterviewing. This is consistent with what has been argued by Devas (2001) that thelevel to which urban local government is able to supply poor communities with essentialinfrastructure and facilities is dependent on two aspects: first, on the local government’scapacity and capability to fulfil their responsibilities – this time and again depends ongood connections with higher levels of government – and second on the responsivenessof local government to the requirements of poor communities. Tanner et al. (2009) andFernandes (2007) have linked good governance for environmental protection andclimate change (devolution and independence; answerability and transparency;responsiveness and flexibility; participation and inclusion; and experience and support)with national level actions to facilitate greater decentralised legal, institutional andfinancial space for urban local areas in order for the local government to be effective andmore accountable to their citizens. However, the recent decentralisation experiment inPakistan indicates that such devolution to local government is only effective whenample time is also provided to build up local capacity, capability and appropriateaccountability mechanisms.

The need for increased innovation and creativity for adaptation were also thoughtessential in urban Pakistani local context for climate adaptation learning and actionduring the in-depth interviewing. Most of the interviewees mentioned that due tocontinued funding cuts in the recent past, the load on staff at Pakistani local government,particularly environment staff, has increased significantly. This has created a crisisfor the development of innovation and creativity for environmental protection andclimate adaptation in Pakistani local government, as there has been a loss of both thetime to think and reflect; yet this time is a precursor to increase innovation and creativityand the loss of organisational slack (especially having sufficient staff and resources todevelop and implement new ideas, practices and processes for climate adaptation).This loss of thinking time, also pointed out by Janjua and Rehman (2008), is one of themost devastating impacts for environment professionals of urban Pakistani localgovernment to move towards local resilience. Further, as Noharia and Gulati (1996)argue, innovation and creativity are lost if there is too little organisational flexibility, ifresources are insufficient and not available in a timely manner. Hence, providing urban

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Pakistani local government professionals with ample thinking time is also a keydeterminant of the level to which innovation and creativity demonstrated in Pakistanilocal government for climate adaptation.

The interviewees also considered that urban Pakistani local government need to befunded sufficiently (resources for adaptation) by the internal (federal and provincialgovernments) and external (international donors) bodies, so that they could initiate andimplement any adaptation learning and action plans. Importantly, a recurring theme inrelation to Pakistani local government was the impact that a lack of funding has onenvironmental and climate change actions; all the interviewees commented on thischaracteristic. For instance, one of the interviewees noted: “limited funding is puttinghuge constraints on our local government to work more effectively on environmentaland climate change plans”. Another interviewee noted: “we have had a cut in financialresources for environmental protection, which has meant less work on climatemitigation and adaptation as well”. Across the interviews the most common theme thatemerged from the in-depth interviewing for this characteristic was the lack ofavailability of funding for implementing any environmental and climate adaptationrelated actions. The interviewees indicated that Pakistani provincial and federalgovernments can play an important role in advancing the urban resilience byproviding more funding mechanisms for local government. Specifically, Pakistani localgovernment require resources for carrying out actions related to the regional levelclimate related impact assessments, analysis of risks, and any planning actionsthereafter. However, expanding programmes that attract funds from various nationaland international sources can help encourage and enable Pakistani urban localgovernment to adapt ahead of climate impacts as opposed to in their wake.

ConclusionsMuch of what has emerged from the literature review has been corroborated throughfield observations. If applied carefully and willingly, then the learning organisationcharacteristics may help bring about change for adaptation activity in urban Pakistanilocal government. Six interconnecting issues become evident from this piece ofresearch and steer our conceptual and real world evidence to climate adaptationlearning and action by Pakistani urban local government:

(1) Presence of effective local leadership. The local adaptation leaders in Pakistanshould be the head of the relevant authority in the local area, or other publicfunctionaries who are committed to initiate and advance its local adaptationagenda by initiating actions, such as: creating enabling conditions for takingthe adaptation process forward; initiating risk and vulnerability assessments;and engaging stakeholders.

(2) Vision for climate adaptation. The vision in Pakistani urban local governmentshould be based on three interlinked guiding principles:. adaptation activities (learning and action) are planned on the basis of learning

from current knowledge of past climate inconsistency and extreme events;. adaptation activities (learning and action) are strongly connected to

development processes, and planned within the on-going local level planningand development programmes; and

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. adaptation activities (learning and action) are taking place at different scaleswithin the urban local areas, primarily with the help of Pakistani localgovernment environment staff.

(3) Culture within Pakistani urban local government. The current culture withinPakistani urban local government does not encourage, support or valuelearning and action for climate change in most instances. The development ofan apposite culture for adaptation in urban Pakistani local government wouldneed more than just time, but the setting up of an entirely novel set of collectivevalues to make certain that this cultural change can be attained.

(4) Adaptation attached to a “good governance” agenda. One of the importantcharacteristics, amongst others, for successfully learning and implementingadaptation in urban Pakistani local government is the presence of attributes of“good governance” at the local level including: devolution and independence;answerability and transparency; responsiveness and flexibility; participationand inclusion; and experience and support. A key part of the vision andleadership for adaptation should include plans to develop a more understandingand supportive culture.

(5) Innovation and creativity for adaptation. With an effective leadership, vision andgovernance, many innovative actions could be planned and implemented in orderto move the adaptation agenda forward. Pakistani urban local government couldinitiate adaptation innovativeness through various means – from academicinstitutions to religious organisations, from scientific communities to cultural andartistic groups, from community and indigenous workers to public intellectuals.

(6) Adaptation funding. There is a lack of availability of funding for implementingadaptation strategies in urban Pakistani local government. Pakistani provincialand federal governments can play an important role in advancing the urbanresilience by providing funding mechanisms for local adaptation actions.Specifically, resources are required for carrying out actions related to theregional level climate related impact assessments, analysis of risks and anyplanning actions thereafter. Developing programmes and projects that attractfunds, nationally and internationally, could also help encourage and enablelocal government to adapt ahead of climate impacts as opposed to in their wake.Additionally, any provincial and federal legislation that are proposed to combatclimate change directly or indirectly could also help advance adaptationpriorities by providing additional financial support at the local level.

As we indicate it is critical to understand that progress towards the learning and actionfor climate change adaptation in Pakistani urban local government is likely to beincremental, rather than an overnight transformation. However, in the urban Pakistanilocal level context, learning and action for climate change adaptation should not beignored or disregarded. Rather, a start must be made. Climate change adaptation needsto be esteemed and incorporated into the local government level functions and the worklife of the employees. Moreover, a process of learning and action for climate changeadaptation at the urban local government level in Pakistan should be graduallystrengthened to establish a clear adaptation paradigm, and planned as a voyage, orsteady pursuit for evolving adaptation.

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AcknowledgementsAn earlier version of this paper was presented in ESF-FMSH Entre-SciencesConference on Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences “New methodologies andinterdisciplinary approaches in Global Change Research”, which was held from 5 to 10November 2008 in IGeSA, Porquerolles, France. The research described in this paper isa part of PhD work in School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMITUniversity, Melbourne, Australia. The authors are grateful to Dr Martin Mulligan forhis contribution and helpful comments during finalisation phase of this paper.

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About the authorsSaleem Janjua is a PhD researcher at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He is working withSchool of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, as well as Climate Change AdaptationProgramme at the Global Cities Research Institute. Previously, Saleem Janjua has worked withUnited Nations Industrial Development Organization (researcher) and Pakistan’s EnvironmentalProtection Agency (Assistant Director). His research awards include: Australian DevelopmentScholarship (2002-2004); and Australian Postgraduate Award (2007-2010). Saleem Janjua is thecorresponding author and can be contacted at: muhammadsaleem.janjua@rmit.edu.au

Ian Thomas, PhD, is an Associate Professor and the Discipline Head, Environment andPlanning at School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, Australia.

Darryn McEvoy, PhD, is an Associate Professor and leads the Climate Change AdaptationProgramme at the Global Cities Research Institute, RMIT University, Australia. He is also actingas the Deputy Director of the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research.

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