Project
Climate Adaptation Tracking and the Link to Policy Outcomes
Adapting to the impacts of climate change is necessary and increasingly urgent. Governments have formulated ambitious goals, but how do we know if they actually deliver on the promises? How do we know if and when additional measures are needed? Monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation actions is important to answer these questions but hardly takes place in practice. In this project, the key political mechanisms that hamper the process of designing and executing an evaluation are analyzed, and politically sensitive interventions are developed to break through these challenges.
Description
This thesis topic (36 ECTS) allows for a comprehensive exploration of the politics surrounding the design, implementation, and impact of climate adaptation tracking, providing valuable insights into the role of metrics in shaping climate policy and outcomes.
This project will explore the political dimensions of designing and selecting specific metrics for climate adaptation tracking. It will analyze how political ideologies and priorities influence the choice of indicators, investigate challenges in implementing climate adaptation metrics, including political resistance and conflicting interests, and examine political theories and frameworks relevant to adaptation tracking. It will analyze case studies of countries, regions or international processes/negotiations where tracking frameworks are designed and implemented, highlighting political challenges and successes. Based on these findings, this thesis will provide recommendations for policymakers on how to navigate political challenges in designing and implementing climate adaptation metrics.
Another aspect of this research will be to explore the relationship between metrics, politics, and policy change. It will analyze case studies and examples where the use of specific metrics and tracking frameworks has influenced policy outcomes. It will examine how the tracking of climate adaptation through metrics influences policy change and identify instances where metrics have driven policy decisions or prompted shifts in priorities.
Requirements
- Strong affinity with qualitative research methods, such as literature review, case study research, policy document analysis, interviews or process tracing
- Prior knowledge and interest in politics, climate change, policy-making, transparency and accountability
