Pluralizing climate change adaptation: mapping discourses in Vietnam

The experiences and perspectives of all those affected by climate change must inform adaptation for reasons of effectiveness, legitimacy, and justice. Recognizing how different stakeholders characterize vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation is a critical step towards more inclusive adaptation governance. To better capture this plurality, some argue for discursive approaches to adaptation research, yet there has been limited empirical work to identify adaptation discourses in climate-vulnerable countries in the Global South. This study explores the diversity of adaptation discourses in Vietnam, a country heavily affected by climate change. The analysis is based on interviews with stakeholders involved in adaptation including government officials, international organizations, civil society, and farmers. Discourses are differentiated according to three elements: their diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framings. Using this analytical framework, six discourses of adaptation are identified: mobilize the money; order and control; coordinate and integrate; made in Vietnam; prioritize the people; and survive and thrive. Four key insights for adaptation research, policy and practice are discussed. This framework could be applied in any context to compare and analyze adaptation discourses and foster more inclusive and deliberative approaches to adaptation.