ASSAR (Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions) seeks to deepen understanding of climate vulnerability and adaptation in semi-arid regions, and to help transform current adaptation practice to a mode that achieves proactive, widespread adaptation embedded in development activities.
ASSAR is a five-year, multi-country research project, which aims to deepen the understanding of the barriers and enablers for effective, medium-term adaptation within the dynamic and socially differentiated semi-arid regions of Africa and Asia. ASSAR will generate new knowledge about how adaptation processes – especially those linked to governance systems, policies and adaptation responses – can be modified or improved upon to achieve more widespread, equitable and sustained adaptation. We are particularly interested in understanding people’s vulnerability and, in doing so, exploring the dynamic structural and relational aspects linking vulnerability to social difference, governance and ecosystem services.