Why projects cannot deliver transformative climate change adaptation

There has been extensive debate about conceptualizations of transformative adaptation and appropriate strategies for attaining such change. However, these discussions rarely question the vehicle through which transformative adaptation is commonly attempted – the form of the project, understood as a set of activities organized toward reaching one or more goals within a specified time frame and designated geographic area. Based on years of research investigating adaptation projects and their impacts in Ecuador, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and São Tomé and Príncipe, we contend that the delivery of adaptation finance through projects impedes transformative adaptation. We understand projects to be inadequate for this task due to fundamental social, spatial, and temporal limitations stemming from their techno-managerial and bureaucratic nature. As a result, projects are rarely accountable to their supposed beneficiaries, are circumscribed to a limited geographical area that ignores horizontal and vertical linkages, and are simply too short to effect long-lasting, structural change. We also outline some key challenges for overcoming the dominance of projects in adaptation and point to some promising alternatives for achieving transformative adaptation.Key policy insightsAdaptation actors in every sector call for transformative change, but there is little evidence of such changeProjects are currently the dominant vehicle for implementing transformative climate change adaptation, but are impeded by social, spatial, and temporal limitationsThese limitations prohibit projects from delivering transformative climate adaptation and sometimes result in maladaptationRadical policy alternatives include transformative adaptive social protection, reparations, commoning land and resources, and mutual aid and care collectives