Expertise and exclusivity in adaptation decision-making

Climate change adaptation decision-making has been dominated by professional experts while vulnerable communities have limited input. In order to understand the unequal distribution of power among adaptation actors, I propose the 'adaptation field' as an advantageous theoretical tool. In the adaptation field, professional experts are constructed as the ultimate authority on how adaptation should take place. This standard persists despite its demonstrated shortcomings in adaptation interventions in the Global South, and even when local community members are deliberately engaged in an attempt to correct for these shortcomings. Ultimately, power in the adaptation field must be redistributed such that those with the most at stake have significant influence over how adaptation will take place.