Transitions Research

Who decides if a heat adaptation initiative is successful? Does this decision include the people who are impacted by it? For heat-resilience initiatives to be meaningful, inclusive, and sustainable, we must let communities define success, lead adaptation efforts, and shape the metrics we use. Climate Adaptation Learning Lab (CALL) Director, Prerna Singh and Urban Governance Associate, Evita Rodrigues in their commentary for ALNAP remind us to centre communities in measuring heat adaptation success. 🔗 Read: https://lnkd.in/dy9gBvWn 👉 Check out our initiative CALL's work here: https://lnkd.in/gk7BmVMY

In India, the burden of manually picking, segregating, and transporting waste falls largely on informal waste workers who carry this essential green work forward without government support or institutional recognition. Their working conditions are poor, they are exposed to harmful waste and often subjected to exploitation. As a antidote, formalisation of waste work, where workers get legally recognised, is often seen as a broad solution. At Transitions Research, as part of the People’s Urban Living Lab initiative, we have been engaging with waste workers on the ground to understand the complex trade-offs that may emerge from formalisation if it is not grounded in the diverse local realities of the waste workers. Drawing on these insights, Senior Research Fellow Sushant Figueiredo and Communications Manager Rushalee Goswami, in their piece for Mongabay India, highlight the needs and demands of the informal workers that must be incorporated in formalisation strategies. The article also offers a roadmap for action to stakeholders, including local municipal bodies, state pollution control boards, and departments of urban development and panchayats, urging them to coordinate and align national and state welfare schemes so they are tailored to the unique demographic and socioeconomic contexts of their regions. 🔗 Read: https://lnkd.in/g6qwu_RQ Haqdarshak, Chintan (Environmental Research and Action Group), Alliance Of Indian Wastepickers, Sambhav Foundation, Saamuhika Shakti, BBC Media Action, Invaluables Bengaluru

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What does a future where children are safe from the impacts of climate change look like? What can we do today that enables such a tomorrow? Beyond its immediate effects, climate change can cause long-term problems, including lasting social and developmental impacts, pushing families into poverty, and putting children in unsafe situations where they face risks like trafficking, child labor, and child marriage. Because these impacts run so deep, our questions must be pertinent, and our actions must be effective. At our webinar #tomorrow, we will be joined by experts Janani Sekhar, Fatemeh Bakhtiari, and Reetika Revathy Subramanian, PhD, who have dedicated years to addressing this issue. They will highlight the visible and hidden ways climate change affects children and guide us through strategies and systems that can create resilient, safe, and adaptive spaces for those most vulnerable. Find out some of the questions we will be exploring #tomorrow below 👇 and 🔗 register to join here: https://lnkd.in/gVgaQrFr Climate Brides, Aangan Trust, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, Nupur Khanter

At Transitions Research, we’re committed to reimagining systems and algorithms that can unintentionally reinforce the very biases they aim to address. In September, we continued to advance this mission. Whether it’s envisioning a better future for children, thinking beyond the blueprints of climate action plans, identifying capacity gaps among India’s climate professionals, or collaborating with partners to bring data to the ground, we’re working to ensure that climate solutions move beyond policy jargon and truly resonate with the social, cultural, and economic realities of India’s people. Read more about our activities in our monthly newsletter below:

Climate change is a health crisis hiding in plain sight. Beyond the headlines of heatwaves and floods, it creates nutrition gaps, deepens caregiving burdens, and fuels stress and trauma - yet most adaptation frameworks overlook these realities. To surface what’s missing, Transitions Research and the The Adaptation Research Alliance (Training, Leaning, Sharing/TLS program) convened 150+ organisations across Africa, Asia, and Latin America & the Caribbean to ask researchers, NGOs, funders, and community groups working on the frontlines of climate and health a pertinent question: ⭕ How can participatory, ground-up approaches help us better understand and act on the health impacts of climate change? ➡️ The findings point to urgent gaps: fragmented monitoring systems obscure slow-onset risks, mental health and gendered care burdens remain invisible, and community-led interventions remain underutilised. Explore the key insights below, and find the full report in the comments. Nupur Khanter, Prarthana Arandhara, Evita Rodrigues, Diksha Gupta, Prerna Singh, ClimateWorks Foundation, Wellcome Trust

How do disasters alter children’s lives and how can recovery efforts account for the uncountable losses they face? The impacts of climate change on children often remain invisible, multiplying itself across various existing inequalities. Join us in our dialogue, "How is Climate Change Reshaping Childhood?" on October 15th, at 5 p.m, as we unpack the layered effects of climate change on children to ensure the consequences, both the visible and invisible, are recorded, their rights protected, and financing is directed toward child-centred loss and damage. With: Janani Sekhar(Aangan Trust), Reetika Revathy Subramanian, PhD, (Climate Brides) Fatemeh Bakhtiari, (UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre) and Nupur Khanter (Transitions Research) 🔗 Register: https://lnkd.in/eQzepKv7

As we mark #WorldHabitatDay, we must recognise the voices of those who inhabit our cities and towns, and the practitioners who work alongside them, as guiding lights for making climate adaptation more collaborative and equitable. Climate adaptation in communities differs by the nature of settlement. While adaptation in formal urban boundaries is largely institution-driven, informal, indigenous, and rural contexts depend on local knowledge and collective action. For the technical and traditional to truly integrate, we must reimagine and realign how knowledge, power, and practice are valued across communities, practitioners, and funders. Through conversations with 150+ organisations working on climate adaptation across the #GlobalSouth, we have gathered multi-stakeholder perspectives to understand the depth and diversity of adaptation efforts on the ground. This work aims to move beyond silos and foster deeper, more equitable stakeholder engagement. 🔗 Read our detailed insights here: https://lnkd.in/gqbquyXc Nupur Khanter, Prerna Singh, Evita Rodrigues, Diksha Gupta, The Adaptation Research Alliance, UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme), Resilient40, Foundation CDDTanzania, SEVANATHA Urban Resource Centre, weADAPT (official page), Resilient Cities Network, Cities Today, Question of Cities

When schools are flooded, children’s education comes to a halt. When cyclones strike coastal communities, families are forced to migrate, taking their children with them. The eldest often become full-time caregivers for their younger siblings, or are compelled to drop out of school to earn a livelihood. Climate change is reshaping children’s lives in intricate ways, destabilising the firm foundations they need to grow, learn, and thrive. Yet, many of these impacts remain invisible. It is time we bring them to light. Join us in conversation with Fatemeh Bakhtiari (UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre), Reetika Revathy Subramanian, PhD (School of Global Development / Climate Brides), Janani Sekhar (Aangan Trust), and Nupur Khanter(Transitions Research), as we explore the systemic gaps that leave children vulnerable, with a focus on gender and intersectional inequities. 📌 Register here: https://lnkd.in/gVgaQrFr

India’s climate response has a critical gap: the capacity of public officials to implement solutions on the ground. The people responsible for delivering India’s climate goals operate in a rapidly shifting landscape, where the demands on their skills often outpace the support available. Yet, existing capacity-building programs are largely designed for conventional administrative and sectoral roles, leaving climate-specific needs unaddressed. In this opinion editorial for the Hindustan Times, Founding Director Vikrom Mathur and Urban Governance Associate Evita Rodrigues highlight the urgent need for targeted climate-focused skills that enable public officials to tackle practical, multidisciplinary tasks, such as interpreting climate data, overseeing renewable energy rollouts, redesigning transport systems, and more. 🔗 Read here: https://lnkd.in/gBKhUJ6s