This article explores how discourses may influence the potential for success in mitigating climate change in Swedish municipalities. We identify dominant discourses in climate change mitigation policy in three Swedish municipalities using argumentative discourse analysis, based on policy documents and interviews as empirical material. Political leadership and adequate organizational preconditions are necessary for working with climate change mitigation in municipalities, but the role of discourse is also significant. Policy discourse constructs preconditions for certain scenarios while rendering others less likely. Previous studies have shown that the ecological modernization (EM) discourse tends to be dominant, something which this study confirms and investigates further. We find that the dominant discourse is strong EM, which largely considers it possible to decouple economic growth and environmental problems through renewable energy and technology. A focus on collaboration between stakeholders is central and a global climate justice perspective is present to some extent. Potential solutions that are not related to the market or technological innovation risk being rendered invisible when this discourse is dominant, but the inclusion of a diversity of actors and an increased focus on climate justice could potentially minimize this risk. Finally, emerging discourses around transformation and circular economy have potential to enable the forging of new paths. This depends, however, on how these concepts are framed and how they are used.

The purpose of this report is to summarize my dissertation on the topic of Swedish research aid policy. The dissertation investigated how Swedish official aid policy constructed the role of research for development in low-income countries between 1973 and 2008. The overarching purpose of the study was to contribute to an understanding of how science has been conceived of as a tool for progress in the post-World War II period. Questions that I asked included: How was the role of research for development constructed? How are individual researchers and universities seen to contribute to development? How is the role of the aid actor portrayed? I sought to identify trends and patterns as a way to analyse the kind of futures that were imagined in the policy documents with respect to the role of science.

The purpose of research aid is to contribute to development in different ways through the use of research. Sarec (the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries) was one of the pioneers within state research aid, and existed between 1975 and 2008. One of the central questions asked in my dissertation on Sarec’s policy history is how the view of the relationship between research and development has changed over time. One of the conclusions is that there are two main policy discourses that can be traced throughout the entire period studied. They share the starting point that modern science can contribute to development and that national research capacity is an important component in this. The localist discourse represents a more multifaceted view of how research can contribute to development, and what that development consist of. It is more explicitly anti-colonialist and to a greater degree prioritizes the local context as basis for decisions regarding support. The universalist discourse places less emphasis on where knowledge is produced since it can be used anywhere, as long as the right structures and priorities are in place. This historical perspective will be complemented with reflections on current developments in Swedish science aid policy, focusing on the issue of how science aid can contribute to the sustainable development goals and transitions to sustainability (work in progress).

The purpose of research aid is to contribute to development in different ways through the use of research. Sarec (the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries) was one of the pioneers within state research aid, and existed between 1975 and 2008. This dissertation studies Sarec’s policy from a historical perspective with the help of official documents and interviews with former directors. Discourse theory together with concepts from Science and Technology Studies comprise the theoretical framework of the study. One of the central questions asked is how the view of the relationship between research and development has changed over time. One of the conclusions is that there are two main policy discourses that are established early on and that can be traced throughout the entire period studied. The two discourses share the starting point that modern science can contribute to development and that national research capacity is an important component in this. The localist discourse represents a more multifaceted view of how research can contribute to development, and what that development consist of. It is more explicitly anti-colonialist and to a greater degree prioritizes the local context as basis for decisions regarding support. The universalist discourse places less emphasis on where knowledge is produced since it can be used anywhere, as long as the right structures and priorities are in place. The discourses reflect different views of knowledge and development. Some decades one discourse dominates over the other, and other decades they are more equal.

Strong local scientific research capacities remain a central piece of the puzzle when it comes to producing relevant knowledge and solutions to various development challenges. There is still great inequality concerning resources for higher education and research globally, however, and in order to be able to tackle climate change – international aid and collaboration is often upheld as key. The amount of aid that is classified as climate and environment related is on the rise, but similar support related to the sustainable use and management of resources and the environment have constituted part of Swedish (and other) aid for many decades. This paper focuses on Swedish aid and takes its empirical point of departure in 1988, when the environment was included among the aid goals. Using discourse analysis, I will narrow in on the case of research aid policy and analyze in what ways changing environments and climate change have been portrayed as important for development between 1988 and 2016. What can we learn from the recent past and how does it compare to today? What is sustainable development in this context; how have problems and solutions been described and what is perceived to be the role of scientific research in creating transitions from less to more “sustainable”?

In this paper, we study the powerful imaginative space of the fossil-free society in Swedish climate policy discourse taking shape in collaboration between the Swedish government and industry actors. In 2017, the Swedish parliament decided that Sweden should arrive at net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by the year 2045, and an ambitious climate policy framework was adopted. We trace the promise attached to the sociotechnical imaginary of the fossil-free society as it is mobilized by the government initiative fossil-free Sweden (FFS) to gain support for industrial decarbonization. We build on analyses of roadmaps produced by FFS together with the Swedish steel, cement and petroleum industries, as well as semi-structured interviews with selected industry actors. We find that the roadmaps work as powerful ‘techniques of futuring’ which enable industry actors to anticipate the risks and opportunities attached to the fossil-free society while also contributing to shaping that society. The roadmaps effectively involve the industrial actors in the political project of decarbonization, but they also consolidate around an imagined future that is a techno-optimistic extension of the fossil-intensive present. 

Solutions to global development challenges often involve scientific research but there is still great inequality concerning resources for research globally and many of the countries that are vulnerable to climate change. International aid directed towards universities is one way by which this inequality is being counteracted. Using discourse analysis, I focus on the pioneer case of Swedish research aid policy and analyze in what ways the environment and climate change have been portrayed as important for development between 1973 and 2017. How have problems and solutions been described and what is perceived to be the role of scientific research in creating transitions from less to more “sustainable”? Environment and climate has been central to the research aid discourse from the start, but the focus was mainly on natural resource management and efficiency in the first decades. In the 1990s and 2000s, the level of urgency and priority increases and the focus is on the negative and unequally distributed consequences of climate change.

The promotion of science and technology for development has been a part of public aid actors’ agendas and interventions since the 1960´s, with the purpose of counteracting the unequal distribution of resources for research in the world in different ways. Some actors have explicit ambitions of escaping a colonialist heritage by underlining the importance of local ownership and local priorities, but there is debate concerning whether the goals and methods of aid actors have the intended effects or whether research aid risks contributing to a scientific neocolonialism of sorts. The theories of change underlying these interventions vary depending on donor actor and country context, but traces of different development theories and theories of science can be identified in the trails of these science for development discourses. In this paper, I build on my previous study of the Swedish pioneer research aid actor Sida-Sarec and present some preliminary findings on recent discursive development, exploring how the links between science and technology and development have been portrayed during this past decade. The work is based on text analysis and interviews and uses the concepts of sociotechnical imaginaries and boundary organization in order to explore why and how states support science (Jasanoff & Kim, 2009; Guston, 2001). This issue is placed at the intersection between science and development politics, areas that sometimes have conflicting goals. The case of research aid illustrates this tension well, and I can therefore hopefully contribute the development-related, postcolonial and decolonial discussions within STS. 

Although there is ongoing debate about the causal mechanisms linking climate change to violent conflict, researchers and policymakers widely agree that climate change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities that undermine human security and societies´ well-being. Resource scarcity and natural disasters can lead to increased cooperation, but the double burden of climate change and political fragility constitutes a serious challenge and the most detrimental effects are seen in already fragile contexts. Due to the importance of preventive measures, development organizations are key in addressing and mitigating the combined challenges of climate and conflict. Such organizations are conceptualizing and integrating security risks posed by climate change, but previous research shows that this work is hampered by organizational silos. This paper contributes to the burgeoning research on integrated approaches to addressing combined challenges of climate and conflict by organizations through examining how the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) works with these issues. In 2015, Sida received an updated directive increasing ambitions for the integration of the thematic issue areas of environment and climate, conflict and gender. The paper uses a comprehensive understanding of security and applies insights on mainstreaming in official development assistance (ODA) from environmental policy integration literature to examine how the connections between climate and security are framed in central policies, in strategies and by Sida staff. It also analyzes how Sida’s organization and procedures support the integration of the two perspectives ‘environment and climate’ and ‘conflict’ and highlights challenges and opportunities that arise when translating policy and strategy into practice. The study is based on an analysis of overarching instructions, policy documents and interviews with 24 Sida staff at Sida’s headquarters in Stockholm and at Swedish Embassies in Eastern Africa. The experience of Sida is an illustrative example of an emerging challenge for ODA actors, and can therefore be valuable for a broad set of organizations also aiming to develop integrated approaches. The study shows that although Sida prioritizes the integration between environment and climate, and conflict on a general policy level, there are some challenges when translating the policy into practice. Ambiguities are identified with regard to concepts used and there are tensions between expert and general knowledge. There are many initiatives aiming to integrate climate and conflict with one another, but increased collaboration on operationalization could enable even deeper levels of integrated work.

Science and technology have long been considered key for development, problem solving and education in low-income countries, and Sweden has been at the forefront of efforts in this area, as one of the first countries to formalise research aid. This book analyses how The Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) have worked to promote science in low-income countries. In doing so, the book tackles challenging questions around whose knowledges and capacities count, who sets the research agenda, how knowledge resources are distributed, and how complex donor-recipient relationships serve both to address and inflate these issues.

Through a discursive analysis of policy material and interviews with former directors at Sarec and Sida as well as other key persons, the book traces how perceptions of the relationship between research and development have shifted over the last five decades. Pointing to why long-term collaboration is necessary in order to contribute significantly to capacity building, as well as highlighting more general tensions relating to the production of knowledge, Sweden’s Research Aid Policy: The Role of Science in Development will be a valuable resource for advanced students and researchers of foreign aid, development cooperation, and the history of science and technology.

Veronica Brodén Gyberg at Linköping University and the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research (CSPR) discusses environmental politics and the preconditions for just transitions towards sustainability locally and globally in an interview with the SweDev Secretariat.

Förväntningarna på naturvetenskaplig, medicinsk och teknisk forskning är högt ställda i dagens samhälle. Statliga och privata finansiärer, näringsliv och allmänhet förväntar sig att de stora resurser som satsas på forskningen ska ge ny grundläggande kunskap men även skapa ekonomisk tillväxt och förbättra livskvalitet och hälsa.

Även om förväntningarna har skruvats upp är dessa tankegångar inte nya. Sedan andra världskriget har staten försökt styra vetenskapen så att den kan uppnå sina dubbla syften. I arbetet har politiken samverkat med ledande forskare och representanter för det svenska näringslivet.

I Det forskningspolitiska laboratoriet diskuterar en grupp forskare hur förväntningarna på vetenskapen har utvecklats från 1900-talet tills idag. Bokens fallstudier beskriver den parallella utvecklingen av forskning och forskningspolitik och fokuserar på på förväntningarnas betydelse. Boken ger dessutom en översikt över forskningspolitikens utveckling och synliggör därigenom de långa linjerna i dess historia.

The knowledge society discourse remains strong and scientific research is considered key to achieving the sustainable development goals. Universities contribute significantly to development through higher education and research which in turn can contribute to local and global problem solving. We have a lot of knowledge in the world, but it is not distributed equally. The so called North-South divide in research capacity is narrowing – but there are still significant inequalities and plenty to work on. Many different actors are working on strengthening universities globally, and here the focus is on the example of how national aid agencies contribute reducing global inequalities through support to research

Regeringens reformagenda för svenskt utvecklingsbistånd innehåller aviseringar om stora förändringar i det svenska klimatbiståndet. Genom att en större andel av utvecklingsbiståndet ska riktas till klimatinsatser skapar reformagendan möjligheter för svenskt inflytande på klimatomställningen internationellt. Samtidigt riskerar den nya inriktningen att undergräva upparbetade relationer och sänka Sveriges höga anseende i internationell klimatdiplomati. En väg framåt är att bygga på etablerade styrkor och ta på sig ledartröjan i strävan efter ett transformativt, katalytiskt och forskningsbaserat klimatbistånd. I denna policy brief diskuterar vi Sveriges klimatbiståndsprofil i relation till globala trender, utvärderingar och forskning i urval. 

In 2017, the Swedish parliament adopted a new climate policy framework that lays the foundations for an ambitious decarbonization of all sectors in Swedish society. To live up to the Paris Agreement’s temperature targets, the parliament decided that Sweden should arrive at net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by year 2045 and thereafter aim for net negative emissions. This progressive climate policy agenda is embedded in a strong collaborative discourse. To begin the transition to a fossil-free society, the Swedish government has invited a wide array of actors to join forces in the formulation and implementation of low carbon initiatives. In this paper we examine the fossil-free society as a powerful socio-technical imaginary that underpins this collaborative effort. We trace the promise attached to this future dreamscape and how it is mobilized by the government initiative Fossil-Free Sweden (FFS) to gain support for industrial decarbonization in the present. Our study draws upon roadmaps produced by FFS together with the Swedish steel, cement, and petroleum industry, as well as semi-structured interviews with selected industry actors. We find that the FFS roadmaps work as powerful “techniques of futuring” that invite industry actors to anticipate the risks and opportunities attached to the fossil-free society and at the same time contribute to shaping that society. While effectively involving incumbent actors in the political project of decarbonization, our study suggests that the roadmaps consolidate around an imagined future that is a techno-optimistic extension of the fossil-intensive present 

Societies worldwide are increasingly facing security challenges posed by climate change. The impacts of climate change exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and undermine human security, and the most detrimental effects are seen in already fragile contexts. Development organizations are key in addressing and mitigating climate-related security risks due to the importance of preventive measures. Such organizations are conceptualizing and integrating security risks posed by climate change, but the work is often done in silos. This paper contributes to the burgeoning research on the integration of climate-related security risks by organizations, with a case study on how the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is framing and developing its responses. The study shows that although Sida prioritizes the integration of environment and climate with conflict on a general policy level, there are some challenges when translating the policy into practice. The analysis identifies ambiguities with regard to concepts used and tensions between expert and general knowledge. There are several initiatives at Sida on different levels with the aim to integrate climate and conflict. However, there seems to be room for increased collaboration on operationalization, which could enable even deeper levels of integrated work.

Societies worldwide are facing a new class of security challenges posed by climate change. Although there is an ongoing debate about the causal mechanisms linking climate change to violent conflict, researchers and policy makers widely agree that climate-related change exacerbates existing vulnerabilities which undermines human security, societies well-being and indirectly influences violent conflicts. The burgeoning research examining how intergovernmental organizations are framing and responding to climate-related security risks shows that organizations with fundamentally different mandates are in the process of developing their work to conceptualize and integrate security risks posed by climate change. A general understanding is that the most effective policy approaches will consist of preventive measures applied to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Therefore, development organizations are key in addressing and mitigating climate-related security risks. This paper contributes to the growing research on how organizations are integrating climate-related security risks with a case study of how the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) is framing and developing its responses. In 2015, Sida was tasked by the Swedish government to integrate human rights, environment and climate, gender, and conflict in all its operations; from strategies and policies to monitoring and evaluation of the practical implementation and results. This makes Sida a well-suited case of how an organization is integrating climate-related security risks in its policies and practices. Based on document analysis and 15 semi-structured interviews with 24 Sida staff in Stockholm and at embassies in the Horn of Africa, the analysis contributes with insights on the relationship between environmental and climate change to the discourse of peace and conflict; how integrated approaches are being implemented; and how organizational factors contribute to the preconditions for addressing and mitigating with climate-related security risks.

This paper contributes to the burgeoning research on the integration of climate-related security risks by organizations. Development organizations have an important preventive mandate and can mitigate climate security challenges in low- and lower-middle-income economies, but they have a complex task, contending with power asymmetries and a very wide set of policy-making processes occurring in tandem. We explore how climate security challenges are being addressed in development organizations through focusing on the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), which has worked with integration of cross-sectoral issues since the 1980s. We narrow in specifically on how the overlaps between two separate policy areas at Sida—climate and conflict—have been framed and responded to in recent years. The study finds that the integration of these two areas is prioritized on a general policy level but that there are obstacles when translating policy into practice. Challenges include conceptual diversity, tensions between expert and general knowledge and differing organizational preconditions. Despite this, integration does occur between the two policy areas on several levels, ranging from a macro-level general awareness of potential overlaps with a “do no harm” ambition, to micro levels of integration in which strategies and interventions are adjusted

There is an unequal distribution of resources for higher education and research in  the world, & many low-income countries have difficulties building up research capacity & knowledge systems which can contribute to long-term development & poverty reduction. Many aid organizations offer support with the goal to improve research capacity in low-income countries, & this type of aid has increased since the 1990’s. The paper departs from an assumption that the research gap– as other inequalities– is problematic, & asks what dilemmas can arise in research aid. The paper begins with a literature review, & then narrows in on the case of the Secretariat for Research Cooperation (part of the Swedish International  development Cooperation Agency). I ask questions like: What methods exist inresearch aid? How is the link between research capacity & development portrayed? What methods are deemed successful while others are not? There seems to be general consensus surrounding the idea that aid-actors should support the building of research capacity. Furthermore, many aid actors have explicit ambitions of escaping a colonialist heritage as well as abandoning the linear view of science & technology development, but there is nevertheless debate concerning whether this is being achieved.

There is an unequal distribution of resources for higher education and research in the world, and the number of aid actors that focus on improving the research capacity of low-income countries has increased since the 1990’s. Many aid actors have explicit ambitions of escaping a colonialist heritage as well as abandoning the linear view of science and technology development, but there is debate concerning whether this is being achieved. What methods of aiding research are there, and how is the link between research capacity and development portrayed? This paper is mainly based on previous research and discusses some of the dilemmas that the literature raises. It also illustrates some of these dilemmas by discussing the case of the Secretariat for Research Cooperation (Sarec), which in 1975 was one of the first bilateral aid agencies to engage in research aid.

There has been an increased focus on ICT-related projects in development cooperation in the last decade based on the assumption that ICTs expands opportunities for economic growth as well as for poverty reduction. This is also the case with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). I wanted to better understand the reasoning behind the increased focus on ICT. Specifically I have chosen to look at SIDA’s policies and projects with universities in Tanzania and Nicaragua to understand how different stakeholders perceive that increased ICT use at universities can affect poverty reduction. Some questions guiding my research are: In what ways can these ICT investments meet the development goals of SIDA, and might do these ICT investments theoretically fit into a national system of innovation?

There is an unequal distribution of resources for research in the world, and a very small amount of the resources for research worldwide are dedicated to the challenges that low-income countries face. Promoting science and technology for development is not a new phenomenon, but the efforts involving aid actors have expanded greatly since the 1990’s, not least since the “knowledge society” and “knowledge-based economy” became hot topics. Many aid actors also have explicit ambitions of escaping a colonialist heritage in foreign aid by for example underlining the importance of local ownership and local priorities in their policies. However, there is debate concerning whether the goals and methods of aid actors are having the intended effects or whether there is risk for scientific neocolonialism and increased dependencies. This area of study concerns the intersection between science policy and development policy. The two areas at times have conflicting goals, and the case of research aid illustrates these. The paper presents my PhD project and includes a discussion about material, method and theory concerning a historical policy study of the research aid actor formerly known as Sarec (which in 1975 was one of the pioneer state agencies to engage in bilateral research aid). I present some preliminary conclusions concerning the main discourses identified in the material.

There is an emerging Development studies and STS dialogue that is addressing various topics and problems of development from diverse theoretical approaches. This paper will provide an overview of recently published scholarship (in the last 10-20years) that is at the intersection of STS and development, in orderto begin to map out the types of work being done, the types of questions being raised and the methods/theory being used toaddress them. We will merge the overview of recent scholarship with the papers presented in the session on Development and STS to highlight the questions, challenges, and opportunities occurring at this intersection. We will develop questions to be discussed at the end of the session in order to generate, motivate and encourage our own thinking about development and STS and implications for our future research in this area.

Migration has accelerated at the nexus of global warming and geopolitical unrest in vulnerable regions, putting the resilience of societies under pressure in numerous ways. The number of forced displacements in the world has increased significantly in the recent decade, and an estimated 22.5 million people have left their homes due to climate change since 2008. Most of this migration has remained internal and regional, but who will move, where and in what numbers in future is still debated. How the relationship between climate change and migration is viewed and described by influential policy making bodies has consequences for what kind of actions that are proposed to deal with the phenomenon and thereby also for the lives of those who are most affected by the negative effects of climate change globally. Is migration considered a problem or a solution, and for whom? Focusing on years during which forced displacement increased significantly, this article explores what perspectives on climate induced migration are expressed in UN and EU official policy documents, and what response measures are suggested. The results show that both actors consider climate change as potentially leading to increased cross-border migration. UN perspectives tend to be human security-oriented while the EU perspectives tend to focus on state security. Response measures discussed tend to focus on support to climate adaptation.

Key messages

• There is need for sustained extension activities to bridge the knowledge gap of camel diseases and good husbandry practices amongst Samburu camel keepers.

• Samburu County should consider external sourcing of vaccines for endemic diseases such as Haemorrhagic Septicaemia and camel pox that are causing significant economic losses.

• The department of Agriculture, Livestock Development, Veterinary Services and Fisheries should advocate for timely disbursement of funds and advocate for increased budget allocation to the livestock sector

‘Think globally and act locally’ is a logic ingrained in environmental governance since the late twentieth century. In recent years, most importantly with the Paris Agreement 2015, plans for just transitions have proliferated and are being enacted at international, regional and local levels. In this paper, we use the Swedish ambition of transitioning to a fossil-free society by 2045 as a starting point, and seek to understand what transition policies mean for municipalities that are tightly intertwined with fossil-intensive industries. In order to identify challenges associated with governance towards fossil freedom at carbon-intensive local levels, we study how transition is perceived in three Swedish industrial towns; Luleå, Lysekil and Slite. Through interviews with local politicians and municipality officials, we analyse the preconditions for governing towards fossil freedom in the context of not only Swedish, but by continuation also the EU and UN transition policies. These challenges concern what role and responsibility different actors have, or can take, for the transition. Our analysis suggests that while there are differences between the towns, actors at the municipal level tend to see limited means for influencing the transition policies that they are subject to. Subsequently, solutions and resources are largely expected to be initiated from external actors, such as the national government and/or the EU. 

This chapter employs narrative analysis to examine how people who live in the shadow of carbon-intensive industries imagine a just transition to net-zero emissions. The analysis rests upon an interview study with local politicians, civil servants, union representatives, and citizen groups in the Swedish west-coast city of Lysekil, home to Scandinavia’s largest oil refinery. By mapping stories of climate (in)justice told in view of Sweden’s efforts to decarbonize, this chapter illustrates the cultural dimensions of carbon lock-ins and why some people resist transformative change. In the city of Lysekil, the refinery is not only an important source of local employment but also deeply entangled with community identity and sense of place. However, the chapter also points to the multiple interpretations of just transitions to climate neutrality and the power of narrative to open-up possibilities for decarbonized futures.

Klimatförändringar innebär stora risker för vår säkerhet. Människor kan tvingas lämna sin hem och ökad konkurrens om naturresurser kan förvärra konflikter. Men forskning visar att många olika faktorer påverkar hur svåra följderna blir. Inte minst hur väl rustade samhällen är. Det är en slutsats som lyfts fram av författarna till denna skrift. Samtidigt visar forskningen hur viktigt det är att vidta förebyggande åtgärder, både för att anpassa samhällen till ett ändrat klimat och för att minska koldioxidutsläppen. 

This article analyses the success and failure factors underlying smallholder farmers’ resilience to drought in Sub-Saharan Africa based on a literature review of the period 2007–19. The analysis is guided by transformation theory, which states that transformation requires adequate preconditions in three spheres: practical, political and personal. While significant progress has occurred in the practical sphere, only moderate change characterizes the political sphere, and the most limited progress is within the personal sphere. We argue that increasing drought resilience requires innovative solutions, including components from all transformation spheres. Interactions with local stakeholders and the empowerment of smallholder farmers are essential.

Purpose- This paper analyses Rwandan farmers’ perceptions of historical drivers of landscape vulnerability (past), current livelihood assets (present) and, existing or potential capacities (future) to increase resilience to drought. The specific focus is on linking experiences from the past and present with ideas for a drought-resilient future. It explores how farmers' perceptions of past droughts and future visioning can contribute to rural development policy and multi-level collaborations. 

Design/methodology/approach- The study was conducted in Bugesera, a drought-prone district in south-eastern Rwanda. Empirical data was collected through participatory observation, semi- structured interviews and focus groups. The analytical points of departure are based on sustainable landscapes and livelihood approaches, combining spatial and temporal perspectives on challenges and opportunities identified by farmers’ communities in addressing droughts. 

Findings- All respondents had a high awareness of the impacts of droughts. Perceived drivers of landscape change include historical climate events, such as droughts and floods, immigration and agricultural expansion which have led to demographic pressure on land, deforestation, and infringement on natural resources. Factors enhancing resilience capacities include access to diversified sources of livelihood, knowledge of appropriate irrigation techniques, and availability of safety nets and credits. Furthermore, farmers identified collaborative opportunities as important for resilience capacity, including peer learning, and sharing best practices through knowledge exchange and on-field training. In addition, farmers brought up the need for innovative institutions that can facilitate access to markets and enable collaboration between different agricultural sectors. 

Originality/value – This study analyses farmers’ perceptions of resilience capacities to droughts through a spatiotemporal lens of past droughts, present capital and future challenges by linking scales, knowledge and human-environment nexus. This paper contributes to the knowledge of climate adaptation in Rwanda and to discussions about smallholder farming in the literature on climate change adaptation.