Workshop: Climate Change and Uncertainty from Above and Below

27-28 January 2016
New Delhi, India

Uncertainty is often considered to be a “super wicked problem” or “monster” by scientists and policy makers. The integration of uncertainty in climate change decision-making is very much debated and disputed by scientists. Often, the reaction has been to view it as something that needs to be minimised and controlled. Despite these ambiguities, the scientific community has relied heavily on quantitative assessments to capture and understand uncertainty.

But does the focus on models, diagrams, regressions and future scenarios factor in the lived realities of local people (poor or rich, women and men, urban or rural especially in the global South)? Theorizing about uncertainty from ‘above’ by experts may have little to do with how many people live with, understand and cope with uncertainty in everyday settings from ‘below’.

This workshop aimed to tease out the above-mentioned propositions and questions from an interdisciplinary perspective, based on short commentaries and submissions from a few leading thinkers. It builds on the STEPS Uncertainty From Below project and the Norwegian Research Council project on Uncertainty, Climate Change and Transformation.

Resources from the workshop

Blog: Uncertainty and Climate Change in India by Hans Nicolai Adam, 26 February 2016 (NMBU)

Video: views on uncertainty and climate change

Participants at the workshop share their views on the relationships between experts and local communities dealing with the uncertainties around climate change.

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