‘Committees’, a Promising Institution in Climate Change Communication and Adaptation?

Abstract

The paper reflects on modes and chances of Natural Resource Management (NRM) in terms of decentralized executive powers, responsibility and authority in decision taking in the hands of communities and local actors. The argument focuses on the in African development contexts appraised and uniformly referred to political institution of ‘committees’, the floor of climate change communication. Based on qualitative data from pastoralist environments in south Ethiopia the societal impact and set-backs of this institution of nominally participatory agency on the ground is outlined exemplarily. The data analysis indicates that the ‘committee’, deducted from a Western liberal model of democracy, cannot substantiate its claim for equity in communication and according true participation. Subsequently, the Western model is challenged and perspectives towards a multipolar understanding of democracy and democratic communication are opened.