Policy Actor’s Discourses and Interactions Coalitions on the Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Domains - A Brazilian Case Study.

Abstract

Transformations towards effective and righteous climate policies, institutions and actions require coherent policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation, from global to local level. In Brazil, most of the GHG emissions come from changes in land use and from the agriculture and livestock sectors. Agro systems and natural systems such forests are connected when we think about climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and both systems have a key role in supporting transformation towards resilient social- ecological systems. We present a case-study analysis on the Brazilian climate change policy process related to forest, agriculture and livestock. The paper is based on a mix-method approach combining social network analysis (Wasserman and Faust 1994, Scott 2000, Borgatti, Everett and Johnson 2013) and discourse network analysis (Leifeld, 2013) to understand the arrangement of actors according to their discourses and beliefs and according to their interactions with other actors in the climate change policy domain. Our objective is to understand the relationship between discourse and interaction – information exchange and collaboration – networks and how this combination is likely to produce an effect on the policy process towards transformation in the mitigation and adaptation policies in Brazil. The case-study is a result of analysis of 105 interviews gathered in 2014 and 2015, with policy actors from distinct sectors in Brazil.