Hasanthi Tennakoon Kingsley

hasanthi.kingsley@newcastle.edu.au

B. Sc. Dev Com, MEnvMgt, PhD Candidate

Research Interests

climate change law and policy, climate adaptation, climate justice,

Research Overview

As climate change has global scale repercussions on the distribution of people’s rights, resources and their opportunities to live productive and meaningful lives, my PhD research focuses on the social, political and institutional ramifications of climate adaptation especially in the developing world and associated climate justice issues. My research examines climate justice implications in adaptation policy in the Global South taking climate adaptation initiatives in Sri Lanka as a case study. My main theoretical frameworks are Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and Nancy Fraser’s theory of recognition and participation. Based on these theoretical approaches, I will be taking distributive equity, capabilities, recognition and participation as key principles for examining how climate justice may be addressed in adaptation policy and practice in communities receiving adaptation assistance and finance.

My research objectives are the following:

  1. To analyse the policy and legal frameworks that are influential in shaping climate adaptation measures and climate justice concerns at the local level.
  2. To identify enabling or disabling factors that influence adaptation and resilience of communities (achieved adaptive capacities or ‘functionings’ according to Amartya Sen's Capability Approach).
  3. To determine if and how climate justice is being addressed, through principles of distributive equity, social and political recognition, beneficiary participation, and building of adaptive capacity (i.e. capabilities to adapt); and
  4. To provide recommendations for policy formulation for improving adaptive capacity of communities affected by climate change.