15-01-2026

Climate change demands urgent action, yet global climate governance is at an impasse, unable to come up with inclusive, just, and nested adaptive strategies. TRACE pushes for a paradigm shift in climate governance. It aims to amplify grassroots forces and spearheading systematic transformations, focusing on Southeast Asia as a critical adaptation site.

TRACE addresses two major knowledge gaps in current climate discourse:

1. Multiple forces of change: Moving beyond climate change as the sole driver, TRACE recognizes that adaptation involves responding to livelihoods, clientelist politics and capitalist intrusions.

2. Transdisciplinary ontologies: Challenging the conceptual separation of nature and society and the dominance of technical/expert ontologies, TRACE paves pathways to integrate diverse knowledge systems - including lived experience, memories, arts, and place-based knowledge - to enhance understanding of adaptation at the local level.

This project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant of EUR 2.5 million.

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