The potential to link transformation with adaptation has been explored by many authors, with contributions to the debate notably brought together in volume II of the fifth assessment report (AR5) of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2014) and in major initiatives such as the international conference ‘Transformation in a Changing Climate’ held in Oslo in 2013 (Oslo University 2013). Through its Regional Diagnostic Studies (RDS) phase, ASSAR has assembled information on a wide range of adaptation activity in semi-arid areas across four regions – India, West Africa, Southern Africa and East Africa (Revi et al. 2015, Few et al. 2015, Spear et al. 2015, Padgham et al. 2015). It is timely therefore to review this range of activity through the lens of transformation. How do the concepts surrounding transformation relate to the mix of current and proposed activities identified as responding to social-ecological risks in these regions associated with climate and environmental change? What is driving any current transformation in the adaptation arena in these regions (recognising that climate change is just one of a likely range of possible drivers)? And what can we draom this about what it may mean for the wellbeing of different groups of people in semi-arid regions, at different spatial and temporal scales? This paper commences with a background discussion of the terms associated with transformation, draws on this to build a conceptual framework for comparing activities, highlights a range of activities from the regions that could be classified in different ways as embodying transformation, and reflects on some of their implications and complexities.
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