Rennie, HamishRoberts, LillianSilwal, P.Gurung, R.2019-12-102018-12-07https://hdl.handle.net/10182/11215Global responses to climate change have taken a variety of forms and in many respects have been driven initially from the top down. Nepal and New Zealand are no exceptions, but once climate change had been acknowledged at a national level, the process by which communities might become formally involved at a local level in adapting to climate change has taken different paths. In New Zealand, national level approaches to addressing climate change have dominated planning responses, with the exception of a local government focus on adapting to sea level rise. In contrast, landlocked Nepal has pioneered a more holistic community level process known as Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPA). In this paper we present a comparative analysis of these two approaches drawing on empirical data from four LAPA processes in rural Nepal and reviews of coastal planning responses in New Zealand undertaken as part of the New Zealand Government funded Resilience National Science Challenge. We conclude that there are similarities in knowledge gaps and an avoidance of fundamental institutional reform, but that the New Zealand approach could learn from the Nepali LAPA model, particularly in rural areas.1enConference Contribution - published