Table 1.

Potential Pathways through Which CBA Can Lead to Maladaptation

Challenge	Potential Pathway to Maladaptation
Community engagement seen as an obligation because of historical colonial research practices that created mistrust between researchers and locals	Adaptation depoliticized from its broader structural determinants (colonization, poverty, and inequality)
Licensing processes often require researchers to engage in collaborative research, thereby institutionalizing CBA	Many academics may not be trained or committed to CBA, which may facilitate tokenistic interaction with communities, ‘consultation fatigue’ and conflict with local values of meaningful reciprocity
Adaptation is downloaded from broader levels of government to researchers and communities	Adaptation established as a local issue leaving the barriers to local action at regional to national levels unaddressed
Researchers and communities lack funds and long‐term time frame to support adaptation such that intervention do not materialize or have short duration	Community interest in research drops; sense of loss on project completion emphasizes lack of power at community level
Emphasis in the literature on successful projects does not provide full disclosure of complexity of CBA research and practice	Lack of reporting on challenges and failures in CBA and associated ‘lessons learned’ to help refine future research design and implementation
Adaptation focus and integration of future concerns diluted in response to different community interests	Policies developed which do not adequately address projected future changes; pertinent climate change risks overlooked; adaptation research focus compromised
Overprivileging of Western knowledge if power relations unaddressed, and it is assumed the participation on its own will lead to good adaptation	Undermining of determinants of adaptive capacity including cultural norms and traditional knowledge; lack of community ownership of proposed adaptations; decreased trust in Western knowledge
Intervention‐orientated focus of CBA can reduce space for local leadership	Perpetuation of uneven power dynamics between Northern and academic research partners