Seminar title: Climate Co-Solutions? Addressing Polycrisis in the Western Ghats, India | Abstract: The climate crisis can be understood as a polycrisis—simultaneously accelerating global warming, biodiversity loss, and socio-economic pressures. Dominant Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) frameworks, rooted in traditional climate governance such as REDD+ and carbon markets, remain centered on carbon capture. These approaches often lack institutional permanence and overlook local socio-economic imperatives, exacerbating biodiversity and livelihood challenges.
My dissertation develops alternative pathways for NCS by focusing on place-based institutions. The first chapter maps the institutional landscape of NCS through a scoping review, arguing that current definitions must account for approaches outside carbon-centric governance. I advance the concept of Natural Climate Co-solutions: management pathways that treat locally specific biodiversity and livelihood priorities as foundational governance entry points, from which IPCC-aligned mitigation benefits emerge as spillovers rather than primary objectives.
Building on this conceptual shift, the empirical chapters examine opportunities for co-solutions in the Western Ghats. Through comparative case study analysis of eight community and civil society institutions, and fieldwork in MM Hills, Karnataka, I analyze the policy entry points and institutional mechanisms that sustain long-term co-solutions. My research shows that institutions targeting integrated socio-ecological problems—such as invasive species driving biodiversity decline, livelihood insecurity, and wildfire emissions—create durable pathways for climate spillovers without branding interventions as “carbon projects.” In contrast, carbon-centric branding often yields short-term gains without permanence or durability. Together, these findings demonstrate alternative possibilities for climate co-solutions in the Global South.