Opportunities for sustainability and transformation in climate change adaptation policy and practice: insights from ProKlim in Aceh, Indonesia

This article examines the barriers and opportunities of the initiative of the Climate Village Programme (ProKlim), a climate change adaptation and mitigation (CCAM) integration programme at the community level, introduced in Aceh, Indonesia, less than a decade after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. As an adaptation programme, ProKlim focused on reducing the risk of four climate-related hazards: floods, storms, heat stress, and sea-level rise. The study utilised key stakeholder interviews (N = 38) and policy content analysis in three case villages within Banda Aceh city. It examines the formal policy frameworks, cultural and religious mechanisms, as a hybrid approach to sustaining CCAM. The hypothetical barriers to CCAM include the absence of a sustained mechanism for effective flood adaptation, insufficient resources for supporting adaptive urban agriculture practices, the absence of storm-related building codes for housing and infrastructure, lack of community participation, and inadequate integration of scientific and local knowledge into early warning systems. While ProKlim is recognised as the innovative programme, challenges remained. Past disaster events are viewed as distant memories, hindering local authorities and residents from remaining proactive in risk reduction efforts, including a lack of maintenance of urban drainage and evacuation shelters in Banda Aceh.