Power in climate change policy-making process in South Asia

Climate change policies are prepared in a power-loaded environment, where different policy actors interact to meet their personal or collective interests.This paper argues that the 'power interplay' between actors plays a significant role in shaping and reshaping climate change policies.We present examples from South Asia (Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan) to show how actors' power interplay at the local, subnational, national and transboundary levels influences climate change policy-making.We show that negative effects of power interplay are prominent in the climate policy domain of South Asia, including short-termism of local adaptation plans, exclusion of certain policy actors in the policy-making processes, lack of transboundary-level adaptation, and lack of coordination between actors.Nuances also exist, such as the state's authority in prioritizing technical…