This paper analyses the linkages between community-based adaptation to climate change (CBA) and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) and identifies synergies that enable the two approaches to benefit from each other. Understanding such linkages will promote the transfer of knowledge between climate change adaptation and other fields. The linkages between CBNRM and CBA exist at the operational, institutional, policy and economic levels. While the linkages apply to all countries in all regions, this paper uses southern African experiences to illustrate the potential synergies between the two concepts. It however builds the arguments for such synergies from the conceptual underpinnings of CBA and CBNRM to their practical applications as far as experience with these concepts go. By focusing on community-based adaptation, we cover the majority of the most vulnerable people, and reinforce bottom-up adaptation rather than top-down interventions. It is based on a desktop review of literature on community-based natural resource management and community-based adaptation as well as several case studies, mostly from southern Africa. It is also based on
consultations with key stakeholders in the region and other experts.
