Opening Editorial: The contested nature of climate change: Feminist and decolonial perspectives for transformative adaptation

This special issue addresses the urgent need for transformative adaptation in the face of the intersecting eco-social crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and socio-environmental injustices. The collection aims to expand the discourse on transformative adaptation by integrating feminist and decolonial perspectives, challenging conventional wisdom, and proposing a research and action agenda that prioritizes intersectionality, pluralism, and emancipation. This introductory paper reflects first, on the editors' evolving research journey, from a focus on gender perspectives to a more comprehensive feminist intersectional critique. Then, it introduces the main feminist and decolonial contributions to climate change studies and politics: (1) unpacking the official discourses and silenced narratives of climate change policies and (2) expanding the notions of what transformative adaptation from the ground up looks like. By analyzing international and national climate policies through feminist and decolonial lenses, four articles in the collection reveal how dominant scientific and policy frameworks reinforce colonial and patriarchal structures, silencing critical narratives and perpetuating inequalities. Four additional contributions highlight the importance of ‘everyday’ experiences, practices, and knowledge in fostering transformative adaptation, advocating for pluralistic, embodied, and place-based approaches. It concludes with a future research agenda inspired by the contributions within this special issue and other recent publications.