scholarly journals Three ways social identity shapes climate change adaptation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Barnett ◽  
Sonia Graham ◽  
Tara Quinn ◽  
William Neil Adger ◽  
Catherine Butler
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Somerset County ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
Shape Adaptation ◽  
Adaptive Action

Abstract Adaptation to climate change is inescapably influenced by processes of social identity – how people perceive themselves, others, and their place in the world around them. Yet there is sparse evidence into the specific ways in which identity processes shape adaptation planning and responses. This paper proposes three key ways to understand the relationship between identity formation and adaptation processes: 1) how social identities change in response to perceived climate change risks and threats; 2) how identity change may be an objective of adaptation; and 3) how identity issues can constrain or enable adaptive action. It examines these three areas of focus through a synthesis of evidence on community responses to flooding and subsequent policy responses in Somerset county, UK and the Gippsland East region in Australia, based on indepth longitudinal data collected among those experiencing and enacting adaptation. The results show that adaptation policies are more likely to be effective when they give individuals confidence in the continuity of their in-groups, enhance the self-esteem of these groups, and develop their sense of self-efficacy. These processes of identity formation and evolution are therefore central to individual and collective responses to climate risks.

scholarly journals Klimatrisker på planerarnas agenda: Att hantera motstridiga krav och kunskapsosäkerhet

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ylva Uggla ◽  
Sofie Storbjörk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Planning Profession ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
Key Words Climate Change ◽  
Scientific Expertise ◽  
The City

Under 2000-talet har frågan om klimatanpassning fått ökad uppmärksamhet. I Sverige har kommunerna fått ansvar för att ta hänsyn till klimatrelaterade risker i den fysiska planeringen. I denna studie belyses hur klimatanpassning och kunskapsosäkerheten avseende klimatförändringens lokala konsekven-ser hanteras i planeringen. Syftet är dels att diskutera vilka nya krav som klimatfrågan ställer på planerarna, dels att analysera hur planerare förhåller sig till och hanterar det utökade planeringsuppdraget. Tidigare forskning om planering som profession har visat på en förändring mot en ”modifierad expertroll”, där planerarna måste utveckla ny kompetens som samordnare och kommunikatörer. Denna studie visar att klimatanpassning lägger ytterligare en dimension till en förändrad roll där planeraren även fungerar som kunskapsmäklare mellan naturvetenskaplig expertis och andra aktörer. Studien visar också att frågan om klimatanpassning ramas in på olika sätt. Dels som en riskfråga vilket medför ett ökat beroende av extern naturvetenskapligt grundad expertis, dels som en planeringsfråga bland andra där planerarnas egen professionella kompetens betonas. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Ylva Uggla and Sofie Storbjörk: Climate Risks on the Planning Agenda: Conflicting Claims and Uncertainties During the 21st century, adaption to climate change has received increasing attention. In Sweden, the municipalities are responsible for climate related risk in their physical planning. This study analyses how the city planners deal with adaption to climate change and uncertainty and their local consequences. Its aim is to discuss the new demands posed by climate change and analyze how planners manage this new assignment. Previous research has pointed out that there is a change in the role of these planners, in that they take on a “modified expert role”, where they have to develop new competences as coordinators and communicators. This study shows that adaption to climate change adds yet another dimension to the new role of planners; the planners function also as “knowledge brokers” between scientific expertise and other actors. The study also shows that the issue of climate change is framed in different ways. When adaptation to climate change is framed as a risk issue, there is increased dependence on scientific expertise, whereas when it is framed as a planning matter, emphasis it placed on the planners’ professional competence. Key words: Climate change, climate change adaptation, planning, profession.

scholarly journals Adaptation to Climate Change: Does Traditional Ecological Knowledge Hold the Key?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadzirah Hosen ◽  
Hitoshi Nakamura ◽  
Amran Hamzah
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Traditional Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Climate Risks

The traditional knowledge of indigenous people is often neglected despite its significance in combating climate change. This study uncovers the potential of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) from the perspective of indigenous communities in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, and explores how TEK helps them to observe and respond to local climate change. Data were collected through interviews and field work observations and analysed using thematic analysis based on the TEK framework. The results indicated that these communities have observed a significant increase in temperature, with uncertain weather and seasons. Consequently, drought and wildfires have had a substantial impact on their livelihoods. However, they have responded to this by managing their customary land and resources to ensure food and resource security, which provides a respectable example of the sustainable management of terrestrial and inland ecosystems. The social networks and institutions of indigenous communities enable collective action which strengthens the reciprocal relationships that they rely on when calamity strikes. Accordingly, the communities maintain their TEK through cultural festivals and oral traditions passed from one generation to another. TEK is a practical tool that helps indigenous communities adapt to climate risks and promotes socio-ecological resilience, which upholds social empowerment and sustainable resource management.

scholarly journals Learning adaptation to climate change from past climate extremes:

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-146
Author(s):  
Jeetendra Prakash Aryal ◽  
M.L. Jat ◽  
Tek Bahadur Sapkota ◽  
Dil Bahadur Rahut ◽  
Munmum Rai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Climate Extremes ◽  
Climate Risk ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Past Climate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wheat Production ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Ex Ante

Purpose Conservation agriculture-based wheat production system (CAW) can serve as an ex ante measure to minimize loss due to climate risks, especially the extreme rainfall during the wheat production season in India. This study aims to examine whether farmers learn from their past experiences of exposure to climate extremes and use the knowledge to better adapt to future climate extremes. Design/methodology/approach The authors used data collected from 184 farmers from Haryana over three consecutive wheat seasons from 2013-2014 to 2015-2016 and multivariate logit model to analyse the driver of the adoption of CAW as an ex ante climate risk mitigating strategies based on their learning and censored Tobit model to analyse the intensity of adoption of CAW as an ex ante climate risk mitigation strategy. Farmer’s knowledge and key barriers to the adoption of CAW were determined through focus group discussions. Findings The analysis shows that the majority of farmers who had applied CAW in the year 2014-2015 (a year with untimely excess rainfall during the wheat season) have continued to practice CAW and have increased the proportion of land area allocated to it. Many farmers shifted from CTW to CAW in 2015-2016. Practical implications While farmers now consider CAW as an ex ante measure to climate risks, a technology knowledge gap exists, which limits its adoption. Therefore, designing appropriate methods to communicate scientific evidence is crucial. Originality/value This paper uses three years panel data from 184 farm households in Haryana, India, together with focus groups discussions with farmers and interviews with key informants to assess if farmers learn adaptation to climate change from past climate extremes.

Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Forsyth
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Economic Resilience ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Community Based Adaptation

Community-based adaptation (CBA) to climate change is an approach to adaptation that aims to include vulnerable people in the design and implementation of adaptation measures. The most obvious forms of CBA include simple, but accessible, technologies such as storing freshwater during flooding or raising the level of houses near the sea. It can also include more complex forms of social and economic resilience such as increasing access to a wider range of livelihoods or reducing the vulnerability of social groups that are especially exposed to climate risks. CBA has been promoted by some development nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies as a means of demonstrating the importance of participatory and deliberative methods within adaptation to climate change, and the role of longer-term development and social empowerment as ways of reducing vulnerability to climate change. Critics, however, have argued that focusing on “community” initiatives can often be romantic and can give the mistaken impression that communities are homogeneous when in fact they contain many inequalities and social exclusions. Accordingly, many analysts see CBA as an important, but insufficient, step toward the representation of vulnerable local people in climate change policy, but that it also offers useful lessons for a broader transformation to socially inclusive forms of climate change policy, and towards seeing resilience to climate change as lying within socio-economic organization rather than in infrastructure and technology alone.

scholarly journals Social Identity and Risk Perception Explain Participation in the Swiss Youth Climate Strikes

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10605
Author(s):  
Adrian Brügger ◽  
Moritz Gubler ◽  
Katharine Steentjes ◽  
Stuart B. Capstick
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Young People ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
Climate Change Concern ◽  
Motivating Factor

Since late 2018, young people around the world have united to demand greater action on climate change. Aside from their stated concerns and demands, however, very little is known about why young people have been joining this growing movement. Using a large sample (N = 4057) of people in Switzerland aged between 14 and 25, we show that social identity is most strongly associated with participation, followed by beliefs about the effectiveness of youth strikes, level of education, and worry about climate change. Our findings affirm the relevance of both climate change risk perceptions and social identity-related processes for collective climate change action, and pave the way for promising opportunities in theory development and integration. The study also provides lessons for those who seek to maintain and increase collective action on climate change: concern about climate change is an important motivating factor, but social identity processes are at least as relevant for young people’s participation.

scholarly journals Measuring urban vulnerability to climate change using an integrated approach, assessing climate risks in Beijing

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingshun Zhang ◽  
Zelu Liu ◽  
Meine Pieter van Dijk
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Urban Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Holistic Understanding

This study is responding to the recommendation made by IPCC’s fifth Assessment Report on establishing a standard for measuring and reporting climate risk and vulnerability. It exemplifies the assessment of urban vulnerability to climate change by an integrated approach. The results indicate that Beijing is highly exposed to multiple climate threats in the context of global climate change, specifically urban heat waves, urban drainage floods and drought. Vulnerabilities to the climatic threats of heat waves, drainage floods and droughts have increased by 5%–15% during the period of 2008–2016 in Beijing. High vulnerabilities to both heat waves and drainage floods have been observed in the urban downtown area and high vulnerability to droughts have been observed in the outskirts. This vulnerability assessment, which addressed climatic threats, provides a holistic understanding of the susceptibility to climate change that could facilitate adaptation to climate change in the future. The developments of threats like flooding, heat waves and droughts are analyzed separately for 16 districts and an integrated vulnerability index for all of Beijing is provided as well.

scholarly journals Cash and Climate: The Potential Role of Cash Transfers in Adaptation to Climate Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-98
Author(s):  
Alok Rajouria
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Protection System ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Risks

It is now evident that the consequences of climate change falls disproportionately upon the poor and vulnerable populations. With increasingly unpredictable and erratic rainfall, droughts, floods, and the consequent crop failures, the lives and livelihoods of low-income groups are in constant and increased threat. The national and local adaptation plans, on one hand, strategically aim to strengthen the livelihoods and resilience of vulnerable households, cash transfers as a part of the national social protection program, on the other hand, are effectively employed for poverty reduction and strengthening the resilience of vulnerable groups. While both embody clear and overlapping objective of reduction of poverty and vulnerability to shocks, they are functioning independently, sans coordination. As social protection mechanisms are increasingly integrated with climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in other developing and emerging economies, this article introduces the concept of adaptive social protection and its relevance to the challenges of climate change in the context of Nepal. This policy-relevant paper is based on literature review and secondary sources. Literature gathered and reviewed for this paper include publications derived through online searches using carefully selected keywords. Nepal’s national social protection system is analysed for its potential in managing climate risks, when it is interfaced with the Local Adaption Plan of Actions (LAPA). This article pursues the research question: how can the social protection system be made more shock responsive and adaptive to climate-induced disasters? It concludes with the call for innovative cash-based policy mechanisms that utilise vulnerability mapping of LAPAs, and proactively address poverty, vulnerability and other constraints to human development while being responsive to climate-induced disasters.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document