Continuous Negotiation in Climate Adaptation: The Challenge of Co-Evolution for the Capability Approach to Justice

The capability approach is increasingly presented as a promising approach to address questions of justice in local climate adaptation. In an attempt to integrate environmental protections into the capability approach, Breena Holland developed the meta-capability Sustainable Ecological Capacity to establish substantive ecological limits. This article, however, empirically demonstrates that defining ecosystem thresholds in co-evolving systems is subject to conflict and continuous negotiation. Taking the Haringvliet dam in the Dutch South-West Delta as an illustrative case, this paper shows how people uphold different views about the Haringvliet’s most desirable ecosystem state. Future shifts in the socio-ecological system, such as decreased fresh water availability and sea-level rise, are expected to uproot today’s compromise about chloride levels in the Haringvliet. This suggests that anticipatory water management should not only address climate impacts, but also prepare for re-negotiations of established ecological thresholds. The associated politics of climate adaptation deals with questions about which functions to protect, at what costs and for whom. Hence, it is critical to integrate procedural justice and attention to political inequalities in capabilities-based adaptation justice frameworks.

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An Integrated Framework for Child Poverty and Well-Being Measurement: Reconciling Theories

Child Indicators Research ◽

10.1007/s12187-020-09774-0 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mario Biggeri ◽

Jose Antonio Cuesta

Keyword(s):

Capability Approach ◽

Child Poverty ◽

Multidimensional Poverty ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Well Being ◽

Illustrative Case ◽

Integrated Framework ◽

Egyptian Children ◽

The Individual ◽

The Capability Approach

Abstract Multidimensional child poverty (MDCP) and well-being measures are increasingly developed in the literature. Much more effort has gone to highlight the differences across measurement approaches than to stress the multiple conceptual and practical similarities across measures. We propose a new framework, the Integrated Framework for Child Poverty—IFCP––that combines three main conceptual approaches, the Capability Approach, Human Rights, and Basic Needs into an integrated bio-ecological framework. This integrated approach aims to bring more clarity about the concept and dynamics of multidimensional poverty and well-being and to disentangle causes from effects, outcomes from opportunities, dynamic from static elements, and observed from assumed behaviours. Moreover, the IFCP explains the MDCP dynamics that link the resources (goods and services), to child capabilities (opportunities) and achieved functionings (outcomes), and describes how these are mediated by the individual, social and environmental conversion factors as specified in the capability approach. Access to safe water is taken as a conceptual illustrative case, while the extended measurement of child poverty and well-being among Egyptian children ages 0 to 5 as an empirical example using IFCP. The proposed framework marks a step forward in understanding child poverty and well-being multidimensional linkages and suggesting desirable features and data requirements of MDCP and well-being measures.

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Urban agglomeration worsens spatial disparities in climate adaptation

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-87739-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Seung Kyum Kim ◽

Mia M. Bennett ◽

Terry van Gevelt ◽

Paul Joosse

Keyword(s):

Climate Adaptation ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Urban Agglomeration ◽

Adaptation Policy ◽

Local Climate ◽

Bay Area ◽

Spatial Inequalities ◽

Local Heterogeneity ◽

Climate Exposure ◽

Climate Vulnerability

AbstractMany countries promote urban agglomeration to enhance economic competitiveness, but the impacts of this strategy on local climate adaptation remain poorly understood. Here, we use variation in greenspaces to test the effectiveness of climate adaptation policy across climate impacts and vulnerability dimensions. Using satellite imagery and logistic regression, we analyze spatiotemporal correlation between greenspace and climate vulnerability in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, an area comprising ~ 70 million people and 11 cities, making it a useful natural experiment for our study. We find that while greenspace increases proportionally with climate exposure and sensitivity, many cities exhibit discrepancies between greenspace variation and climate vulnerability. Green adaptation funnels into wealthier, less vulnerable areas while bypassing more vulnerable ones, increasing their climate vulnerability and undermining the benefits of urban agglomeration. The results suggest that centrally-planned climate adaptation policy must accommodate local heterogeneity to improve urban sustainability. By neglecting local heterogeneity, urban agglomeration policy risks exacerbating spatial inequalities in climate adaptation.

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The Role of Inclusion in Climate Vulnerability Assessment and Equitable Adaptation Goals in Small American Municipalities

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1075793/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Elena Lioubimtseva

Keyword(s):

Climate Adaptation ◽

The United States ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Vulnerable Groups ◽

Adaptation Planning ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

Local Climate ◽

Vulnerability Assessments ◽

Climate Vulnerability

Abstract Equity and inclusion considerations are important prerequisites of effective climate adaptation planning, especially at a local scale. This pilot study examines how climate adaptation plans of small American cities and counties consider equity in their climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning goals, and how consideration of equity in existing adaptation plans relates to inclusion of diverse categories of stakeholders. Data analysis is based on the content of 23 local climate adaptation plans of small urban and rural municipalities across the United States with population less than 300 thousand people. Correlations between conceptualization of vulnerability dimensions, inclusion of 9 categories of stakeholders, and consideration of equity in 12 different domains of adaptation planning are examined. The study concludes that municipalities, who examine their vulnerability beyond physical exposure to climate impacts and consider sensitivity and adaptive capacity of their populations, appear to be more attentive to social equity and more likely to offer specific adaptation measures focusing on vulnerable groups.

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Competenza ad agire insieme e senso di iniziativa: il tirocinio per attraversare i confini tra studio e lavoro

EDUCATION SCIENCES AND SOCIETY ◽

10.3280/ess2-2019oa8622 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 93-102

Author(s):

Fabrizio d'Aniello

Keyword(s):

Professional Growth ◽

Capability Approach ◽

Boundary Crossing ◽

Methodological Framework ◽

Knowledge Models ◽

Internship Experience ◽

Cultural Historical Activity ◽

The University ◽

And Training ◽

The Capability Approach

The pre-eminent motivation behind this contribution lies in the intention to offer students of three-year degree course in education and training sciences and master's degree in pedagogical sciences of the University of Macerata a further support than those already existing, aimed at expanding the educational meaningfulness of the internship experience. The main criticality of such experience is connected with the difficulty in translating knowledge, models, ideas into appropriate activities. This notably refers to the conceptual and educational core of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and, consistently, to the skill to act. Therefore, after a deepening of the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, followed by related pedagogical reflections based on the capability approach, the paper presents an operative proposal aimed at increasing young people's possibilities of action and supporting their personal and professional growth. With regard to this training proposal, the theoretical and methodological framework refers to the third generation cultural historical activity theory and to the tool of the boundary crossing laboratory, variant of the change laboratory

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