Three ways social identity shapes climate change adaptation

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.

Thermal Comfort and Sleep Quality of Indonesian Students Living in Japan during Summer and Winter

Thermal comfort is crucial in satisfaction and maintaining quality sleep for occupants. In this study, we investigated the comfort temperature in the bedroom at night and sleep quality for Indonesian students during summer and winter. Eighteen male Indonesian students aged 29 ± 4 years participated in this study. The participants had stayed in Japan for about six months. We evaluated the sleep parameters using actigraphy performed during summer and winter. All participants completed the survey regarding thermal sensation, physical conditions, and subjective sleepiness before sleep. The temperature and relative humidity of participants’ bedrooms were also measured. We found that the duration on the bed during winter was significantly longer than that during summer. However, sleeping efficiency during winter was significantly worse than that during summer. The bedroom temperature of the participants was in the range of comfort temperature in Indonesia. With the average bedroom air temperature of 22.2 °C, most of the participants still preferred “warm” and felt “slightly comfortable” during winter. The average comfort temperature each season calculated using the Griffiths method was 28.1 °C during summer and 23.5 °C during winter. In conclusion, differences in adaptive action affect bedroom thermal conditions. Furthermore, habits encourage the sleep performance of Indonesian students.

Examining Factors Associated With Farmers' Climate-Adaptive and Maladaptive Actions in the U.S. Midwest

The U.S. Midwest is a major producer of grain, meat, dairy, eggs, and other major agricultural commodities. It has also been increasingly impacted by climate change-related extreme weather over the last decade as droughts, extreme rains, floods, and, most recently, a severe derecho have damaged crops, livestock, and livelihoods. Climate and agricultural scientists and other stakeholders are concerned that without major shifts away from degrading practices toward regenerative systems, long-term sustainability will be compromised. We used cumulative logistic regression to analyze data from a 2020 survey of 1,059 Iowa farmers to examine (1) how farmers are adapting to increasingly variable and extreme weather-related to climate change and (2) whether selected factors were associated with different kinds of adaptive (e.g., increased use of cover crops) or potentially maladaptive (e.g., increased use of pesticides) actions. Our results found that many farmers have been taking adaptive and maladaptive actions. Stewardship ethics, attitudes toward adaptive action, and integration in conservation-related networks were consistent, positive predictors of increases in adaptive practices. On the other hand, faith in crop insurance as a coping strategy, farm scale, and other factors were associated with some maladaptive actions, with several positive predictors of adaptation also being positive predictors of maladaptation, use of pesticides and drainage in particular. This research contributes to the growing literature on climate risk management and adaptation in agricultural landscapes by providing empirical evidence of the factors related to farmers' adaptive and maladaptive actions.

Indonesia’s Foreign Policy in Pacific Island Countries during Joko Widodo Era 2014-2019: An Adaptive Action?

Istilah ‘Pacific Elevation’ muncul pertama kali ketika penyelenggaraan Pacific Exposition pada 2019 lalu di Auckland, Selandia Baru. Konsep baru ini diperkenalkan oleh Menteri Luar Negeri, Retno Marsudi sebagai istilah yang merujuk pada era baru kemitraan yang lebih kuat antara Indonesia dengan negara-negara Kepulauan Pasifik. Kegiatan yang dimanfaatkan untuk membahas berbagai peluang kerja sama ini merupakan salah satu bentuk realisasi kebijakan ‘Look East’ oleh Indonesia dengan memberikan perhatian lebih melalui berbagai keterlibatannya di negara-negara Kepulauan Pasifik. Kajian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan teknik pengumpulan data melalui studi literatur dan diskusi kelompok terarah. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis dan memaparkan realisasi kebijakan luar negeri Indonesia di negara-negara Kepulauan Pasifik merupakan tindakan adaptif sebagai respons dari perkembangan yang terjadi di lingkup eksternal. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahwa perkembangan di negara-negara Kepulauan Pasifik seperti seringnya pergantian kepemimpinan yang terjadi, manuver politik Gerakan Persatuan Pembebasan untuk Papua Barat, dan disuarakannya isu Papua oleh beberapa negara di Kepulauan Pasifik dalam sidang PBB mendorong pemerintah Indonesia mengeluarkan kebijakan adaptif untuk mengatasi potensi ancaman yang diterima dengan cara meningkatkan keterlibatan yang lebih intensif di kawasan Kepulauan Pasifik.Kata-kata kunci: Kebijakan luar negeri, Adaptif, Papua, Kepulauan PasifikThe term 'Pacific Elevation' first appeared in the Pacific Exposition event in 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi, introduced this new concept as a term that refers to a new era of stronger partnerships between Indonesia and Pacific Island Countries (PIC). The activity used to discuss various opportunities for cooperation is one of the realizations of the 'Look East' policy by giving more attention to Indonesia's various engagements in the PICs. This study employs a qualitative method with data collection techniques through literature study and focus group discussions. This article aims to analyze and explain that Indonesia's foreign policy in PICs is an adaptive action in response to developments in the external environment. The results of this study indicate that developments in PICs such as frequent leadership changes, political maneuvering of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua, and voicing the issue of Papua by several PICs in the UN forum encouraged the Indonesian government to issue an adaptive policy to overcome the potential threats received by Indonesia by increasing more intensive involvement in the region of Pacific Islands.Keywords: Foreign policy, Adaptive, Papua, Pacific Islands

‘None of my ancestors ever discussed this disease before!’ How disease information shapes adaptive capacity of marginalised rural populations in India

Smallholder farmer and tribal communities are often characterised as marginalised and highly vulnerable to emerging zoonotic diseases due to their relatively poor access to healthcare, worse-off health outcomes, proximity to sources of disease risks, and their social and livelihood organisation. Yet, access to relevant and timely disease information that could strengthen their adaptive capacity remain challenging and poorly characterised in the empirical literature. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the role of disease information in shaping the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmer and tribal groups to Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), a tick-borne viral haemorrhagic fever. We carried out household surveys (n = 229) and in-depth interviews (n = 25) in two affected districts–Shimoga and Wayanad–in the Western Ghats region. Our findings suggest that, despite the generally limited awareness about KFD, access to disease information improved households’ propensity to implement adaptation strategies relative to households that had no access to it. Of the variety of adaptation strategies implemented, vaccination, avoiding forest visits, wearing of protective clothing and footwear, application of dimethyl phthalate (DMP) oil and income diversification were identified by respondents as important adaptive measures during the outbreak seasons. Even so, we identified significant differences between individuals in exposure to disease information and its contribution to substantive adaptive action. Households reported several barriers to implement adaptation strategies including, lack of disease information, low efficacy of existing vaccine, distrust, religio-cultural sentiments, and livelihood concerns. We also found that informal information sharing presented a promising avenue from a health extension perspective albeit with trade-offs with potential distortion of the messages through misinformation and/or reporting bias. Altogether, our findings stress the importance of contextualising disease information and implementing interventions in a participatory way that sufficiently addresses the social determinants of health in order to bolster households’ adaptive capacity to KFD and other neglected endemic zoonoses.

mtor Haploinsufficiency Ameliorates Renal Cysts and Cilia Abnormality in Adult Zebrafish tmem67 Mutants

BackgroundAlthough zebrafish embryos have been used to study ciliogenesis and model polycystic kidney disease (PKD), adult zebrafish remain unexplored.MethodsTranscription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN) technology was used to generate mutant for tmem67, the homolog of the mammalian causative gene for Meckel syndrome type 3 (MKS3). Classic 2D and optical-clearing 3D imaging of an isolated adult zebrafish kidney were used to examine cystic and ciliary phenotypes. A hypomorphic mtor strain or rapamycin was used to inhibit mTOR activity.ResultsAdult tmem67 zebrafish developed progressive mesonephric cysts that share conserved features of mammalian cystogenesis, including a switch of cyst origin with age and an increase in proliferation of cyst-lining epithelial cells. The mutants had shorter and fewer distal single cilia and greater numbers of multiciliated cells (MCCs). Absence of a single cilium preceded cystogenesis, and expansion of MCCs occurred after pronephric cyst formation and was inversely correlated with the severity of renal cysts in young adult zebrafish, suggesting a primary defect and an adaptive action, respectively. Finally, the mutants exhibited hyperactive mTOR signaling. mTOR inhibition ameliorated renal cysts in both the embryonic and adult zebrafish models; however, it only rescued ciliary abnormalities in the adult mutants.ConclusionsAdult zebrafish tmem67 mutants offer a new vertebrate model for renal cystic diseases, in which cilia morphology can be analyzed at a single-nephron resolution and mTOR inhibition proves to be a candidate therapeutic strategy.