Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
11
relations in household
vulnerability to Climate
Change in humla, nepal
Sigrid Nagoda and Siri Eriksen
introduction: understanding vulnerability to climate
change and food security
For effective adaptation to climate change, the complexities inherent in
vulnerability must be understood and its fundamental driving forces dealt with
(Watts and Bohle 1993; Ribot 1995; O'Brien et al. 2007; Eriksen et al. 2011;
O'Brien 2011). An important aspect of these complexities is the fact that the causes
of vulnerability vary between individuals, groups, areas and over time, and cannot
easily be related to simple climatic characteristics (Handmer et al. 1999; Cannon
et al. 2003; Huq et al. 2004; O'Brien et al. 2004; Ribot 2010). These insights have
emerged against the backdrop of development and food-security interventions
that have often focused on agricultural production, food distribution, and material
assets in the face of climate-triggered events - although, under some conditions,
these interventions may even exacerbate vulnerability (Barrett and Maxwell 2004;
Sperling et al. 2004; Adhikari 2008). A major question emerging in climate change
research is what is required if adaptation is to address the vulnerability context,
and transform - rather than perpetuate - the developmental patterns that have
created vulnerability in the first place (O'Brien 2011).
Vulnerability is a dynamic state, since the contextual conditions that comprise
vulnerability are always changing (Eriksen et al. 2005; O'Brien et al. 2007).
These conditions are driven by multiple processes that include shifting market
conditions, conflicts, political marginalization and environmental changes
(Ribot 1995; Eriksen and Silva 2009). Hence, in order to deal with vulnerability
effectively, it is particularly important to understand the social dynamics at the
local level that lead to differential levels of vulnerability between people and over
time, and how these dynamics relate to societal processes of change, including
national policies and development paths.
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