Geoscience Reference
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those very same structures may act as major barriers to challenging important
drivers of vulnerability. Tackling these social hierarchies and power structures,
locally or nationally, can be highly controversial, and even considered outside
the mandate of most humanitarian organizations. A critical area for future
research will involve identifying the space for manoeuvre available for altering
current approaches, so as to address key drivers of vulnerability and challenge
'development as usual' in practice. How are the values and hierarchies that
legitimize current power relations enacted? And how may they shift over time
as part of adaptation efforts aimed at deliberate transformation? These are issues
particularly relevant to Nepal, where poverty, inequities and vulnerability are
prevalent - but can be highly important also in other contexts (including wealthy
countries), where power relations determine which adaptation decisions are
made and how vulnerability is distributed within the population.
notes
1 The village of Khaagaalgaon faces slightly more to the north than do Syaandaa and
Khankhe, resulting in more shade in Khaagaalgaon and greater capacity to retain
humidity in the soil.
2 Because of the lack of meteorological data on temperature, precipitation and
environmental situation in the area, informants' perceptions as well as own
observation are the main sources of information.
3 In Khaagaalgaon and Syaandaa, however, some of the selected respondents were
absent, leading to a slight overrepresentation of interviewees from the higher wealth
categories.
4 Because the quantitative information was in some cases based on estimates rather
than measurements, they are used only to illustrate the relative variation between
households, groups and/or villages, and not in absolute terms.
5 The area cultivated is presented using the local measurement system, as this is most
precise and meaningful locally. The haal (1 haal = approx. 0.128 hectares, according
to Bishop 1990) corresponds to the number of days used to plough the land with the
buffalo/yak hybrid.
6 USD 1 = NR 86.1 (Nepali Rupees) at the time of the fieldwork.
7 The term varies from village to village.
references
Adger, W.N. (2006). 'Vulnerability'. Global Environmental Change 16, 268-281
Adger, W.N. and Kelly, P.M. (1999). 'Social vulnerability to climate change and the
architecture of entitlements' . Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 4,
253-266
Adhikari, J. (2008). Food crisis in Karnali: a historical and politico-economic perspective .
Kathmandu: Martin Chautari
Agrawal, A. and Perrin, N. (2009). 'Climate adaptation, local institutions and rural
livelihoods', in W.N. Adger, I. Lorenzoni and K.L. O'Brien (eds). Adapting to climate
change: thresholds, values, governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 350-
367
Barrett, C. and Maxwell, D. (2004). Food aid after fifty years: recasting its role . London:
Routledge
 
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