Limited room For manoeuvre - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 267

of alternative strategies for development, rather than focusing primarily on
incorporation into mainstream economies. It would also emphasize the rights
of peoples to choose the most appropriate strategies for themselves. Some
communities may opt for entry into the mainstream economy, as indicated in
Table 14.2 and discussed above. Where people have secure rights and access
to land, they can often more effectively negotiate their participation in wider
economies, and they are far less vulnerable as a result.
discussion
As pointed out in the introduction and other chapters of this topic, predominant
development patterns do not appear to be mitigating climate change or reducing
vulnerability but in fact leading in the opposite direction. There are several
ways in which this happens. One overarching pattern is the tendency to address
climate change as an isolated factor - rather than as one of many factors and
linked to holistic subsistence strategies and social structures. Another is the
tendency for development initiatives to focus on development models that
are ultimately a part of the problem. This chapter has highlighted some of the
specific ways that both of these play out for indigenous peoples.
Changing circumstances change long-established ways in which people
relate to one another - as individuals, communities and cultures. Social
changes like crumbling leadership and authority structures, and increasing
unwillingness to ask for help from neighbours, can have as much impact on
people's livelihood possibilities as the environmental impacts. However, such
social changes are often difficult to foresee and are not taken into consideration
in predictive models about the impact of climate change. Turner et al. (2008)
argue that losses that are indirect and cumulative are more likely to be invisible
in environmental decision-making. Such losses typically include cultural and
lifestyle losses, loss of identity, self-determination and influence, and changes
which for those experiencing it represent 'loss of order in the world' (ibid. p.4).
Similarly, Adger et al. (2009) argue that specific losses of physical places involve
the loss of attendant cultural and social significance that is often invisible to the
prevailing calculus. This is supported by our data as well.
Furthermore, the goals and by-products of international and national
'development' often have severe impacts on indigenous peoples' ability to
adapt to climate change. These can be both direct (such as the reduction or
contamination of natural resources on which they rely, through mining or other
extractive industries), and indirect (such as the pressure placed upon indigenous
communities when their neighbours exploit their land and resources in order
to respond to market demands). All these pressures serve to limit indigenous
peoples' room for manoeuvre as they struggle to respond to new constraints in
the face of changing climatic conditions.
People's room for manoeuvre can be improved through various concrete
measures, such as providing access to information about the global and national