Exploring methodological approaches to assess climate change vulnerability and adaptation: reflections from using life history approaches

Abstract

People in developing countries face multiple risks, and their response decisions sit at the complex and often opaque interface of climatic stressors, constrained resource access, and changing livelihoods, social structures, and personal aspirations. Many risk management studies use a well-established toolkit of methodologies-household surveys, focus group discussions, and semistructured interviews. We argue that such methodological conservatism tends to neglect the dynamic and differentiated nature of livelihood decisions. Since different methodologies privilege different portrayals of risk and response, we highlight how plural methodological approaches can capture a broader range of perspectives and problematisations. In this paper, we draw on life history (LH) interviews across four countries (Kenya, Namibia, Ghana, and India) to offer one way of expanding current methodological approaches on vulnerability and adaptation. We argue that LHs offer four key 'value additions'. First, LHs give insights into the multiple and interacting nature of drivers of response behaviour. Second, they highlight intra-household dynamics to demonstrate how people with differential power shape risk management decisions. Third, LHs support explorations of past decisions, present situations, and future aspirations, thus producing temporally nuanced enquiries. Fourth, they provide a powerful analytical lens to capture the interplay of motivations, aspirations, and values on livelihood choices and adaptation outcomes. By adding value in these four ways, LHs challenge assumptions about how and why people respond to multiple risks and offer a nuanced understanding of adaptation processes.

Migration and Household Adaptation in Climate-Sensitive Hotspots in South Asia

“…through higher incomes) but dampen subjective well-being (e.g. lower social capital in destination areas, feelings of alienation and insecurity, lesser leisure, especially for women) [75,[85][86][87]. These findings demonstrate that while remittances help migrating households and can have adaptation co-benefits, moving entails other intangible costs which can in certain conditions increase vulnerability and at other times improve adaptive capacity.…”

“…Within each block, households were selected using stratified random sampling and questionnaires conducted with household heads. The quantitative surveys were supplemented with detailed village-level settlement histories, gender differentiated Focus Group Discussions (two/settlement), and life history interviews (see [86] for details).…”

“…The in-depth life histories analysed 'family trajectories of accumulation or impoverishment over time and of particular matrices of vulnerability' ( [67]: 489) and thus constructed an understanding around temporal vulnerability and how households followed '(household) trajectories towards vulnerability or resilience' ( [79]: 3). These narratives also allowed a nuanced inquiry into how personal and family aspirations, asset constraints, and needs interacted with social norms, agency, and larger-scale institutional and economic changes to shape livelihood choices [86]. Migrant life histories demonstrated that permanent migration, especially accompanied by accumulation of education, skills, and social capital can, over a period of time, be a positive adaptive response, expressed through increased incomes, better living facilities, improved access to services, and lower exposure to extreme events as compared with where they moved from [85].…”

The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions

“…A life history approach was adopted by the CARIAA programme to understand the trajectories of people's lives [73][74][75][76] that builds on approaches in the area of livelihood responses but has rarely been applied to study vulnerability and adaptation in relation to climate change 77,78 (Table 1). The study examined how livelihoods in semi-arid lands are characterised by 'everyday mobility' (less exceptional than migration and built into the fabric of people's lives) and how this mobility shapes household risk portfolios and adaptation behaviour 79 .…”

Moving in and out of vulnerability: Interrogating migration as an adaptation strategy along a rural–urban continuum in India

“…Migration results from a complex interplay of environmental, economic, social, and demographic factors. Disentangling the role of climate change as a driver of rural–urban migration is notoriously difficult (Gioli et al, ) and perhaps unnecessary (Adger et al, ; Black et al, ; Hummel, ; Singh et al, ). While climatic factors modify and exacerbate migration, the ways environmental drivers interact with existing social vulnerability remain poorly understood (Gioli et al, ).…”