Vulnerability and resilience of remote rural communities to shocks and global changes: Empirical analysis from Solomon Islands

Schwarz, Anne; Béné, Christophe; Bennett, G.; Boso, D.; Hilly, Z.; Paul, Chris; Posala, R.; Sibiti, S.; Andrew, Neil L.

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.04.011

Cited by 229 publications

(166 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Communities have thus developed the capacity to face hazards, where capacity is understood as ''the set of knowledge, skills and resources people resort to in dealing with natural hazards and disasters'' (Cadag and Gaillard 2013, p. 269). The capacity to reduce the impact of extreme events has been recognized by several scholars (Campbell 2006;McAdoo et al 2006;Veitayaki 2006;Gaillard and Le Masson 2007;Gaillard et al 2008;Campbell 2009;Schwarz et al 2011). It is suggested that communities have traditions that enable them to cope with disasters (Campbell 2006).…”

Section: Capacities Of Small Island Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capacities in Facing Natural Hazards: A Small Island Perspective

Rampengan

Boedhihartono

Law

et al. 2014

Int J Disaster Risk Sci

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Isolated communities on small islands are often characterized as vulnerable and marginalized. We studied the recent history of Laingpatehi, a village on Ruang Island off the north coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia to show that the marginalization-vulnerability nexus can be offset by capacity and social cohesion to enable sustainable livelihoods. The island has been impacted by volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and competition for marine resources from mainland-based fishermen. The community has shown a remarkable ability to cope and prosper in the face of a series of external hazards. We used a sustainable livelihoods approach to identify the assets that enabled the villagers to cope. Strong social cohesion was central to the ability to organize the community and confront hazards. A diversified livelihood strategy drawing on the small island environment and its coastal and marine resources, income generating activities in a distant satellite village, and significant remittances from employment in other parts of Indonesia underpinned people's capacities to face hazards. Government assistance played a supporting role. The case of Laingpatehi demonstrates how remoteness, rather than being a source of vulnerability, can provide access to existing resources and facilitate innovation. Disaster risk reduction strategies should focus more on reinforcing these existing capacities to deal with hazards and less on physical protection and postdisaster responses.

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Section: Capacities Of Small Island Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capacities in Facing Natural Hazards: A Small Island Perspective

Rampengan

Boedhihartono

Law

et al. 2014

Int J Disaster Risk Sci

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“…The role of temporal variation has often been masked by a dependence on different terms, each used to characterize or represent sources of SES change. Consider, for example, stressors (O'Brien et al, 2004;Bunce et al, 2010), exposures (O'Brien andLeichenko, 2000), shocks (Schwarz et al, 2011), trends (Bennett et al, 2016), and perturbations (Gallopín, 2006). However, while some of these terms (e.g., shocks or trends) imply differing timescales or magnitudes of pressure, the terms are often used interchangeably and applied to both slower and faster forms of change.…”

Section: Understanding Impacts and Responses To Change In Sesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Kaplan-Hallam¹,

Bennett²,

Satterfield³

2018

Preprint

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Research on vulnerability and adaptation in social-ecological systems (SES) has largely centered on climate change and associated biophysical stressors. Key implications of this are twofold. First, there has been limited engagement with the impacts of social drivers of change on communities and linked SES. Second, the focus on climate effects often assumes slower drivers of change and fails to differentiate the implications of change occurring at different timescales. This has resulted in a body of SES scholarship that is under-theorized in terms of how communities experience and respond to fast versus slow change. Yet, social and economic processes at global scales increasingly emerge as 'shocks' for local systems, driving rapid and often surprising forms of change distinct from and yet interacting with the impacts of slow, ongoing 'trends'. This research seeks to understand the nature and impacts of social shocks as opposed to or in concert with trends through the lens of a qualitative case study of a coastal community in Mexico, where demand from international seafood markets has spurred rapid development of a sea cucumber fishery. Specifically, we examined what different socialecological changes are being experienced by the community, how the impacts of the sea cucumber fishery are distinct from and interacting with slower ongoing trends and how these processes are affecting system vulnerability, adaptations and adaptive capacity. We begin by proposing a novel framework for conceptualizing impacts on social systems, as comprised of structures, functions, and feedbacks. Our results illustrate how the rapid-onset of this fishery has ecological changes are being experienced by the community, how the impacts of the sea cucumber fishery are distinct from and interacting with slower ongoing trends and in poaching and armed violence have emerged, exacerbating pressures from ongoing trends in immigration, overfishing and tourism development. We argue that there is a need to better understand and differentiate the social and ecological implications of shocks, which present novel challenges for the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of communities and the sustainability of marine ecosystems.

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“…Specific to climate change, IPCC (2001) defines vulnerability as "the degree to which a system is susceptible, or unable to cope with adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes". In addition to the challenge of defining vulnerability, it is also difficult to measure quantitatively (Schwarz et al, 2011;IPCC, 2007a). To a large extent, vulnerability concept remain largely academic and theoretical, and not of a great help in improving the way natural resources are managed or used in planning and management (Schwarz et al, 2011).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing rural farmers perceptions and vulnerability to climate change in uMzinyathi District of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Shisanya¹,

Mafongoya²

2017

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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There is little awareness among rural farming communities on their vulnerability to climate change. This paper examined the vulnerabilities of the rural small scale farming communities in the uMzinyathi District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to climate change. A survey among 200 households who were randomly chosen but who had lived in the community for over twenty years was conducted. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were carried out to obtain qualitative data. Over the period 1993 to 2010, average annual temperature had increased by 1.5°C. Rainfall generally decreased over the period 1981 to 2010 with a range of 907 mm. Household perception on extreme climate conditions were a reflection of the quantitative climate data collected. Households were anxious (76%) that they will face negative impacts of climate change in future. Households were evenly distributed across the five vulnerability categories. Perceptions of communities to climate change should be considered by policy makers in advancing strategies to mitigate impacts of climate change. Vulnerability of farmers to climate change could be reduced by investing in early warning systems, providing farmers with information on climate change and farmers seeking alternative livelihood options rather than agriculture. Household specific interventions should be considered in mitigating climate change.

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Vulnerability and resilience of remote rural communities to shocks and global changes: Empirical analysis from Solomon Islands

Cited by 229 publications

References 62 publications

Capacities in Facing Natural Hazards: A Small Island Perspective

Capacities in Facing Natural Hazards: A Small Island Perspective

Catching sea cucumber fever in coastal communities: Conceptualizing the impacts of shocks versus trends on social-ecological systems

Assessing rural farmers perceptions and vulnerability to climate change in uMzinyathi District of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

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