Withdrawing, resisting, maintaining and adapting: food security and vulnerability in Jumla, Nepal

Abstract

The food security discourse has shifted from a narrow focus on food supply to a greater consideration of access, entitlements and sustainability. An emphasis on vulnerability has coincided with increased recognition that the causes of food insecurity are the result of a complex interaction between ecological, social, political and economic events and processes. Understanding the strategies that people employ to respond to these risks is critical to identifying pathways for change towards greater food security. We explore people's explanations of and responses in the context of changes to their livelihoods and the wider social-ecological system (SES) in which they are embedded. An integrated vulnerability framework, drawing on a SES approach, was applied to structure data collection, analysis and discussion in a food insecure region in Nepal. Using in-depth interviews, focus groups and historical data, we have examined negotiation processes, decision-making, actions and interactions within socialecological practices. Four distinct narratives and responses emerge-those of withdrawal, resistance, maintaining and/ or adapting to food insecure situations. These stories reveal the complexity of managing the lived experience of food insecurity. They highlight the need for adaptive policy responses and point towards pathways that are likely to contribute to greater food security.

Seasonal Migration and Livelihood Resilience in the Face of Climate Change in Nepal

“…Climate change and variability are among the major challenges facing farmers in Nepal (Xu et al 2009;Manandhar et al 2011;Bhatt et al 2014;Gaire et al 2014;Pandey and Bardsley 2015), where the massive flow of remittances can arguably help farmers to reduce climaterelated risks. However, there is high disparity in the pattern of international labor migration and its utilization as a vulnerability-reduction strategy.…”

Rethinking resilience: home gardening, food sharing and everyday resistance

“…Social resilience understood as adaptability to a disturbance is central to food security studies (e.g. Pelletier et al 2016;Oyo and Kalema 2016;Gaire, Beilin and Miller 2015). In this literature, disturbance, food insecurity, and households' coping strategy are closely related to vulnerability of livelihoods and to poverty.…”

Environmental change and food security: the special case of small island developing states

“…Ericksen (2008) argued for an SES approach to analyzing the ''synergistic effects of the multiple stresses that interact with food systems, sometimes making these systems vulnerable' ' (p. 14). At the same time, recognizing these interconnections is important to developing more effective and adaptive food security policy (Connolly-Boutin and Smit 2015; Gaire et al 2014).…”