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The role of women in community resilience to climate change: A case study of an Indigenous Fijian community
Abstract
Climate change is projected to have wide-ranging effects on natural resources, environment, agriculture and fisheries. The various impacts of climate change pose significant risks to Pacific Island communities and people's livelihoods. A community consists of different groups of people and requires contributions from all members to build community resilience to the impacts of climate change. The Indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) women have skills, knowledge, and unique local and traditional experience that can increase the resilience of the community, however, their voice is not often heard in a patriarchal community. An understanding of gender roles in a community is essential for adaptation to climate change.
Fijian communities exhibit elaborate social support system and traditional practices that demonstrate high level of dynamism and institutional support in the community's response to risks. Using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observations, the study investigated the enabling and inhibiting factors that affect the ability of iTaukei women to contribute to building community resilience. The findings from the study identified that the village women contribute significantly to three key areas of community resilience, particularly social resilience, economic resilience and ecological resilience. The findings also indicated that women face barriers that prevent them from contributing to decision-making on issues related to climate change resilience in the community. The study recommends interventions that are culturally accepted and that also support the role of women in decision-making, while promoting their participation in various climate change forums in the community.
... Though many knowledge gaps remain as to what role(s) women have in disaster resilience, there is evidence that community members adopt different gender roles after a natural disaster. The literature shows that women globally, and in PICTs, are often undersupported by the system, by virtue of their social position, having limited influence over decision making or planning, and restricted access to natural and financial resources (Alam and Rahman 2017;Charan et al. 2016;Misra et al. 2017;Singh et al. 2022). Women have been shown to adopt various roles during natural disasters that enhance community resilience (Alam and Rahman 2017;Charan et al. 2016;Singh et al. 2022). ...
... The literature shows that women globally, and in PICTs, are often undersupported by the system, by virtue of their social position, having limited influence over decision making or planning, and restricted access to natural and financial resources (Alam and Rahman 2017;Charan et al. 2016;Misra et al. 2017;Singh et al. 2022). Women have been shown to adopt various roles during natural disasters that enhance community resilience (Alam and Rahman 2017;Charan et al. 2016;Singh et al. 2022). It is increasingly recognised in the literature that disaster risk management should take into account the ways in which gender dynamics influence disaster impacts in any given area before undertaking policy decision-making and design of any project (Wabnitz et al. 2021;World Bank 2021). ...
... Many knowledge gaps remain as to what role women have in disaster resilience (Alam and Rahman 2017;Charan et al. 2016;Singh et al. 2022). Critical questions to this effect include how gender-based information can feed into policy to enhance community development initiatives; how externalaid programs can adjust their engagement with different social networks; what specific roles women take post-disaster in remote communities versus urban areas and how is that linked to their social position within a community? ...
Pacific Island Countries and Territories are highly exposed to natural disasters, intensified by increases in frequency and force of extreme weather events. Pacific societies, like in Vanuatu, have been shaped in many ways by such natural disasters; reflected in customary practices and social fabric of rural coastal communities. When a natural disaster occurs, government attention justifiably focuses on channelling and coordinating international humanitarian aid to fill gaps in capacity and resourcing national recovery efforts. However, central to disaster recovery, particularly in the immediate aftermath of disruption, are the ways that local people support each other (within and between communities). Disconnects between national and local recovery efforts are common and stand to inhibit effective responses. This study aims to understand horizontal, self-organised community-to-community support systems and communities’ post-disaster engagement with external aid. It draws from two different datasets: i) the observations collected through the emergency relief work led by the National Disaster Management Office in Vanuatu shortly after the 2023 twin tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin hit the country, as well as ii) the loss and damage survey led by the Vanuatu Fisheries Department to estimate the level of damage these cyclones caused in various regions of Vanuatu. Through this process, we highlight the social systems that enable community-to-community support, as well as potential opportunities for external-aid to support communities in a more efficient manner. Results reveal that community-to-community support is critical in the first weeks post-disaster. Recognizing the roles that different support networks play at different stages of disaster response is critical not only to improving people's and institutions' ability to bounce back from particular disruptions, but also in broader efforts to strengthen community resilience in the face of climate change.
... The most impactful and well-documented manifestation of climate change was drought and lack of water resources [24,25,54,55,59,64,115,123]. Finally, the challenges that climate change presents to the livelihood of those dependent on land impacts identity and creates a significant loss of connection to land and sense of place [26,27,54,64,125,129,130]. Drought was the most well-documented consequence of climate change. ...
... Most that discussed the impact of climate change on social connectedness focused specifically on Indigenous Peoples and the ways in which climate change can disrupt their relationship to both natural environment and culture and worsen existing mental health disparities [30,32,35,41,50,64,76,129,130]. Within Indigenous communities, there is an inter-relationship between and among environment and culture and mental wellness and social cohesion [30,35,129]. ...
... Most that discussed the impact of climate change on social connectedness focused specifically on Indigenous Peoples and the ways in which climate change can disrupt their relationship to both natural environment and culture and worsen existing mental health disparities [30,32,35,41,50,64,76,129,130]. Within Indigenous communities, there is an inter-relationship between and among environment and culture and mental wellness and social cohesion [30,35,129]. The Inuit, for example, have an eco-concept of self and see the environment as underlying all social determinants of health and wellbeing [35]. ...
Background
Climate change has been shown to be directly linked to multiple physiological sequelae and to impact health consequences. However, the impact of climate change on mental health globally, particularly among vulnerable populations, is less well understood.
Objective
To explore the mental health impacts of climate change in vulnerable populations globally.
Methods
We performed an integrative literature review to identify published articles that addressed the research question: What are the mental health impacts of climate change among vulnerable populations globally? The Vulnerable Populations Conceptual Model served as a theoretical model during the review process and data synthesis.
Findings/Results
One hundred and four articles were selected for inclusion in this review after a comprehensive review of 1828 manuscripts. Articles were diverse in scope and populations addressed. Land-vulnerable persons (either due to occupation or geographic location), Indigenous persons, children, older adults, and climate migrants were among the vulnerable populations whose mental health was most impacted by climate change. The most prevalent mental health responses to climate change included solastalgia, suicidality, depression, anxiety/eco-anxiety, PTSD, substance use, insomnia, and behavioral disturbance.
Conclusions
Mental health professionals including physicians, nurses, physician assistants and other healthcare providers have the opportunity to mitigate the mental health impacts of climate change among vulnerable populations through assessment, preventative education and care. An inclusive and trauma-informed response to climate-related disasters, use of validated measures of mental health, and a long-term therapeutic relationship that extends beyond the immediate consequences of climate change-related events are approaches to successful mental health care in a climate-changing world.
... References of QCA which explored in explaining LRCC components (Abraham and Fonta, 2018;Akbari et al., 2016;Asmamaw et al., 2019;Awazi and Quandt, 2021;Babae et al., 2021;Boukary et al., 2016;Bayrak et al., 2020;Darban Astane et al., 2018;Faisal et al., 2021;Fadina and Barjolle, 2018;Fang et al., 2018;Ghasemi et al., 2020;Ghazani and Bijani, 2016;Ha-Mim et al., 2020;Haworth et al., 2018;Jamshidi et al., 2018;Javadinejad et al., 2021;Kais and Islam, 2021;Kakehazar, 2018;Kangogo et al., 2020;Keshavarz and Moqadas, 2021;Karimpour, 2017;Kazemi and Andalib, 2017;Kundu et al., 2020;Liu et al., 2020;Makate et al., 2019;Mahmoodi and Hasani Talesh, 2021;Mensah et al., 2020;Mohammadi Mashkol, 2018;Mohammed et al., 2021;Nath et al., 2020;Naqvi et al., 2020;Nyong et al., 2019;Quandt et al., 2018;Rana, 2020;Ranjbar et al., 2019;Roknedin Eftekhari et al., 2014;Rostami and Taghilou, 2021;Safari, 2018;Sarker et al., 2020;Savari et al., 2018;Shariatzadeh et al., 2021;Shojaei-Miandoragh, 2018;Singh et al., 2022;Speranza et al., 2014;Taleshi et al., 2017;Wan et al., 2019;Yang et al., 2021;Yeganegi Dastgerdi et al., 2020). ...
... Also, personal and professional characteristics, adaptation capacity, and institutional-structural issues (e.g., the type of extension educational structures, government policy and support, and entrepreneurial structure) are among the items that have been proven to be effective on LRCC in previous researches and studies. (Abraham and Fonta, 2018;Akbari et al., 2016;Asmamaw et al., 2019;Awazi and Quandt, 2021;Babae et al., 2021;Bayrak et al., 2020;Boukary et al., 2016;Darban Astane et al., 2018;Fang et al., 2018;Faisal et al., 2021;Ghasemi et al., 2020;Ha-Mim et al., 2020;Haworth et al., 2018;Javadinejad et al., 2021;Kais and Islam, 2021;Kakehazar, 2018;Karimpour, 2017;Keshavarz and Moqadas, 2021;Kazemi and Andalib, 2017;Kangogo et al., 2020;Kundu et al., 2020;Jamshidi et al., 2018;Liu et al., 2020;Makate et al., 2019;Mahmoodi and Hasani Talesh, 2021;Mbakahya and Ndiema, 2015;Mohammadi Mashkol, 2018;Mensah et al., 2020;Nath et al., 2020;Naqvi et al., 2020;Safari, 2018;Singh et al., 2022;Speranza et al., 2014;Savari et al., 2018;Quandt et al., 2018;Roknedin Eftekhari et al., 2014;Rostami and Taghilou, 2021;Wan et al., 2019;Yang et al., 2021). ...
... Factors affecting LRCC extracted from QCA (Abraham and Fonta, 2018;Akbari et al., 2016;Babae et al., 2021;Bayrak et al., 2020;Boukary et al., 2016;Fadina and Barjolle, 2018;Faisal et al., 2021;Ghazani and Bijani, 2016;Ha-Mim et al., 2020;Javadinejad et al., 2021;Kangogo et al., 2020;Keshavarz and Moqadas, 2021;Kazemi and Andalib, 2017;Kundu et al., 2020;Liu et al., 2020;Makate et al., 2019;Mensah et al., 2020;Mohammed et al., 2021;Naqvi et al., 2020;Nyong et al., 2019;Safari, 2018;Sarker et al., 2020;Shariatzadeh et al., 2021;Singh et al., 2022;Wan et al., 2019;Yeganegi Dastgerdi et al., 2020). ...
Recognizing the resilience and especially the livelihood resilience of farmers is of great importance for policy makers. Thus, the present study is aimed to analyze farmers’ livelihood resilience to climate change (LRCC). The studied area was Hamadan province in the west of Iran. The research methodology is qualitative content analysis (QCA) with a deductive approach, which is performed by selecting reliable sources and examining existing theories and content in livelihood resilience. The documents used for QCA included a systematic study of 44 articles from 33 journals (12 local (Iranian) journals and 21 international journals) and 5 M.Sc. thesis. The results indicated that farmers' LRCC are based on three dimensions including “buffer capacity (the sum of subsistence capital including human, physical, financial, natural and social capital)”, “self-organization (ability to form flexible networks to deal with unbalanced conditions and environmental, economic and social challenges)” and “learning capacity (acquiring knowledge and skills to form a resilient structure)”. In this regard, the most important factors affecting LRCC are: institutional-structural, environmental psychology, adaptation capacity and personal and professional characteristics. Finally, the LRCC model is presented in the agriculture sector, which can be used by policymakers in planning and making decisions.
... In both national and global policy discourses, a range of terms have been used to describe the nature of policymaking, and associated processes of development and uptake of ideas from organisations within and across different country contexts. In the field of comparative education, processes of policy transfer, borrowing, and translation have been used to consider how educational policy trends develop (Steiner-Khamsi and Waldow 2013;You 2020;Crossley 2019) and tensions between the global and the local in relation to these processes have long been a concern of the field (Ball 1998), applied to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Fiji, with implications for understanding policy on climate justice (Crossley and Louisy 2019) and gender (Singh, Tabe, and Martin 2022). ...
... In Vanuatu, a counselling centre reported that domestic violence increased by 300% following two tropic cyclones in 2011 (CARE 2015). In Samoa, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2018) reported that displacement due to disasters resulted in an increase in gender-based violence; these findings were echoed by a Fijian case study that found tensions in some families after natural disasters as men would vent their frustration and anger on women due to loss of sources of livelihood like food crops (Singh, Tabe, and Martin 2022). ...
... In this National Development Plan (2017, 53), the fuller account of education developed in 2013 in the National Curriculum Framework, that acknowledges the crucial role of climate change education to respond to the climate crisis, is largely reduced to an emphasis on 'training' and 'capacity building', and there is no recognition of the connections between education, gender, and climate. Although gender inclusivity is mentioned in the Plan and some targets have a gender focus (such as discussing the risk of gender violence, for example), these are disconnected from the risk of gender violence associated specifically with climate-related disasters emphasised in studies of Pacific Island contexts (Mcleod et al. 2018;CARE 2015;Singh, Tabe, and Martin 2022). ...
This paper takes inspiration from the Indigenous Fijian practice of ‘curui’ – weaving or patching together – as a metaphor to explore connections between climate justice, gender equality, and education in Fijian policies and practices. The paper argues that neither gender equality nor education can be ‘silver bullets’ for the huge challenges that the climate crisis raises, particularly for small island developing states (SIDS) such as Fiji that exist at the sharp end of the crisis. The paper contributes close analysis of Fijian national climate change policies and development plans from 2010, identifying the ways in which these policies frame and discuss the connections between climate, gender, and education, and asking whether these policies acknowledge traditional ecological knowledges, and the extent to which they are aligned with notions of justice. It argues that connected approaches to education, centred in Indigenous knowledges and ontologies, have thus far been insufficiently included in Fiji’s policies.
... Within the sample, 17 articles had a significant focus on types of security in the context of climate change. This included seven articles that had a primary focus on food and nutritional security (Cleasby et al. 2014;Eriksson et al. 2017;Rabbitt et al. 2019;Savage et al. 2020;Wentworth et al. 2020;Cauchi et al. 2021;Mangubhai et al. 2021); three articles that sought to expand the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the region to include climate change impacts as a human security issue (George 2014(George , 2016; Bhagwan Rolls and Rolls 2019); two articles that considered women's roles in community resilience, with a particular emphasis on food security (Davila et al. 2021) or ontological security (Singh et al. 2022); one article on energy security (Sovacool et al. 2012) or energy poverty (Teariki et al. 2020); one article considering land tenure security and forced evictions (Day et al. 2021); one article on sexual and reproductive health responses in post-disaster periods which included the challenges of being considered as a 'security' issue (Beek et al. 2021); and one article on the gendered nature of village water committees and water security (Nelson et al. 2021). While this illustrates that the material aspects of human security, particularly food security, are being used to frame explicit treatments of security, this tends to be siloed. ...
... A number of studies highlighted the role of social capital as a security network, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and care work as a means of creating social security (Rey et al. 2017;Balaei et al. 2019;Crichton et al. 2020;Clissold et al. 2020;Malherbe 2020;Senimoli et al. 2020;Chambers et al. 2021;Sahai et al. 2021;Singh et al. 2022). However, this should not be romanticised, nor the experience of living in the Pacific homogenised: while social capital and traditional ecological knowledge are important strengths for indigenous communities living on customary land, not all citizens or communities live in this situation (Chandra and Gaganis 2016;Nakamura and Kanemasu 2022). ...
... Power differentials can lead to a lack of inclusive decision making as well as differences in access to material benefits such as housing, water tanks, employment or access to training opportunities that are intended to reduce vulnerabilities (Clissold et al. 2020;Westoby et al. 2020). Moreover, the review highlights the importance of mobility to livelihood and health security (Asugeni et al. 2019) which can be constrained by social norms that restrict women's mobilities to local villages (Rabbit et al. 2019;Singh et al. 2022). ...
This systematic review aims to address gaps in understanding how concepts of gender, climate change and security are given meaning and linked in empirical scholarship within the Pacific Islands Region. The review assesses the 53 articles returned through Web of Science, SCOPUS and ProQuest databases that are derived from empirical research and refer to gender, climate change and security. The findings indicate that this is an emerging topic in a region that is one of the most vulnerable to climate change across the globe. Most frequently gender analysis is given superficial treatment; there is limited literature that connects gendered vulnerabilities to historical legacies and structural inequalities; and women’s critical roles that create security are often overlooked and devalued. The review indicates that greater work is needed to question perceived threats to security and to reveal how climate change, gendered institutions, systems and spaces, historical legacies and politics interact to construct security in the Pacific Islands Region.
... During COVID-19 pandemic, rural women faced amplified challenges, including job losses in the informal sector and increased caregiving responsibilities (Singh et al., 2022). These compounded vulnerabilities reveal how climate change, gender inequality, and economic exclusion converge, with rural women bearing the brunt of these overlapping crises. ...
... Access to climate-smart technologiessuch as drought-resistant crops, solar-powered irrigation systems, and mobile weather forecasting tools-can significantly enhance rural women's ability to manage climate risks. Coupling these technological advancements with targeted training and support ensures that women can fully utilize them to improve agricultural productivity and safeguard their livelihoods in the face of climate volatility (Singh et al., 2022). ...
This review explores the intricate interactions between climate justice, gender inequality, and the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on rural women in Egypt. By integrating findings from various literature, it offers an in-depth examination of how these intersecting issues intensify the vulnerabilities of rural women, compounding their socio-economic disadvantages and limiting their participation in climate adaptation and decision-making. The review reveals that systemic gender inequality, alongside the impacts of climate change and the pandemic, has significantly heightened rural women's marginalization, exposing critical gaps in current policies and interventions.
Key areas where research and policies fall short are identified, especially in addressing context-specific needs and applying intersectional approaches. The review emphasizes the importance of education, skill development, and access to resources as central strategies for empowering rural women. It also proposes policy recommendations aimed at fostering gender-sensitive climate and pandemic responses, enhancing rural women’s economic participation, and supporting their empowerment through targeted interventions.
In conclusion, the review underscores the urgency of developing inclusive and equitable policies that address the unique challenges faced by rural women in Egypt. It calls for a more nuanced understanding of the intersectional impacts of climate justice, gender inequality, and pandemics, advocating for sustained efforts to create environments that promote resilience, equality, and sustainable development for rural women.
... This contrasts with international literature that generally reports higher depression rates among women 47 . Women face specific threats related to climate change and disasters, often exacerbated by patriarchal norms, restricted autonomy, and limited economic options, particularly in rural and coastal areas [48][49][50] . However, substantial evidence supports the potential for innovation in climate change mitigation through women's leadership 50,51 . ...
... Women face specific threats related to climate change and disasters, often exacerbated by patriarchal norms, restricted autonomy, and limited economic options, particularly in rural and coastal areas [48][49][50] . However, substantial evidence supports the potential for innovation in climate change mitigation through women's leadership 50,51 . These findings underscore the need for genderresponsive policies and greater inclusion of women in decision-making roles for climate adaptation. ...
Sea level rise affects the long-term psychological health of coastal communities. However, research on long-term and seasonal impacts on vulnerable communities’ psychological health is limited. Here, we explore the effect of sea-level rise on the psychological health of the coastal population in Satkhira and Khulna districts of southwest Bangladesh across two seasons: before monsoon (March to April) and post-monsoon months (October to November) in 2021. We leveraged the longitudinal research that involved 1144 participants. We collected data on psychological health using established scales for distress, depression, anxiety, and stress and also measured environmental factors and resource losses. Results indicate that psychological health, particularly distress, depression, anxiety, and stress, increased during the post-monsoon months in communities more vulnerable to sea-level rise. Highly vulnerable communities showed increased psychological distress post-monsoon. Environmental stressors and resource loss escalated during the post-monsoon period, especially in moderate and highly vulnerable communities. Our findings emphasize the urgent need for targeted support and resilience-building interventions in affected communities to alleviate the psychological health impacts of sea-level rise.
... Case studies highlighting successful adaptation initiatives and lessons learned from past experiences in building health resilience to climate change have also shown the significant contribution of women to three major areas of community resilience: social, economic, and ecological resilience [61]. Successful projects on the mitigation of the effects of climate change often adopt innovative strategies and emphasize integrated and robust monitoring systems [61,62]. ...
... Case studies highlighting successful adaptation initiatives and lessons learned from past experiences in building health resilience to climate change have also shown the significant contribution of women to three major areas of community resilience: social, economic, and ecological resilience [61]. Successful projects on the mitigation of the effects of climate change often adopt innovative strategies and emphasize integrated and robust monitoring systems [61,62]. ...
Climate change poses significant challenges to global health, with far-reaching implications for human health and well-being. This comprehensive review synthesizes evidence from diverse disciplines to elucidate the complex relationship between climate change and health. Key areas of focus include the direct impacts of extreme weather events, alterations in infectious disease transmission, air quality changes, food security issues, and mental health effects. Vulnerable populations, including low-income communities and indigenous peoples, are disproportionately affected, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions and equitable adaptation strategies. Methodologically, a search of peer-reviewed literature was conducted, covering studies published up to 2024. Both quantitative and qualitative studies were included, and thematic analysis was employed to identify patterns and trends. The review highlights gaps in current policy frameworks and international cooperation efforts, calling for enhanced collaboration and knowledge sharing to address the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change on health. Furthermore, proactive adaptation measures, robust public health infrastructure, and inclusive strategies are essential to mitigate adverse health impacts and foster resilience. By prioritizing collective action and interdisciplinary collaboration, we can work towards a healthier and more resilient future in the face of climate change.
... Climate change-induced temperature rise and ocean acidification further harm marine ecosystems already suffering from varied sources of local pollution and overharvesting (Baxter et al., 2016;Oppenheimer et al., 2019). The villages have a low average income, which, when coupled with property damages, decline of agricultural crops, and loss of fishing days due to natural disasters, affect the capacity of community members to adapt to the changing climatic conditions (Singh et al., 2022). ...
... For instance, traditional leaders have significant influence over community development plans and local governance policies and programmes. So, do religious leaders, such as church pastors, who bring a powerful voice to issues of importance (Singh et al., 2022). Engaging these authoritative community members in all local adaptation planning processes up to the national level could offer a strong foundation for vertical integration in the evolution of the NAP. ...
... Climate change in Africa affects agricultural systems by reducing grazing quality and quantity, causing shortages of food and feed, and affecting gender roles in communities (Ncube et al., 2018). . . Gender roles before climate change Men and women had different roles before the climate change globally (Singh et al., 2022). According to Phiri et al. (2022), 60% of African women devote their time to farming activities before the climate change. ...
... Other women are involved in small livestock keeping, such as chickens, and men take on big livestock like camels and cattle (Stephen et al., 2023). Women are also involved in various methods of food preservation, which are important during times of disasters like drought (Singh et al., 2022). Stites (2020) states that, before the climate change in the Karamoja subregion, women were involved in crop farming and men were engaged in livestock farming for the provision of their families. ...
This study examines the effects of climate change on gender roles among agro-pastoral farmers in Nabilatuk District, Karamoja subregion, in North Eastern Uganda. Data were collected from 10 focus group discussions, 10 key informant interviews, and observations. Atlas Ti 7.5.18 software was used to analyze the data. Findings indicate that climate change has disrupted traditional gender roles among men and women in Karamoja. Because of this, men have been forced to shift from pastoralism to crop farming. Additionally, some men have taken on reproductive roles that were formerly female-dominated. Women, on the other hand, have taken on petty trade in trading centers, which was formerly only a men's pursuit. This has come as an increased workload for women, leaving them even more vulnerable. This shift brings into question the notion of the stability of gender roles and how this affects the agricultural productivity of both men and women. Conclusively, there is a need for the adaptation of gender-sensitive strategies that can reduce the work burden of women.
... Other studies have documented how women strengthen community resilience through their knowledge of food preservation and the use of medicinal plants to treat particular diseases [51][52][53]. [54] argue that women contribute significantly to resilience across the four dimensions of community resilience: social resilience, economic resilience and ecological resilience. Hence, as argued by Ref. [55], bolstering the capabilities of women as individuals and their role in institutions allows disaster-prone communities 'to pursue a range of resilient futures. ...
... In recent years the international community has acknowledged the necessity of gender viewpoints in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), claiming that social constructs of gender lead to structuralinequalities, prejudices and biases that articulate people's disaster vulnerabilities and capabilities in all disaster phases. Furthermore, studies showed that women are especially prone to gender-based disaster risks [54,[65][66][67]. Therefore, national governments must identify these vulnerabilities and develop indicators of increased adaptive capacity that could enhance the resilience. ...
... Research shows that empowering and involving women in disaster management strengthens community resilience. 44 A recent study from Nepal highlighted that training programs specifically tailored for women in disaster-prone areas improved household-level preparedness and increased overall community resilience. 45,46 Introducing similar initiatives in Malaysia could address gender-based exclusion and enhance resilience. ...
Objective
Disaster management strategies often emphasize technical and structural solutions, overlooking the sociocultural factors that shape community resilience and disaster response. In Malaysia, a multiethnic and multireligious country frequently affected by floods and monsoon storms, cultural beliefs, social networks, and traditional practices play a pivotal role in shaping disaster preparedness and recovery. This study examines how religious beliefs, community cohesion, gender roles, and traditional knowledge influence disaster management in Malaysia.
Methods
A qualitative research approach was employed, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 15 stakeholders from diverse ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds. Participants, represented various religious groups and geographic areas. Their roles included local leaders, government officials, NGO workers, and community members, providing insights into how sociocultural factors influence disaster response and policy.
Results
Religious beliefs serve as both a source of resilience and a potential barrier, shaping community attitudes toward disaster preparedness. Community cohesion, particularly through gotong-royong (mutual aid), plays a crucial role in mobilizing resources and support, though it often excludes marginalized groups. Gender roles significantly influence disaster response, with women taking on caregiving responsibilities yet remaining underrepresented in decision-making processes. Traditional knowledge remains valuable, particularly in rural communities, but faces challenges as younger generations increasingly rely on modern technologies.
Conclusions
This study highlights the need for culturally sensitive, gender-inclusive, and community-driven disaster management policies in Malaysia.Integrating sociocultural dimensions into formal frameworks can foster more adaptive and inclusive strategies. Enhancing community participation and gender inclusivity will be key to improving disaster resilience in Malaysia.
... It is a major shortcoming that women's use of their capacities and organizational skills in adaptation processes, especially after climate change-induced disasters, has not been highlighted so far due to their gender roles, or that women have been excluded from decision-making processes (Lau et al., 2021). Singh et al. (2022) argue that women make significant contributions to four domains of resilience: economic resilience, ecological resilience, social resilience, and political resilience. Therefore, enhancing the abilities of women as persons and their involvement in institutions enables communities that are vulnerable to disasters to strive for various resilient outcomes (Dilling et al., 2019). ...
... Indeed, these results are in line with a strand of extant studies (Abate, 2020;Ahmad et al., 2022;Singh et al., 2022), which points out that climate change, such as prolonged droughts or extreme weather events, can affect the availability of natural resources such as water and arable land. Women, who are often responsible for managing natural resources in many societies, are directly affected by these changes, limiting their access to traditional economic livelihoods. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess the role of renewable energy as a means of promoting women’s economic participation and improving their health by mitigating climate vulnerability.
Design/methodology/approach
To shed light on this relationship, the authors assess the capacity of renewable energy to reduce the negative impact of climate vulnerability on women’s economic empowerment and health, using the generalized method of moments estimator for 36 African countries over the period 1990–2021.
Findings
The empirical results show that climate vulnerability reduces economic empowerment and climate vulnerability increases child mortality. These results are mitigated by the use of renewable energy. The use of renewable energy mitigates the negative impact of climate vulnerability on women’s economic empowerment. Renewable energy use also reduces the pressure of climate vulnerability on child mortality. In addition, the authors take into account regional heterogeneities and find distinct effects. The results remain stable after further robustness testing.
Originality/value
Renewable energy thresholds are provided at which climate vulnerability no longer reduces women’s socio-economic well-being.
... Research has shown that women often play a primary role in the collection of NTFPs, while men may focus on the commercialization and transportation of these products (Shackleton et al., 2011;Kassa and Yigezu 2015). Women's involvement is typically rooted in their knowledge of plant resources, which is passed down through generations, and their responsibilities for household health and nutrition (Upadhyay 2005;Singh et al., 2022). This gendered division of labor not only reflects cultural norms but also impacts the sustainability of resource use and conservation practices (Khalikova et al., 2021). ...
... Effective disaster risk reduction necessitated the active participation of all stakeholders, including local communities residing in disaster-prone regions (Supartono et al., 2022). Global climate change had profound implications for communities, particularly farmers and their livelihoods (Singh et al., 2022). The resilience of these farmers in the face of climate change was based on three main dimensions, including their coping capacity (human, physical, financial, natural, and social resources), their ability to self-organise in response to climate change, as well as their knowledge and skills to construct a robust structure (Tohidimoghadam et al., 2023). ...
Indonesia is one of the countries that faces numerous disasters, with the recent increase largely attributed to the worsening effects of climate change. This study aimed to map out the experiences and meanings of indigenous communities regarding disaster information literacy based on local wisdom in facing the threat of global climate change. This research uses an interpretive paradigm with a phenomenological approach. Data collection techniques comprised in-depth interviews, focused group discussions, and participatory observations. The results showed that the indigenous peoples have the capacity to maximise their cultural assets to reduce disaster risks. In disaster crisis situations, these indigenous communities use their local wisdom to strengthen their capacity to deal with various threats such as droughts and floods. Second, cultural aspects determine the preparedness of indigenous peoples to face various risks of climate change. Therefore, they build an understanding that one of the effective ways to mitigate disasters is to use culture-based local wisdom. They also perform traditional rituals as a form of prayer when the crisis intensifies.
... This ecological interaction takes on special significance when viewed through a coupled human nature systems lens. In traditional Fijian culture, extended family groups (mataqali) may be closely aligned with specific species (Dacks et al., 2018;Fache & Pauwels, 2022), which are held sacred by the group (Singh et al., 2022). In this context for the specific individual who raised that point, the presence of seabirds in mangroves affords their groups' sacred species respite in times of stormy seas for their mataqali. ...
Conservation faces a chronic shortage of resources, including time, funding, mental capacity, and human capital. Efforts to make the expenditure of these resources more efficient should, therefore, support more equitable and effective conservation prioritization. To achieve this, it is necessary to ensure the integration of the knowledge and perceptions of local stakeholders into larger scale conservation decisions. We used fuzzy cognitive mental modeling to assess the perceptions of mangroves and the prioritization of ecosystem services across 3 groups of stakeholders: representatives from 3 coastal Fijian villages, the national office of an international nongovernmental organization (NGO), and the US office of that same NGO. We found different topologies and valuations among the resultant mental models, with the US NGO office having the most terms. However, when comparing models from local villages with the US NGO office, scale‐dependent perceptions shifted, including the relative devaluation of locally important cultural valuations of mangroves. Despite these variations in perceptions, however, 3 key components of the mental models—women's livelihoods, men's livelihoods, and fisheries supplementation—all appeared as consistently important in multiple models, suggesting areas around which potential collaboration among stakeholders could be forged. By focusing on system‐wide, rather than stakeholder‐specific, optimal solutions within the system, new opportunities for collaboration may emerge. In doing so, these system‐wide solutions may increase efficiency and collaboration. Moreover, we found that boundary‐spanning organizations, such as the national‐level conservation organizations, played a role in facilitating information transfer and mediating conservation goals in a culturally appropriate fashion. Finally, although the specific example used here is mangrove conservation, our methodologies and findings are broadly applicable across a variety of conservation scenarios.
... The study will focus on case studies from coastal areas in various geographical areas including developed countries and including developing countries. By examining different regions, the study will provide detailed information on how different regions respond to similar climate challenges, allowing comparative analysis of how different regionbased strategies there is effectiveness in the circumstances [12]. Key stakeholders in this study include local communities, which take the lead in implementing reform strategies, as well as governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international organizations that play a role in support and efforts involved in supporting and facilitating communitybased change Analysis will take into account how these efforts contribute to or hinder success [13]. ...
Coastal communities are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including sea level rise, extreme weather events, and ecological degradation These challenges pose significant threats to the livelihoods, infrastructure and well-being of coastal communities , especially in developing areas with limited resources to grow The effectiveness of -based optimization strategies (CBA) is investigated. The crisis statement focuses on the urgent need for sustainable and adaptable adaptation solutions that can mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, and enable communities to take ownership of these efforts. Traditional top-down approaches have generally proven inadequate to address the unique socio-cultural and environmental dynamics of coastal areas. The objectives of this study are threefold: to identify and analyze key CBA strategies that have been implemented in coastal areas, to assess their effectiveness in reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience, and to explore the role of local knowledge, resources and governance play a part in the development of a successful change strategy. The results show significant improvements in several key areas. Income increased by 25%, and 35% of households adopted climate-resilient lifestyles. Economic losses from disasters were reduced by 45% and key infrastructure was strengthened by 80% against climate risk. The study found a 28% reduction in climate-related diseases, a 90% increase in water quality and the restoration of 600 hectares of biodiversity, leading to a loss of biodiversity above 20%. In addition, 75% of the community participated actively in decision-making, and 65% of the reform projects integrated traditional knowledge. These findings suggest that CBA strategies not only effectively reduce the immediate risks of climate change, but also build long-term resilience by empowering communities to lead the adaptation process. The study highlights the importance of scaling up these initiatives to increase coastal resilience globally.
... However, with the increasing climate change impacts in South Africa, it is vital that these structural inequalities are rectified because women have a significant role in building resilience to climate change. Women have the skills, knowledge and traditional experience ranging from food handling, preparation and preservation as well as knowledge of traditional medicinal plants that is valuable during extreme weather conditions like cyclones and floods, when food markets and hospitals are inaccessible [49]. ...
Climate change is experienced locally. However, climate change impact assessments are often done at the international, regional and national levels. Local level impacts are less prolific. When international, regional and national level predictions are applied to the local level, they are out of context. Therefore, it is important to understand the local impact of climate change to enhance formulation of suitable adaptation strategies. This study aimed to understand the local impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers in Thulamela Municipality, Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. The actual experiences of smallholder farmers were unpacked. Face-to-face interviews with farmers in the region were conducted to solicit data on the climatic changes experienced, the impacts on crop and livestock production and social wellbeing. Data on the intensity of the impacts was also solicited. Results show that the experienced climatic changes emanated from temperature changes and shifts in rainfall patterns. The impacts on crop and livestock production as well as social wellbeing are all negative. Farmers indicated that the impacts were mostly average to high. It is concluded that smallholder farmers are aware that climate change impacts are negatively affecting their livelihoods. Investments towards building the capacity of smallholder farmers are pertinent.
... In Latin America, the intersection of socio-economic factors such as education and livelihood diversification highlights the crucial role played by women in adopting climate-smart agricultural practices and utilizing climate information (Singh et al., 2022). This highlights the necessity to address gender-specific barriers and advocate for inclusive policies to enhance their roles in climate change adaptation and mitigation (Acosta et al., 2021;Yenglier Yiridomoh & Owusu, 2022). ...
This research investigates the relationship between Green Finance (GF) and Gender Equality (GE) within the context of sustainable development, revealing that existing frameworks lack an integrated approach to incorporating GE into GF. By reviewing 125 relevant articles published from 2004 to 2024, the author also found that women's empowerment significantly promotes GF development, while gender diversity enhances environmental management and corporate performance. Furthermore, the contributions of women in climate adaptation and environmental sustainability should not be overlooked. In conclusion, there is a pressing need to incorporate a gender perspective into GF policies and practices, which calls for further exploration of gender-sensitive financing models and the culture impact on GF and GE, aiming to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more effectively.
... Building capacity through engagement and training of community members, stakeholders, and local authorities to observe, report weather changes, operate monitoring equipment, and execute data analysis and interpretation empowers the community to participate in disaster preparedness activities and ensures that monitoring systems are socially inclusive, locally relevant, and sustainable. Local knowledge can enhance the accuracy and relevance of monitoring on-edge efforts [22,[28][29][30][31]. ...
Ensuring that ecosystem services are effectively maintained and integrated while also proactively adapting to the challenges posed by climate change is essential for developing sustainable and resilient housing in both new and existing settlements. The tropics cover roughly 40% of the world and are home to about 40% of the global population. By the late 2030s or 2040s, 50% of the world’s population is projected to live in the tropics. This research project investigates the intersection of sustainable construction and energy security for achieving sustainable and resilient housing in tropical climates. Examining (1) resilience strategies against climate change impacts and (2) case studies led to highlighting best practices regarding construction and energy security aspects. Finally, a reference framework is provided for architects, policymakers, and stakeholders involved in tropical housing development.
... Furthermore, research that was conducted by Singh et al. (2022), in their research on the role of women in community resilience, stated the importance of resilience in community disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and adaptive measures. The study also found that the social support system that create during a flood are strong factors which has contributed to community resilience and also that the concept of the vanua (traditional living) which includes natural resources, place, culture, and people are a great source of social resilience. ...
Social Representation Theory (SRT) is a successful framework that has been used for many years to understand how individuals and groups construct, communicate, and navigate their social reality. Using a narrative method of literature review, this study, with synthesis of findings from previous research, examines how social representations influences attitudes, behaviours, and adaptation strategies related to perceptions about climate change in the Fiji Islands and the Pacific. Findings from the synthesis of results highlights the importance of considering local beliefs and cultural contexts in shaping responses to climate change. The discoveries also place emphasis on the critical role of beliefs and perceptions in driving adaptation efforts and community resilience. For future research, there is a need for inclusive approaches that put together local knowledge and perspectives into climate change policies and strategies that encourages sustainable solutions in Fiji, the Pacific Islands and beyond. Keywords: social representation, climate change, fiji islands, adaptation strategies, community perceptions
... It is essential to include women in these discussions because their unique perspectives and experiences can lead to more inclusive, sustainable solutions that benefit entire communities. Emerging evidence from the developing nations supports the fact that women's empowerment and capacity building can make significant contributions towards social, economic, and ecological resilience [11][12][13][14][15] . Women's unique insights is crucial to design and implement mitigation strategies owing to their lived experiences. ...
... essentially, women are embedded in unique traditional skills, knowledge, and experience to improve community resilience. however, their voices remain underrepresented in the public realm of patriarchal communities (Singh et al., 2022). this phenomenon took place due to the common stereotype regarding the social roles of men that involve more in politics and governance affairs and those of women that revolve around household duties and raising children (Boo, 2021;Khasbulatova & Smirnova, 2022). ...
This qualitative study examines the historical context and implications of women’s empowerment in rural Gorontalo, Indonesia, focusing on the Quran Completion tradition. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with elderly women, religious figures, and traditional practitioners of the Quran Completion tradition. The findings indicated that despite Indonesia’s independence, women in rural areas faced significant limitations during the study period. Adolescent girls were confined to household activities and were prohibited from pursuing formal education outside their homes. Interestingly, this tradition predates the official discourse on women’s empowerment, initiated by the Indonesian government in 1972. It served as a symbol for parents to showcase their success in educating their daughters and gradually encouraged women to assume public roles, demonstrating their Quranic recitation skills, and boosting their confidence to participate in public spheres. Psychologically, the Quran Completion tradition played a pivotal role in enhancing women’s self-assurance and fostering their active engagement with society. While this empowerment pattern was widespread among Gorontalo women in the past, the present-day practice of the Quran Completion tradition has undergone significant changes. It is now primarily observed during wedding ceremonies by a limited number of individuals dedicated to preserving Gorontalo’s culture.
... Sautua (2022) Mulcahy et al. (2024) Tarasi et al. (2022) resources, community welfare, and social cohesiveness (Singh et al., 2022). Therefore, it becomes clear that spirituality is a fundamental factor impacting how believers view the sustainability efforts of their community temples. ...
Folk religion is rooted in Chinese culture and has developed into a robust industry influencing cultural enterprises and the regional economy in Taiwan. However, few studies currently explore the dynamics of sustainability in folk belief corporate consumer behavior, covering policy-making, social, and economic dimensions. This study addresses this gap through the quintuple innovation helix (QIH) framework by examining consumer sentiment, donation, and spending intentions collected from contribution data from traditional historical temples. Through structural equation modeling of 292 collected questionnaires, the study showed that participants’ inclination toward spirituality, perceptions of service to others, and use of eco-friendly worship materials significantly affected donation amounts and willingness to revisit. Additionally, it highlights the keen interest of salaried employees and business owners in folk temples that adopt sustainable practices. This research contributes to understanding the interplay of religion in consumer behavior and frames these dynamics in a five-fold innovation spiral. It advocates for a deeper exploration of sustainability, providing valuable insights into the complex landscape in which folk-faith enterprises operate at the crossroads of tradition, innovation, and social impact.
... Women are crucial in addressing issues related to the environment and climate change. They have aided in risk identification, emergency preparedness and response, and mitigating the negative consequences of environmental calamities [12]. Furthermore, it has been recognized that women are capable and gifted leaders who are crucial to the battle against climate change [13]. ...
Fossil fuel consumption increased quickly, contributing to climate change that is evident in unusual flooding and draughts, and global warming. Over the past ten years, women's involvement in society has grown dramatically, and they succeeded in playing a noticeable role in reducing climate change. A bibliometric analysis of data from the last ten years has been carried out to examine the role of women in addressing the climate change. The analysis's findings discussed the relevant to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 7 and SDG 13. The results considered contributions made by women in the various sectors while taking geographic dispersion into account. The bibliometric analysis delves into topics including women's leadership in environmental groups, their involvement in policymaking, their contributions to sustainable development projects, and the influence of gender diversity on attempts to mitigate climate change. This study's results highlight how women have influenced policies and actions related to climate change, point out areas of research deficiency and recommendations on how to increase role of the women in addressing the climate change and achieving sustainability. To achieve more successful results, this initiative aims to highlight the significance of gender equality and encourage inclusivity in climate change decision-making processes.
... The depletion of natural resources and the decline in agricultural productivity further pose challenges to women's health. In some African cultures, moreover, the lack of women's involvement in many resource management decisions diminishes their capacity to participate in decision-making on income-generating activities (Abate 2019;Singh et al. 2022). In Kenya, like in many African countries, men are perceived to be family heads and play a crucial role in decision-making and domestic asset management. ...
Climate variability and its impacts affect different members of gender groups in households and society differently. Within the pastoral community, women are more vulnerable, being among the poorest of the poor, and they are expected to be highly susceptible to climate variability effects. This study assesses gender perceptions of climate variability among pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Marsabit County, Kenya. Results were triangulated with the use of data-collection techniques, including focused group discussions, individual interviews and field observations. These methods were used to analyse whether there is a difference in factors that determine the community perceptions of climate variability and trends by gender among the Marsabit pastoralist community. In analysing the study’s data, descriptive and inferential statistics were employed. The findings indicate that respondents’ perceptions of climate variability in the study area varied by gender, marital status and ethnic groups. The study reveals an increased workload of 48% for women and 32% for men resulting from climate impacts on daily household activities. In addition, the study found that 63% of male respondents primarily take on the role of decision-makers for their families, while 38% primarily serve as providers. In addition, 29% of male participants are responsible for providing security and 17% for managing family concerns within the community. In contrast, 33% of the female respondents predominantly fulfil the role of household domestic managers. The analysis further reveals that 90.3% of female and 86.8% of male respondents have noticed a decrease in rain received over time in the past two decades. This was reported to cause a burden on the most vulnerable members of the community, particularly women, by requiring them to travel long distances in search of water for household use. Gender and age affect who can access and control natural resources and household goods. This, in turn, affects the ability of pastoral and agro-pastoral communities to adapt, make a living and do other social and economic activities. The study recommends that, for climate impact adaptation measures to work, the community needs to put strategies that consider the different strengths, weaknesses and vulnerabilities of pastoral women and youth. Enactment and enforcement of gender-proactive policies and legislation that promote gender equity at the county level is highly recommended. The study further recommends using conventional weather forecasting to fill in the gaps left by the Indigenous Technical Knowledge Predictions. As a result, this study suggests that the public should be involved in creating agro-weather and climate advisories to lower vulnerability, boost resilience, boost productivity and ultimately improve the ability to adapt to climate impacts.
This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .
... Female leaders also tend, on average, to take environmental issues more seriously and safeguard the interests of the most vulnerable populations, including women and girls. There is clear evidence of a correlation between female leadership and the adoption of environmental policies (Alam et al., 2015;Singh et al., 2022). A close but non-existencialist relationship between women and nature is advocated by ecofeminism, and many prominent figures in the field, such as the aforementioned Rachel Carson, Gro Brundtland, Jane Goodall, or activist Greta Thunberg, convey this idea to the general public. ...
The climate crisis disproportionately impacts women and girls all over the world. To understand what the priorities in terms of policy are, an examination is conducted on the impacts taking place in South Asia (focusing on the countries of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan), an area of the globe that is highly vulnerable to climate change and is characterized by having strong patriarchal values. Gender stereotypes and roles in the region heighten women and girls' vulnerability to climate impacts, both in general and in situations of crisis resulting from extreme weather events. Deepening the understanding of the climate crisis' impact on gender in South Asia, a region at the frontline of these effects, can assist in reaching a baseline understanding of the challenge from a global perspective. Methodologically, we reviewed an extensive body of literature, both specialty books and scientific articles, recent institutional reports as well as news or journalistic reports from reliable international press. In this research, the argument is made that today, climate action and urban development cannot be considered separately from women's rights. Extensive scientific data and research support the integration of a gender perspective in urban adaptation standard practices, and priorities in terms of policy to safeguard women and girls are identified accordingly. The allocation of half of climate funds, including those of loss and damage, directly to women or women-led organizations is identified as being particularly relevant. Bold and ambitious policymaking is urgently needed to build capacity to face the multiple crises unfolding.
... Because some of them are also immigrants. This is a particular difficulty in developing human resources and village potential, in terms of livelihoods it is also hampered by the modernization of social life in Denpasar City (Singh et al., 2022). ...
The current study aims to unpack the role of the Bali Province Indigenous Community Promotion Service in Increasing Village Potential in Denpasar City and the extent of involvement of the Bali Province Indigenous Community Promotion Service in Increasing Village Potential in Denpasar City. A qualitative approach was employed to correspond to the portrayed problems due to the exploration of a descriptive analysis approach. This study, moreover, plotted observation, interviews, and documentation as the data collection procedures. The results unpacked the humongous role of the Bali Province Indigenous Community Promotion Service in Increasing Village Potential in Denpasar City, especially in realizing the vision and mission of the Bali Provincial government (Nangun Sad kerthi Loka Bali). The current study also recruited the Head of the Office for the Advancement of Indigenous Peoples of Bali Province, Bendesa Adat Pakraman Village Denpasar, and Bendesa MDA Denpasar City as the subjects of the study. The inhibiting factors can be overcome if good cooperation is established. In addition, the heterogeneity of the Denpasar City community leads to complicated potential raises in Denpasar's villages, Bali.
... In a study on post-flood reconstruction in Assam, India, Krishnan observed their frontline roles, actively rebuilding their homes, lives, and livelihoods with little to no external agency assistance [16]. Other studies have documented how women enhance community resilience in disasters [15,[17][18][19]. ...
In rural Ivorian communities, women are considered as the guardians of water, undertaking an essential role deeply rooted in local cultural values, ensuring the preservation and management of this vital resource. However, the scarcity of potable water places them under significant pressure, exposing them to heightened risks. Within this context, this study conducted in the Sub-Prefecture of Gboguhé explores the critical link between the cultural values of Bete women and the issue of access to potable water in the region, with a specific focus on the impacts they experience. To achieve this, the study adopts a primarily qualitative approach based on documentary research, direct observations, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. The findings reveal that the scarcity of potable water disproportionately affects women in these communities, leading to significant socioeconomic consequences. Water points often become scenes of verbal and physical aggression among women, given the difficulties in accessing water in the area, thereby limiting their daily activities and economic participation. Furthermore, they face heightened health risks due to water supply hardships and the consumption of non-potable water from unimproved sources. Additionally, this study offers novel perspectives for transformative actions aimed at addressing the scarcity of potable water, promoting women's social and cultural values, and preserving the essential cultural ties within the Bete communities of Gboguhé and beyond.
... In the Solomon Islands, gender differentiation in access to education, assets, information, or external organizations causes the gender-differentiated adaptive capacity to extreme or unexpected events such as climate change (Cohen et al. 2016). Addressing gender inequality is key to increasing the adaptive capacity not only of women but also of societies, since gendered traditional or indigenous knowledge can be fully utilized to adapt to change and innovative solutions (McLeod et al. 2018, Ryan et al. 2022, Singh et al. 2022, Kleisner et al. 2022, Phelan et al. 2022). Kawarazuka et al. (2017) mentioned that bringing gender and social-ecological resilience analyses together in smallscale fisheries research can generate a robust understanding of integrated social and ecological systems. ...
Fisheries have diverse gendered division of labor worldwide. It is essential to consider the activities and relations of all gender groups to fully understand the social-ecological systems of coastal resource use toward achieving sustainability. Gendered division of labor is also found in Japanese coastal fisheries. However, the number of studies focusing on the gender aspects of Japanese coastal fisheries is limited. This paper reviews previous studies on gender aspects of Japanese coastal fisheries and identified the features of the studies of Japan through comparison with studies in other countries. The results indicate that most previous studies in Japan were anthropological or socio-economic studies focusing on the activities of women. Following the result, three research topics with a gender lens are considered necessary in Japan: (1) studies on social-ecological systems of coastal fisheries with a gender lens, (2) studies on gender-differentiated impacts of fishery policies, and (3) studies on the gender-differentiated vulnerability and adaptive capacity in coastal areas. The future implementation of these studies will avoid the negative impacts on specific gender groups and provide critical insights for innovating sustainable and equitable coastal resource use by exploring gender-based knowledge, networks, and opportunities that have not been fully utilized.
Graphical Abstract
... Rather, this societal stereotype seems to continuously be nurtured by actors outside local settings, grappling with the persisting challenges and difficulties to integrate a realistic, equitable and reflective gender focus into fisheries, still largely perceived as 'male business' (Kitolelei, Soderberg et al. 2022;Lawless et al. 2022;Mangubhai et al. 2022). This stereotype also reflects a continued role-reinforcement trend within the fishing communities themselves, with local fisheries remaining governed by patriarchal structures supported by strong social and cultural norms, e.g. when it comes to management decision-making (Singh, Tabe, and Martin 2022;Thomas et al. 2021). ...
Free online copies: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/B9X6DRWBRIBCVWPKPYIT/full?target=10.1080/00664677.2023.2258452 --- Fiji’s iTaukei (Indigenous) women contribute significantly to smallscale coastal fisheries, and are therefore integral to successful fisheries (co-)management, yet their role still remains
underestimated. This paper explores an original pathway to
highlight iTaukei women’s role in Fiji’s small-scale coastal
fisheries; a pathway that, through a ‘dwelling perspective’,
emphasises the socialities that are inseparable from this role. It is
based on data collected during two distinct fieldwork periods,
2003–2004 and 2016–2018, in a village located on Gau, Fiji’s fifth
biggest island, in Lomaiviti Province. An overview of the fishing
practices of the iTaukei women living in this village shows that
fishing can be seen as both a gender-differentiated and a morethan-
human, dynamic field of sociality. Furthermore, we argue
that fishing is these women’s main mode of active engagement
with their marine environment, conceived as inseparable from
land, and all its sentient constituents. This mode of engagement
reflects the relational ontology inherent in the iTaukei all-encompassing concept of vanua, which includes a sense of
environmental responsibility and stewardship. This mode of
engagement and its ‘procurement’ dimension are adjusted over
time through ‘friction’ with conservation regulations and ideas
that are both internal and external to the fishing community.
These conservation regulations and ideas are related to
community-based marine resource initiatives, as well as to
national fisheries management concerns and measures (including
species-specific fishing bans). They give a supplemental
dimension to women’s interactions and engagement with the sea
and its sentient constituents, far from reducing those to a mere
divide between ‘nature’ and society/sociality.
... In this context, Agarwal (2018) argues that uneven access to ownership of land in rural areas, which is mandated by patriarchal-oriented customary norms, has resulted in low agricultural production and ongoing food insecurity in many households on the African continent. García (2013) and Singh et al. (2022) both cite the FAO, arguing that, if women had the same opportunities for access to productive resources (such as arable land, seeds, fertilisers, tools, and loans) as men, they would have been able to increase agriculture yields by 20-30%. Mutangadura (2004) and Fagbadebo and Faluyi (2022) also note with concern that South Africa is well recognised as one of the leading African states that promote democratic values and civil liberties but that, even here, access to ownership of land is still dominated by men. ...
South Africa is one of the many countries that experience critical challenges regarding land issues, with rural women in particular having limited access to and ownership of land. This paper argues that land inaccessibility for women contributes significantly to their deprivation of economic opportunities. Secondary data on women and land ownership were extracted from main sources such as peer-reviewed articles and government gazettes. In the execution of this study, a comprehensive literature review (CLR) was conducted to illuminate the topic under investigation. The three phases (the exploration phase, the interpretative phase, and the communicative phase) of the comprehensive literature review method were adopted. The result of the review suggests that the gendered nature of land distribution contributes to the phenomenon of food insecurity that faces numerous women and their households in rural areas. The customary law is a key institutional factor that poses challenges for rural women in acquiring equal access to land ownership compared to men. The study recommends that the South African government should formulate better land policies that provide equal access to and ownership of land for both men and women.
... Approaches are encountered from an environmental and climate change perspective (Chirisa & Mabeza, 2019;Ross et al., 2021;Tabe et al., 2022), migration issues (Moore, 2018), cultural heritage preservation (Wardekker et al., 2023), behavioral studies (Houston et al., 2015), social capital (Carmen et al., 2022) and most recently, in the context of the SARS-CoV-19 pandemic (Alderden & Perez, 2021;Bradley et al., 2021;First & Houston, 2022;Isetti et al., 2022;Ke et al., 2021;Killam, 2022;Tan et al., 2021). Most often, however, the topic of community resilience is raised in the context of disasters (f.i. ...
On February 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine, an independent country. Although the topic of academic library assistance directed to Ukrainian refugees has appeared in the media, the review of literature demonstrated that these activities have not been documented in the scientific literature so far.
The aim of the study was to find out what actions addressed to the Ukrainian refugees.
Polish academic libraries took to help build social resilience in case of war.
The study used quantitative and qualitative methods: the survey method and the heuristic method. The survey was sent to all directors of state academic libraries in Poland.
The collected data were divided into the domains: institutional, social, physical and economical. These domains were then used to design a library model of building community resilience in case of war, and to describe the links between these domains.
The multi-level spectrum of activities undertaken by the academic libraries in Poland to improve the situation of Ukrainians and described in this paper lead to the recognition that libraries: are important institutions of social trust, and in order to maintain this status, they have to respond to the needs of local communities on an ongoing basis.
... In rural communities of Africa, majority of women rely on ecological resources as their primary source of livelihood and income (Carr & Thompson, 2014;Kansanga et al., 2022;Singh et al., 2022). Unfortunately, women are constrained by societal norms that often restrict their access to resources such as credit facilities, land and improved technology (Denton, 2002). ...
This paper explores agro-ecological implications of climate change and gendered adaptations in Northern Ghana. Drawing on feminist political ecology, sequential mix-method design was used to collect socio-economic and livelihood data through a survey of 300 smallholder farmers. Paired sample t test, simple linear regression and descriptive statistics were used to determined yield variation, gendered perception, and adaptive capacities to climate change. Three focus group discussions and 15 key informant interviews were conducted to validate the survey results. Findings show that climate change has threatened the sustainability of local livelihoods with a significant drop in food production over the last 15 years. Adaptation to climate change in the study area is polarized by gender, affecting productivity. This is because men perceive climate change and its impacts differently from women. Men were likely to adapt changing methods of farming and improvement in storage capacity, while women were likely to adapt migration and livelihood diversification. Policy toward building resilience to the impacts of climate change should recognize and adopt these gender adaptive capacities.
... Similarly, food prices fluctuate because of idiosyncratic shocks such as floods and droughts that decimate the supply of certain agricultural products. Such price fluctuations are subsequently passed through to overall prices (Singh et al., 2022). Depending on the type of shock, the observed link between commodity price and inflation would be expected to be different. ...
Pronounced food price volatility has challenging effects on the macroeconomic performance of countries. Particularly, large food price swings can generate rippling effects on inflation and poverty. This article examines the inflation effect of global food price volatility and South Africa’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Zimbabwe using annual data spanning 1995 to 2019. Using the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedastic (GARCH) techniques for volatility modelling and a standard backward-looking Phillips curve framework that controls for an output gap, the results of this article indicate that volatility of global food prices and the variations in South Africa’s CPI are significantly transmitted to Zimbabwe’s headline inflation. For instance, every 10% increase in global food prices results in 33% of the variation being passed through into the headline inflation of Zimbabwe. For South Africa’s CPI, the results indicate that about 228% is passed through into Zimbabwe’s headline inflation for every 10% increase in prices. Policymakers in Zimbabwe, therefore, should be wary of global food prices and South Africa’s CPI and it is also fundamental that the country improves its food processing capacity in terms of both the revival and efficacy of existing manufacturing facilities within its food industry.
... All members of society can cultivate resilience. "Women contribute significantly to three main areas of community resilience, namely social resilience, economic resilience, and ecological resilience" (Singh et al. 2022). ...
There are many indigenous and traditional knowledge systems that have been in practice for centuries among local communities of arid regions of India. Local communities use their traditional knowledge to predict drought and take agricultural decisions. Through evidence-based fieldwork and focus group discussions with the local communities in the villages in western Rajasthan and arid districts of Gujarat, this study tries to document all the indigenous practices and traditional knowledges that claim to predict drought and mitigate drought. The study shows that local communities can predict drought at a large extent that can be validated through meteorological and other scientific data. We argue there is no “one-size-fits-all-solution” because solutions take many shapes and forms, depending on the unique context of a community, specific challenges, and its location. While climate mitigation policies to reduce climate change are taken at the global scale and can be top-down, the climate adaptation policies need to be local and bottom up. Risk reduction and adaptation strategies need to be user-friendly in its application where local knowledge and scenarios are meaningful at the community level to help communities to manage their vulnerabilities while equipping themselves with the necessary measures to curb their future risks. If local people are made aware of and comprehend their exposure to risk and potential impacts, they can take the initiative to make decisions based on existing trade-offs. Thus, strengthening interactions among local communities, scientists and policymakers should be a key commitment to foster effective and timely policy decision.
This technical report provides an overview of Fiji, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. The primary aim is to present a comprehensive review of the climate and resource-use challenges facing Fiji, along with the ongoing efforts to address them. The report begins with a broader discussion of SIDS, highlighting the unique development, economic, and climate challenges they encounter. It then provides a brief background of Fiji before detailing the impacts of climate change on the country's critical resources, including water, energy, food, and infrastructure. The review concludes by discussing the adaptation measures currently being implemented by this small island nation.
As the influence of climate change on human sustainable development intensifies, the issue of climate change is attracting the attention of more and more scholars, countries, international organizations. However there are few of empirical studies investigating the relationship and interaction mechanisms between climate change and women’s political empowerment under the background of sustainable development. Here, using a two-way fixed-effects model, and a large balanced panel data of 132 countries from 1995 to 2023, we provide new evidence on the relationship and interaction mechanisms between climate change and women’s political empowerment. We conclude that climate change has a negative impact on women’s political empowerment and income inequality magnifies the effect. Subsample analysis shows the negative impact is particularly pronounced in countries with right-wing parties in power and high levels of economic development. Moreover, government efficiency, political stability and sustainable development ability slows down the impact of climate change on women’s political empowerment and has a positive moderating effect. Our paper provides new insights for research in related fields.
In this article, I conduct an analysis of the characters of Italo Calvino's La speculazione edilizia. I specifically focus on their relationship with the natural environment to highlight gender-related differences. I argue that while men are more inclined to be seduced by the material gain of real estate speculation that damages the environment, women actively demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection and display a strong connection to nature that is neither subordinate nor passive. Through my analysis, I demonstrate how women offer male characters a chance for redemption through the awakening of their emotions, in a consistent effort to establish a human relationship that parallels the retrieval of a lost environmental one.
Worldwide, the increase in extreme weather conditions has stimulated numerous scholars' growing interest in estimating people's resilience to disasters through indicator-based measures, while less consideration is given to the subjective approach centered on self-well-being estimation. This study attempted to fill this gap by using a subjective resilience approach to assessing flood-prone smallholder farmers' resilience to flood damages in Upper Guinea. Toward this end, three resilience capacities were used: people's ability to prepare to counter the effect of flooding on their livelihoods; people's confidence to recover from a flood disaster aftermath; and people's ability to adjust or change their income sources sensitive to flooding. Descriptive statistics and probit regression analysis, respectively, were used to characterize respondents' perceived resilience and to identify the underlying factors that explain this resilience. The results of descriptive statistics disclosed a shallow level of flood resilience among respondents within the following three dimensions: preparedness (37.86%), recovery (30.46%), and adjusting to change (39.86%); furthermore, gender-based disparities disadvantaged most women (23%, 26%, and 25%) compared to men (39%, 30%, and 41%). Probit regression analysis results indicated that key factors shaping flood resilience among smallholder farmers were the ownership of assets (OAs), indigenous knowledge (IK), and livelihood diversification (LD). In contrast, household size (HS) was a key factor in decreasing resilience. The results indicate a strong connection between households' flood resilience and their socioeconomic characteristics regarding OAs, IK, and LD, which need to be improved to strengthen farmers' resilience.
The chapter explores the pivotal role of women in bolstering food security and nutrition at the grassroots level. Through an in-depth analysis of women's multifaceted contributions to agriculture, household management, and community development, it elucidates how women serve as key agents of change in ensuring access to nutritious food and sustainable farming practices. Drawing on empirical evidence and case studies from diverse contexts, it highlights the challenges women face in fulfilling this role and identifies strategies for empowering women and enhancing their impact on food security and nutrition outcomes. Ultimately, the chapter underscores the importance of gender-responsive policies and interventions in harnessing the full potential of women to address food insecurity and malnutrition at the community level.
Sustainable mangrove conservation has become a global challenge due in part to a lack of cohesion between knowledge, awareness, and practices among communities. The present study thus aimed to quantify the knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAP) regarding mangrove ecosystem conservation among university students, who have the potential to serve as catalysts for conservation efforts. The research also sought to assess the relationship between their sociodemographic characteristics and KAP towards mangrove conservation. A questionnaire survey was administered to selected university students in Sri Lanka through purposive sampling (2020–2021 academic period). Cronbach's alpha test was used to assess the internal consistency of the data in each KAP item. Linear regression models were employed to understand the relationship between KAP factors. The PERMONAVOA test based on Hellinger distance was used to understand the relationship between KAP and the sociodemographic characteristics of students. Out of the total 527 participants representing 30 universities, 63.5% were female and 35.8% were male. The study findings showed the range of mean Likert-scaled scores (with 5.0 being the highest and 1.0 being the lowest) for the knowledge components was 3.5 to 4.5. For the attitude components, the range was 3.0 to 4.6, and for the perception components, the range was 4.0 to 4.7. A positive correlation among KAP components was observed, with significant linear regression models for attitude and knowledge, perception and knowledge, and perception and attitude (p < 0.001). When selecting the best model using the Akaike Information Criterion to determine the relationships between components, the knowledge component received 98% of the weight. Regarding demographic and social attributes, perception was correlated with the "level of study," and attitude was correlated with residential grouping (p < 0.001; PERMONAVOA test based on Hellinger Distance). However, age, gender, and discipline of study showed no correlation with KAP. The findings suggest that incorporating the KAP of university students can address policy loopholes and involve them in stakeholder mapping, planning, and implementing integrated mangrove conservation efforts.
Climate change affects the lives of indigenous people in Alor Regency. The community felt the impact of the tropical cyclone Seroja that occurred on April 2–4, 2021, accompanied by very high extreme weather, strong winds, and flash floods. The disaster damaged houses and public facilities. The community’s agricultural land was flooded, and many people died as a result of the disaster. Qualitative data were collected by interviewing the affected indigenous peoples in Alor District and stakeholders. Observations were also made to document the impact of the disaster. The data obtained were analyzed thematically, namely based on a predetermined theme. This chapter describes the condition of the community affected by the disaster, mitigation efforts, and the resilience of indigenous peoples. Two main findings become priorities for restoring the strength of the Alor community due to tropical cyclone Seroja, namely physical stability and socio-economic resilience. Physical strength is realized by building houses and public facilities damaged by floods. Socio-economic resilience is a priority because damaged agricultural land results in the loss of community livelihoods. This will have an impact on the weakening of food security in the region. The value that stands out from the local community in solving problems is mutual cooperation. Adapting to natural disasters requires a balanced process of environmental planning and management involving local indigenous peoples. Related parties outside the Alor community are also concerned because climate change is a problem for all the people of the earth.KeywordsIndigenous peopleClimate changeDisaster risksResilienceAdaptation
Climate change has elucidated already existing gender inequalities associated with unequal access to resources, decision-making processes, and higher exposure to environmental shocks and stressors. Growing acknowledgment of the gender-differentiated implications of climate change in recent years has placed gender equality as a focal point in international discourses on climate change adaptation. The policy perspective of gender equality is universalized, but how it transcribes in local climate change adaptation projects remains elusive. Using the relocation of Vunidogoloa, Fiji, this article explores the tension and compatibility between the way gender equality is discussed and how it is implemented in climate change adaptation projects.
Policymakers and natural resource managers are increasingly recognizing the importance of broader geographic and gender participation in assessing climate vulnerability and developing effective adaptation policies. When such participation is limited, climate mitigation and adaptation polices may miss key opportunities to support vulnerable communities, and thus inadvertently reinforce the vulnerability of marginalized groups. This paper reports rich qualitative data from women leaders in conservation, development and climate adaptation projects to support local communities across seven Pacific Island nations. The results indicate the following priorities to support climate adaptation policies in the Pacific: (1) increased recognition for the importance of traditional knowledge; (2) greater support for local women's groups, including strategic planning and training to access climate finance mechanisms; and (3) climate policies that consider alternative metrics for women's empowerment and inclusion, formalize women's land rights, and provide land for climate refugees. Existing evidence is discussed which supports the importance of these priorities in the Pacific. Their input identifies research gaps in climate adaptation and provides important guidance for governments, non-governmental organizations, and development agencies leading climate adaptation efforts.
Natural disasters give rise to loss and damage and may affect subjective expectations about the prevalence and severity of future disasters. These expectations might then in turn shape individuals’ investment behaviors, potentially affecting their incomes in subsequent years. As part of an emerging literature on endogenous preferences, economists have begun studying the consequences that exposure to natural disasters have on risk attitudes, perceptions, and behavior. We add to this field by studying the impact of being struck by the December 2012 Cyclone Evan on Fijian households’ risk attitudes and subjective expectations about the likelihood and severity of natural disasters over the next 20 years. The randomness of the cyclone’s path allows us to estimate the causal effects of exposure on both risk attitudes and risk perceptions. Our results show that being struck by an extreme event substantially changes individuals’ risk perceptions as well as their beliefs about the frequency and magnitude of future shocks. However, we find sharply distinct results for the two ethnicities in our sample, indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians; the impact of the natural disaster aligns with previous results in the literature on risk attitudes and risk perceptions for Indo-Fijians, whereas they have little to no impact on those same measures for indigenous Fijians.
Community-based adaptation (CBA) is becoming an increasingly popular approach to climate change adaptation in the Pacific islands region. Building adaptive capacity should be an important component of projects supporting CBA. The literature establishes that adaptive capacity is highly context and culture specific. However, to date, there has been little research into the factors and processes that enable adaptive capacity in Pacific island communities. This paper discusses the Pacific Adaptive Capacity Analysis Framework, a theoretical framework developed to guide assessment of adaptive capacity for the purposes of supporting CBA projects. The framework identifies seven broad factors and several sub-factors of Pacific-specific adaptive capacity: (1) human capital; (2) social capital; (3) belief systems, worldviews, and values; (4) resources and their distribution; (5) options for adaptation, livelihood, and food supply; (6) information and awareness; and (7) history of dealing with climate stress. The paper presents a case study of adaptive capacity from a community in the Solomon Islands and concludes that unlike many adaptive capacity determinants identified in the broader international literature, function-based (factors shaping ability to access and use resources) and cognitive (for example, values and belief systems) determinants are of particular relevance in the Pacific community social and cultural context. The key to building upon cognitive and function-based aspects of adaptive capacity is increasing the ability of people to liaise with external support organisations to plan and acquire resources for adaptation on their own terms.
The focus on climate change adaptation, rather than mitigation, has become more prominent since the turn of the century. Given this, it is important to consider what has been achieved so far, particularly community-based approaches which have become the resolve for practitioners and donor agencies working in the sector. This review of 128 publications on community-based climate change adaptation, identified through a systematic database search, follows the development of this body of work in the academic literature. Commencing in the early 2000s, the literature detailed the emergence of community-based adaptation (CBA), driven by a number of factors: recognition of the human dimensions of changes; appreciation of the role of local knowledge for strengthening adaptive capacity; and a push to focus on the scale at which impacts are felt and link this action with pro-poor development outcomes. A more substantial body of work emerged in the literature from 2010 onwards, defining a series of key enablers for effective CBA, which included: use participatory approaches; recognise that adaptation is a social process; and support CBA at multiple scales. More recently, there has been a growing emphasis in the literature to re-conceptualise CBA, which will require focusing on innovation, learning and multi-sectoral approaches.
Climate-related disasters such as tropical cyclones, floods and droughts are not new to Pacific Islanders, who have developed customary or ‘traditional’ practices to enable communities to adapt and recover from such hazards. Some of these practices have been degraded and some assisted by modernisation. Through their effects on the island environment, these hazards have a range of socio-economic impacts on food (fisheries and crops) and water supply, tourism, and coastal buildings and infrastructure. The varied impacts of climate change not only exacerbate those hazards but also raise new threats, such as sea level rise and ocean acidification, that have no precedent in the past 500 years, and for which there are therefore no traditional adaptations, although Pacific innate ingenuity and resilience remains strong. These issues are particularly acute for the low-lying atoll countries whose continued existence is threatened by sea level rise, but also affect those that live on higher islands in coastal settlements, where most of their population is concentrated. Climate change thus sharpens social and cultural issues of equity (reflecting disparities in location, income, education, gender, health and age), made even more acute by increased levels of voluntary or forced migration within, and even more so beyond, island country boundaries. Consequently, many islanders see climate change as a moral challenge to the richer countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the problem.
In the interests of improving engagement with Pacific Island communities to enable development of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change, we looked at how traditional oral narratives in rural/peripheral Fiji communities might be used to inform such strategies. Interviews were undertaken and observations made in 27 communities; because the custodians of traditional knowledge were targeted, most interviewees were 70-79 years old.
The view that oral traditions, particularly those referring to environmental history and the observations/precursors of environmental change, were endangered was widespread and regretted. Interviewees' personal experiences of extreme events (natural disasters) were commonplace but no narratives of historical (unwitnessed by interviewees) events were found. In contrast, experiences of previous village relocations attributable (mainly) to environmental change were recorded in five communities while awareness of environmentally driven migration was more common. Questions about climate change elicited views dominated by religious/fatalist beliefs but included some more pragmatic ones; the confusion of climate change with climate variability, which is part of traditional knowledge, was widespread.
The erosion of traditional environmental knowledge in the survey communities over recent decades has been severe and is likely to continue apace, which will reduce community self-sufficiency and resilience. Ways of conserving such knowledge and incorporating it into adaptation planning for Pacific Island communities in rural/peripheral locations should be explored.
The objective of this paper is to better understand the various individual and household factors that influence resilience, that is, people’s ability to respond adequately to shocks and stressors. One of our hypotheses is that resilience does not simply reflect the expected effects of quantifiable factors such as level of assets, or even less quantifiable social processes such as people’s experience, but is also determined by more subjective dimensions related to people’s perceptions of their ability to cope, adapt or transform in the face of adverse events. Data collected over two years in Fiji, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Vietnam confirms the importance of wealth in the recovery process of households affected by shocks and stressors. However our results challenge the idea that within communities, assets are a systematic differentiator in people’s response to adverse events. The findings regarding social capital are mixed and call for more research: social capital had a strong positive influence on resilience at the community level, yet our analysis failed to demonstrate any tangible positive correlation at the household level. Finally, the data confirm that, like vulnerability, resilience is at least in part socially constructed, endogenous to individual and groups, and hence contingent on knowledge, attitudes to risk, culture and subjectivity.
Disasters result in devastating human, economic, and environmental effects. The paper highlights women’s active participation in community-based disaster recovery efforts drawing from the results of the ‘Rebuilding Lives Post-disaster: Innovative Community Practices for Sustainable Development’ by an international research partnership. Two case studies are presented from Pakistan and the USA to demonstrate how women contribute to building resilience and promoting sustainable development in diverse post-disaster contexts. The policy and practice implications are relevant for discussions regarding the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and framework.
Local communities across the Pacific Island region have long prepared for and managed extreme weather events. Strategies to cope with extreme weather, particularly cyclones and droughts, have involved using particular planting techniques, initiating innovative water storage practices, and employing food preservation tactics to survive. These local experiences and knowledge have been passed on between generations through stories and sharing practical know-how; however, very little formal documentation has transpired to date. This research attempts to document and synthesis these experiences and knowledge to safeguard them through written accounts but also demonstrate how Pacific communities can provide valuable, appropriate and effective strategies to prepare for and respond to extreme weather events. In-depth interviews (n = 40) were conducted with community members from three villages in Fiji (Naselesele, Qeleni and Yanuca) and three villages in Vanuatu (Piliura, Tassiriki and Lonamilo). While typically missing from community vulnerability and risk assessments in the Pacific, local experiences and knowledge are a core strength in enhancing adaptive capacity and planning community-based activities.
We present three rights-based approaches to research and policies on gender justice and equity in the context of climate change adaptation. After a short introduction, we describe the dominant discourse that frames climate change and provide an overview of the literature that has depicted women both as vulnerable victims of climatic change and as active agents in adaptive responses. Discussion follows on the shift from gendered impacts to gendered adaptive capacities and embodied experiences, highlighting the continuing impact of social biases and institutional practices that shape unequal access to and control over household and community decision-making processes undermining timely, fair, and successful adaptive responses. Assessment of rights-based frameworks considers the space they provide in addressing persistent gender and other inequalities, at different political and operational scales. We argue that a human security framework is useful to fill the gap in current gender and climate justice work, particularly when implemented through the entry point of adaptive social protection. Gender justice in climate change adaptation is an obligation for transformational social change, not just rights. The time is ripe to replace narrow-minded vulnerability studies with a contextualized understanding of our mutual fragility and a commitment to enhanced livelihood resilience, worldwide.
The majority of human and direct economic losses from natural hazards occur as a result of damage to the built environment due to the vital role that the built environment performs in serving human endeavours. One of the key reasons for people in developing countries to be more vulnerable to natural disasters than their wealthier counterparts is the limited capacities in their construction industries. Among the people in developing countries, women are evidently even more vulnerable to natural disasters. Due to higher disaster vulnerability of women, recognising the different roles, capacities, vulnerabilities and needs of women, and considering them in disaster risk reduction in the built environment is significant to reduce women's disaster vulnerabilities. Gender mainstreaming as a way of bringing a gender perspective into disaster risk reduction can be applied to recognise the varying needs and capacities of women, and integrate them into disaster risk reduction in the built environment. The paper in this context aims to demonstrate how gender mainstreaming helps to bring a women's perspective into disaster risk reduction in the built environment. It identifies two main steps which involve in the process, identification of women's DRR knowledge and needs, and integration of the identified DRR knowledge and needs into DRR in the built environment. The paper provides an account of the process that the study established to incorporate a gender perspective into disaster risk reduction in the built environment based on a case study conducted in Sri Lanka. It further discusses how the social, economic, political and environmental context influences the process of gender mainstreaming in disaster risk reduction in the built environment.
The resilience concept requires greater attention to human livelihoods if it is to address the limits to adaptation strategies and the development needs of the planet’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Although the concept of resilience is increasingly informing research and policy, its transfer from ecological theory to social systems leads to weak engagement with normative, social and political dimensions of climate change adaptation. A livelihood perspective helps to strengthen resilience thinking by placing greater emphasis on human needs and their agency, empowerment and human rights, and considering adaptive livelihood systems in the context of wider transformational changes.
Settlements and communities in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are highly vulnerable to climate change and face an uncertain social, economic and environmental future. The concept of community resilience is gaining momentum as stakeholders and institutions seek to better understand the social, economic and governance factors which affect community capacity to adapt in the face of climate change. This paper defines a framework to benchmark community resilience and applies it to a case study in the Wet Tropics in tropical Queensland within the GBR catchment. It finds that rural, indigenous and some urban populations are highly vulnerable and sensitive to climate change, particularly in terms of economic vitality, community knowledge, aspirations and capacity for adaptation. Without early and substantive action, this could result in declining social and economic wellbeing and natural resource health. Capacity to manage the possible shocks associated with the impacts of climate change and extreme climatic events is emerging and needs to be carefully fostered and further developed to achieve broader community resilience outcomes. Better information about what actions, policies and arrangements build community resilience and mobilise adaptive capacity in the face of climate change is needed. Introduction The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is widely recognised for its outstanding ecological, economic, social and cultural values (Great Barrier Reef Marine park Authority, 2009). These values depend on an intact, healthy and resilient ecosystem. Climate change poses a serious risk to this system. Much of the thinking about climate change mitigation and adaptation in the GBR has focused on biophysical dimensions reef resilience. Building the resilience of the GBR in the face of climate change depends on the emergence of strong resilience within the communities that depend on and manage the reefs key natural assets. GBR communities are themselves highly vulnerable socially and economically to climate change. Government, industry, and community stakeholders need to know which actions, policies and arrangements build and support social resilience for GBR resilience. In this paper we describe an approach to benchmark community resilience which can be integrated into regular environmental assessments and regional condition and trend reporting. This approach can support community, industry and government stakeholders to identify priorities to build social resilience for reef management.
The Pacific Islands are vulnerable to climate change and increased risk of disasters not only because of their isolated and often low lying geographical setting but because of their economic status which renders them reliant on donor support. In a qualitative study exploring the adaptive capacity of Pacific Island Countries (PICs) across four countries, Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu, it was clear that traditional coping strategies are consistently being applied as part of response to disasters and climate changes. This paper describes five common strategies employed in PICs as understood through this research: recognition of traditional methods; faith and religious beliefs; traditional governance and leadership; family and community involvement; and agriculture and food security. While this study does not trial the efficacy of these methods, it provides an indication of what methods are being used and therefore a starting point for further research into which of these traditional strategies are beneficial. These findings also provide important impetus for Pacific Island governments to recognise traditional approaches in their disaster preparedness and response processes.
Society's response to every dimension of global climate change is
mediated by culture. We analyse new research across the social sciences
to show that climate change threatens cultural dimensions of lives and
livelihoods that include the material and lived aspects of culture,
identity, community cohesion and sense of place. We find, furthermore,
that there are important cultural dimensions to how societies respond
and adapt to climate-related risks. We demonstrate how culture mediates
changes in the environment and changes in societies, and we elucidate
shortcomings in contemporary adaptation policy.
Over the last decade, a growing body of literature has emerged which is concerned with the question of what form a promising concept of social resilience might take. In this article we argue that social resilience has the potential to be crafted into a coherent analytic framework that can build on scientific knowledge from the established concept of social vulnerability, and offer a fresh perspective on today’s challenges of global change. Based on a critical review of recently published literature on the issue, we propose to define social resilience as being comprised of three dimensions: 1. Coping capacities –the ability of social actors to cope with and overcome all kinds of adversities; 2. Adaptive capacities – their ability to learn from past experiences and adjust themselves to future challenges in their everyday lives; 3. Transformative capacities – their ability to craft sets of institutions that foster individual welfare and sustainable societal robustness towards future crises. Viewed in this way, the search for ways to build social resilience – especially in the livelihoods of the poor and marginalized – is revealed to be not only a technical, but also a political issue.
This article defines social resilience as the ability of groups or communities to cope with external stresses and disturbances as a result of social, political and environmental change. This definition highlights social resilience in relation to the concept of ecological resilience which is a characteristic of ecosystems to maintain themselves in the face of disturbance. There is a clear link between social and ecological resilience, particularly for social groups or communities that are dependent on ecological and environmental resources for their livelihoods. But it is not clear whether resilient ecosystems enable resilient communities in such situations. This article examines whether resilience is a useful characteristic for describing the social and economic situation of social groups and explores potential links between social resilience and ecological resilience. The origins of this interdisciplinary study in human ecology, ecological economics and rural sociology are reviewed, and a study of the impacts of ecological change on a resourcedependent community in contemporary coastal Vietnam in terms of the resilience of its institutions is outlined.
While increasing research is focusing on the effective adaptation to climate change in richer (developed) countries, comparatively
little has focused specifically on this subject in poorer (developing) countries such as most in the Pacific Islands region.
A significant barrier to the development of effective and sustainable adaptive strategies for climate change in such places
is the gap between risk and perceived risk. This study looks at a vulnerable location in Fiji—the densely populated Rewa River
Delta where environmental changes resulting from shoreline retreat and floods are expected to increase over the next few decades
and entail profound societal disruption. The numbers of people living in the Rewa Delta who know of climate change and could
correctly identify its contributory causes are few although many rank its current manifestations (floods, riverbank erosion,
groundwater salinization) as among their most serious environmental challenges. While lack of awareness is a barrier to adaptation,
there are also cultural impediments to this such as short-term planning perspectives, spiritual beliefs, traditional governance
structures. One way forward is to empower community leaders in places like the Rewa Delta to make appropriate decisions and
for regional governments to continue working together to find solutions that acknowledge the variation in sub-regional trans-national
vulnerability to climate change.
It is acknowledged by academics and development practitioners alike that many common strategies addressing community based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation duplicate each other. Thus, there is a strong push to integrate the two fields to enhance aid effectiveness and reduce confusion for communities. Examples of community based disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) projects are presented to highlight some of the ways these issues are tackled in the Pacific. Various approaches are employed but all aim to reduce the vulnerability and enhance the resilience of local communities to the impacts of climate change and disasters. By focusing on three case studies, elements of best practice are drawn out to illustrate how DRR and CCA can be integrated for enhanced aid effectiveness, and also look at ways in which these two often overlapping fields can be better coordinated in ongoing and future projects. Projects that address vulnerability holistically, and target the overall needs and capacity of the community are found to be effective in enhancing the resilience of communities. By strategically developing a multi-stakeholder and multi-sector approach, community projects are likely to encapsulate a range of experience and skills that will benefit the community. Furthermore, by incorporating local knowledge, communities are far more likely to be engaged and actively participate in the project. From selected case studies, commonly occurring best practice methods to integrate DRR and CCA are identified and discussed and recommendations on how to overcome the common challenges also presented.
"Approaches to natural resource management are often based on a presumed ability to predict probabilistic responses to management and external drivers such as climate. They also tend to assume that the manager is outside the system being managed. However, where the objectives include long-term sustainability, linked social-ecological systems (SESs) behave as complex adaptive systems, with the managers as integral components of the system. Moreover, uncertainties are large and it may be difficult to reduce them as fast as the system changes. Sustainability involves maintaining the functionality of a system when it is perturbed, or maintaining the elements needed to renew or reorganize if a large perturbation radically alters structure and function. The ability to do this is termed 'resilience.' This paper presents an evolving approach to analyzing resilience in SESs, as a basis for managing resilience. We propose a framework with four steps, involving close involvement of SES stakeholders. It begins with a stakeholder-led development of a conceptual model of the system, including its historical profile (how it got to be what it is) and preliminary assessments of the drivers of the supply of key ecosystem goods and services. Step 2 deals with identifying the range of unpredictable and uncontrollable drivers, stakeholder visions for the future, and contrasting possible future policies, weaving these three factors into a limited set of future scenarios. Step 3 uses the outputs from steps 1 and 2 to explore the SES for resilience in an iterative way. It generally includes the development of simple models of the system's dynamics for exploring attributes that affect resilience. Step 4 is a stakeholder evaluation of the process and outcomes in terms of policy and management implications. This approach to resilience analysis is illustrated using two stylized examples."
Given that women are engaged in more climate-related change activities than what is recognized and valued in the community, this article highlights their important role in the adaptation and search for safer communities, which leads them to understand better the causes and consequences of changes in climatic conditions. It is concluded that women have important knowledge and skills for orienting the adaptation processes, a product of their roles in society (productive, reproductive and community); and the importance of gender equity in these processes is recognized. The relationship among climate change, climate variability and the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals is considered.
Our Wealth Is Loving Each Other explores the fluid and context-bound nature of cultural and personal identity among indigenous Fijians. While national identity in Fiji is often defined in opposition to the West through reference to a romanticized pre-modern tradition, individual Fijians are often more concerned with defining their identity vis-à-vis other villagers and other groups within Fiji. When people craft self accounts to justify their position within the indigenous Fijian community they question and redefine both tradition and modernity. Modernity on the margins is an experience of anxiety provoking contradictions between competing ideologies, and between international ideologies and local experiences. Indigenous Fijians have been exposed to international ideologies and government programs extolling the virtues of "pre-modern" communities that place communal good and time honored tradition over individual gain. But other waves of policy and rhetoric have stressed individual achievement and the need to "shake" individuals out of community bonds to foster economic development. Individuals feel contradictory pressures to be autonomous, achieving individuals and to subordinate self to community and tradition. Brison examines traditional kava ceremonies, evangelical church rhetoric, and individual life history narratives, to show how individuals draw on a repertoire of narratives from local and international culture to define their identity and sense of self. Our Wealth is Loving Each Other is appropriate for upper level students and anyone with an interest in Fiji or anthropology.
Although highly recognized as needed, studies linking gender and coastal/marine management are scarce. This research illustrates the importance of gender analysis in natural resource management by linking gender and coastal management i.e. Marine Spatial Planning. The research was conducted in various Zanzibar seascapes (Unguja Island, Tanzania). Using a typology comprising gender structure, symbolism and identity; the results show a clear gendered division of labor, highly associated with a gender symbolism in which traditional roles of women as responsible for reproduction activities played a major role. Men used the whole seascape for their activities, while women remained in coastal forests and shallow areas collecting wood, invertebrates and farming seaweed. These activities allowed women to combine productive and reproductive work. Ecosystem importance for subsistence decreased with distance from land for both genders, while the importance for income increased with distance for men. Both genders acknowledged seagrasses as very important for income. Income closely followed the universal pattern of men earning more. Identities were defined by traditional ideas like “women are housewives”, while men identities were strongly associated with fisheries with reinforced masculinity. Livelihood diversity was higher for women also showing a tendency of slow change into other roles. Management was found to be strongly androcentric, revealing a deep gender inequality. The research exemplifies how a gender analysis can be conducted for management enhancement. It also invites replication around the world. If management is found to be androcentric in coastal locations elsewhere, a serious gender inequality can be at hand at global level.
Policy-makers view community resilience as fundamental to mitigating loss and damage from climate-related disasters. Although energy has been devoted to defining resilience, less effort has been devoted to analysing the effects of resilience on loss and damage, which is critical in places with limited capacity for adaptation. We use survey data to develop a composite index of community resilience in Fiji and then evaluate the extent to which community resilience mitigates loss and damage. We find that community resilience is negatively correlated with damages over which human intervention may be effective, but not with damages over which intervention is less effective, suggesting that community resilience may limit impacts. We further find that this result holds for a cyclone (about which communities had substantial advance warning) but not for river flooding (for which communities had little advanced warning), suggesting that early warning is necessary for community resilience to become responsive.
The academic literature on climate change communications is growing. However, the majority of this literature focuses on the issue of climate change mitigation in a developed country context, and there is little published material regarding communication in a developing country and adaptation context. Similarly, despite community-based approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction increasing in the Pacific Islands region, there is very limited guidance on how to effectively communicate climate change in a way that enhances people’s resilience. This paper documents the experiences of organisations, including local and international non-government and faith-based organisations, governments, regional technical organisations and donor agencies in communicating climate change for adaptation in the Pacific region. Three key climate change communication challenges are highlighted and suggestions made for overcoming them based on results from interviews, a focus group discussion and an online forum. Finally, recommendations are made for good practice guidance in climate change communication that is empowering and culturally relevant.
This article reflects upon how gendered approaches to climate-change adaptation can be strengthened in the Pacific region. The article looks at what has been learnt in the region, surveys some examples of best practice in gender-responsive programming, identifies the challenges we face on our journey, and suggests future directions. It is a collaborative effort, comprising input from a number of agencies who have been proactive in the areas of gender, climate change, and disaster risk-reduction in the Pacific Region, including: the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement in the Pacific region; the UNDP Pacific Centre; and World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Fiji Country Programme.
The Congress on Gender in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (held in Manila 19–22 October 2008) was the Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance. Its purpose was to provide a forum for decision makers to formulate gender-responsive programmes related to climate change and disaster-risk reduction. More than 200 people participated, including parliamentarians, representatives of environmental and women's organisations, and donor agencies. Proceedings focused on the fact that climate change magnifies existing inequalities, and in particular gender inequality. The Congress issued the Manila Declaration for Global Action on Gender, Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Reduction.
Gender-related inequalities are pervasive in the developing world. Although women account for almost 80 per cent of the agricultural sector in Africa, they remain vulnerable and poor. Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people in the developing world living below the threshold of poverty are women. It is important that the consequences of climate change should not lead already marginalised sections of communities into further deprivation. But key development issues have been at best sidetracked, and at worst blatantly omitted, from policy debates on climate change. The threats posed by global warming have failed to impress on policy-makers the importance of placing women at the heart of their vision of sustainable development. This article argues that if climate change policy is about ensuring a sustainable future by combining development and environment issues, it must take into account the interests of all stakeholders. The Global Environment Facility and the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol can play a role in ensuring sustainable development, provided they are implemented in a way that does not disadvantage women and the poor.
Both climate change itself and related policies are likely to have wide-ranging effects on gender relations, especially in developing countries. Poor women face many gender-specific barriers that limit their ability to cope with and adapt to a changing climate; these must be removed in the interests of both gender equity and adaptation efficiency. At the same time, gender analysis should be integral to the appraisal of public policies designed to reduce carbon emissions. To date, gender issues have hardly figured in the international policy discourse, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol. However, this may be changing thanks to feminist lobbying and the increasing involvement of gender specialists in this field. There is a lot at stake; the international post-2012 Kyoto Protocol agreement will have enormous implications for gender equality.
Changing economic, political, environmental, and social conditions continue to have a cumulative impact on Australian regional communities, and in many instances, rural communities are being forced to initiate their own strategies in order to remain economically and socially viable. However, while communities respond in differing ways to similar change events, as do individuals, research examining the change process has largely been undertaken at the individual level. This article reports on an investigation of the characteristics that moderate a community's ability to manage change and the types of collective coping strategies communities employ to deal with change events. A model of community change process was used as the framework to examine the links between community characteristics, appraisal of change events (forest restructuring and tourism), and the use of collective strategies in three communities in Western Australia. Findings suggest that a community's mobilization of strategies is dependent on the collective assessment of the change event, the nature of the event, and the characteristics of the community. The implications for intervention through policy and community development are discussed briefly. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 32: 201–216, 2004.
Whereas the concepts of class, poverty and race make regular appearances in social scientific analyses of global climate change, the same cannot be said for gender. A survey of the academic literature suggests that there is a lack of research into the many gender dimensions of climate change. The small amount of gender-sensitive work that exists has been carried out by gender, environment and development (GED) researchers working for the UN and non-governmental organisations who focus almost exclusively on the material impacts of climate change on vulnerable women in the Global South. In this paper I make two arguments about the current state of research on gender and climate change. First, I argue that although the GED research makes many important contributions to our understanding of the politics of climate change, it also contributes to an unnecessarily narrow understanding of gender, a fixation on 'impacts' that are material and measurable, and the view of women in the developing world, particularly those living in countries of the Indian Ocean Region, as victims of ecological crisis. Second, in response to these shortcomings, I argue for the development of a deeper gender analysis where materialistinformed empirical research on women is complemented by critical feminist theorising of the discursive constructions and categories that shape climate politics today.
Special Issue: Sociological Review Monograph Series: Nature, Society and Environmental Crisis, edited by Bob Carter and Nickie CharlesVolume 57, Issue Supplement s2, pages 124–140, October 2009
Future changes in climate pose significant challenges for society, not the least of which is how best to adapt to observed and potential future impacts of these changes to which the world is already committed. Adaptation is a dynamic social process: the ability of societies to adapt is determined, in part, by the ability to act collectively. This article reviews emerging perspectives on collective action and social capital and argues that insights from these areas inform the nature of adaptive capacity and normative prescriptions of policies of adaptation. Specifically, social capital is increasingly understood within economics to have public and private elements, both of which are based on trust, reputation, and reciprocal action. The public-good aspects of particular forms of social capital are pertinent elements of adaptive capacity in interacting with natural capital and in relation to the performance of institutions that cope with the risks of changes in climate. Case studies are presented of present-day collective action for coping with extremes in weather in coastal areas in Southeast Asia and of community-based coastal management in the Caribbean. These cases demonstrate the importance of social capital framing both the public and private institutions of resource management that build resilience in the face of the risks of changes in climate. These cases illustrate, by analogy, the nature of adaptation processes and collective action in adapting to future changes in climate.
This article describes the process and outcomes of a pilot community‐based adaptation (CBA) project implemented on Druadrua Island in Fiji. Although many people promote the use of CBA, written material about the topic is limited and poorly informed by theory or evidence. This article aims to contribute to the literature on CBA by describing the theory and process used to implement a CBA project and the changes that resulted in a small island community in the northeastern part of Fiji. The project outcomes include a renewed focus on community adaptive management of natural resources, increased awareness of climate change, and an increase in the community's access to resources from external organizations. The article concludes with a summary of lessons learned and recommendations for future CBA projects. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This article is categorized under: Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Institutions for Adaptation
Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Learning from Cases and Analogies
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