Social vulnerability in three high-poverty climate change hot spots: What does the climate change literature tell us?

Tucker, Josephine, Daoud, Mona, Oates, Naomi, Few, Roger, Conway, Declan, Mtisi, Sobona and Matheson, Shirley (2015) Social vulnerability in three high-poverty climate change hot spots: What does the climate change literature tell us? Regional Environmental Change, 15 (5). pp. 783-800. ISSN 1436-3798

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Abstract

This paper reviews the state of knowledge on social vulnerability to climate change in three hot spots (deltas, semi-arid regions and snowpack- or glacier-fed river basins) in Africa, Central Asia and South Asia, using elements of systematic review methods. Social vulnerability is defined as a dynamic state of societies comprising exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. We examine whether the hot spots have specific characteristics that tend to increase or decrease social vulnerability, consider suitable scales of analysis for understanding vulnerability, and explore the conceptions of vulnerability adopted in the climate change literature and the nature of the insights this generates. Finally, we identify knowledge gaps in this literature. All three hot spots are characterized by high levels of natural resource dependence, with increasing environmental degradation. They also exhibit unequal policies and patterns of development, which benefit certain segments of society while making others more vulnerable. Vulnerability is driven by multiple factors operating at different scales; however, characterization of cross-scalar interactions is poorly developed in the majority of studies reviewed. Most studies are either large scale, such as broad comparisons of vulnerability across countries, or local, documenting community-level processes. Detailed understanding of the interactions between climate change impacts on natural systems, and socio-economic trajectories, including adaptation, also emerges as a knowledge gap.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Climate Change Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Health and Disease University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Related URLs:	http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10113-...
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	22 Nov 2017 06:05
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2023 13:12
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/65530
DOI:	10.1007/s10113-014-0741-6

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