ID Artigo: 968
Titulo: Climate Change, Rural Poverty, and the Political Dimension of Resilience in Kenya
Resumo: A resilience framework highlights that vulnerability is a complex dimension that integrates multiple threats and stresses, which may magnify or mitigate climate-related impacts. More recent formulations have directed attention to the political dimension of adaptation, particularly in terms of policy and governance, institutions and entitlements, and social networks and norms. However, other aspects of the political context that characterize the real-life struggles faced by many rural households in certain African countries have been rarely considered. For example, what does “resilience†mean in communities destabilized by ethnic and political violence, demoralized by entrenched corruption and crime, and disempowered by lack of education, social capital, and democratic representation? These factors severely affect incentives and investments, collective action and social capital, and information flow and adaptive learning, all of which are keys to long-term resilience of rural livelihoods to environmental change. The central challenge we are addressing is how we can refine current theorization of resilience to incorporate a consideration of how dysfunctional systems of representation and regulation affect people’s capacities and motivation for response to climate impacts. Furthermore, we assess how we can harness the current momentum behind climate change adaptation among donors and decision makers to highlight and redress systemic insecurities and inequities. These issues are pursued in the context of a case study on climate change perceptions and adaptation priorities conducted among rural producers in Kenya. The case study is based on a community-based research conducted for the World Bank by a team composed of the University of Georgia, the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). It draws on participatory interactions with male and female producer groups (including a total of 69 men and 71 women) carried out in October and November of 2009.
Palavras Chave: