This paper analyses the vulnerability of South African agriculture to climate change and variability by developing a vulnerability index and comparing vulnerability indicators across the nine provinces of the country. Nineteen environmental and socio-economic indicators are identified to reflect the three components of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.
This paper is a methodological contribution to emerging debates on the role of learning, particularly forward-looking (anticipatory) learning, as a key element for adaptation and resilience in the context of climate change.
ABSTRACT. This paper is a methodological contribution to emerging debates on the role of learning, particularly forward-looking (anticipatory) learning, as a key element for adaptation and resilience in the context of climate change.
This study was produced with funding from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as part of the project development phase for Scaling Up Resilience for Over One Million people in the Niger River Basin of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali (SUR1M), one of 10 projects across the Sahel Region for which a Concept Note has been approved by the DFID-funded Building Resilience and Adaptatio
We explore the social dimension that enables adaptive ecosystem-based management. The review concentrates on experiences of adaptive governance of socialecological systems during periods of abrupt change (crisis) and investigates social sources of renewal and reorganization. Such governance connects individuals, organizations, agencies, and institutions at multiple organizational levels.
Recent debates on indigenous knowledge have tended to focus on building up even more case study material of good practice in indigenous knowledge at the local level; the integration of indigenous and scientific knowledge; and the trend towards increased co-option of indigenous knowledge into the current neoliberal discourse.
The word indigenous has been used to refer to specific groups of people defined by the criteria of ancestral territory, collective cultural configuration, and historical location in relation to the expansion of Europe. Since the 1980s, however, the term has evolved beyond its specific empirical reference.
Scientific knowledge systems have received increasing criticism within the social science literature while indigenous knowledge systems are often over-optimistically presented as viable alternative ways of knowing. This paper argues that we need to search for more effective and creative interactions between indigenous knowledge and scientific knowledge systems.
Indigenous communities in the Arctic have become increasingly characterized as "vulnerable" in the context of climate change research. We question the use and application of this term in light of the potential consequences it may bring for indigenous peoples.
Aim Widespread reports of disappearing tree species and senescing savanna parklands in the Sahel have generated a vigorous debate over whether climate change or severe human and livestock pressure is principally responsible.