Mitigating flood risk and enhancing community resilience to natural disasters: plan quality matters

In response to increasingly frequent and severe flooding events, tracking the explanatory elements of integrative planning effort can provide useful assessment of initiatives that foster improved community disaster resiliency. In this research, we address the effect of local hazard mitigation plan quality on mitigating disaster risk with an emphasis on the relationship between plan quality and community resilience. Using content analysis and principles of plan quality metrics, we evaluate local hazard mitigation plans to determine how well they support disaster risk reduction. Analytically, these metrics and relevant controls were incorporated into both a log-linear two-stage least squares model and a quantile regression model to explain flood loss at the county level for the US Mississippi River Basin. Findings suggest that better plan quality and high levels of community resilience result in reducing disaster losses.     

农业文化遗产保护目标下农户生计状况分析

农户生计是农业文化遗产认定标准之一,也是影响农业文化遗产保护与传承的关键因素,在贫困地区,遗产保护与农户脱贫的两难困境更为突出。本研究基于可持续生计理论和分析框架,以全球重要农业文化遗产地——云南红河哈尼稻作梯田为案例区域,通过生计资本指标体系构建和量化,对比分析了不同生计途径农户的生计状况。评估结果发现,农户的生计资本均值为2.312,生计资本处于匮乏状态,金融资本值最低,而文化资本值最高。从事农业和打工是当前农户的主要生计途径,旅游接待成为生计拓展的重要形式。三类农户生计资本值和家庭年均收入排序相同,都表现为旅游接待户打工兼业户纯农业户,纯农业户的生计状况最差。从单项生计资本看,旅游接待户和打工兼业户的人力资本显著高于纯农业户,物质资本和金融资本比较中,旅游接待户显著高于其他两类农户,说明人力资本越丰富的农户越可能倾向于兼业,农户开展旅游接待需要较高的物质和金融资本作为基础。这意味着,农业文化遗产保护要大力提高农户的农业经营收益,延长农业的价值链和产业链,完善农村金融市场,开展旅游接待培训,从人力、金融等多方面改善农户生计资本状况,实现生计途径拓展。     

陕西安康移民搬迁农户的生计适应策略与适应力感知

从社会-生态系统适应性理论出发,借鉴脆弱性研究中的适应性理论来研究我国易地移民搬迁农户的适应策略和适应力,构建了移民搬迁农户的生计适应性分析框架,并以陕西安康移民搬迁工程为例,通过实地调查和访谈获取了安康搬迁农户的调查数据,分析了安康移民搬迁农户的生计适应策略、适应力感知及其影响因素。分析发现安康移民搬迁农户在搬迁之后采用了四种生计适应策略,即传统生计专业化型、非农专业化、补贴依赖型和多样化生计,这四种类型占全部搬迁农户样本的比例分别为:28.6%、34.3%、18.3%和18.8%。搬迁农户的适应力感知类型与搬迁类型、安置类型存在着统计上的显著差异。尤其是搬迁农户收入等级类型与适应力感知之间存在显著差异,越是高收入户,越表示收入增加,搬迁后"稳得住、能致富"的情况则越好;而贫困户搬迁之后的生计适应、生计安全状况令人担忧。此外,搬迁农户不同的生计适应策略与其适应力感知也存在着统计上的显著差异。总体上看,搬迁之后,非农专业化和传统生计专业化的农户收入减少的更少、表示收入增加的更多、适应力更好,而补贴依赖型、生计多样化型农户的适应状况要差一些。本文进一步采用MULTINOMINAL LOGISTICS回归模型分析了安康移民搬迁农户适应力感知的影响因素。结果显示,政府主导的移民安置方式、搬迁类型、搬迁农户所获得的扶贫项目数对搬迁农户生计适应情况并没有显著的影响,搬迁农户也没有随着搬迁时间的增加而提高其适应力;当地搬迁农户劳动力也存在一些闲置、土地林地需要进一步提高生产经营效率等。当地地方政府仍需要进一步完善移民搬迁方案和对移民搬迁农户的精准帮扶措施,发展后续产业,提高其适应力。     

生计资本对甘南高原农牧民生计活动的影响

甘南高原是典型的生态环境脆弱区,农牧民采取的不合理生计活动已成为该区生态环境退化的主要因素,目前亟需塑建可持续生计方式.本文采用参与性农户评估方法对甘南高原115户农牧民家庭进行了调查,基于农户调查资料,分析了甘南高原纯牧区、半农半牧区和农区农户的生计资本现状、生计活动特点.阐释了生计资本对生计活动的影响.研究结果表明:①纯牧区农户的生计资本总值最高、半农半牧区次之、农区最低.且纯牧区农户缺乏金融资本、半农半牧区农户缺乏物质资本、农区农户缺乏自然资本:②农区农户的生计活动多样化指数最高、半农半牧区次之、纯牧区最低,农区外出打工和从事非农活动的农户比例远高于半农半牧区和纯牧区;③农户的生计资本影响着生计活动的选择,自然资本缺乏迫使农户寻求其他谋生方式,但受教育程度低、物质资本与金融资本缺乏以及封闭而狭窄的亲缘与地缘关系限制了农户生计多样化.最后提出了提高农牧民生计资本存量、塑建可持续生计方式的政策建议.     

Socioeconomic Factors that Affect Artisanal Fishers' Readiness to Exit a Declining Fishery

Abstract:  The emerging world crisis created by declining fish stocks poses a challenge to resource users and managers. The problem is particularly acute in poor nations, such as those in East Africa, where fishing is an important subsistence activity but high fishing intensity and use of destructive gear have resulted in declining catches. In this context developing effective management strategies requires an understanding of how fishers may respond to declines in catch. We examined the readiness of 141 Kenyan fishers to stop fishing under hypothetical scenarios of declines in catch and how socioeconomic conditions influenced their decisions. As expected, the proportion of fishers that would exit the fishery increased with magnitude of decline in catch. Fishers were more likely to say they would stop fishing if they were from households that had a higher material style of life and a greater number of occupations. Variables such as capital investment in the fishery and the proportion of catch sold had weak, nonsignificant relationships. Our finding that fishers from poorer households would be less likely to exit a severely declining fishery is consistent with the literature on poverty traps, which suggests the poor are unable to mobilize the necessary resources to overcome either shocks or chronic low-income situations and consequently may remain in poverty. This finding supports the proposition that wealth generation and employment opportunities directed at the poorest fishers may help reduce fishing effort on overexploited fisheries, but successful interventions such as these will require an understanding of the socioeconomic context in which fishers operate.     

From conflict to resilience? Explaining recent changes in climate security discourse and practice

The recent rise of resilience thinking in climate security discourse and practice is examined and explained. Using the paradigmatic case of the United Kingdom, practitioners’ understandings of resilience are considered to show how these actors use a resilience lens to rearticulate earlier storylines of climate conflict in terms of complexity, decentralisation, and empowerment. Practitioners in the climate security field tend to reinterpret resilience in line with their established routines. As a result, climate resilience storylines and practices turn out to be much more diverse and messy than is suggested in the conceptual literature. Building on these findings, the recent success of resilience thinking in climate security discourse is explained. Climate resilience – not despite but due to its messiness – is able to bring together a wide range of actors, traditionally standing at opposite ends of the climate security debate. Through resilience storylines, climate security discourse becomes something to which a wide range of actors, ranging from security to the development field, can relate.     

Role of non-timber forest products in sustaining forest-based livelihoods and rural households' resilience capacity in and around protected area: a Bangladesh study†

People in the developing world derive a significant part of their livelihoods from various forest products, particularly non-timber forest products (NTFPs). This article attempts to explore the contribution of NTFPs in sustaining forest-based rural livelihood in and around a protected area (PA) of Bangladesh, and their potential role in enhancing households' resilience capacity. Based on empirical investigation, our study revealed that local communities gather a substantial amount of NTFPs from national park despite the official restrictions. Twenty seven percent households (HHs) of the area received at least some cash benefit from the collection, processing and selling of NTFPs, and NTFPs contribute to HHs' primary, supplementary and emergency sources of income. NTFPs also constituted an estimated 19% of HHs' net annual income, and were the primary occupation for about 18% of the HHs. HHs' dependency on nearby forests for various NTFPs varied vis-à-vis their socio-economic condition, as well as with their location from the park. Based on our case study, the article also offers some clues for improving the situation in PA.     

Building community resilience: can everyone enjoy a good life?

Initiatives to reduce community carbon emissions and foster sustainable lifestyles have had varying degrees of success. There is now a need for a re-energised, concerted and joined-up approach that places environmental issues in a wider context – one that improves quality of life while building community resilience. This involves enhancing the capacity of neighbourhoods to recover, respond and adapt to environmental and socio-economic changes. This paper examines the experience gained in a participatory action research (PAR) study to build community resilience, where facilitators supported residents to take ownership of their own agendas. The New Earswick Good Life Initiative (GLI) was an 18-month project undertaken in a low-income suburb of York (UK). A range of approaches were used to identify activities which had the most potential to nurture resilience and foster a shift towards greater environmental sustainability. The GLI highlighted how the introduction of new ideas not only need to be locally relevant but also requires care and time in order for them to embed within community. Altering the way a community manages its environment involves transforming social relationships, strengthening institutions and influencing local power balances. Furthermore, it is necessary to build social capital, knowledge, leadership skills and support social networks to allow communities to effectively engage with relevant local and national policies. Only by providing opportunities to develop these resilient attributes can increased local responsibility be successful. The paper concludes by providing guidance on strengthening community resilience and delivering pro-environmental behaviour change.     

Shared responsibility: the who,what and how

As natural disasters increase around the world and stretch the capacities of emergency services, national governments and international institutions have stressed the importance of shared responsibility; the idea that all actors within a society have some obligations in disaster management and must work collectively to reduce disaster risk. However, the exact balance between individual and government responsibility is not yet established and continually contested, especially after major events. In Australia, the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (NSDR) is the overarching policy framework for disaster risk management and aims to create resilient communities through an emphasis on shared responsibility and empowerment. Through a literature review and document analysis of the NSDR and associated policy documents, we clarify, organise and operationalise the necessarily general policy goal of shared responsibility. We first analyse how the NSDR conceptualises communities to discover which community actors are mentioned. We then identify the responsibilities it prescribes or implies for these different actors and consider the types of policy instruments that are relevant to disaster risk management. Our analysis reveals a tension between the NSDR’s placement of government at the centre of disaster risk management, and its other, less well-explained emphasis on community empowerment.     

Multi-stakeholder microgrids for resilience and sustainability

ABSTRACT

The electricity grid is susceptible to numerous threats, especially severe weather events that have the potential to cause large-scale power outages. This has resulted in an increased emphasis on resilience against these events. Microgrids, small standalone power grids that have the ability to function independently from the greater electricity grid, have significant potential to improve response to environmental and anthropogenic crises. The vast majority of extant microgrids are generally small in scale, and operated under a conventional model of single operator, owner, and user. We argue that the ultimate potential of this approach will be in the development of multi-stakeholder microgrids which can combine a diversity of renewable and conventional power resources to respond to environmental hazards. The addition of stakeholders allows for increased diversification of generation sources, economies of scale, and other increased operational benefits and opportunities. However, there are significant challenges that arise with the additional layer of stakeholders in terms of governance, cost, and technical operations that can cause the multi-stakeholder model to be more difficult to implement. We develop the case for multi-stakeholder microgrids as a response to environmental hazards, and outline the challenges and questions facing the development of this form of microgrid.