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"Global environmental change Sociological aspects."
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Societal transformation in response to global environmental change: A review of emerging concepts
The study of societal transformation in response to environmental change has become established, yet little consensus exists regarding the conceptual basis of transformation. This paper aims to provide structure to the dialog on transformation, and to reflect on the challenges of social research in this area. Concepts of transformation are identified through a literature review, and examined using four analytical criteria. It is found that the term 'transformation' is frequently used merely as a metaphor. When transformation is not used as a metaphor, eight concepts are most frequently employed. They differ with respect to (i) system conceptualization, (ii) notions of social consciousness (deliberate/emergent), and (iii) outcome (prescriptive/descriptive). Problem-based research tends to adopt concepts of deliberate transformation with prescriptive outcome, while concepts of emergent transformation with no prescriptive outcome tend to inform descriptive-analytical research. Dialog around the complementarities of different concepts and their empirical testing are priorities for future research.
Journal Article
Climate change, adaptive capacity and development
The Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has presented strong evidence that human-induced climate change is occurring and that all countries of the world will be affected and need to adapt to impacts. The IPCC points out that many developing countries are particularly vulnerable because of their relatively low adaptive capacity. Therefore it is seen as a development priority to help these countries enhance their adaptive capacity to climate change. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Stratus Consulting organized a workshop in the fall of 2001 to develop an agenda for research on how best to enhance the capacity of developing countries to adapt to climate change. This research agenda is relevant for governments and institutions that wish to support developing countries in adapting to climate change. The workshop brought together experts from developing and industrialized countries, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral and bilateral donor organizations to discuss a number of important topics related to adaptation, adaptive capacity and sustainable development. A dozen papers were commissioned to cover these topics, both from a theoretical perspective and in the form of national case studies. The papers form the basis for this important book, which presents the latest interdisciplinary knowledge about the nature and components of adaptive capacity and how it may be strengthened.
eBook
Democracy underwater: public participation, technical expertise, and climate infrastructure planning in New York City
This article provides an explanation for how increased public participation can paradoxically translate into limited democratic decision-making in urban settings. Recent sociological research shows how governments can control participatory forums to restrict the distribution of resources to poor neighborhoods or to advance private land development interests. Yet such explanations cannot account for the decoupling of participation from democratic decision-making in the case of planning for climate change, which expands the substantive topics and public funding decisions that involve urban residents. Through an in-depth case study of one of the largest coastal protection projects in the world and drawing on global scholarship on participation, this article narrates the social production of resistance to climate change infrastructure by showing how the state sidestepped public input and exercised authority through appeals to the rationality of technical expertise. After a lengthy participation process wherein participants reported satisfaction with how their input was included in designs, city officials switched decision-making styles and used expertise from engineers to render the publicly-supported plan unfeasible, while continuing to involve residents in the process. As a result, conflict arose between activists and public housing representatives, bitterly dividing the neighborhood over who could legitimately claim to represent the interests of the “frontline community.” By documenting the experience of participants in the process before and after the switch in decision-making styles, this article advances a sociological description of public influence in policy: The ability for participants in a planning process to recognize their own input reflected in finished plans.
Journal Article
Climate Change, Time and Tourism Knowledge: The Relativity of Simultaneity
Climate clocks are currently ticking down to a point in time when it will be impossible to arrest the rate of CO2 emissions within the bounds of the parameters set by the Paris Climate Agreement. The tourism academy has been at the forefront of efforts to draw attention to the climate threat and to develop adaptation and mitigation responses in conjunction with industry. However, whilst the tourism academy is generally said to be in lock-step with the urgency of the climate threat and tourism’s need to respond, outliers do exist. Why might a tourism scholar view the urgency of the climate threat differently from his or her colleagues? Drawing on conceptual insights from Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, the present paper explores the sociological framing of time in relation to tourism academics and the implications for the development of a tourism knowledge force-field as a foundation for tourism knowledge creation.
Journal Article
Addressing vulnerability, building resilience: community-based adaptation to vector-borne diseases in the context of global change
Background
The threat of a rapidly changing planet – of coupled social, environmental and climatic change – pose new conceptual and practical challenges in responding to vector-borne diseases. These include non-linear and uncertain spatial-temporal change dynamics associated with climate, animals, land, water, food, settlement, conflict, ecology and human socio-cultural, economic and political-institutional systems. To date, research efforts have been dominated by disease modeling, which has provided limited practical advice to policymakers and practitioners in developing policies and programmes on the ground.
Main body
In this paper, we provide an alternative biosocial perspective grounded in social science insights, drawing upon concepts of vulnerability, resilience, participation and community-based adaptation. Our analysis was informed by a realist review (provided in the Additional file 2) focused on seven major climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases: malaria, schistosomiasis, dengue, leishmaniasis, sleeping sickness, chagas disease, and rift valley fever. Here, we situate our analysis of existing community-based interventions within the context of global change processes and the wider social science literature. We identify and discuss best practices and conceptual principles that should guide future community-based efforts to mitigate human vulnerability to vector-borne diseases. We argue that more focused attention and investments are needed in meaningful public participation, appropriate technologies, the strengthening of health systems, sustainable development, wider institutional changes and attention to the social determinants of health, including the drivers of co-infection.
Conclusion
In order to respond effectively to uncertain future scenarios for vector-borne disease in a changing world, more attention needs to be given to building resilient and equitable systems in the present.
Journal Article
Understanding Sustainable Livelihoods with a Framework Linking Livelihood Vulnerability and Resilience in the Semiarid Loess Plateau of China
Regional climate is complicated and unpredictable in the context of global climate change. Farmers on the Loess Plateau, who rely on agriculture and natural resources for subsistence, are one of the groups feeling the early effects of climate change. Their vulnerability is determined by their degree of connection with the natural environment. Frequent droughts on the Loess Plateau have severely challenged farmers’ livelihoods, although some actions have been taken to adapt to these changes. To enable farmers to find sustainable livelihood strategies in challenging natural conditions, we established a research framework to link livelihood vulnerability and resilience and applied it to Jiaxian County, a specific research area in the Loess Plateau of China. To validate previous research, we studied the fluctuation trends of farmers’ livelihood vulnerability and livelihood resilience in the past 30 years and the interrelationships between these two trends and their influencing factors. The results are as follows: since 1990, livelihood vulnerability has been polarized; however, moderate vulnerability has always been dominant. Livelihood resilience shows a trend of continuous enhancement. The relationship between livelihood vulnerability and resilience is complex, and the direction of change between the two can be both similar and different. The topography, arable land conditions, soil quality, and irrigation conditions in different areas impact vulnerability and resilience, and the degree of impact is different in different periods. Farmers’ livelihood strategies depend on their cognitive decision making and livelihood assets, which are critical vulnerability and resilience factors. Most farmers in the study area have undergone significant livelihood strategy changes, while some maintain their original livelihood strategies. These findings provide policy implications for reducing vulnerability, enhancing resilience, and helping smallholder farmers find sustainable livelihood strategies to avoid poverty traps.
Journal Article
Heat smart: Building resilience to heatwaves in western Sydney
Heat resilience is a significant and growing challenge for NSW and is of particular concern in Greater Western Sydney. The region's historical temperature patterns and rapid rate of urbanisation, combined with its socio-economic and demographic make-up combine to deliver a significant risk profile. Rising global temperatures, continued urban development and an ageing population will see risk increase in the coming decades.
Journal Article
A theoretical analysis of professionalism in health promotion with a focus on the Swiss context
The pressing global health crises highlight the need for professional health promotion (HP). Debates on the professionalization of HP are still overlaid by questions regarding the conceptualization of HP, yet literature is scarce regarding this point. Therefore, this article aims to (a) provide an overview of the current state of professionalism in HP with a focus on the Swiss context, and (b) identify facilitators, gaps and barriers of professionalism in HP. By investigating these aims, we contribute to specifying the conceptualization of the specialist HP professional profile. To analyse professionalism in HP, we examined individual and institutional aspects of sociological theories on professions. We selected seven aspects as a theoretical foundation for the analysis: (1) specific knowledge base, (2) specific field of action, (3) specific education, (4) professional association, (5) specific competencies, (6) professional identity, and (7) professional practice. Analysing each aspect of professionalism in HP, we see a clear progression within the last decades internationally as well as in Switzerland. The development of a Core Competency Framework – the CompHP – is a milestone in the professionalization of HP. Some major gaps and barriers are identifiable, which should be proactively faced by the specialist HP professionals. To further flourish as HP professionals, a unity regarding contents and levels of education needs to be discussed. Therefore, an investment in professional identity formation of the specialist HP workforce is likely to promote their engagement, competencies and shared values, which are essential promotors of professionalism in HP.
Journal Article
Integrating Key Insights of Sociological Risk Theory into the Ecosystem Services Framework
Environmental risks give urgency to the need to understand the society–nature relationship. While the ecosystem services (ES) framework allows analysis of interrelationships between biophysical supply and human demand for natural resources, further research is needed to understand what drives societal demand for ES. Here, I explore how incorporation of the key sociological theories of risk (systems theory, ‘world risk society’, and cultural theory of risk) can advance this understanding. By examining these theories, the following key insights were identified: (1) A deeper understanding of societal structures and risk perception helps to understand culturally driven patterns of ES demand; (2) sociological ES research must use inter- and transdisciplinary methods to understand the drivers of ES demand and risk perception. It must also link this understanding to the natural sciences’ knowledge of the drivers of ES supply if it is to identify new instruments of environmental governance; (3) while anthropocentric in character, the ES framework, especially one that is modified by the concept of risk, enables society to reflect on its role as a proactive part of a social–ecological system, rather than a passive victim of nature’s whims. This change in perspective may prove to be a key step in achieving sustainable development.
Journal Article