Inhaltsbereich
Lehrstuhl-News
07.03.2024 Teebken, J.
Neue Publikation in Global Environmental Change erschienen: Vulnerability locked in.
Highlights
Local policymaking on climate adaptation and vulnerable populations is deficient.
Political bias prevents select vulnerable populations from being prioritized.
Accidental forms of adaptation focus on blue-green infrastructure in city centers.
Vulnerability is more deeply rooted in external conditions to the individual.
We must refocus the debate on vulnerable, unresponsive political institutions.
Abstract
Vulnerable populations are experiencing a (re)emphasis in climate change adaptation research and practice even though the concept has long been contested. Adaptation planning is increasingly expected to restore past inequalities and address systemic injustices. Yet, we know little about the role local environmental agencies, bureaucrats, and policy practitioners (can) play in addressing vulnerable populations. Drawing from qualitative empirical research in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, and Jinhua, Zhejiang in China, the local problem recognition about vulnerable populations and adaptation decision-making was examined. The findings reveal severe limitations in the way vulnerable populations are approached, with certain groups being politically contested and being considered difficult to be prioritized. In both cases, accidental forms of adaptation stand out, which mainly focus on blue-green infrastructure interventions and neighborhood revitalization programs, some of which recreated vulnerable populations. The findings hint to vulnerability being more deeply rooted in external conditions to the individual, which requires different policy interventions. The article presents a novel understanding by conceptualizing vulnerable populations as an instance of vulnerable political institutions. Theres a need to explore the nature of our political systems, how much inequality we allow and which redistribution mechanisms the state has for addressing interdependent dimensions of inequality. To make vulnerable populations finally a front and center concern begs us to radically engage the outside of the conventional adaptation box. Inequality studies offers synergies with adaptation justice discourses and different policy instruments that address the root causes of vulnerability.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2024.102807