Gendered perception and vulnerability to climate change in urban slum communities in Accra, Ghana

Published online: 5 July 2018Climate change is known to have differential impacts in the Global South, with gender and poverty being determining factors. In Ghana, both these factors come into play as women living in slums bear the brunt of the impacts. In spite of this, the majority of research in gender and climate change adaptation has focused on rural communities to the detriment of their poor urban counterparts. Using a critical feminist intersectional approach, this study investigates how the interplay between gender, socio economic, institutional and place-based factors shapes vulnerability to climate change in three slums in urban Accra, Ghana. The results demonstrate that while climate change poses serious environmental hazards to all residents of slums, their perceptions and knowledge regarding the causes and impacts of these hazards are differentiated by gender, age, educational status and place-based variables, with women generally showing a lower level of awareness about climate change than their male counterparts. The results indicate further that irrespective of age, educational attainment and where people live, women were found to be overall more vulnerable, despite experiencing similar levels of exposure as the men, by virtue of their limited access to productive resources, poor conditions of housing, low participation in adaptation decision-making, as well as the heavy domestic responsibilities placed on them. We conclude that it is imperative for adaptation policy makers to formulate and implement appropriate adaptive measures in a gender-sensitive and context-specific manner to respond to the different vulnerabilities faced by different categories of social groups and communities in cities of the Global South.Mensah Owusu, Melissa Nursey-Bray, Diane Rud

Overcoming barriers to climate change adaptation policy implementation: insights from Ethiopia

This paper discusses Ethiopia’s planned climate adaptation interventions and the barriers that impede implementation of adaptation policies at the local level by using the case study of Raya Azebo district. Data was collected through reviews of policy documents, focus group discussions with farmers and interviews with relevant government actors. Results indicate that climate change is addressed in various policy documents but there is limited progress in implementation of these policies. The study identified various barriers to climate adaptation policy implementation which included a lack of financial resources, poor coordination among institutional actors and local actors’ low technical capacities for addressing climate change. The study contributes to the literature of climate change policy planning and implementation in low-income and lower-middle-income countries and suggests measures to overcome the existing barriers to climate change adaptation policiesRahwa Kidane, Thomas Wanner and Melissa Nursey-Bra

Enhancing Science Impact in the Coastal Zone through Adaptive Learning

The impact of science to support coastal management may be reduced through social and institutional barriers. Some of these barriers include ineffective community engagement, lack of interaction between scientists and decision makers, and institutional decision-making tradition related to hierarchical mandates. A three-year project has commenced to examine the role of adaptive learning in overcoming some of these barriers to maximize pathways for science and improve decisions made in the coastal zone. Adaptive learning is one of five project areas targeted to enhance science impact, being undertaken by a consortium of nine Australian universities funded through the CSIRO Collaboration Fund. Two of the strategies being explored to maximize adaptive learning to improve science impact include: (i) development of an on-line toolkit for embedding adaptive learning within coastal organizations; and (ii) development and testing of monitoring and evaluation frameworks to improve adaptive learning interventions. While focused on an Australian context, the project addresses broad issues of social and institutional barriers that have relevance for many coastal scientists and decision makers around the globe

Preparing for climate change on marine systems in Australia and India.

Australia and India have coastal marine waters warming at a rate faster than 90% of the world’s oceans. Both countries have extensive coastlines and marine jurisdictions with the majority of the population living adjacent to the coast (Box 1). Marine industries play important roles in sustaining the livelihoods of people in coastal rural towns. Increasing food production, minimising carbon emissions and prioritising carbon sequestration opportunities are key issues facing both countries and form the basis of this research plan. In addressing these issues India and Australia are well placed to become leaders in the development of adaptation options, and pioneers of transformational industries

Exploring Aboriginal People\u27s connection to country to strengthen human-nature theoretical perspectives

Purpose Aboriginal people across Australia have diverse practices, beliefs and knowledges based on thousands of generations of managing and protecting their lands (Country). The intimate relationship Aboriginal people have with their Country is explored in this chapter because such knowledge is important for building insight into the relationship between social and ecological systems. Often in research Aboriginal views have been marginalised from discussions focused on their lands to the detriment of ecosystems and human health. This chapter aims to understand if such marginalisation is evident in Western human–nature relationship discourses.Approach This chapter provides a critical literature review which examines whether Aboriginal people’s diverse understanding of their ecosystems have been incorporated into human–nature theories using the biophilia hypothesis as a starting point. Other concepts explored include solastalgia, topophilia and place.Findings Critiques of these terminologies in the context of Aboriginal people’s connection to Country are limited but such incorporation is viewed in the chapter as a possible mechanism for better understanding human’s connection to nature. The review identified that Aboriginal people’s relationship to Country seems to be underrepresented in the human–nature theory literature.Value This chapter emphasises that the integration of Aboriginal perspectives into research, ecological management and policy can provide better insight into the interrelationships between social and ecological systems

“More than fishy business”: epistemology, integration and conflict in marine spatial planning

MSP is advanced internationally as a model by which countries can manage their marine environments, and yet ensure economic and social activities remain. It is a “win–win “solution. Yet, as Ellis and Flannery highlight (this issue, pp. 00–00), this optimism can be misplaced, and create distributional and other issues in its implementation. Their call for the articulation of a radical MSP is timely. This paper presents some reflections on how a radical turn in MSP may be achieved and in so doing unseat and shift the key elements of MSP which currently cause the issues Ellis and Flannery outline so well. Firstly, picking up on their point about sectoral integration, I argue that it is the epistemological basis of MSP itself that currently embeds an assumption that it has capacity to enable (sectoral and knowledge) integration. However, it is the very attempt at this integration which often causes imbalances and conflicts in distribution and power. Second, I argue that this assumption needs to be unseated and suggest that embedding a conflict lens as part of the implementation of MSP process could have transformative potential, most particularly in its capacity to distil and draw out different cultural mores for, and uses of the marine estate. Finally, I argue for a MSP process that embraces different world views, in ways that can actually go some way to achieving the sectoral harmony which the model tries so hard to achieve.Melissa Nursey-Bra

Sustaining interest: teaching sustainability

Melissa Nursey-Brayhttp://www.utas.edu.au/teachingmatters/2008/proceedings.htm