Moving from vulnerability to capability : the role of social capital for disaster risk and resilience

Resilience, the ability to withstand or adapt to altered conditions, gets more important as the grave effects of climate change intensify. Individuals’ capacities to respond to disasters are strongly connected to their social capital (e.g. relationships and networks). The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of this connection at a neighborhood level. In the first part of this paper, a theoretical analysis of the linkage between capacities for resilience and social capital is made and an analytical framework is developed to investigate this relationship further. The second part of the paper applies the framework to analyze this linkage in a case study of individuals living in Gröndal, Stockholm. Stockholm is chosen because it is predicted to be affected by climate change in the form of increased frequency of extreme weather, storms, floods, sea level rise, and heatwaves (Ekelund, 2007). Yet the city’s environmental department fails to address social capital in their climate action plan. Gröndal, a neighborhood in Stockholm, is particularly vulnerable as it is predicted to experience floods(Stockholms stad, 2014). This paper shows that it is not social capital per se that enhance capacities for disaster risk and resilience, but rather ‘enabling’ relationships. Enabling relationships, a concept developed throughout this paper, is a special type of social capital, which enables certain positive actions (e.g. support, changed behavior) that can help people to cope with disasters or adapt and transform in order to reduce negative effects from disasters. The results indicate that strong bonding ties (e.g. family groups, friend groups, and friendships with neighbors)promote capacities that make it easier for people to cope with hazards and recover from disasters. Relations with neighbors can enhance the capacities to be resilient as feelings of companionship and respect can encourage people to help each other and develop enabling relationships. A lack of enabling bridging ties was evident, which contributes to a lack of adaptive and transformative actions. The results also indicate a high dependence on electricity-based information and communication and a lack of awareness of contingency plans. Thus, there is a need to inform people about how they should act if disasters occur and to develop non-electricity based information and communication tools, as electricity might be compromised during disasters. Because social capital can create enabling relationships that enhance resilience within a community, disaster programs should target the social infrastructure within communities in order to be effective

Economic Development and Pollutants : Brazil’s Economic Development

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation of economic development and pollutants in Brazil from 1960 to 2008. This investigation is conducted by scrutinizing and testing the much contested Environmental Kuznet Curve (EKC); an economic theory relating income to environmental degradation by an inverted U-shape. Empirical tests of Carbon dioxide (CO2) per capita and income (GDP per capita) provided us with the conclusion that there is a strongly positive correlation between these variables. The observed relationship tells us that as income increases, CO2 emissions increase as well, although at a slightly decreasing scale. Thus, the expected inverted U-shape is not observed in Brazil, findings that are in line with previous research. Further, the empirical tests tell us that Brazil is approaching a potential turning point of an EKC. The results indicate that although Brazil may have succeeded in some aspects of approaching a Sustainable Development, there are still issues for improvement.

Cascades of green: A review of ecosystem-based adaptation in urban areas

Climate change impacts increase pressure on challenges to sustainability and the developmental needs of cities. Conventional, “hard” adaptation measures are often associated with high costs, inflexibility and conflicting interests related to the dense urban fabric, and ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) has emerged as a potentially cost-efficient, comprehensive, and multifunctional approach. This paper reviews and systematises research on urban EbA. We propose an analytical framework that draws on theory from ecosystem services, climate change adaptation and sustainability science. It conceptualises EbA in terms of five linked components: ecological structures, ecological functions, adaptation benefits, valuation, and ecosystem management practices. Our review identified 110 articles, reporting on 112 cities, and analysed them using both quantitative statistical and qualitative content analysis. We found that EbA research in an urban context is fragmented due to different disciplinary approaches and concepts. Most articles focus on heat or flooding, and the most studied ecological structures for reducing the risk of such hazards are green space, wetlands, trees and parks. EbA is usually evaluated in bio-geophysical terms and the use of economic or social valuations are rare. While most articles do not mention specific practices for managing ecological structures, those that do imply that urban EbA strategies are increasingly being integrated into institutional structures. Few articles considered issues of equity or stakeholder participation in EbA. We identified the following challenges for future EbA research. First, while the large amount of data generated by isolated case studies contributes to systems knowledge, there is a lack of systems perspectives that position EbA in relation to the wider socio-economic and bio-geophysical context. Second, normative and ethical aspects of EbA require more thought, such as who are the winners and losers, especially in relation to processes that put people at risk from climate-related hazards. Third, there is room for more forward-looking EbA research, including consideration of future scenarios, experimentation in the creation of new ecological structures and the role of EbA in transformative adaptation