Rethinking the interplay between affluence and vulnerability to aid climate change adaptive capacity
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Rethinking the interplay between affluence and vulnerability to aid climate change adaptive capacity Christine Eriksen 1,2 & Gregory L. Simon 3 & Florian Roth 1,4 & Shefali Juneja Lakhina 2,16 & Ben Wisner 5,6 & Carolina Adler 7 & Frank Thomalla 8 Anna Scolobig 9 & Kate Brady 10,11 & Michael Bründl 12 & Florian Neisser 13 & Maree Grenfell 14 & Linda Maduz 1 & Timothy Prior 1,15
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Received: 19 February 2020 / Accepted: 4 August 2020 / Published online: 26 August 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
Affluence and vulnerability are often seen as opposite sides of a coin—with affluence generally understood as reducing forms of vulnerability through increased resilience and adaptive capacity. However, in the context of climate change and an increase in associated hazards and disasters, we suggest the need to re-examine this dynamic relationship—a complex association we define here as the Affluence–Vulnerability Interface (AVI). We review research in different national contexts to show how a more nuanced understanding of the AVI can (a) problematize the notion that increasing material affluence necessarily has a mitigating influence on social vulnerability, (b) extend our analysis of social vulnerability beyond low-income regions to include affluent contexts and (c) improve our understanding of how psychosocial characteristics influence people’s vulnerability. Finally, we briefly outline three methodological approaches that we believe will assist future engagement with the AVI. Keywords Climate change adaptation . Disaster resilience . Natural hazards . Psychosocial coping capacity . Social vulnerability
1 Introduction Despite economic and technological progress, floods, wildfires, drought and other natural hazards continue to impact communities in acute and prolonged ways around the world (Bouwer 2011; Hallegatte 2013; Mechler and Bouwer 2015; Thomalla et al. 2006). Exacerbated by climate change, a range of hazards are projected to become more
* Christine Eriksen [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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Climatic Change (2020) 162:25–39
frequent and intense (IPCC 2014; Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2018). The social and economic consequences of these climate-exacerbated hazards are likely to remain significant (Bouwer 2011; Eriksen and Ballard 2020; Kinoshita et al. 2016; Lucas et al. 2020; IPSP 2018). In this evolving context, three related issues have become important to address. First, general material affluence (marked by an increase in per capita GDP and technological advancement) is not enough to mitigate climate change or to cope with the impacts of associated natural hazards, especially for people who are socially and/or physically marginalized (Fothergill and Peek 2004; Kelman 2015; Cinner et al. 2018). A problem of growing inequity is evident in all countries—high, medium and low income, especially in the context of rapid urban development processes. In some cases, increasing material affluence and access to resources may actually exacerbate pre-
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