Editorial

Are we missing the point? Global environmental change as an issue of human security

Pastoralism in east Africa is experiencing numerous challenges emanating from climate and non-climatic stressors affecting the people in different ways. This study explored types of major stressors and the gendered perceptions of the impact and severity of stressors in Borana, southern Ethiopia. Data was collected from household survey, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. Challenges to pastoral livelihood were categorized in terms of climate, environment, social, economic, governance and conflict. Regardless of livelihood basis, age, gender and wealth status, all participants perceived climate stressors as the most frequent and impactful stressors, followed by economic stressors. Further analysis revealed women are more anxious about climatic and economic stressors, while men give more attention to governance and conflict-related stressors owing to their traditional responsibilities. Similarly, women bear a disproportionate burden of the impact of stressors, resulting from existing inequalities in resource endowments and the traditional labour division. Therefore, nuanced understanding of the differential impacts of stressors is vital for appropriate adaptation polices.

Despite the growing number of studies focusing on urban vulnerability to climate change, adaptive capacity, which is a key component of the IPCC definition of vulnerability, is rarely assessed quantitatively. We examine the capacity of adaptation in the Concepción Metropolitan Area, Chile. A flexible methodology based on spatial fuzzy modelling was developed to standardise and aggregate, through a stepwise approach, seventeen indicators derived from widely available census statistical data into an adaptive capacity index. The results indicate that all the municipalities in the CMA increased their level of adaptive capacity between 1992 and 2002. However, the relative differences between municipalities did not change significantly over the studied timeframe. Fuzzy overlay allowed us to standardise and to effectively aggregate indicators with differing ranges and granularities of attribute values into an overall index. It also provided a conceptually sound and reproducible means of exploring the interplay of many indicators that individually influence adaptive capacity. Furthermore, it captured the complex, aggregated and continued nature of the adaptive capacity, favouring to deal with gaps of data and knowledge associated with the concept of adaptive capacity. The resulting maps can help identify municipalities where adaptive capacity is weak and identify which components of adaptive capacity need strengthening. Identification of these capacity conditions can stimulate dialogue amongst policymakers and stakeholders regarding how to manage urban areas and how to prioritise resources for urban development in ways that can also improve adaptive capacity and thus reduce vulnerability to climate change.