Browsing by Subject "Climate change"
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(2023)Climate change and its unparalleled and irreversible effects to natural and human systems initiate a need to take immediate action to develop effective measures for climate change adaptation. Both climate change impacts and responses to climate change are found to further aggravate the division between winners and losers that is already present in the pre-existing patterns of development. This is while previous research has found explicit concern for justice to be limited at the urban level. This study seeks to examine urban climate change adaptation strategies critically from the perspective of climate justice to contribute to the understanding of how justice can be identified and advocated for in practice. Justice is conceptualised with four justice dimensions encompassing recognitional, distributive, procedural, and restorative justice dimensions. An Adaptation Justice Index is applied to policy documents to perform a qualitative content analysis. In addition, a literature review is utilised to explore the representations of justice present in the adaptation strategies of eight leading city-level climate change adaptors. Results from the analysis show that on average, procedural justice dimension is the most highlighted among the four dimensions, while restorative justice is the least emphasised. The cities performed the best in allocating responsibilities related to adaptation and in enabling participation in the implementation phase. Strategies frequently emphasise vulnerable people and acknowledge the aim to advance equity and just outcomes with adaptation initiatives. The initiatives described in the strategies, however, seem generally to be insufficient to realise these outcomes. Measures to include the perspectives of vulnerable individuals and communities are found to require improvement to promote empowerment of disadvantaged people for climate justice. The impacts of adaptation measures ought to be scrutinised in more detail to recognise the losses borne by the most disadvantaged in society and to make amends for injustices taking place in the context of climate change and adaptation practice. In conclusion, more research is in order to shed further light to the extent climate justice is accounted for in adaptation practice, especially in the context of the Global South.
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(2023)Food security is increasingly threatened in agrarian societies as environmental change has disrupted traditional food systems around the world, thus robbing the affected communities of their rights to food sovereignty. This thesis seeks to examine the role of traditional Indigenous (agri)cultural heritage maintenance in the present day, especially as impacted by climate change and land degradation. Using the case of Hek’o:we – or “waffle gardening” – in the Zuni Pueblo (known also as the Middle Place), the study aims to illuminate the benefits of youth-oriented education for the protection of food sovereignty, the continuance of ancestral knowledge, and the conservation of the land and natural resources. Existing literature was reviewed to evaluate the need for this research, as well as to illuminate the place of this study in the broad literature base of related topics in Western academia. The resulting literature review was compiled to serve also as a theoretical framework for narrowing down three key contexts in which this case study could be examined: 1. The history, development, and use of Hek’o:we, as understood currently in Western academia; 2. Indigenous food sovereignty; and 3. The role of youth education in the (re)production of agricultural knowledge. Much of the earlier research regarding Zuni (agri)cultural heritage maintenance and Hek’o:we agriculture has been conducted without considering the needs of the Zuni community. Thus, significant ethical considerations were central to the development of this study, including the goal of amplifying Zuni voices in the dissemination of the research results. Data collection was conducted over video chat; in a recorded group interview, organizers from the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project’s Food Sovereignty team shared stories and insight about the topics at hand. The results are presented primarily in the words of the participants. Three main topics emerged: Hek’o:we and community-wide resilience; intergenerational education that en-gages the whole family; and land-based considerations including climate change, water scarcity, and the overall notion of living with the land. Conclusions posit that traditional agricultural practices are promoting resilience, engagement with ancestral knowledge, conservation of the land and water, and many other ob-servable benefits. Climate change and land degradation, caused by intentional actions by the settler state, may pose threats to food sovereignty and the health of Zuni people, but the community is able to find strength in the practices developed by their ancestors.
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