Women and Urban Flooding Vulnerability

This research talk is bringing together several experts on climate change issues to discuss the impacts of environmental risks on vulnerable communities and society from a cross-regional perspective. Based on a research study by Ly Quoc Dang, the discussion centers on Can Tho City (Vietnam), identifying how women in Can Tho City experience the impacts of flooding on their health, income, household and personal finances. Participants discuss limitations to women\u27s participation in flood-related planning activities. Drawing on a feminist framing, participants not only offer insight into the unique harms that women experience from floods, but also demonstrate that women have important knowledge and insights into flood-related planning. The discussion serves as an important reminder to governments to integrate a gender perspective in better understanding climate vulnerabilities, such as flooding in risk management strategy policies

Assessment of public awareness, acceptance and attitudes towards renewable energy in Kenya.

Public opinion of different energy sources is critical for the planning of future energy portfolios. The public has an active role to play in the development of energy policy and operation of the energy market. However, in developing nations, studies involving public opinion on renewable energy are lacking. Public acceptability and reception to renewable energy are important because of their relationship to policymaking, especially in democratic societies. Most studies of renewable energy diffusion, however, take a top-down approach, focusing exclusively on the policymakers, while neglecting the grassroots perspectives. This study presents an assessment of public awareness, acceptance, and attitude towards renewable energy by focusing on a nationwide survey of 1020 respondents in Kenya. Kenyan citizens living in both urban and rural areas, strongly approve the development of renewable energy technologies (73%) and believe that renewable energy technologies will reduce the cost of electricity (91%). Also, 69.5% of Kenyan respondents indicated a high level of awareness for renewable energy-related terms. The ordered logistic regressions reveal a significant relationship between the dependent variable “attitude” and independent variables of “awareness” and “education” for all renewables (solar, wind and geothermal) except biomass. This study underscores the role of policymakers in shifting from traditional approaches that focus on meeting Kenya\u27s energy demands without considering public views. Investigating public awareness, acceptance, and attitude towards renewable energy are thus critical for providing insights necessary for an effective policy formulation

Trade-offs in linking adaptation and mitigation in the forests of the Congo Basin

Recent discussions on forests and climate change have highlighted the potential for conservation of tropical forests to contribute synergistically to both mitigation (reducing emissions of greenhouse gases) and adaptation (increasing capacity to cope with changing climate conditions). Key mechanisms through which adaptive advantages might be gained include the potential for forest resources to support livelihoods in the context of climatic strains on agriculture and the protection that intact forest ecosystems might provide against landslides, flash floods and other hazards related to extreme weather. This paper presents findings from field research with forest communities in three areas of the Congo Basin in Central Africa, in which the adaptive role and potential of forests in these respects is critically analysed. The investigation was carried out through a combination of structured and semi-structured qualitative techniques within six villages in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda. The findings of the research highlight the need to understand both the limits of synergy, and the constraints and trade-offs for rural livelihoods that may be associated with a forest conservation agenda driven by the additional impetus of carbon sequestration. The search for synergy may be conceptually laudable, but if forest management actions do not take account of on-the-ground contexts of constraints and social trade-offs then the result of those actions risks undermining wider livelihood resilience

Joint stakeholder decision-making on the management of the Silao-Romita aquifer using AHP

Over-exploitation and pollution have been identified as the main problems facing the Silao-Romita aquifer in Guanajuato, Mexico. The objective of this paper is to analyze the current situation, characterized by a clear lack of legislative enforcement, dispersion of competences, and scarcity of economic resources, in order to establish a new prioritization of action plans, and choose from among three specific management options. One of the main challenges when addressing these problems in a holistic manner is the conflicting viewpoints of the sectors involved. As each stakeholder has a different perception, there is a clear need for appropriate mechanisms to reach a consensus in decision-making. To achieve the objective, we use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), because of its flexibility and the availability of mathematical axiomatic principles and techniques to obtain group preferences and priorities. In addition, we use several tools developed by the authors to obtain consistency, streamline the trade-off between stakeholder know-how and synthetic consistency, and consistently complete partial judgments given by some of the stakeholders. The problem of obtaining a consensus among the actors involved regarding criteria and alternatives is also considered. The obtained results are intended to serve as guidelines for conducting priority actions to help solve the general problem of the study area, and to identify the management model that best meets the needs of the aquifer, according to the actors involved. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work has been supported by project IDAWAS, DPI2009-11591 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; with supplementary support from ACOMP/2011/188 of the education department of the Generalitat Valenciana. The first author wishes to thank CONACYT for the 10007-2011-01 scholarship program. The use of English in this paper was revised by John Rawlins.Delgado Galván, XV.; Izquierdo Sebastián, J.; Benítez López, J.; Pérez García, R. (2014). Joint stakeholder decision-making on the management of the Silao-Romita aquifer using AHP. Environmental Modelling & Software. 51:310-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.10.008S3103225

The implications of rural perceptions of water scarcity on differential adaptation behaviour in Rajasthan, India

Water scarcity is one of the most critical issues facing agriculture today. To understand how people manage the risk of water scarcity and growing pressures of increased climate variability, exploring perceptions of risk and how these perceptions feed into response behaviour and willingness to adapt is critical. This paper revisits existing frameworks that conceptualise perceptions of environmental risk and decision-making, and uses empirical evidence from an in-depth study conducted in Rajasthan, India, to emphasise how individual and collective memories, and experience of past extreme events shape current definitions and future expectations of climatic risks. In doing so, we demonstrate the value of recognising the role of local perceptions of water scarcity (and how they vary between and within households) in constructing social vulnerability. We also discuss the implications of these perceptions of risk when understanding and incentivising local adaptation pathways

Pesticide in Coca-Cola and Pepsi: Consumerism, Brand Image, and Public Interest in a Globalizing India

In India, and elsewhere, the effects of globalization, especially increased consumerism, in expanding the circulation of branded goods, has produced a complex mix of responses and readings that are often contradictory. In striving to make sense of the apparently autonomous and often-dizzying pace of economic and cultural change, media and other discourses utilize narratives and strategies that, although located in symbolic-political fields, remain contingent in their specific configurations. Coca-Cola and Pepsi as brands are hybrid embodiments of the larger dissonances constitutive of the present moment in Indian modernity. On the basis of an analysis primarily of media commentary about a recent environmental campaign to highlight the presence of pesticides in Coca-Cola and Pepsi products, this article charts out the recurring discursive motifs that illustrate the political potential and limitations of the evolving sociopolitical fields, encompassing such contested categories as the state, multinational corporations, and the consumer, and their interrelationships in a globalizing India

Apple Growers\u27 Associations in Northwestern India: Emergence, Success, and Limitations in the Context of State-Society Interactions

Apple growers\u27 associations in northwestern Himalayas have played an important role in the transition from subsistence agriculture to commercial horticulture, experienced by the state of Himachal Pradesh in the lastthree decades. This paper is a case study of an association, explaining its emergence and successful functioning in terms of the historically specific and privileged relationship with the state. Furthermore, the convergence between the association\u27s goals and the state\u27s imperatives can only be understood in light of the sociopolitical and geographic reality of the region, which have made horticulture, particularly apple production, an economically and culturally viable development option. Finally, the paper analyzes both the successes of the association in overcoming entrenched problems long faced by apple growers, as well as its not-so successfid record in promoting broader social and environmental goals, the key to the sustainability of horticulture in the region

Culture, Climate and the Environment: Local Knowledge and Perception of Climate Change among Apple Growers in Northwestern India

Human societies in mountainous areas have evolved specific ways of dealing with the constraints imposed by the environment. A number of anthropological studies have documented the existence of practices that can be considered adaptive in the context of mountain environments. In this paper, I present a case study of a society in transition, in the northwestern Himalayas of India, in which local knowledge—combining aspects of traditional knowledge and practice—is used by farmers to cognize and cope with the uncertainty in their environment. Focusing on the perception of changes in the amount and timing of snowfall over the last three decades, I present a non-reductionist and nested model of human-environment interaction that explains the perception and knowledge of climate as a function of micro-level livelihood practices, as well as enduring and widely shared cultural notions of risk and vulnerability. The model being proposed encompasses agency and cognition at multiple levels, ranging from the local to the regional, and is explicated with ethnographic information, which demonstrates the resilient and dynamic nature of local knowledge. The paper’s major finding is that the perceptions of climate change in the region are shaped both by the local knowledge of crop-climate linkages, as well as the broader historical relationship with the environment

Asceticism – Transformation of Human Consciousness: In the context of Mahavir Swami

Mahavir Swami has presented a scientific approach to penance. According to him, penance is a process of transformation of human life energy. The circle of energy, the aura that surrounds this body, inside and outside our body, is our real body; And that is also our asceticism. When a person dies, the aura of his body begins to weaken. Regarding penance, Mahavira says: Sachāmmī vasādi tavo, sācchammi sanjmo tahā vāse tesa vi gunā. That is, truth is asceticism, restraint, and in truth resides all virtues. Truth means to live such a life that there is no deprivation in life; Live in such a way that there is harmony between outside and within. He who has realized the truth, understand that all is done; Then there is no need to do anything separately. Violence, lies, anger and competition all disappear in his life. Mahavira has called being true as penance. Mahavira has presented penance in two forms – one is \u27inner penance\u27 and the other is \u27outer penance\u27. He has presented inner asceticism and outer asceticism in six forms respectively. Which is as follows- external asceticism - (1) fasting (2) unodari (3) vritti-brief (4) abandonment of rasa (5) physique-affliction (6) complicity. Antar Tapa - (1) Atonement (2) Vinaya (3) Vaiyavrtya (4) Self-study (5) Meditation (6) Kayotsarga. Mahavira emphasizes that a state should arise within the person, where the person starts seeing his faults rather than others. The moment a person starts seeing his faults, humility appears in the heart of the person. This is possible only through penance. But in this modern age, man has become so insensitive while living with material things that he has broken the connection with his supersensuous powers. He is not aware of his body, his senses. In this age of science, the meditation of Mahavira is absolutely necessary. Because through penance any person can make his life simple and easy. It is only through penance that transformation of one\u27s consciousness is possible