A Changing Environment for Human Security

A Changing Environment for Human Security

by Linda Sygna, Karen O'Brien, Johanna Wolf
Released June 2013
Publisher(s): Routledge
ISBN: 9781136272493

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Book description

Environmental change presents a new context and new opportunities for transformational change. This timely book will inspire new ways of understanding the relationship between environmental change and human security. A Changing Environment for Human Security: Transformative Approaches to Research, Policy and Action both supports and informs a call for new, transformative approaches to research, policy and action. The chapters in this book include critical analyses, case studies and reflections on contemporary environmental and social challenges, with a strong emphasis on those related to climate change. Human thoughts and actions have contributed to an environment of insecurity, manifested as multiple interacting threats that now represent a serious challenge to humanity. Yet humans also have the capacity to collectively transform the economic, political, social and cultural systems and structures that perpetuate human insecurities.

These fresh perspectives on global environmental change from an interdisciplinary group of international experts will inspire readers – whether students, researchers, policy makers, or practitioners – to think differently about environmental issues and sustainability. The contributions show that in a changing environment, human security is not only a possibility, but a choice.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Dedication
  6. Table of Contents
  7. List of figures
  8. List of tables
  9. List of contributors
  10. Preface and acknowledgements
  11. 1. A changing environment for human security
    1. Introduction
    2. Human security: a concept ‘coming of age’
      1. A changing context for human security
    3. A reality check
    4. Breakthrough conditions
      1. Perspectives
      2. Paradigms
      3. Empowerment
      4. Integration of knowledge and action
    5. Transformations: past and future
    6. Conclusion
    7. References
  12. Part I: Reality check
    1. 2. Human security in the Anthropocene: the implications of earth system analysis
      1. The anthropocene and security
      2. Global environmental change
      3. Securing what future?
      4. Towards a new human security framework
      5. References
    2. 3. Climate change and security
      1. Introduction
      2. Climate change and human security
      3. Climate change and migration
      4. Climate change and violent conflict
      5. Conclusions
      6. References
    3. 4. Lines in the shifting sand: the strategic politics of climate change, human security and national defense
      1. Operation enduring narrative
      2. All terrain security
      3. Conclusion: drawing the line
      4. Note
      5. References
    4. 5. Sustainable urbanization and human security
      1. Introduction
      2. Trends and projections in global urban population
      3. Population pressure and political violence
      4. Urban social disorder: trends and new findings
      5. Responses to address urban vulnerability
      6. Conclusion
      7. References
    5. 6. Urban risk and vulnerability: insights and lessons from Latin American cities
      1. Introduction
      2. Relevance of urban change
      3. Understanding urban vulnerability to climate change
      4. The cities
      5. ADAPTE: research findings
      6. Concluding remarks
      7. Note
      8. References
    6. 7. Uncertainty as insecurity: lessons on preparing for contingencies in Japan
      1. The uncertainty of the threat
      2. Uncertainty and the study of human security
      3. Pollution strikes: Minamata disease
      4. Uncertainty in Fukushima
      5. Tackling uncertainty: the process of threat recognition
      6. Note
      7. References
    7. 8. Human security at risk: development impacts of global environmental change in drylands
      1. Introduction
      2. Methodology
        1. Global Integrated Sustainability Model (GISMO)
        2. Archetypical patterns of pulnerability
      3. Prospects in child mortality
      4. Vulnerability of small-holder farmers in dryland areas
        1. Increasing vulnerability due to global environmental change
        2. Entry points to strengthen human security in drylands
      5. Conclusions
      6. Note
      7. References
  13. Part II: Breakthrough conditions
    1. Perspectives
      1. 9. Social ecological resilience and human security
        1. Introduction: what is resilience?
        2. How is resilience applied to environmental change?
        3. Where do security and resilience meet?
          1. Resilience and national security
          2. Resilience and human security
        4. How can resilience inform human security?
        5. Acknowledgment
        6. References
      2. 10. Climate change and the global financial crisis: stresses, synergies, and challenges for human security
        1. Introduction
        2. The double exposure framework
        3. The global financial crisis and climatic risk: California’s Central Valley
          1. Pathways of double exposure
        4. Conclusion
        5. References
      3. 11. National level policies versus local level realities – can the two be reconciled to promote sustainable adaptation?
        1. Introduction
        2. Adaptation at national and local levels
        3. Methods
        4. Evidence for local level adaptation
        5. National adaptation support through NAPAS and policy
        6. Discussion
        7. Conclusion
        8. Acknowledgments
        9. Notes
        10. References
      4. 12. Fisheries, resource management and climate change: local perspectives of change in coastal communities in Northern Norway
        1. Introduction
        2. Case studies context
        3. Method and approach
        4. Findings and discussion
          1. Local climate elements
          2. Wider social context
        5. Conclusions
        6. References
      5. 13. Stuck in the twilight zone or moving towards sustainable climate adaptation? Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Coastby
        1. In transition towards local ICZM?
        2. Critical points
          1. The technical fix of waterfront planning
          2. Erosion-management for whom?
          3. Colliding institutional frameworks and policy agendas
          4. Horizontal integration, ownership and learning
        3. Concluding remarks
        4. Acknowledgements
        5. References
      6. 14. The rights of internally displaced persons in connection with natural hazard-related disasters
        1. Introduction
        2. Internally displaced persons and rights
        3. An opportunity for (non-)discrimination
        4. Who gets to participate and who is pushed around?
        5. Creating a new home
        6. Recognition of IDPs, (un)natural disasters and rights
        7. Humanisation and beyond
        8. References
      7. 15. Cities, human security and global environmental change
        1. Introduction
        2. Urban global environmental change research into human security
        3. Urbanization and global environmental change
          1. Urban human security and meeting basic needs
        4. The way forward
        5. Acknowledgments
        6. Note
        7. References
      8. 16. Suburbia on fire: human security, climate change and emergency management
        1. Introduction
        2. Wildfires and security
        3. Is wildfire a “security” issue?
        4. Securitizing wildfire
        5. Wildfire security or safety?
        6. References
      9. 17. Ethics, environmental change and human security
        1. Introduction: sustainable development, from oxymoron to paradigm shift
        2. Environmental change as an ethical challenge
        3. Human security as a public good, the policy crossroads of ethics and global environmental change
        4. Concluding remarks: ethics and human security in the context of global environmental change
        5. References
    2. Paradigms
      1. 18. From poverty to prosperity: addressing growth, equity and ethics in a changing environment
        1. Introduction
        2. Dominant poverty knowledge
        3. A rich history of problematizing development
        4. Alternative perspectives on poverty: connecting human security and the climate crisis
        5. Conclusion: reframing poverty and prosperity
        6. Notes
        7. References
      2. 19. REDD+ and the global discourse on climate change and poverty
        1. Introduction
        2. Discourses
          1. Development – since 1950
          2. Environment – since 1970
        3. Climate change and REDD+
        4. In conclusion
        5. Notes
        6. References
      3. 20. Climate change adaptation: challenging the mainstream
        1. Introduction
        2. Conceptualizations of climate change adaptation
        3. Utilizations of climate change adaptation
        4. The contribution of postdevelopment perspectives to CCA
        5. References
      4. 21. Why the discursive environment matters: the UK Climate Impacts Programme and adaptation to climate change
        1. Introduction
        2. Theoretical basis: why the discursive environment matters for adaptation and human security
        3. The discursive landscape: UKCIP’s core problematization of adaptation
          1. Ontology and epistemology
          2. Political rationale
        4. Implications for human security
        5. Conclusion
        6. References
      5. 22. The institutionalisation of vulnerable conditions and a case study from Germany
        1. Introduction: positioning the argument
        2. The institutionalisation of vulnerable conditions
          1. The process of institutionalisation and its unintended consequences
          2. The establishment of an expert-system
          3. Beliefs in the controllability of the river
        3. The institutionalisation of vulnerable conditions: outline of a framework
        4. References
      6. 23. Disaster risk and vulnerability reduction
        1. Introduction
        2. Framing disaster risk: key concepts and processes
          1. Vulnerability
          2. Capacities
          3. Knowledge and skills
          4. Participation
        3. Global change in a local context: insights from Tanzania
        4. Risk and vulnerability in linked systems
          1. Demographic systems
          2. Economic systems
          3. Technological systems
          4. Socio-cultural systems
          5. Political systems
        5. New agendas
          1. Research agenda
          2. Policy agenda
          3. Action agenda
        6. Conclusion
        7. Note
        8. References
    3. Empowerment
      1. 24. Individual and community empowerment for human security
        1. Introduction
        2. What is empowerment?
        3. The sustaining forces of dis-empowerment
        4. Empowerment from within and without
        5. Empowerment for the common good
        6. Conclusion: toward reciprocal empowerment and human security
        7. Notes
        8. References
      2. 25. Community empowerment: opportunities and challenges for Bolivia’s water sector
        1. Introduction
        2. Social reforms and the empowerment of indigenous people in Bolivia
        3. The Ravelo River Basin case study
        4. Conclusions
        5. References
      3. 26. Human-environmental integration and social power in global environmental change research
        1. Introduction
        2. Towards the human-environmental dimension
        3. Social science recent interventions
        4. The power of GEC as a human environmental phenomenon
        5. Thoughts towards a research agenda on power relations in human-environmental systems
        6. References
      4. 27. Human security and personal responsibilities in light of climate change defeatism and complacency
        1. Introduction
        2. Prudential and ethical responsibilities
        3. Defeatism and complacency
        4. Summation and conclusion
        5. Acknowledgements
        6. Notes
        7. References
      5. 28. The social handprint of sustainable citizenship
        1. Introduction
        2. Footprints and handprints
        3. Understanding the politics of handprint imagery
        4. The strength and limits of individual agency
        5. The social handprint: rethinking citizenship as decentred, collaborative agency
        6. The power of social handprints
        7. Note
        8. References
      6. 29. Disaster risk reduction informing climate change adaptation: social capital in Agüita de la Perdiz
        1. Introduction
        2. Linking disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation
        3. Background and methodology
        4. Social capital as an enabler and barrier in Agüita de la Perdiz
          1. Sense of community and place attachment
          2. Citizen participation
          3. Local knowledge
        5. Final remarks
        6. Acknowledgement
        7. References
      7. 30. Social network actors and novel information for adaptive capacity
        1. Introduction
        2. Theoretical framework
        3. Methods
        4. Results
        5. Discussion and conclusion
        6. Acknowledgments
        7. Notes
        8. References
    4. Integration of knowledge and action
      1. 31. Understanding how to respond to climate change in a context of transformational change: the contribution of sustainable adaptation
        1. Introduction – problematizing adaptation
        2. Sustainable adaptation as a transformative change process: a conceptual understanding
        3. Developing a normative vision for change
        4. Conclusions
        5. References
      2. 32. Sustainability and cities: meeting the grand challenge for the twenty-first century
        1. Introduction
        2. State and trends of global urbanization
        3. Perspectives on sustainable cities
          1. Green and brown agendas
            1. Green agenda
            2. Brown agenda
            3. Different ideological viewpoints
          2. Free market perspectives
          3. Design perspectives
          4. Self-reliant perspectives
          5. Fair-share perspectives
        4. Reconciling different perspectives
        5. Integrating perspectives on urban sustainable development
        6. Conclusion
        7. Notes
        8. References
      3. 33. A tetra-transition away from fossil fuels
        1. Introduction
        2. Climate change and peak oil
        3. The integral approach
        4. An integral analysis of the transition away from fossil fuels
          1. LR-quadrant: system change
          2. LL-quadrant: cultural change
          3. UL-quadrant: psychological change
          4. UR-quadrant: behavioral change
        5. Conclusions
        6. References
      4. 34. Uncovering the essence of the climate change adaptation agenda: the policy sciences as a problem-oriented approach
        1. Introduction
        2. The policy sciences as a problem-oriented approach
        3. A case study of the tourism sector at Alpine Shire, Victoria, Australia
          1. Framing the problem
          2. Methodology – data collection and analysis
        4. Results
        5. Discussion and conclusions
        6. References
      5. 35. Changing places: migration and adaptation to climate change
        1. Introduction
        2. Climate change impacts, people and settlements
        3. The big move: making decisions
        4. Migration as an adaptation
        5. Policy and discourse on adaptation and migration
        6. Conclusion
        7. References
      6. 36. Clumsy solutions to environmental change: lessons from cultural theory
        1. Introduction
        2. Clumsy approaches to human security
        3. A case for clumsy development
        4. Notes
        5. References
  14. Part III: Transformations: past and future
    1. 37. ‘Clumsy solutions’ and ‘elegant failures’: lessons on climate change adaptation from the settlement of the North Atlantic islands
      1. Introduction
      2. Long-term perspectives
      3. The case of the North Atlantic: beginnings
      4. Understanding differing outcomes
        1. The Faroe Islands
        2. Iceland
        3. Greenland
      5. Lessons learned
      6. Inevitabable outcomes?
      7. Acknowledgments
      8. Notes
      9. References
    2. 38. The future is now: human security as a choice
      1. Introduction
      2. Human security in a changing world
      3. Transforming knowledge
      4. Transforming policy
      5. Transforming action
      6. Facing a collective challenge
      7. References
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: A Changing Environment for Human Security
  • Author(s): Linda Sygna, Karen O'Brien, Johanna Wolf
  • Release date: June 2013
  • Publisher(s): Routledge
  • ISBN: 9781136272493