A framework for assessing community adaptation to climate change in a fisheries context

Abstract

There is a rapidly growing body of scholarship on climate change adaptation in diverse contexts globally. Despite this, climate adaptation at the community level has not received adequate conceptual attention, and a limited number of analytical frameworks are available for assessing place-specific adaptations, particularly in a fisheries context. We use conceptual material from social-ecological systems (SES) resilience and human development resilience to build an integrated framework for evaluating community adaptations to climate change in a fisheries setting. The framework defines resilience as the combined result of coping, adapting, and transforming-recognizing resilience as a system's capacity and as a process. This understanding of resilience integrates with the three development resilience concepts of resistance, rootedness, and resourcefulness to develop 'place-based elements' which refer to collective action, institutions, agency, and indigenous and local knowledge systems. The proposed framework can capture a local setting's place-specific attributes relating to the well-being of individuals, households, and communities, and the through integration of SES and human development conceptualizations addresses some of the key critiques of the notion of resilience. We have proposed this framework for application in context-specific environments-including fisheries-as a means of assessing community adaptations.

Climate change and community fisheries in the arctic: A case study from Pangnirtung, Canada

“…Data related to the ways in which Inuit fishers respond to change was collected primarily through the PO (research diary, photos, and researcher's first-hand experience) and SSI data, supplemented with KII and FGD. Data were presented and analysed using the conceptual framework (Galappaththi et al, 2019).…”

“…A conceptualisation of resilience as a function of coping, adapting, and transformative capacities (Béné et al, 2014, Brown, 2016 permits the capture of macro-level understanding of adaptation, with micro-level comprehensive details in fishing communities. This conceptual tool was developed based on an integration of the two scholarship areas of resilience thinking and development studies (Galappaththi et al, 2019).…”

“…Use of this framework allows for the assessment of the process of community adaptation in Arctic fisheries systems, and for insights into adaptation needs and relevant policy. Table 1: Definitions of characteristics of the resilience-based framework (Galappaththi et al, 2019).…”

“…Identifying ways to adapt, and thereby reduce the risks posed by climate change, as well as to take advantage of new opportunities, is emerging as a focus area in terms of decision making in northern Canada. Understanding how communities are experiencing and responding to the observed rapid change in climate is important for supporting such processes (Galappaththi et al, 2019).…”

Heterogeneity among clam harvesters in northwest Mexico shapes individual adaptive capacity

“…Fisheries portfolio diversification reduces the risk to fishers of interannual variation in stock abundance and market value (Kasperski andHolland 2013, Finkbeiner 2015) and is a signal of fishers' adaptive capacity. Maintaining or expanding alternate sources of income via livelihood diversification (Béné 2009, Galappaththi et al 2019, or relying on social networks to provide employment or cover basic needs, can help fishers navigate times when primary target species are scarce (Lofgren 1972, Perry et al 2011, Boag et al 2018. Another common adaptation strategy among fishers is mobility, or moving to follow sources of income Fogarty 2012, Sievanen 2014).…”