A quantum model of climate change? Insights from community-based natural resource management in Namibia

Abstract

Quantum approaches to International Relations (IR) offer theoretically rich explanatory frameworks attuned to the complexity and uncertainty of the social world. Recognizing that the payoff of quantum approaches to IR may be clarified through their application to empirical cases, we approach the radically complex and uncertain case of climate change's impacts on Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) in Namibia from a quantum perspective. Established to protect the vibrant flora and fauna of Namibia while also promoting community and economic development aims, CBNRM conservancies face complex challenges from climate change. Inspired by Karen O’Brien's call for ‘quantum social change’ in our response to climate change, we draw on the quantum social theory to unpack how desertification, extreme weather patterns, and drought conditions radically reshape the possibilities available to conservancies, communities, farmers, and the state itself. By conceptualizing futures as wavefunctions encompassing the spectrum of potential future states, we demonstrate how a quantum imaginary can help to develop novel explanatory frameworks for the complexity of the world around us.