Climate change, power, and vulnerabilities in the Peruvian Highlands

Abstract

The intensifying impacts of climate change pose a serious global threat, particularly for rural populations whose livelihoods are closely tied to natural resources. Yet there is a lack of critical understanding of how asymmetric power dynamics shape the vulnerabilities of such populations under climate change. This article examines the interrelations between smallholders’ climate-related vulnerability experiences and power relations across multiple scales of climate adaptation in the Peruvian Andes, a region susceptible to increasing climatic threats. The analysis draws on a case study conducted in the Mantaro River Valley in Central Peru using qualitative methods: open-ended interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. Findings of the study show that in the context of climate change, the production of vulnerabilities has much to do with larger socio-political structures in which protection of the highland farmers is not prioritized. The impact of the uneven scalar power dynamics in climate adaptation and other overlapping fields of policy have created uneven terms of adaptation among smallholders. This has created marginalization, conflicts, and deepened smallholders’ vulnerabilities under climate change. I argue that to reach a better understanding of the multidimensionality of vulnerabilities, more detailed attention must be paid to place-based climate experiences within context-specific, socio-political processes, and to the ways these are shaped by unequal power relations across multiple scales.

Review of Vulnerability Factors Linking Climate Change and Conflict

“…On the other hand, it has also been noted that the risk of conflict eventually decreases given economic development, the opening of trade, and an increase in financial institutions [56]. In addition, access to unequal markets [57] and a lack of financial means [33] also contribute to constraints that hinder adaptation to climate change. For example, according to Abid et al, most farm households in Punjab, Pakistan, report the importance of access to agricultural credit services for climate change adaptation [37].…”

Camelid herding may homogenize Andean grassland plant communities

“…These findings suggest that reducing livestock pressure by keeping animal density as low as possible and reorganizing the geographical range used for grazing may avoid declines in beta diversity. Further, high grazing pressure may intensify the impact of climate change, increasing the risk of poverty, migration, and social unrest among the inhabitants of this region (Heikkinen 2021). Pastoralists in Apolobamba National Park have historically adopted successful strategies such as nomadism and transhumance to cope with environmental uncertainty.…”

Grey Systems Model to Assess Water Quality in Mantaro River in Peru

“…In turn, the case study was developed in Section III of the Mantaro River; this represents part of the middle course of the Mantaro River, which is 227.74 km [5]. For this study, nine monitoring points from the Water National Authority (ANA) technical report were used, five of which belong to domestic wastewater and the other four to mining activities.…”