Vulnerability and adaptive capacity of community food systems in the Peruvian Amazon: a case study from Panaillo

Abstract

AcknowledgementsThe community members of Panaillo taught me so much that extends far beyond this research and have inspired me to work harder and to be better. I deeply appreciate their friendship, their faith, and their endless supply of paranta shui. The quality, scope and meaning of this research are a direct result of their hard work. I am extremely grateful to my supervisor, Dr. James Ford, for serving as an invaluable mentor to me for several years. He introduced me to the concepts and politics surrounding climate change adaptation and has inspired me to continue working in this field for many years to come. He taught me to think critically about my own work and the work of others and I admire his commitment to community engagement and to resolving these 'wicked' problems. Through his guidance and example, I have learned how to make meaningful impacts in climate change adaptation research and I truly appreciate the freedom he has given me in carrying out this research.

Social Vulnerability to Climatic Shocks Is Shaped by Urban Accessibility

“…This is congruent with a recent Brazil-wide vulnerability assessment (Hummell, Cutter, and Emrich 2016), although our analysis controls for the potential biases of using only municipal-scale aggregate data that homogenize differences in rural and urban social vulnerability (Cutter, Ash, and Emrich 2016). This is important because the ways in which urban Amazonians cope (or not) with flood and drought events are likely to be qualitatively different from the strategies and capacities of rural communities (Pinho, Marengo, and Smith 2015;Sherman et al 2015). Our central findings are also supported by a case study of Eirunep e, a town with poor public service provision, rendered "invisible" to outsiders by its remoteness (Schor 2013).…”

“…Our study also contributes to a small but growing literature on the human dimensions of climatic change in Amazonia (Pinho, Marengo, and Smith 2015;Sherman et al 2015;Brond ızio et al 2016;Mansur et al 2016). It is significant that following decades of deforestation, road building, and colonization in Amazonia, four fifths of urban centers are at least partly connected to the road network, and these urban centers are home to nine out of ten city dwellers.…”

“…Vulnerability analysis tends to ignore food security (e.g., Cutter and Finch 2008;Mansur et al 2016) even though climatic shocks can strongly affect food systems (Sherman et al 2015). Climatic shocks can compromise food security by disrupting food access or affecting the natural resource base for local livelihoods (Maru et al 2014).…”

“…Hence, we might overestimate vulnerability in less accessible urban centers by failing to account for structural adaptations to climate shocks-in transport, early warning systems, or livelihoods-that enhance coping capacity (Hardoy and Pandiella 2009). People living in remote places might have rich local ecological knowledge, cultures of reciprocity and sharing, a strong sense of place and belonging, and informal institutions that help them deal with uncertainty (M. S. Smith and Huigen 2009;Maru et al 2014;Sherman et al 2015). In addition, we assess only place accessibility (assuming shorter travel distances mean greater accessibility) and ignore space-time constraints mediated through, for example, mobilities related to the effects of social difference (Kwan 2013).…”

Vulnerability to the health effects of climate variability in rural southwestern Uganda

“…The role of TK and erosion of TK in recent years is a challenge for indigenous communities globally and is an important factor in creating and managing vulnerability and enhancing adaptive capacity, including for the Inuit and First Nations communities in North America and the circumpolar North Ford et al 2014a;Pearce et al 2014;Ford et al 2010a), the Shipibo and the Shawi in the Peruvian Amazon (Hofmeijer et al 2013;Sherman, 2014), the Tsiname peoples of the Bolivia (Reyes- Garcia et al 2005), the Batwa Pygmies in Uganda , and communities in Australia (Leonard et al 2013). Research documenting connections between health implications or adaptative capacity and loss of TK outside of the Arctic and Australia is growing but still limited, however .…”