Climate Change and Livelihoods
To understand human livelihoods and climate change, we research livelihood adaptation. We've used a novel framework outlining relationships between access to capital, cognition and decision-making, adaptation, and well-being. We combine a variety of data collected through focus groups and interviews, household surveys, health assessments, and remote sensing to determine what factors enable adaptation and how that adaptation impacts well-being. This research identifies households that are most vulnerable to climate change and the resources that are most useful in mitigating those impacts to enable adaptation.
|
We used the above framework to study adaptation to drought in Eswatini.
To test this theoretical framework, we studied climate adaptation in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) following one of the worst droughts in recorded history. This research demonstrates the complex relationships that exist between humans and their environment. A primary finding of our initial research in Eswatini showed that social capital, particularly structured relationships maintained through community engagement, provided resources and opportunities to adapt that maintained human health and well-being. The results from this work have been published in Ecology and Society and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
|