Adaptation as a Political Process: Adjusting to Drought and Conflict in Kenya's Drylands
Adaptation as a Political Process: Adjusting to Drought and Conflict in Kenya's Drylands
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DOI：
10.1007/s00267-008-9189-0
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发表时间：
2009-05-01
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Lind, Jeremy
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Eriksen, Siri;Lind, Jeremy
在这篇文章中，我们认为，人们对多重冲击和变化的调整，如冲突和干旱，本质上是具有不均衡结果的政治过程。加强地方适应能力是适应气候变化的一个关键组成部分。在肯尼亚的两个领域的实地调查的基础上，我们调查人们如何寻求获得生计调整选项，并促进特定的适应利益，通过形成社会关系和政治联盟，影响集体决策。首先，我们发现，在干旱和冲突面前，个人、政治家、习惯机构和政府行政部门之间形成了关系，目的除了确保物质生存手段之外，还在于保持或加强权力基础。第二，国家经济和政治结构及进程从根本上影响地方的适应能力，例如各区域之间资源分配不平等，发展政策不利于畜牧业，以及竞选政治职位。第三，冲突是适应进程的一部分，而不仅仅是阻碍地方适应战略的外部因素。第四，适应有相对的赢家和输家，但当地对干旱和冲突的调整是否会加剧现有的不平等，取决于多个地理尺度上的权力关系，这些关系决定了当地如何谈判相互冲突的利益。除非考虑到当地适应的政治层面，否则气候变化适应政策就不可能成功或尽量减少不公平;然而，现有的权力结构和利益冲突是制定这种政策的政治障碍。
In this article, we argue that people's adjustments to multiple shocks and changes, such as conflict and drought, are intrinsically political processes that have uneven outcomes. Strengthening local adaptive capacity is a critical component of adapting to climate change. Based on fieldwork in two areas in Kenya, we investigate how people seek to access livelihood adjustment options and promote particular adaptation interests through forming social relations and political alliances to influence collective decision-making. First, we find that, in the face of drought and conflict, relations are formed among individuals, politicians, customary institutions, and government administration aimed at retaining or strengthening power bases in addition to securing material means of survival. Second, national economic and political structures and processes affect local adaptive capacity in fundamental ways, such as through the unequal allocation of resources across regions, development policy biased against pastoralism, and competition for elected political positions. Third, conflict is part and parcel of the adaptation process, not just an external factor inhibiting local adaptation strategies. Fourth, there are relative winners and losers of adaptation, but whether or not local adjustments to drought and conflict compound existing inequalities depends on power relations at multiple geographic scales that shape how conflicting interests are negotiated locally. Climate change adaptation policies are unlikely to be successful or minimize inequity unless the political dimensions of local adaptation are considered; however, existing power structures and conflicts of interests represent political obstacles to developing such policies.