Collaborative Research: The relative importance of generic vs. specific capacity in addressing drought vulnerability in NE Brazil

由于越来越容易受到气候变化的影响，建设家庭、区域和国家的适应能力已成为一项政策优先事项。在世界各地，各国政府和国际捐助者不仅寻求建立适应能力的新的、更好的方法，而且还了解当前的发展政策和国际援助投资如何塑造能力。然而，定义和制定适应能力的指标在理论和实践上都是具有挑战性的。这项研究通过研究旨在减轻巴西塞拉干旱影响的政策来应对这些挑战，塞拉是一个历史上以严重和频繁的干旱为标志的州。公共投资主要分为两类：一类是专门用于减少干旱脆弱性的投资，另一类是用于更普遍的应对能力的投资。第一类包括作物保险以及通过发展水文基础设施提供灌溉和饮用水等活动。第二类包括对社会和人类发展的投资，如农村养老金、减贫和教育券方案。这项研究考察了旱地农户对干旱的脆弱性如何随着时间的推移而作为政府主导的具体和一般干预措施的函数发生变化。研究还探讨了这两类干预措施在确定总体适应能力方面的相对重要性，以及它们如何产生协同作用或相互制约。研究使用1997/98年收集的家庭和关键信息者数据作为基线，以了解脆弱性和适应能力的纵向变化。对该州六个不同地理气候带的500户农户进行的调查，以及对政策制定者和参与公共政策制定和执行的不同方面的其他主要信息提供人的深入访谈，产生了新的基本数据。这项研究对区域发展和适应政策作出了贡献，为关于一般投资和具体投资在加强总体适应能力方面的相对作用和互补性的辩论提供了信息。该项目还有助于建立有关机制的理论，通过这些机制，随着时间的推移，改变生计做法和应享权利可减少脆弱性。

In the wake of growing vulnerability to climatic change, building the adaptive capacity of households, regions and countries has become a policy priority. Around the world, governments and international donors seek not only for new and better ways to build adaptive capacity, but also to understand how capacities are shaped by current development policy and international aid investments. Defining and developing metrics for adaptive capacity, however, is challenging on both theoretical and practical grounds. This research responds to these challenges by studying policies designed to mitigate drought impacts in Ceará, Brazil, a state historically marked by severe and frequent droughts. Public investments fall into two main categories: those specific to reducing drought vulnerabilities and those directed towards more generic response capacities. The first category includes activities such as crop insurance and the provision of irrigation and drinking water through the development of hydrologic infrastructure. The second category includes investments in social and human development such as rural pensions, poverty reduction and education voucher programs. This research examines how the vulnerability of rainfed farm households to drought has changed through time as a function of both specific and generic government-led interventions. The research also explores how these two categories of interventions are related, both in terms of their relative importance in defining overall adaptive capacity, and in terms of how they may create synergies or be mutually conditioning.The research uses household and key informant data collected in 1997/98 as a baseline to understand longitudinal changes in vulnerability and adaptive capacity. New primary data emerge from a survey of 500 farm households in six different geoclimatic zones in the state and from in-depth interviews with policy makers and other key informants involved in different aspects of public policy development and implementation. This research contributes to regional development and adaptation policy by informing the debate over the relative roles and complementarities of generic and specific investments in enhancing overall adaptive capacity. The project also contributes to building theory on the mechanisms through which change in livelihood practices and entitlements over time can result in vulnerability reduction.