Doctoral Dissertation Research: Developing Climate Resilience in At-Risk Societies

在帮助弱势群体适应气候变化的影响方面，国际社会正在做出新的、但日益增长的努力。在美国和其他国家，政策越来越强调促进“恢复力”。但是，气候适应能力究竟意味着什么，以及如何衡量它的成功，仍然存在不确定性。发达国家为促进发展中国家适应气候变化作出了大量承诺。因此，多边机构正在寻求建立使气候适应能力成为现实所需的制度和专业知识。这些努力标志着发展优先事项的转变，这可能在今后几十年产生重大影响。作为目前受到气候驱动干预措施影响的几个发展中国家之一，塔吉克斯坦为探索直接针对气候影响的发展政策的有效性提供了宝贵的案例研究机会。吸取的经验教训具有广泛的适用性。因此，普林斯顿大学博士生伊戈尔·鲁比诺夫（Igor Rubinov）将在Joao G. Biehl博士的指导下，在塔吉克斯坦开展研究，评估以气候为重点的发展政策对弱势群体的影响。支持该项目是NSF文化人类学项目组合的一部分，该项目通过研究气候压力下社会生态系统的恢复力和稳健性来促进国家福祉。通过关注正在中亚最大河流上实施的一个由世界银行资助的水资源开发项目，该研究员将探讨国际发展实践、国家级资源管理和地方适应能力如何结合在一起。他将采用混合方法策略，通过访谈、焦点小组、参与者观察以及收集GIS数据和社交地图，从实施者、利益相关者和最终用户那里收集数据。他将比较首都的发展专家、区域中心的国家规划者和必须将国际要求纳入其生计战略的农村村民的做法。其目的是衡量通过提高当地人民的适应能力来提高社会经济福祉的机构的有效性。最终的目标是了解全球政策目标对被要求适应的当地人口的影响。这项研究还将有助于更全面地了解复原力的含义及其与全球化等其他进程的关系。

There is a new but growing international effort to help vulnerable populations adapt to the effects of climate change. In the United States and abroad, policy increasingly has emphasized the promotion of "resilience." But uncertainty remains over what climate resilience actually entails and how its success can be measured. Large pledges have been made by developed countries to promote climate adaptation in developing ones. As a result, multilateral agencies are seeking to foster the institutions and expertise needed to make climate resilience a reality. These efforts signal a shift in development priorities which may prove consequential in the decades to come. As one of several developing nations currently being targeted by climate-driven interventions, Tajikistan offers the opportunity for a valuable case study to explore the efficacy of development policies that target climate effects directly. Lessons learned can have wide applicability. Therefore, Princeton University doctoral student, Igor Rubinov, advised by Dr. Joao G. Biehl, will undertake research in Tajikistan to assess the impact of climate-focused development policies on vulnerable populations. Supporting this project is part of the NSF Cultural Anthropology Program's portfolio of projects that contribute to the national well-being through research on the resilience and robustness of climate-stressed socio-ecological systems. By focusing on a single World Bank-funded water-resources development project being enacted on the largest river in Central Asia, the researcher will explore how international development practices, state-level resource management, and local adaptation capacities come together. He will employ a mixed-methods strategy, gathering data from implementers, stakeholders, and end users through interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and the collection of GIS data and social mapping. He will compare the practices of development experts in the capital, state planners in the regional center, and rural villagers who must incorporate the international imperatives into their livelihood strategies. The aim is to gauge the effectiveness of institutions working to enhance socioeconomic well-being by raising the adaptive capacity of local people. Ultimately, the goal is to understand the impact of global policy objectives on the local populations who are being asked to adapt. The research will also contribute to building more general understanding of what resilience entails and how it relates to other processes such as globalization.