ABSTRACT
The central premise of this book rests on the assumption that both vulnerability and the ability to respond to climate change must be viewed as processes, shaped by ongoing multiple stressors that interact on different levels, and with varying impacts across localities and groups of people (see Reid and Vogel 2006; O'Brien and Leichenko 2007). This argument builds on the increasing recognition among scholars, practitioners and policy-makers alike, that adaptation cannot be seen merely as a techno-managerial challenge that involves incremental adjustments to technologies, regulations, policies and practices in order to live with change. Fundamental shifts in societal systems are required, in particular deliberate transformations aimed at influencing future change towards more sustainable pathways. This implies the need to reduce emissions and to deal with the social, political and cultural causes of vulnerability, including injustice and inequity (Pelling 2011; O'Brien 2012). But that in turn requires in-depth understanding of how people in different settings identify risk, make decisions and implement actions, all mediated by their values, norms and traditions (Adger et al. 2012). Few such studies have been conducted, even though socio-cultural understanding is ‘no less central to adaptation than financing infrastructural development and reducing carbon emissions’ (ibid.: 1).
