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Foreword by Tom Downing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

Jesse C. Ribot
Affiliation:
World Resources Institute, Washington DC
Antonio Rocha Magalhães
Affiliation:
Ministry of Planning, Brazil
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Summary

The threat of climate change has united scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and many publics to challenge the foundations of wasteful economic systems and, now over two years ago, to forge an unprecedented treaty: the Framework Convention on Climate Change. What is the contribution of the academic community to meet this challenge? Obviously, understanding of climate systems and their interactions with the biogeosphere brought the issue to the world's attention, garners the majority of funding, and, indeed, continues as an urgent need.

Yet, an equal contribution, in my view, is required from social scientists. The many disciplines are replete with frameworks (for example, political ecology, sustainable development, and risk assessment), concepts and methods (from structuration to contingent valuation and participatory rural appraisal), and prescriptions for action (such as community self-help and empowerment embodied in the slogan ‘Think global, act local’). Across this diverse landscape, three foci should be prominent.

First, vulnerable populations and social equity must be firmly embedded in the science and politics of global change. Impact assessments, economic evaluations and international negotiations must be cognizant of the great disparities in livelihoods. Those who have contributed the most to climate change are able to bear the consequences more readily than those whose livelihoods are under threat at present and can least afford to either prevent climate change or survive potentially adverse consequences.

Second, the nuances of local vulnerability and capability must be clearly understood. In the near term, research on the human ecology of production, access to markets, and the politics of empowerment must be conducted at a local level. Regional and global patterns will only emerge from careful, consistent case studies of individuals, households and communities.

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