Water up to our necks: learning and responses to hydroclimatic variability in Brazilian Amazon floodplain communities
| dc.contributor.author | Almudi, Tiago | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Berkes, Fikret (Natural Resources Institute) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Hudson, Mark (Sociology and Criminology) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Charles, Anthony (Environmental Science, Saint Mary's University) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Sinclair, John (Natural Resources Institute) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-05-10T14:36:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-05-10T14:36:11Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019 | en_US |
| dc.date.submitted | 2019-04-11T21:07:45Z | en |
| dc.date.submitted | 2019-05-09T19:03:47Z | en |
| dc.degree.discipline | Natural Resources Management | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Understanding how floodplain communities of the Brazilian Amazon respond to the impacts of extreme flooding induced by hydroclimatic variability and how learning supports these responses are the dual focus of this thesis. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (2014) demonstrates that rural communities in developing countries are among those most impacted by extreme climatic events, which are likely to increase in frequency and intensity in the near future. However, the community-based adaptations (CBA) literature indicates that rural communities have coped with climate variability by using a range of local assets, especially when governments have failed to provide proper assistance. My study followed a qualitative approach, employing semi-structured interviews with community members and institutional agents, participant observation, participatory mapping exercises, and validation workshops. Findings demonstrate that the repeated occurrence of extreme floods between 2009 and 2015 resulted in severe impacts, including some that had never been experienced by the local communities, such as the complete loss of perennials. Utilizing the sustainable livelihoods and resilience lenses, I investigated the locally-devised short-term and long-term responses to these impacts. Results revealed a wide range of responses, some of which I placed in a newly-proposed category of annual responses. Data about the capacity to absorb impacts without responding and about transformative responses were also provided. I also found that much of the learning that was foundational to the responses was instrumental in nature. The learning outcomes for individual participants resulted in proposing two new learning domains –introspective and emancipatory learning. Transformative outcomes were revealed for some participants who found that the intensity and repetition of extreme flooding drove them to leave the floodplain for upland or urban areas. Findings also revealed a wide array of learning domains and sources of individual learning, such as experience, dialogue, reflection, and observation, that contributed to expanding the applicability of the transformative learning theory. Lessons drawn from community experiences on how to live with hydroclimatic changes demonstrate that continuous learning through multiple sources is essential for helping local people increase their capacity to overcome uncertainties. Learning is also fundamental for communities to build a wider range of possible responses to be chosen from and applied with agility in order to decrease vulnerability to increasingly variable, dynamic and unpredictable impacts. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | October 2019 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | APA | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/33891 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Climate change | en_US |
| dc.subject | Transformative learning theory | en_US |
| dc.subject | Community-based adaptations | en_US |
| dc.subject | Amazon floodplain | en_US |
| dc.subject | Vulnerability | en_US |
| dc.subject | Resilience | en_US |
| dc.subject | Flooding | en_US |
| dc.subject | Extreme events | en_US |
| dc.title | Water up to our necks: learning and responses to hydroclimatic variability in Brazilian Amazon floodplain communities | en_US |
| dc.type | doctoral thesis | en_US |