Dear HLPE-FSN Secretariat,
Please find in attachment some inputs from a group of scientists collaborating on the CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience. We hope these contributions will be useful in the development of this important report. We look forward to the opportunity to further collaborate on this significant endeavor.
Kind regards
Prof Andy Challinor, University of Leeds
Marieke Veeger, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, CGIAR
Dr. Lucas Rutting, CGIAR
Dr. Jon Hellin, International Rice Research Institute, CGIAR
Different ways of defining resilience:
- How do different groups define resilience (e.g. Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations, the scientific / peer reviewed literature, other key rights holders)?
Questions around whose resilience are key. How do smallholder/Indigenous communities define resilience? Resilience of what, i.e., how do they define the system (who are part of that, for example)? And to what, i.e., what do they consider threats/challenges? And how do these differ from globally dominant perspectives in international agricultural research? This touches on work on critical systems theory (CST) (Rutting et al, 2021).
An established body of work on resilience places emphasis, on the one hand, on recovery and return time following a disturbance, and, on the other, on how much a system can be disturbed and still persist without changing its function (Miller et al. 2010). However, resilience can encompass both adaptation within current development processes, and new development trajectories when older systems are no longer appropriate. Boyd et al., (2008) argue that “a resilience lens may assist development policy to consider pathways towards more successful livelihood transformations in the face of climate change”.
A first step is to unpack the differences between the social and ecological dimensions of resilience. Folke et al. (2010) argue that resilience can be seen variously, in terms of persistence, adaptability and transformability. Persistence is the capacity of a socio-ecological system to change and adapt while remaining within critical thresholds. In the case of adaptability, the system adjusts responses to changing internal processes and external drivers in ways that allow for development along the current trajectory. Transformability is the capacity to transcend thresholds and move into novel development trajectories. In the context of climate change, a resilience approach is one that transforms undesirable socioeconomic states, such as inequalities in power and income, into more desirable ones without undermining the integrity of ecological systems that humans depend on (Fisher, Brondizio, and Boyd 2022).
References
Hellin, J., E. Fisher, M. Taylor, S. Bhasme, and A. M. Loboguerrero. 2023. Transformative adaptation: from climate-smart to climate-resilient agriculture. CABI Agriculture and Bioscience 4(1):30.
Boyd, Emily, Henny Osbahr, Polly J Ericksen, Emma L Tompkins, and Maria Carmen. 2008. “Resilience and ‘ Climatizing’ Development : Examples and Policy Implications,” 390–396. doi:10.1057/dev.2008.32.
Fisher, Eleanor, Eduardo Brondizio, and Emily Boyd. 2022. “Critical Social Science Perspectives on Transformations to Sustainability.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 55. Elsevier B.V.: 101160. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101160.
Folke, Carl, Stephen R. Carpenter, Brian Walker, Marten Scheffer, Terry Chapin, and Johan Rockström. 2010. “Resilience Thinking: Integrating Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability.” Ecology and Society 15 (4). doi:10.5751/ES-03610-150420.
Miller, Fiona, Henny Osbahr, Emily Boyd, Frank Thomalla, Sukaina Bharwani, Gina Ziervogel, Brian Walker, et al. 2010. “Resilience and Vulnerability : Complementary or Conflicting Concepts ?” Ecology and Society 15 (3).
Rutting, Lucas, Joost Vervoort, Heleen Mees and Peter Driessen. 2021. Participatory scenario planning and framing of social-ecological systems: an analysis of policy formulation processes in Rwanda and Tanzania. Ecology and Society 26(4):20. https://doi.org/10.5751/ ES-12665-260420
- What kind of inequities and power imbalances are present in food systems and how do they affect resilient FSN and especially for those groups facing multidimensional and intersectional aspects of inequality and vulnerability?
How does resistance of so-called “vulnerable” communities relate to resilience? Our work as part of the CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience’s Disruptive Seeds project in Guatemala shows how understudied power imbalances relate to land rights and access to water and may affect food security. Farmers and indigenous communities lose land because the government grants private sector actors' access to communal lands for mining, the construction of hydroelectric dams, or the production of palm oil (Veeger et al, 2023). This directly affects smallholders’ food production. They respond with peaceful resistance and legal actions, often met with state violence, but ultimately enabling them to maintain their traditional livelihoods.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 2 report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability highlights the danger that climate responses can inadvertently lead to detrimental impacts upon vulnerable groups (IPCC 2022). Recent scientific studies refer to this outcome as ‘maladaptation’ (Schipper 2022; Eriksen et al. 2021). Climate adaptation projects can reinforce existing vulnerabilities either by promoting adaptation interventions that benefit powerful elites or by transferring risks and exposures between groups rather than alleviating them (Blythe et al. 2018; Schipper 2020). In other cases, actions undertaken in the name of adaptation created new risks and sources of vulnerability, often by neglecting the unintended outcomes of project activities (IPCC 2022; Eriksen et al. 2021). Such maladaptive outcomes often stem from overly technical adaptation programming that is driven by outside objectives and knowledge and insufficiently considers the social and political dimensions of vulnerability (Schipper 2020). Mitigating maladaptation requires a robust consideration of the social contexts and power relations through which agriculture is both researched and practiced.
Even within superficially homogenous farming populations, social distinctions and hierarchies across such target populations greatly shape farmers’ differential ability to successfully adapt to climate change. A fundamental issue with climate responses is that they often underplay social distinctions and divisions within target populations, coupled with how these divisions are underpinned by inequalities bound to local power relations. Socio-economic differences in access to inputs including land, labor, water, and credit can create sharply diverging – and gendered - farmers’ experiences and impacts (Cavanagh et al. 2017).
In one case in southern India (Taylor and Bhasme 2021), a program to expand rainwater harvesting empowered more affluent farmers by building infrastructure on their strategically-placed land. These farmers were able to diversify into higher value vegetable crops while simultaneously selling water to less affluent farmers for a third of their final crop (a form of sharecropping based on water not land). The result was growing inequality between the wealthier and more powerful farmers and marginalized farmers who were unable to benefit from the promotion of rainwater harvesting.
References
Hellin, J., E. Fisher, M. Taylor, S. Bhasme, and A. M. Loboguerrero. 2023. Transformative adaptation: from climate-smart to climate-resilient agriculture. CABI Agriculture and Bioscience 4(1):30.
Blythe, Jessica, Jennifer Silver, Louisa Evans, Derek Armitage, Nathan J. Bennett, Michele Lee Moore, Tiffany H. Morrison, and Katrina Brown. 2018. “The Dark Side of Transformation: Latent Risks in Contemporary Sustainability Discourse.” Antipode 50 (5): 1206–1223. doi:10.1111/anti.12405.
Cavanagh, Connor Joseph, Anthony Kibet Chemarum, Paul Olav Vedeld, and Jon Geir Petursson. 2017. “Old Wine, New Bottles? Investigating the Differential Adoption of ‘Climate-Smart’ Agricultural Practices in Western Kenya.” Journal of Rural Studies 56. Elsevier Ltd: 114–123. doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.09.010.
Eriksen, Siri, E. Lisa F. Schipper, Morgan Scoville-Simonds, Katharine Vincent, Hans Nicolai Adam, Nick Brooks, Brian Harding, et al. 2021. “Adaptation Interventions and Their Effect on Vulnerability in Developing Countries: Help, Hindrance or Irrelevance?” World Development 141 (May). The Authors: 105383. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105383.
IPCC. 2022. “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. A. Al.” Cambridge University Press.
Schipper, E. Lisa F. 2020. “Maladaptation: When Adaptation to Climate Change Goes Very Wrong.” One Earth 3 (4). Elsevier Inc.: 409–414. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2020.09.014.
Schipper, E. Lisa F. 2022. “Catching Maladaptation before It Happens.” Nature Climate Change 12 (July): 2021–2022. doi:10.1038/s41558-022-01416-3.
Taylor, Marcus, and Suhas Bhasme. 2021. “Between Deficit Rains and Surplus Populations: The Political Ecology of a Climate-Resilient Village in South India.” Geoforum 126 (January). Elsevier: 431–440. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.01.007.
- What resilience frameworks are there that should be explored?
Folke C, Carpenter SR, Walker B, Scheffer M, Chapin T, Rockström J (2010) Resilience thinking: Integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03610-150420
Walker B, Holling CS, Carpenter S., Kiznig A (2004) Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social–ecological Systems. Ecol. Soc. 9:
Barrett CB, Constas MA (2014) Toward a theory of resilience for international development applications. PNAS 111:14625–14630
Fisher E, Brondizio E, Boyd E (2022) Critical social science perspectives on transformations to sustainability. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 55:101160
Understanding what we must be prepared for – the nature of shocks:
- What types of shock are more relevant to food systems and which ones are more likely to affect FSN? What type of shocks have been under-researched, especially regarding their impact on FSN and food systems?
Land grabbing by powerful actors can be considered a major shock to smallholder communities. There is also a growing concern about how the energy transition will affect community and farmers' lands.
Additional recent literature, case studies and data that could help answer the questions listed above.
Laura N. Arenas-Calle, Julian Ramirez-Villegas, Stephen Whitfield, Andrew J. Challinor, Design of a Soil-based Climate-Smartness Index (SCSI) using the trend and variability of yields and soil organic carbon, Agricultural Systems, Volume 190, 2021, 103086, ISSN 0308-521X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103086.
Arenas-Calle LN, Whitfield S, Challinor AJ. 2019. A Climate Smartness Index (CSI) Based on Greenhouse Gas Intensity and Water Productivity: Application to Irrigated Rice. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 3:105. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2019.00105/full
Barrett CB, Constas MA (2014) Toward a theory of resilience for international development applications. PNAS 111:14625–14630
Blythe, Jessica, Jennifer Silver, Louisa Evans, Derek Armitage, Nathan J. Bennett, Michele Lee Moore, Tiffany H. Morrison, and Katrina Brown. 2018. “The Dark Side of Transformation: Latent Risks in Contemporary Sustainability Discourse.” Antipode 50 (5): 1206–1223. doi:10.1111/anti.12405.
Boyd, Emily, Henny Osbahr, Polly J Ericksen, Emma L Tompkins, and Maria Carmen. 2008. “Resilience and ‘ Climatizing ’ Development : Examples and Policy Implications,” 390–396. doi:10.1057/dev.2008.32.
Cavanagh, Connor Joseph, Anthony Kibet Chemarum, Paul Olav Vedeld, and Jon Geir Petursson. 2017. “Old Wine, New Bottles? Investigating the Differential Adoption of ‘Climate-Smart’ Agricultural Practices in Western Kenya.” Journal of Rural Studies 56. Elsevier Ltd: 114–123. doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.09.010.
Challinor Andy J., Adger W. Neil, Benton Tim G., Conway Declan, Joshi Manoj and Frame Dave. 2018. Transmission of climate risks across sectors and borders. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.37620170301. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2017.0301
Challinor, AJ , Arenas-Calles, LN and Whitfield, S (2022) Measuring the Effectiveness of Climate-Smart Practices in the Context of Food Systems: Progress and Challenges. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.853630/full
Challinor, A. and Benton, T. G. (2021) International dimensions. In: The Third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Technical Report [Betts, R.A., Haward, A.B. and Pearson, K.V. (eds.)]. Prepared for the Climate Change Committee, London. https://www.ukclimaterisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CCRA3-Chapter-7-FINAL.pdf
Challinor, A., Adger, W.N., Di Mauro, M., Baylis, M., Benton, T., Conway, D., Depledge, D., Geddes, A., McCorriston, S., Stringer, L., and Wellesley, L. (2016). UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Evidence Report: Chapter 7, International Dimensions. Report prepared for the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change, London. https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/UK-CCRA-2017-Chapter-7-International-dimensions.pdf
Eriksen, Siri, E. Lisa F. Schipper, Morgan Scoville-Simonds, Katharine Vincent, Hans Nicolai Adam, Nick Brooks, Brian Harding, et al. 2021. “Adaptation Interventions and Their Effect on Vulnerability in Developing Countries: Help, Hindrance or Irrelevance?” World Development 141 (May). The Authors: 105383. doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105383.
Falloon Pete et al. 2022. What do changing weather and climate shocks and stresses mean for the UK food system? Environ. Res. Lett. 17 051001DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f9
Fisher E, Brondizio E, Boyd E (2022) Critical social science perspectives on transformations to sustainability. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 55:101160
Fisher, Eleanor, Eduardo Brondizio, and Emily Boyd. 2022. “Critical Social Science Perspectives on Transformations to Sustainability.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 55. Elsevier B.V.: 101160. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101160.
Folke C, Carpenter SR, Walker B, Scheffer M, Chapin T, Rockström J (2010) Resilience thinking: Integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability. Ecol Soc. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03610-150420
Folke, Carl, Stephen R. Carpenter, Brian Walker, Marten Scheffer, Terry Chapin, and Johan Rockström. 2010. “Resilience Thinking: Integrating Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability.” Ecology and Society 15 (4). doi:10.5751/ES-03610-150420.
Hellin, J., E. Fisher, M. Taylor, S. Bhasme, and A. M. Loboguerrero. 2023. Transformative adaptation: from climate-smart to climate-resilient agriculture. CABI Agriculture and Bioscience 4(1):30.
IPCC. 2022. “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. A. Al.” Cambridge University Press.
Jennings, S., Challinor, A., Smith, P. et al. Stakeholder-driven transformative adaptation is needed for climate-smart nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa. Nat Food 5, 37–47 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00901-y
Miller, Fiona, Henny Osbahr, Emily Boyd, Frank Thomalla, Sukaina Bharwani, Gina Ziervogel, Brian Walker, et al. 2010. “Resilience and Vulnerability : Complementary or Conflicting Concepts ?” Ecology and Society 15 (3).
Rutting, L., J. M. Vervoort, H. Mees, and P. P. J. Driessen. 2021. Participatory scenario planning and framing of social-ecological systems: an analysis of policy formulation processes in Rwanda and Tanzania. Ecology and Society 26(4):20.
https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12665-260420
Schipper, E. Lisa F. 2020. “Maladaptation: When Adaptation to Climate Change Goes Very Wrong.” One Earth 3 (4). Elsevier Inc.: 409–414. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2020.09.014.
Schipper, E. Lisa F. 2022. “Catching Maladaptation before It Happens.” Nature Climate Change 12 (July): 2021–2022. doi:10.1038/s41558-022-01416-3.
Taylor, Marcus, and Suhas Bhasme. 2021. “Between Deficit Rains and Surplus Populations: The Political Ecology of a Climate-Resilient Village in South India.” Geoforum 126 (January). Elsevier: 431–440. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.01.007.
Veeger, M.; Rutting, L.; von Breymann, R. (2023) Semillas disruptivas para imaginar un sistema alimentario justo y sostenible en Guatemala. Informe de Taller. Iniciativa CGIAR sobre resiliencia climática, ClimBeR. Panajachel, Guatemala. 69 p. https://alliancebioversityciat.org/publications-data/semillas-disruptiv…
Walker B, Holling CS, Carpenter S., Kiznig A (2004) Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social–ecological Systems. Ecol. Soc. 9:
Other
The integrated Future Estimator for Emissions and Diets (iFEED) provides integrated evidence to shape policies towards climate-smart nutrition security: https://ifeed.leeds.ac.uk
Contributors
Prof Andy Challinor, University of Leeds
Marieke Veeger, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, CGIAR
Dr. Lucas Rutting, CGIAR
Dr. Jon Hellin, International Rice Research Institute, CGIAR
السيد James Stapleton