From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, Kenya
Migration triggered by climate variability or climate change is often a problematic yet nearly unavoidable adaptation measure, particularly due to the increasing severity of natural hazards. How relocation is negotiated, and risks are evaluated at different scales are still poorly understood. We dis...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Climate Risk Management |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096324000019 |
| _version_ | 1797292954520387584 |
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| author | Marina Korzenevica Philemon Ong'ao Ng'asike Mary Ngikadelio Didymus Lokomwa Peter Ewoton Ellen Dyer |
| author_facet | Marina Korzenevica Philemon Ong'ao Ng'asike Mary Ngikadelio Didymus Lokomwa Peter Ewoton Ellen Dyer |
| author_sort | Marina Korzenevica |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Migration triggered by climate variability or climate change is often a problematic yet nearly unavoidable adaptation measure, particularly due to the increasing severity of natural hazards. How relocation is negotiated, and risks are evaluated at different scales are still poorly understood. We discuss the temporality and complexity of risks, that are experienced and approached through socio-spatial differences of intersectional embodiment (Sultana, 2020). The study is based on two flood-related qualitative case studies in the small semi-arid and rapidly growing town of Lodwar in the poorest county of Kenya, Turkana. We propose the typology of fast and slow risks to understand the different strategies, negotiations, and priorities of different people involved. Due to political abstraction, three main slow risks were not addressed: concerning land, water, and income. Consequently, vulnerabilities deepened and shifted at different scales: along the axes of gender and able-bodiedness as women and particularly widows, ageing, sick, and single mothers were bearing the main hardship; but also, between communities as hazard risks were deliberately shifted onto a politically less affluent community. We argue that in the process of negotiations, people have been actively advocating for, trying to manage, and rethinking their slow risks. They have often been employing slow responses, particularly in the form of waiting and reimagining. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T20:04:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-44d455c1c5f648619e1b2e513bd3664f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2212-0963 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T20:04:55Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Climate Risk Management |
| spelling | doaj.art-44d455c1c5f648619e1b2e513bd3664f2024-02-28T05:13:21ZengElsevierClimate Risk Management2212-09632024-01-0143100584From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, KenyaMarina Korzenevica0Philemon Ong'ao Ng'asike1Mary Ngikadelio2Didymus Lokomwa3Peter Ewoton4Ellen Dyer5School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Rd, OX1 3QY Oxford, UK; Corresponding author.University of Nairobi, Department of Land Resource Management and Agricultural Technology, KenyaFriedensau Adventist University, Germany, and Egerton University, Institute of Gender and Development, KenyaKenyatta University, School of Pure and Applied Sciences, KenyaMount Kenya University, School of Education, KenyaSchool of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Rd, OX1 3QY Oxford, UKMigration triggered by climate variability or climate change is often a problematic yet nearly unavoidable adaptation measure, particularly due to the increasing severity of natural hazards. How relocation is negotiated, and risks are evaluated at different scales are still poorly understood. We discuss the temporality and complexity of risks, that are experienced and approached through socio-spatial differences of intersectional embodiment (Sultana, 2020). The study is based on two flood-related qualitative case studies in the small semi-arid and rapidly growing town of Lodwar in the poorest county of Kenya, Turkana. We propose the typology of fast and slow risks to understand the different strategies, negotiations, and priorities of different people involved. Due to political abstraction, three main slow risks were not addressed: concerning land, water, and income. Consequently, vulnerabilities deepened and shifted at different scales: along the axes of gender and able-bodiedness as women and particularly widows, ageing, sick, and single mothers were bearing the main hardship; but also, between communities as hazard risks were deliberately shifted onto a politically less affluent community. We argue that in the process of negotiations, people have been actively advocating for, trying to manage, and rethinking their slow risks. They have often been employing slow responses, particularly in the form of waiting and reimagining.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096324000019RiskFloodsRelocationNegotiationGenderVulnerability |
| spellingShingle | Marina Korzenevica Philemon Ong'ao Ng'asike Mary Ngikadelio Didymus Lokomwa Peter Ewoton Ellen Dyer From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, Kenya Climate Risk Management Risk Floods Relocation Negotiation Gender Vulnerability |
| title | From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, Kenya |
| title_full | From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, Kenya |
| title_fullStr | From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, Kenya |
| title_short | From fast to slow risks: Shifting vulnerabilities of flood-related migration in Lodwar, Kenya |
| title_sort | from fast to slow risks shifting vulnerabilities of flood related migration in lodwar kenya |
| topic | Risk Floods Relocation Negotiation Gender Vulnerability |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096324000019 |
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