The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand
The health and productivity of marine ecosystems, habitats, and fisheries are deteriorating on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Because of their high dependence on natural resources and proximity to the ocean, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to climate-induced changes in the marine env...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2014-06-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss2/art5/ |
| _version_ | 1818581641513140224 |
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| author | Nathan J. Bennett Philip Dearden Grant Murray Alin Kadfak |
| author_facet | Nathan J. Bennett Philip Dearden Grant Murray Alin Kadfak |
| author_sort | Nathan J. Bennett |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The health and productivity of marine ecosystems, habitats, and fisheries are deteriorating on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Because of their high dependence on natural resources and proximity to the ocean, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to climate-induced changes in the marine environment. These communities must also adapt to the impacts of management interventions and conservation initiatives, including marine protected areas, which have livelihood implications. Further, communities on the Andaman coast are also experiencing a range of new economic opportunities associated in particular with tourism and agriculture.
These complex and ongoing changes require integrated assessment of, and deliberate planning to increase, the adaptive capacity of communities so that they may respond to: (1) environmental degradation and fisheries declines through effective management interventions or conservation initiatives, (2) new economic opportunities to reduce dependence on fisheries, and (3) the increasing impacts of climate change.
Our results are from a mixed methods study, which used surveys and interviews to examine multiple dimensions of the adaptive capacity of seven island communities near marine protected areas on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Results show that communities had low adaptive capacity with respect to environmental degradation and fisheries declines, and to management and conservation interventions, as well as uneven levels of adaptive capacity to economic opportunities. Though communities and households were experiencing the impacts of climate change, especially storm events, changing seasons and weather patterns, and erosion, they were reacting to these changes with limited knowledge of climate change per se. We recommend interventions, in the form of policies, programs, and actions, at multiple scales for increasing the adaptive capacity of Thailand's coastal communities to change. The analytical and methodological approach used for examining adaptive capacity could be easily modified and applied to other contexts and locales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T07:36:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d2383500e6804b59a78bcd984489bdb5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T07:36:43Z |
| publishDate | 2014-06-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-d2383500e6804b59a78bcd984489bdb52022-12-21T22:39:12ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872014-06-01192510.5751/ES-06315-1902056315The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of ThailandNathan J. Bennett0Philip Dearden1Grant Murray2Alin Kadfak3Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British ColumbiaDepartment of Geography, University of VictoriaInstitute for Coastal Research, Vancouver Island UniversitySchool of Global Studies, University of GothenburgThe health and productivity of marine ecosystems, habitats, and fisheries are deteriorating on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Because of their high dependence on natural resources and proximity to the ocean, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to climate-induced changes in the marine environment. These communities must also adapt to the impacts of management interventions and conservation initiatives, including marine protected areas, which have livelihood implications. Further, communities on the Andaman coast are also experiencing a range of new economic opportunities associated in particular with tourism and agriculture. These complex and ongoing changes require integrated assessment of, and deliberate planning to increase, the adaptive capacity of communities so that they may respond to: (1) environmental degradation and fisheries declines through effective management interventions or conservation initiatives, (2) new economic opportunities to reduce dependence on fisheries, and (3) the increasing impacts of climate change. Our results are from a mixed methods study, which used surveys and interviews to examine multiple dimensions of the adaptive capacity of seven island communities near marine protected areas on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Results show that communities had low adaptive capacity with respect to environmental degradation and fisheries declines, and to management and conservation interventions, as well as uneven levels of adaptive capacity to economic opportunities. Though communities and households were experiencing the impacts of climate change, especially storm events, changing seasons and weather patterns, and erosion, they were reacting to these changes with limited knowledge of climate change per se. We recommend interventions, in the form of policies, programs, and actions, at multiple scales for increasing the adaptive capacity of Thailand's coastal communities to change. The analytical and methodological approach used for examining adaptive capacity could be easily modified and applied to other contexts and locales.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss2/art5/adaptive capacityalternative livelihoodsclimate changecoastal communitiesfisheries managementmarine protected areassocial resilienceThailand |
| spellingShingle | Nathan J. Bennett Philip Dearden Grant Murray Alin Kadfak The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand Ecology and Society adaptive capacity alternative livelihoods climate change coastal communities fisheries management marine protected areas social resilience Thailand |
| title | The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand |
| title_full | The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand |
| title_fullStr | The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand |
| title_full_unstemmed | The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand |
| title_short | The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand |
| title_sort | capacity to adapt communities in a changing climate environment and economy on the northern andaman coast of thailand |
| topic | adaptive capacity alternative livelihoods climate change coastal communities fisheries management marine protected areas social resilience Thailand |
| url | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol19/iss2/art5/ |
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