EDGES member Graham McDowell co-authored an article titled, “Vulnerability and its discontents: the past, present, and future of climate change vulnerability research.”
Abstract: The concept of vulnerability is well established in the climate change literature, underpinning significant research effort. The ability of vulnerability research to capture the complexities of climate-society dynamics has been increasingly questioned, however. In this paper, we identify, characterize, and evaluate concerns over the use of vulnerability approaches in the climate change field based on a review of peer-reviewed articles published since 1990 (n = 587). Seven concerns are identified: neglect of social drivers, promotion of a static under-
standing of human-environment interactions, vagueness about the concept of vulnerability, neglect of cross-scale interactions, passive and negative framing, limited influence on deci-
sion-making, and limited collaboration across disciplines. Examining each concern against trends in the literature, we find some of these concerns weakly justified, but others pose valid
challenges to vulnerability research. Efforts to revitalize vulnerability research are needed, with
priority areas including developing the next generation of empirical studies, catalyzing collaboration across disciplines to leverage and build on the strengths of divergent intellectual
traditions involved in vulnerability research, and linking research to the practical realities of
decision-making.
Ford, J.D., Pearce, T., McDowell, G., Berrang-Ford, L., Sayles, J.S. and Ella Belfer. (2018). Vulnerability and its discontents: the past, present, and future of climate change vulnerability research. Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2304-1
To view full article, click this link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-018-2304-1