Building resilience along the Colombian Caribbean coast in the face of sudden and slow-onset environmental hazards
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Environment
Abstract
Resilience is at the heart of the current development agenda and underpins approaches to disaster risk reduction. It has a central role in the 2030 Global Goals. Fundamentally, resilience is about the ability of communities to resist and absorb the impacts of environmental hazards, so they can continue to function as successful societies. The frequency and severity of environmental hazards, such as floods and droughts, are increasing in many lower and middle-income countries, where environmental degradation (like water and soil pollution) can make recovery from such impacts more prolonged. The poor, marginalised ethnic groups and other vulnerable social sectors, including the old and the very young, are particularly vulnerable to such impacts. These groups lack the social, economic and political capital that underpins resilience and, consequently, the overall cost of environmental change is greater for these communities than for more privileged ones. It is particularly important, therefore, to understand how to build resilience in and for poorer communities in order to ensure that they are less vulnerable in the future.
One important influence on how communities and societies are able to adapt to environmental hazards is how they have developed in the past. Historical context, culture and political dynamics are all important factors affecting resilience and shape how it is locally understood and framed. However, most research on resilience fails to take account of the importance of past events and responses, and the timeframe of studies is a few decades at most. For this reason, in this project, we will bring together social, political, cultural and environmental histories to track resilience in a vulnerable tropical coastal community over a 200 year period.
The project will focus on communities along Colombia's Caribbean Sea coast, in particular within the Biosphere Reserve site of Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM). The CGSM is Colombia's largest coastal lagoon system, and supports seven communities, all of which are heavily dependent on fisheries from the lagoon for their livelihoods. The CGSM system is under threat from a wide range of environmental pressures including sea level rise, warming climate and reduced precipitation, which combine to threaten the fisheries. These trends are overlain by impacts from the increased frequency and severity of floods and droughts, linked to weather patterns related to large-scale Pacific Ocean warmings (El Niño events) and coolings (La Niña events).
We will extract detailed environmental histories regarding drought and flood events, pollution and sedimentation rates from cores that we take from the mangrove forests that fringe the CGSM lagoon, plot historical representations of environmental change and identify historical political trends that have shaped resilience in the past. We will date key events such as floods and droughts from these cores and then use historical sources including literature and arts-based works alongside the lens of politics to identify the range of social, political and cultural factors that have affected the response and the extent of resilience of the communities over time. Finally, we will use this information to propose ways in which resilience could be enhanced to protect the communities against future environmental and societal pressures.
One important influence on how communities and societies are able to adapt to environmental hazards is how they have developed in the past. Historical context, culture and political dynamics are all important factors affecting resilience and shape how it is locally understood and framed. However, most research on resilience fails to take account of the importance of past events and responses, and the timeframe of studies is a few decades at most. For this reason, in this project, we will bring together social, political, cultural and environmental histories to track resilience in a vulnerable tropical coastal community over a 200 year period.
The project will focus on communities along Colombia's Caribbean Sea coast, in particular within the Biosphere Reserve site of Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta (CGSM). The CGSM is Colombia's largest coastal lagoon system, and supports seven communities, all of which are heavily dependent on fisheries from the lagoon for their livelihoods. The CGSM system is under threat from a wide range of environmental pressures including sea level rise, warming climate and reduced precipitation, which combine to threaten the fisheries. These trends are overlain by impacts from the increased frequency and severity of floods and droughts, linked to weather patterns related to large-scale Pacific Ocean warmings (El Niño events) and coolings (La Niña events).
We will extract detailed environmental histories regarding drought and flood events, pollution and sedimentation rates from cores that we take from the mangrove forests that fringe the CGSM lagoon, plot historical representations of environmental change and identify historical political trends that have shaped resilience in the past. We will date key events such as floods and droughts from these cores and then use historical sources including literature and arts-based works alongside the lens of politics to identify the range of social, political and cultural factors that have affected the response and the extent of resilience of the communities over time. Finally, we will use this information to propose ways in which resilience could be enhanced to protect the communities against future environmental and societal pressures.
Planned Impact
The importance of ensuring ecosystems are resilient, continue to support livelihoods and contribute to poverty eradication is a central tenet of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in the CBD's Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. Transformative pathways to sustainability are also emphasised in national and international programmes, such as Seeds of a Good Anthropocene (USA), EKLIPSE (EU), and Future Earth (international). Our research is well placed to inform the these initiatives and the IPBES Regional Assessment for the Americas (Decision IPBES 3/1 Annex V) through Solan's membership of the scientific committee of ecoSERVICES, a project of Future Earth, and Godbold's involvement with CBD COP 13. The PEDRR platform, in which members of the team already participate, will provide tools for dissemination and information sharing with similar projects internationally.
At the global level, we will partner with The Nature Conservancy's Coastal Resilience Program of the Natural Coastal Protection project to understand how natural ecosystems can and should be worked into strategies for coastal protection to protect livelihoods. By working with the international Mangrove Capital project we will also directly contribute to the restoration of mangrove forests. Links to Wetlands International and other relevant international organisations such as UNEP-WCMC will be enabled by the team's policy networks, and by the location of UNEP-WCMC in Cambridge. CoI Spencer is embedded within all of these initiatives, including co-supervision of PhD students and joint publications, which will be strengthened through co-development within this project.
At the national level, resilience has become a key priority for Colombia, as it is for the Latin American region as a whole. Climate-resilient development now has a legal mandate in Colombia's National Development Plan. The Climate Change National Adaptation Plan (CCNAP) provides an umbrella for work on climate change, economic development and resilience, and guidance documents are starting to be produced for different sectors under the CCNAP. At the end of 2015, the Colombian Government launched Colombia Sostenible, a national-level initiative that takes an integrative approach to addressing climate change, social inequality and post-conflict challenges. Dr Lacambra's contacts with the Ministry of Environment through previous adaptation projects will ensure that the results of the research have an opportunity to influence further developments under these initiatives. We will use these contacts to deliver high level participation of policy makers in our final workshop.
Colombia has recently introduced ecosystem services into its biodiversity policy (MADS, 2012) and the first national mapping of ecosystem services for Colombia has just been completed (Rodriguez et al., Land Use Policy 42:609). Our expert local partners will lead on ensuring that the project provides regional authorities with information to feed into sectoral adaptation plans that are already being developed, particularly in the areas of fisheries and agriculture. Through the environmental records that we will obtain on past impacts of pollution alongside environmental change, it will also inform the national and local environmental authorities in decisions on infrastructure developments, where impacts on key lagoon ecosystem functions and services are likely to occur, and what impacts on livelihoods may follow as a consequence. Finally, at the local level, the project will provide information to the Colombian Municipalities to improve their Local Territorial planning, in accordance with the national emphasis on resilience. Continued dialogue through the project with representatives of the Ministry of Environment, local environmental authorities, community groups and other end-users will expand our existing research and knowledge network and establish further impact for the project at international, national and local levels.
At the global level, we will partner with The Nature Conservancy's Coastal Resilience Program of the Natural Coastal Protection project to understand how natural ecosystems can and should be worked into strategies for coastal protection to protect livelihoods. By working with the international Mangrove Capital project we will also directly contribute to the restoration of mangrove forests. Links to Wetlands International and other relevant international organisations such as UNEP-WCMC will be enabled by the team's policy networks, and by the location of UNEP-WCMC in Cambridge. CoI Spencer is embedded within all of these initiatives, including co-supervision of PhD students and joint publications, which will be strengthened through co-development within this project.
At the national level, resilience has become a key priority for Colombia, as it is for the Latin American region as a whole. Climate-resilient development now has a legal mandate in Colombia's National Development Plan. The Climate Change National Adaptation Plan (CCNAP) provides an umbrella for work on climate change, economic development and resilience, and guidance documents are starting to be produced for different sectors under the CCNAP. At the end of 2015, the Colombian Government launched Colombia Sostenible, a national-level initiative that takes an integrative approach to addressing climate change, social inequality and post-conflict challenges. Dr Lacambra's contacts with the Ministry of Environment through previous adaptation projects will ensure that the results of the research have an opportunity to influence further developments under these initiatives. We will use these contacts to deliver high level participation of policy makers in our final workshop.
Colombia has recently introduced ecosystem services into its biodiversity policy (MADS, 2012) and the first national mapping of ecosystem services for Colombia has just been completed (Rodriguez et al., Land Use Policy 42:609). Our expert local partners will lead on ensuring that the project provides regional authorities with information to feed into sectoral adaptation plans that are already being developed, particularly in the areas of fisheries and agriculture. Through the environmental records that we will obtain on past impacts of pollution alongside environmental change, it will also inform the national and local environmental authorities in decisions on infrastructure developments, where impacts on key lagoon ecosystem functions and services are likely to occur, and what impacts on livelihoods may follow as a consequence. Finally, at the local level, the project will provide information to the Colombian Municipalities to improve their Local Territorial planning, in accordance with the national emphasis on resilience. Continued dialogue through the project with representatives of the Ministry of Environment, local environmental authorities, community groups and other end-users will expand our existing research and knowledge network and establish further impact for the project at international, national and local levels.
Publications
Henrice Altink
Caribbean studies needs the humanities
Whitfield S
(2019)
Exploring temporality in socio-ecological resilience through experiences of the 2015-16 El Niño across the Tropics
in Global Environmental Change
Description | Communities are aware of changing environmental pressures such as pollution, sedimentation and climate-related shocks. They are also aware of how climate phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña shape precipitation and temperature, as well as other slow-onset environmental processes that affect their environment. The dependence of communities on the ecosystem is strongly linked to their potential sensitivity to both climatic shocks and environmental hazards. Communities' perceptions and experiences of the impacts from slow-onset environmental stressors include higher competition for natural resources, loss of income, migration, and changes in mentality and perceptions. The occurrence of climatic shocks can affect people's livelihoods in both positive and negative ways. Experiences from extreme climatic events and slow-onset changes spark a learning process about best responses and coping capacity for the future. Many responses are short-term, reactive, bottom-up, and unplanned, which can lead to the adoption of maladaptive practices in the long term. Planned, long-term adaptation that accounts for cumulative risks in the future can lead to improved adaptation capacity and reduced vulnerability, but there are significant challenges in developing such strategies against a background of lack of trust in institutions and the community's perceived exclusion from decision-making processes. |
Exploitation Route | Resilience has become a key priority for Colombia, as it is for the Latin American region as a whole. Climate-resilient development now has a legal mandate in Colombia's National Development Plan. The Climate Change National Adaptation Plan (CCNAP) provides an umbrella for work on climate change, economic development and resilience, and guidance documents are starting to be produced for different sectors under the CCNAP. At the end of 2015, the Colombian Government launched Colombia Sostenible, a national-level initiative that takes an integrative approach to addressing climate change, social inequality and post-conflict challenges.The results of our project will inform the development of these initiatives. Colombia has recently introduced ecosystem services into its biodiversity policy. The results of our project will provide regional authorities with information to feed into sectoral adaptation plans that are already being developed, particularly in the area of fisheries. Through the environmental records that we will obtain on past impacts of pollution alongside environmental change, it will also inform the national and local environmental authorities in decisions on infrastructure developments, where impacts on key lagoon ecosystem functions and services are likely to occur, and what impacts on livelihoods may follow as a consequence. Finally, at the local level, the project will provide information to the Colombian Municipalities to improve their Local Territorial planning, in accordance with the national emphasis on resilience. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Communities and Social Services/Policy Environment Government Democracy and Justice |
Description | Findings from this work contributed to a submission by Invemar to the Colombian Government regarding the state of La Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta, and the ptential impact of climate change on the ecosystem. |
First Year Of Impact | 2018 |
Sector | Environment |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | international research network |
Amount | £42,755 (GBP) |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2017 |
End | 11/2018 |
Description | Partnership with Grupo Laera, Colombia |
Organisation | Grupo Laera |
Country | Colombia |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Grupo Laera provide field and logistical support for our work in Colombia, as well as providing intellectual input to the project. |
Collaborator Contribution | Grupo Laera provides field support, logistical assistance, workshop organisation, networking and intellectual contributions. |
Impact | One funded proposal in the GCRF Building Resilience programme. |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Partnership with Invemar, Colombia |
Organisation | Institute for Marine and Coastal Research |
Country | Colombia |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | Invemar will be proving us with access to historical data relating to one of our study sites. |
Collaborator Contribution | Invemar will be providing data to assist with our project. |
Impact | No outputs as yet |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Community mangrove festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We organised a mangrove festival in one of the local communities, together with the National Parks of Colombia and a number of community groups. The festival celebrated all things to do with mangroves, highlighting the importance of mangroves not only for fisheries and livelihoods but also for other benefits such as biodiversity, water provision and their cultural significance. The event included a football tournament, Colombian music, and a fashion show featuring costumes made of recycled materials with a mangrove theme. The event was attended by around 200 people. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Salobre - a short film about the ecosystem and communities of La Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We have made a short film, titled 'Salobre', which is Colombian for 'brackish', produced by a Colombian filmmaker. The film is in the final stages of editing. When it is finished, it will be distributed as a trailer for major movies through the Colombian cinema chain, Cine Colombia. This film will raise awareness among the Colombian public of the mangrove ecosystems and the communities they support, the challenges they face from environmental changes, and how they adapt to these. The film is entirely voiced by members of the communities living around the Cienaga Grande de Santa Marta. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Workshop - past, present and future of La Cienaga |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | I participated in, and gave a presentation at, this workshop, which was organised by Invemar in Colombia, on Friday 15th September 2017 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | talk at event with international development parliamentary committee |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The PI and CI of the AHRC funded network 'risk and resilience in the coastal Caribbean' delivered a presentation entitled 'using local knowledge and practices to build resilience in the Caribbean' at the GCRF-AHRC 'Mobilising global voices: perspectives from the Global South event' held on 28 February. This involved participation of the external partner the international federation of the Red Cross and red crescent societies. We shared findings from our external engagement workshop in Kingston and our involvement in two other GCRF-funded projects including 'Building resilience along the Colombian caribbean coast' to an audience consisting of members of the international development parliamentary committee, representatives of NGOs and MPs from the Global South and other researchers. The aim of the presentation was to illustrate what arts&humanities methodologies can bring to research on enhancing Caribbean resilience, particular their ability to bring to the fore the voices of local people, especially the most vulnerable in society. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://ahrc.ukri.org/newsevents/events/calendar/mobilising-global-voices-2019-perspectives-from-the... |
Description | workshop for practitioners in the field of disaster risk reduction |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Several members of the GCRF-funded 'Building resilience along the Colombian Caribbean coast in the face of sudden and slow-onset environmental hazards' team delivered a workshop at the 2017 platform for Global Disaster Risk Reduction in Cancun (Mexico). Attended by some 40 people from different parts of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean and representing a wide range of NGOs and international organisations, the workshop explored the value of using history and culture as a lens to inform development policies around risk and resilience and how this approach can strengthen advocacy and policies in support of the Sendai framework for global disaster risk reduction. Following several presentations in which practitioners in the field of disaster risk reduction, ranging from the Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency to the Coordinator of UNDP's disaster risk reduction projects in Southeast Mexico, reflected on the role that history can play or already plays in their work, break-out groups discussed either ways in which policymakers in the area of disaster risk reduction can be encouraged to engage with history or the incorporation of traditional historical knowledge in disaster risk reduction work. The workshop was delivered in collaboration with Emily Wilkinson of the overseas development institute (ODI), who has used the workshop to inform an ODI briefing note on 'building better in the Caribbean', that stresses the need to consider the role of history and culture in informing effect disaster risk management . The workshop has also resulted in further collaborations. E.g Altink and Wilkinson's AHRC network grant which includes participation of 3 of the practitioners that attended the meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://www.cdema.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1672:workshop-learning-from-social... |