TY - JOUR
T1 - Adapting to risk and perpetuating poverty
T2 - Household's strategies for managing flood risk and water scarcity in Mexico City
AU - Eakin, Hallie
AU - Lerner, Amy M.
AU - Manuel-Navarrete, David
AU - Hernández Aguilar, Bertha
AU - Martínez-Canedo, Alejandra
AU - Tellman, Beth
AU - Charli-Joseph, Lakshmi
AU - Fernández Álvarez, Rafael
AU - Bojórquez-Tapia, Luis
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1414052 , CNH: The Dynamics of Multi-Scalar Adaptation in Megacities (PI H. Eakin), with additional support from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research under Collaborative Research Network-CRN3: “Coping with hydrological risk in megacities: Collaborative planning framework for the Mexico City Metropolitan Area” (Project number: CRN3108). We gratefully acknowledge the frank and open contributions of the residents of Iztapalapa, Xochimilco, and Magadalena Contreras to our project and the support of the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM, in the implentation of the focus group interviews.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - Adaptation is typically conceived uniquely in positive terms, however for some populations, investments in risk management can entail significant tradeoffs. Here we discuss the burden for households of coping with, and adapting to, adverse water conditions in economically marginal areas of Mexico City. We argue that households’ efforts to adapt in conditions of marginality can come at the expense of households’ investment in other aspects of human welfare, reinforcing poverty traps. Both economic theory and social-ecological systems analysis point to the importance of cross-scalar investments and institutional support in breaking down persistent poverty traps. Using data from twelve focus groups conducted in Mexico City, we illustrate how such cross-scale connectivity is failing as a result of lack of trust and transparency, the difficulty of collective action, and the devolution of some responsibilities for risk management from the public sector to the household level. We conclude our analysis by arguing for greater attention to these tradeoffs in public policy to help ensure that adaptation does not come at the cost of more generic welfare gains among the most vulnerable populations.
AB - Adaptation is typically conceived uniquely in positive terms, however for some populations, investments in risk management can entail significant tradeoffs. Here we discuss the burden for households of coping with, and adapting to, adverse water conditions in economically marginal areas of Mexico City. We argue that households’ efforts to adapt in conditions of marginality can come at the expense of households’ investment in other aspects of human welfare, reinforcing poverty traps. Both economic theory and social-ecological systems analysis point to the importance of cross-scalar investments and institutional support in breaking down persistent poverty traps. Using data from twelve focus groups conducted in Mexico City, we illustrate how such cross-scale connectivity is failing as a result of lack of trust and transparency, the difficulty of collective action, and the devolution of some responsibilities for risk management from the public sector to the household level. We conclude our analysis by arguing for greater attention to these tradeoffs in public policy to help ensure that adaptation does not come at the cost of more generic welfare gains among the most vulnerable populations.
KW - Adaptive capacity
KW - Flooding
KW - Poverty traps
KW - Water scarcity
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U2 - 10.1016/j.envsci.2016.06.006
DO - 10.1016/j.envsci.2016.06.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84995677077
SN - 1462-9011
VL - 66
SP - 324
EP - 333
JO - Environmental Science and Policy
JF - Environmental Science and Policy
ER -