| 1. |
- Gustafsson, Maria-Therese, 1979-, et al.
(author)
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Private adaptation to climate risks : Evidence from the world’s largest mining companies
- 2022
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In: Climate Risk Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0963. ; 35
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Private companies have in recent years started to disclose information about their exposure and responses to climate risks. However, we still know little about how and why private actors engage in climate change adaptation, and to what extent they do so in ways that improve societal resilience. This article addresses these questions. It conceptualizes private adaptation as consisting of institutional, infrastructural and community-oriented responses to climate risks. It develops a political-economic framework about the drivers of private adaptation, where private adaptation is expected to be shaped by pressures exerted by governments, investors, and civil society actors. Empirically, the framework is explored by using an original dataset on the adaptation responses of the 37 largest mining companies worldwide. We select the mining sector as mineral extraction plays a critical role in the low-carbon transition, and can, at the same time, exacerbate climate vulnerability in extracting sites. The descriptive findings suggest that the majority of the investigated companies have set up procedures to assess climate impacts on business operations, integrated climate risks in water governance, and adapted their infrastructure. The explanatory results indicate that private adaptation is mainly driven by investor pressures, and not domestic regulations and civil society. By implication, companies rarely engage in community-oriented adaptation responses by cooperating with local communities in ways that would benefit these communities. Taken together, our findings help to better understand the limitations of private adaptation and barriers to achieve transformative change, and identify how private adaptation could help improve societal resilience.
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| 2. |
- Rodriguez Morales, Jorge Ernesto, 1974-
(author)
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The agrarian regime and the political economy of vulnerability in Uruguay
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this study I address the political economy of vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability in the Uruguayan livestock sector. The research paper contextualizes vulnerability and adaptation pathways within wider governance structures running the agricultural sector. I address how vulnerability is historically shaped by wider processes of agrarian structural change observed during the last decades. I use a political economy perspective and an historical institutionalist methodology to explore changes and continuities in the ideas, institutions, and interests. This triumvirate rationalizes the agricultural regime. From this approach, the analysis of vulnerability to climate variability is situated within the context of agricultural governance. An empirical analysis of the agricultural regime is used to examine the role of ideas, institutions, and interests in the structuration of the sector. The study compares two different periods of agricultural governance which in theory are characterized by sharp ideological differences: the neoliberal and neo-structural periods. This comparative analysis reveals how the structuration of the agricultural regime overwhelms the capacity of different governments to tackle the root causes of vulnerability in the livestock sector. The inquiry reveals the politico-economic roots of vulnerability and how the sedimented structure of the agricultural regime constrains transformative adaptation strategies to climate variability and change in the agrarian sector of Uruguay. The capacity of the agricultural regime to constrain transformative changes tackling the roots of vulnerability transcends the colors and the political capacity of the governments in control.
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| 3. |
- Rodriguez Morales, Jorge Ernesto, 1974-
(author)
-
The agrarian regime and the political economy of vulnerability in Uruguay
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this study I address the political economy of vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability in the Uruguayan livestock sector. The research paper contextualizes vulnerability and adaptation pathways within wider governance structures running the agricultural sector. I address how vulnerability is historically shaped by wider processes of agrarian structural change observed during the last decades. I use a political economy perspective and an historical institutionalist methodology to explore changes and continuities in the ideas, institutions, and interests. This triumvirate rationalizes the agricultural regime. From this approach, the analysis of vulnerability to climate variability is situated within the context of agricultural governance. An empirical analysis of the agricultural regime is used to examine the role of ideas, institutions, and interests in the structuration of the sector. The study compares two different periods of agricultural governance which in theory are characterized by sharp ideological differences: the neoliberal and neo-structural periods. This comparative analysis reveals how the structuration of the agricultural regime overwhelms the capacity of different governments to tackle the root causes of vulnerability in the livestock sector. The inquiry reveals the politico-economic roots of vulnerability and how the sedimented structure of the agricultural regime constrains transformative adaptation strategies to climate variability and change in the agrarian sector of Uruguay. The capacity of the agricultural regime to constrain transformative changes tackling the roots of vulnerability transcends the colors and the political capacity of the governments in control.
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| 4. |
- Rodríguez Morales, Jorge Ernesto, 1974-
(author)
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The political economy of adaptation pathways to climate change : An historical institutional approach
- 2023
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- While there is a growing recognition of the need for societies to adapt to climate change, adaptation governance often falls short and can even worsen existing vulnerabilities. This problem is exacerbated by the deep connection between climate change and economic system governance. It underscores the importance of gaining a better understanding of how economic governance influences adaptation pathways. However, this intricate interplay remains relatively unexplored in the realms of both global governance and climate adaptation research.This thesis seeks to address this gap in the existing literature by adopting a historical political economy approach. This approach helps us comprehend how adaptation is governed within the context of historically formed 'glocalized' regimes and sheds light on why adaptation pathways may inadvertently exacerbate vulnerabilities. The research considers how vulnerabilities and adaptation pathways are deeply embedded in glocalized regimes and how historical processes constrain transformative changes while explaining instances of maladaptation. The thesis explores the argument empirically by relying on extensive fieldwork material and document analysis in three Latin American countries: Brazil, Peru, and Uruguay. These countries have economies heavily reliant on extractive sectors like mining and agriculture, which play pivotal roles in their economic histories and are associated with local vulnerabilities and socio-environmental impacts.The results suggest that climate responses are not exogenous to the glocalized capitalist regimes but adaptation pathways are, in fact, driven by extractive capitalism. Furthermore, the results show how dominant scientific frames are deployed in both the production of knowledge and the adaptation responses to climate impacts and vulnerabilities. These responses tend to marginalize discussions about the transformative changes necessary for tackling climate change and vulnerabilities under the influence of extractive capitalism. By revealing and analyzing these structural dynamics, this thesis contributes significantly to climate adaptation and global governance scholarship.
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| 5. |
- Rodriguez Morales, Jorge Ernesto, 1974-
(author)
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The political economy of water governance and vulnerability in the Peruvian mining sector
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study analyzes if adaptation and water governance can operate effectively to tackle vulnerability to water risks in socio-political environments structured historically to maximize extractive rents. The research focuses on the case of mining in Peru. Peru is a paradigmatic case, given its long mining history and its abundant endowments of minerals subject to high international demand. The country’s history is characterized by tensions between mining expansion policies and environmental and water resource protection. The paper uses a political economy perspective to investigate how water risks and vulnerabilities are historically shaped by wider processes of economic governance, which are based on extractive development pathways. I explore how such governance processes influence water management and adoption of particular adaptation pathways nowadays, addressing the wider structure of the mining regime where governance of water resources and adaptation responses to climate change are problematized. The methodology is based on a historical institutional approach to analyze the conflation of ideas, institutions, and interests, vis-à-vis the structuration of the Peruvian mining regime. The analysis shows that the expansionist extractive regime is the main locus of water-related vulnerabilities. This is evidenced by the regime rationalizing water governance and adaptation pathways to climate change according to economic growth imperatives based on extractive development.
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