Dr. Jesse C. Ribot est chercheur associé principal du Programme institutions et gouvernance du WR... more Dr. Jesse C. Ribot est chercheur associé principal du Programme institutions et gouvernance du WRI (World Resources Institute). Avant de joindre le WRI, il enseignait au MIT (Massachusetts Institute for Technology) en économie rurale, politique environnementale et aménagement du territoire. Il était également chercheur associé du Programme Population and Development de l'université de Harvard et du Programme Agrarian studies de l'université de Yale. Il est l'auteur de nombreuses publications sur l'accès aux ressources naturelles, l'impact socio-économique des changements environnementaux, et la décentralisation.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Li... more This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which per-
Climate change certainly shapes weather events. However, describing climate and weather as the ca... more Climate change certainly shapes weather events. However, describing climate and weather as the cause of disasters can be misleading, since disasters are caused by pre-existing fragilities and inequalities on the ground. Analytic frames that attribute disaster to climate can divert attention from these place
Initiative pour la gourvernance démocratique des forêts (RFGI) Soutien aux moyens d'existence tir... more Initiative pour la gourvernance démocratique des forêts (RFGI) Soutien aux moyens d'existence tirés des forêts par la représentation locale
The breakdown of social order, social disarticulation, is a common impact of population resettlem... more The breakdown of social order, social disarticulation, is a common impact of population resettlement. This article shows that social disarticulation results from the dissolution and reconstruction of authority through which people gain, maintain, and control access to essential resources in response to changes in the material conditions inherent in resettlement. Resource access-and the relations it implies-is required for long-term autonomy and security. When new patterns or hierarchies of resource control lead to some part of the group being disadvantaged via subordination to others or exclusion from resource enjoyment, resettled villages experience social disarticulation. We explore this access realignment and differentiation process in the case of the resettlement of two natural resource-dependent communities out of the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
Resumen El análisis de la vulnerabilidad busca identificar las causas de raíz de las crisis para ... more Resumen El análisis de la vulnerabilidad busca identificar las causas de raíz de las crisis para encontrar soluciones transformadoras. Las perspectivas del riesgo asociado al cambio climático usualmente localizan la causalidad en las amenazas, aunque atribuyen algún peso causal a variables sociales como la pobreza o la falta de capacidad. Con poca frecuencia se preguntan por qué hay falta de capacidad, los bienes son inadecuados o los resguardos sociales están ausentes o fallan. Esta contribución enmarca vulnerabilidad y seguridad como problemas de acceso a bienes y resguardos sociales. Activos y resguardos tienen ambos sus propias, contingentes y contextuales cadenas causales. Un elemento recursivo clave en esas cadenas causales es la habilidad-medios y poder-de la gente vulnerable para influenciar en la economía política que da forma a sus bienes y resguardos sociales. Según lo observó adecuadamente Sen, la vulnerabilidad está ligada a la falta de libertad para influir en la economía política que define las titularidades. En el Antropoceno, las causas humanas de amenazas climáticas deben ser tomadas en cuenta en las etiologías del desastre. Sin embargo, la atención al cambio climático antropogénico no debe ocultar las causas de (y la responsabilidad sobre) la vulnerabilidad que se continúa produciendo en y por la sociedad.
Many thanks to Louise Fortmann and Michael Watts who provided critical and encouraging comments o... more Many thanks to Louise Fortmann and Michael Watts who provided critical and encouraging comments on the first draft of this article at the 1996 African Studies Conference in San Francisco. I am also greatly indebted to
Causal analysis of vulnerability aims to identify root causes of crises so that transformative so... more Causal analysis of vulnerability aims to identify root causes of crises so that transformative solutions might be found. Yet root-cause analysis is absent from most climate response assessments. Framings for climate-change risk analysis often locate causality in hazards while attributing some causal weight to proximate social variables such as poverty or lack of capacity. They rarely ask why capacity is lacking, assets are inadequate or social protections are absent or fail. This contribution frames vulnerability and security as matters of access to assets and social protections. Assets and social protections each have their own context-contingent causal chains. A key recursive element in those causal chains is the ability – means and powers – of vulnerable people to influence the political economy that shapes their assets and social protections. Vulnerability is, as Sen rightly observed, linked to the lack of freedom – the freedom to influence the political economy that shapes these entitlements. In the Anthropocene, human causes of climate hazard must also now be accounted for in etiologies of disaster. However, attention to anthropogenic climate change should not occlude social causes of (and responsibility for) vulnerability – vulnerability is still produced in and by society.
Adding insult to injury: Climate change and the inequities of climate intervention I assume that ... more Adding insult to injury: Climate change and the inequities of climate intervention I assume that justice today requires both redistribution and recognition. And I propose to examine the relation between them. In part, this means figuring out how to conceptualize cultural recognition and social equality in forms that support rather than undermine one another. [Adding Insult to Injury, Nancy Fraser, 2008, p. 69] There are districts in which the position of the rural population is that of a man standing permanently up to his neck in water, so that even a ripple is sufficient to drown him. [R.H. Tawney, 1966. Land and Labor in China. Boston: Beacon Press. Quoted by James Scott (1976)]. Climate change is redistribution. It alters the timing and intensity of our rains and winds, the humidity in our soils, and the sea level around us. As redistribution, climate change is also a matter of justice-it is about who gains and who loses as change occurs and as interventions to moderate change unfold. Like climate change, climate-response measures and the discourses surrounding them have their own, even-less-understood, stratifying outcomes for vulnerable populations. The ecological conditions, distribution of assets, and systems of power that place certain communities at greater risk in the face of change can also place them at risk in the face of policy responses. Vulnerable communities may be at risk of material injury following climate change or climate change intervention; and, be further insulted and injured by their lack of recognition and by misrecognition as simplified, stereotyped victims in local, national and international climate conversations. Bio-physical changes in the earth system enter a stratified social world (Saunders, 1990), altering assets, meanings and security (Oliver-Smith, 1996; Wisner et al., 2004; Ribot, 2010). Facing changes, those closer to the threshold of disaster-living near subsistence with a minimum of assets-are most at risk. This essay and the articles that follow explore the stratifying effects of climate adaptation and mitigation interventions and related discourses. While climate change interventions and discourses may open new opportunities for vulnerable communities to gain recognition and reduce risk; these essays show that communities vulnerable in the face of climate change can also be vulnerable when confronted with adaptation and mitigation intervention and discourses. Climate mitigation and adaptation interventions are necessary and inevitable; but without understanding their effects, we can inadvertently reproduce or deepen the damages they intend to redress (Barnett and O'Neill, 2010). The articles in this volume illustrate how, in a stratified world, climate change, climate change interventions, and climate
This series is a continuation of WRI’s ‘Environmental Accountability in Africa ’ working paper se... more This series is a continuation of WRI’s ‘Environmental Accountability in Africa ’ working paper series (Working Papers number 1 through 21). The series was renamed to reflect the Equity Poverty and Environment team’s broadening, mostly through comparative research, to include research and analysis worldwide. This periodic working paper series presents new research on democratic decentralization and legislative representation concerning the management, control and use of natural resources. The series will present research and analysis on the effects of policies on the distribution of profits and other benefits within natural resource commodity chains and the distribution of government revenues from natural resource exploitation and trade. The objective of this working paper series is to provide researchers working at the intersection of governance and natural resource management with a forum in which to present their findings and receive feedback from scholars and practitioners around...
Dr. Jesse C. Ribot est chercheur associé principal du Programme institutions et gouvernance du WR... more Dr. Jesse C. Ribot est chercheur associé principal du Programme institutions et gouvernance du WRI (World Resources Institute). Avant de joindre le WRI, il enseignait au MIT (Massachusetts Institute for Technology) en économie rurale, politique environnementale et aménagement du territoire. Il était également chercheur associé du Programme Population and Development de l'université de Harvard et du Programme Agrarian studies de l'université de Yale. Il est l'auteur de nombreuses publications sur l'accès aux ressources naturelles, l'impact socio-économique des changements environnementaux, et la décentralisation.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Li... more This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which per-
Climate change certainly shapes weather events. However, describing climate and weather as the ca... more Climate change certainly shapes weather events. However, describing climate and weather as the cause of disasters can be misleading, since disasters are caused by pre-existing fragilities and inequalities on the ground. Analytic frames that attribute disaster to climate can divert attention from these place
Initiative pour la gourvernance démocratique des forêts (RFGI) Soutien aux moyens d'existence tir... more Initiative pour la gourvernance démocratique des forêts (RFGI) Soutien aux moyens d'existence tirés des forêts par la représentation locale
The breakdown of social order, social disarticulation, is a common impact of population resettlem... more The breakdown of social order, social disarticulation, is a common impact of population resettlement. This article shows that social disarticulation results from the dissolution and reconstruction of authority through which people gain, maintain, and control access to essential resources in response to changes in the material conditions inherent in resettlement. Resource access-and the relations it implies-is required for long-term autonomy and security. When new patterns or hierarchies of resource control lead to some part of the group being disadvantaged via subordination to others or exclusion from resource enjoyment, resettled villages experience social disarticulation. We explore this access realignment and differentiation process in the case of the resettlement of two natural resource-dependent communities out of the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
Resumen El análisis de la vulnerabilidad busca identificar las causas de raíz de las crisis para ... more Resumen El análisis de la vulnerabilidad busca identificar las causas de raíz de las crisis para encontrar soluciones transformadoras. Las perspectivas del riesgo asociado al cambio climático usualmente localizan la causalidad en las amenazas, aunque atribuyen algún peso causal a variables sociales como la pobreza o la falta de capacidad. Con poca frecuencia se preguntan por qué hay falta de capacidad, los bienes son inadecuados o los resguardos sociales están ausentes o fallan. Esta contribución enmarca vulnerabilidad y seguridad como problemas de acceso a bienes y resguardos sociales. Activos y resguardos tienen ambos sus propias, contingentes y contextuales cadenas causales. Un elemento recursivo clave en esas cadenas causales es la habilidad-medios y poder-de la gente vulnerable para influenciar en la economía política que da forma a sus bienes y resguardos sociales. Según lo observó adecuadamente Sen, la vulnerabilidad está ligada a la falta de libertad para influir en la economía política que define las titularidades. En el Antropoceno, las causas humanas de amenazas climáticas deben ser tomadas en cuenta en las etiologías del desastre. Sin embargo, la atención al cambio climático antropogénico no debe ocultar las causas de (y la responsabilidad sobre) la vulnerabilidad que se continúa produciendo en y por la sociedad.
Many thanks to Louise Fortmann and Michael Watts who provided critical and encouraging comments o... more Many thanks to Louise Fortmann and Michael Watts who provided critical and encouraging comments on the first draft of this article at the 1996 African Studies Conference in San Francisco. I am also greatly indebted to
Causal analysis of vulnerability aims to identify root causes of crises so that transformative so... more Causal analysis of vulnerability aims to identify root causes of crises so that transformative solutions might be found. Yet root-cause analysis is absent from most climate response assessments. Framings for climate-change risk analysis often locate causality in hazards while attributing some causal weight to proximate social variables such as poverty or lack of capacity. They rarely ask why capacity is lacking, assets are inadequate or social protections are absent or fail. This contribution frames vulnerability and security as matters of access to assets and social protections. Assets and social protections each have their own context-contingent causal chains. A key recursive element in those causal chains is the ability – means and powers – of vulnerable people to influence the political economy that shapes their assets and social protections. Vulnerability is, as Sen rightly observed, linked to the lack of freedom – the freedom to influence the political economy that shapes these entitlements. In the Anthropocene, human causes of climate hazard must also now be accounted for in etiologies of disaster. However, attention to anthropogenic climate change should not occlude social causes of (and responsibility for) vulnerability – vulnerability is still produced in and by society.
Adding insult to injury: Climate change and the inequities of climate intervention I assume that ... more Adding insult to injury: Climate change and the inequities of climate intervention I assume that justice today requires both redistribution and recognition. And I propose to examine the relation between them. In part, this means figuring out how to conceptualize cultural recognition and social equality in forms that support rather than undermine one another. [Adding Insult to Injury, Nancy Fraser, 2008, p. 69] There are districts in which the position of the rural population is that of a man standing permanently up to his neck in water, so that even a ripple is sufficient to drown him. [R.H. Tawney, 1966. Land and Labor in China. Boston: Beacon Press. Quoted by James Scott (1976)]. Climate change is redistribution. It alters the timing and intensity of our rains and winds, the humidity in our soils, and the sea level around us. As redistribution, climate change is also a matter of justice-it is about who gains and who loses as change occurs and as interventions to moderate change unfold. Like climate change, climate-response measures and the discourses surrounding them have their own, even-less-understood, stratifying outcomes for vulnerable populations. The ecological conditions, distribution of assets, and systems of power that place certain communities at greater risk in the face of change can also place them at risk in the face of policy responses. Vulnerable communities may be at risk of material injury following climate change or climate change intervention; and, be further insulted and injured by their lack of recognition and by misrecognition as simplified, stereotyped victims in local, national and international climate conversations. Bio-physical changes in the earth system enter a stratified social world (Saunders, 1990), altering assets, meanings and security (Oliver-Smith, 1996; Wisner et al., 2004; Ribot, 2010). Facing changes, those closer to the threshold of disaster-living near subsistence with a minimum of assets-are most at risk. This essay and the articles that follow explore the stratifying effects of climate adaptation and mitigation interventions and related discourses. While climate change interventions and discourses may open new opportunities for vulnerable communities to gain recognition and reduce risk; these essays show that communities vulnerable in the face of climate change can also be vulnerable when confronted with adaptation and mitigation intervention and discourses. Climate mitigation and adaptation interventions are necessary and inevitable; but without understanding their effects, we can inadvertently reproduce or deepen the damages they intend to redress (Barnett and O'Neill, 2010). The articles in this volume illustrate how, in a stratified world, climate change, climate change interventions, and climate
This series is a continuation of WRI’s ‘Environmental Accountability in Africa ’ working paper se... more This series is a continuation of WRI’s ‘Environmental Accountability in Africa ’ working paper series (Working Papers number 1 through 21). The series was renamed to reflect the Equity Poverty and Environment team’s broadening, mostly through comparative research, to include research and analysis worldwide. This periodic working paper series presents new research on democratic decentralization and legislative representation concerning the management, control and use of natural resources. The series will present research and analysis on the effects of policies on the distribution of profits and other benefits within natural resource commodity chains and the distribution of government revenues from natural resource exploitation and trade. The objective of this working paper series is to provide researchers working at the intersection of governance and natural resource management with a forum in which to present their findings and receive feedback from scholars and practitioners around...
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Papers by Jesse Ribot