Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change
The Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change workshop, held in March 2017, brought together social scientists and federal staff involved in climate change-related activities to discuss and demonstrate how the social sciences can assist in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Three papers from social science perspectives resulted from this workshop to support the climate change work of USGCRP and other federal agencies as well as to inform the Fourth National Climate Assessment. The papers address social vulnerability to climate change; social science perspectives on drivers and responses to climate change; and tools, methods, and analyses of different social science disciplines used to understand the interactions between human societies and climate. Each paper draws on historical examples and case studies and concludes with a summary of key insights and suggestions for future research directions. Summaries of each paper follow.
Part 1 - Social Vulnerability: Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change
This paper broadly discusses the social, economic, historical, and political factors that affect levels of human vulnerability to natural hazards posed by climate change. The paper describes how inequalities; poverty; structural racism; and lack of mobility, power, and social capital contribute to increased and uneven vulnerability of populations. Recommendations to reduce social vulnerability for more effective adaptation planning are organized under four themes - resource access, culture, governance, and information - which provide an interdisciplinary framework for understanding the social aspects of vulnerability to climate change. Examples of recommendations, by theme, include:
Resource access (unequal access to resources to prepare for and respond to natural hazards): Adaptation planning should consider the local context and cultures affected by climate change. Programs to reduce social vulnerability and help populations adapt to climate change should explicitly address inequalities and be designed for specific geographic, demographic, and social contexts.
Culture (how people perceive risks from climate impacts, make decisions, and respond to threats affects their level of vulnerability): Seek and use information and local histories from the community to contextualize vulnerability assessments. Match adaptation plans and projects to the risk perceptions of those who will live with them.
Governance (how governments and civil society respond to vulnerability and plan for and manage climate change risk): Establish partnership and coalitions to connect federal and state agencies with community groups and non-governmental organizations. Draw on participatory research techniques to involve community groups in every stage of the adaption planning process.
Information (knowledge that people and groups have of likely future climate conditions): Make information more accessible, comprehensible, and trustworthy by including community members and their local and traditional knowledge in the process of adaptation planning and implementation.
Part 2 - Drivers and Responses: Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change
Part 2 describes perspectives from archaeology, geography, sociology, and cultural anthropology on anthropogenic drivers of climate change shaped by demographics, economics, politics, social stratification and inequality, technology, infrastructure, and land-use change factors. How these factors interact across multiple spatial scales in the near- and long- term influence options for mitigation and adaptation.
This paper discusses the importance of understanding the historical and socio-economic context of current vulnerabilities and past human pathways, tipping points, strategies, and decisions can improve scenario building and adaptation planning. The Resilience Alliance is highlighted as an example of an organization utilizing historical socio-ecological perspectives to develop adaptive management strategies.
The paper also points to an interdisciplinary approach, including archaeology, environmental history, paleoecology, and other sciences, to identify and correct the problem of shifting baselines (ie. the misperception of current or recent conditions as the natural baseline rather than recognizing long-term trends and patterns) in order to effectively evaluate drivers and anticipate events - critical steps in adaptation planning.
Part 3 - Innovative Tools, Methods, and Analysis: Social Science Perspectives on Climate Change
Part 3 describes how the integration of qualitative and quantitative data, tools, methods, and analyses from the social sciences - especially archaeology, geography, sociology, and cultural anthropology - can enhance climate change research and inform decision making and resource management through a better understanding of human responses to climate change.
- Statistical modeling in the social sciences integrates social and environmental data to analyze the complex interrelations between environmental factors and human perceptions and behavior
- Archaeological records offer evidence-based insights into human-environment interactions through time in various societies and environments which can inform adaptation planning.
- Geography’s geospatial techniques and geo-referenced data fusion (eg. physical data layered with socioeconomic data) help researchers understand climate drivers, impacts, and responses.
- Qualitative research methods of sociology and cultural anthropology, such as interviewing, ethnography, and participant observation and engagement, provide data linking cultural meanings and motivations to climate adaptation which can inform policy decisions.
Publication Date: April 2018
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- Communication
- Policy analysis/recommendations
