The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand

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dc.contributor.authorBennett, Nathan
dc.contributor.authorDearden, Philip
dc.contributor.authorMurray, Grant
dc.contributor.authorKadfak, Alin
dc.date.accessioned2014-04-11T17:39:54Z
dc.date.available2014-04-11T17:39:54Z
dc.date.copyright2014en_US
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractThe health and productivity of marine ecosystems, habitats, and fisheries are deteriorating on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Because of their high dependence on natural resources and proximity to the ocean, coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to climate-induced changes in the marine environment. These communities must also adapt to the impacts of management interventions and conservation initiatives, including marine protected areas, which have livelihood implications. Further, communities on the Andaman coast are also experiencing a range of new economic opportunities associated in particular with tourism and agriculture. These complex and ongoing changes require integrated assessment of, and deliberate planning to increase, the adaptive capacity of communities so that they may respond to: (1) environmental degradation and fisheries declines through effective management interventions or conservation initiatives, (2) new economic opportunities to reduce dependence on fisheries, and (3) the increasing impacts of climate change. Our results are from a mixed methods study, which used surveys and interviews to examine multiple dimensions of the adaptive capacity of seven island communities near marine protected areas on the Andaman coast of Thailand. Results show that communities had low adaptive capacity with respect to environmental degradation and fisheries declines, and to management and conservation interventions, as well as uneven levels of adaptive capacity to economic opportunities. Though communities and households were experiencing the impacts of climate change, especially storm events, changing seasons and weather patterns, and erosion, they were reacting to these changes with limited knowledge of climate change per se. We recommend interventions, in the form of policies, programs, and actions, at multiple scales for increasing the adaptive capacity of Thailand’s coastal communities to change. The analytical and methodological approach used for examining adaptive capacity could be easily modified and applied to other contexts and locales.en_US
dc.description.reviewstatusRevieweden_US
dc.description.scholarlevelFacultyen_US
dc.identifier.citationBennett, N. J., P. Dearden, G. Murray, and A. Kadfak. 2014. The capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailand. Ecology and Society 19(2): 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-06315-190205en_US
dc.identifier.issn1708-3087
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/5244
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherEcology and Societyen_US
dc.subjectadaptive capacity
dc.subjectalternative livelihoods
dc.subjectclimate change
dc.subjectcoastal communities
dc.subjectfisheries management
dc.subjectmarine protected areas
dc.subjectsocial resilience
dc.subjectThailand
dc.subjectCentre for Global Studies
dc.subject.departmentSchool of Environmental Studies
dc.titleThe capacity to adapt?: communities in a changing climate, environment, and economy on the northern Andaman coast of Thailanden_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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