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- Convenors:
-
Saadatu Umaru Baba
(Kaduna State University)
Rakiya Mamman (National Open University of Nigeria)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Palmer 1.06
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 28 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Culture mediates climate change impacts and response. The panel will explore how cultural practices and social norms constrain or enable agency in climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Global South, and explore the ways climate change can in turn shape and change these practices and norms.
Long Abstract:
Culture mediates climate change risk and response. Cultural practices and social norms mediate climate change impacts and the response to these impacts. Social norms determine what suitable behavior in societies is. These norms often intersect with gender, age, class, and religion and shape attitudes to climate change. In many parts of the Global South, such social norms and cultural practices are deeply entrenched, and may be a barrier to or an enabler of appropriate climate change adaptation and mitigation . They may also determine the societal and individual actions taken, e.g. in the event of extreme weather events such as floods or wildfires. For example, norms governing the restriction of women’s mobility may impede swift action in disasters, while age old traditional agricultural practices may be useful in the event of droughts. Social norms regarding property rights and agricultural division of labour could also help or hinder climate change adaptation in the Global South.
This panel aims to stimulate conversation around the role of cultural and social norms in climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Global South. How do cultural practices and social norms drive action on climate change, and response to climate change impacts at the individual and societal level? Since culture is not static and can evolve, the panel will also explore how environmental crises in general and climate change in particular can, in turn, bring about a change in social norms and cultural practices, and the implications of this for development outcomes.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 28 June, 2023, -Jianing Song (University of Manchester)
Paper short abstract:
MNEs face multiple changes (economic crises, climate change, technology innovation…)(Melián-Alzola et al., 2020). I would like to share how MNEs respond to some emerging development issues and what factors influence the organisational and employee response.
Paper long abstract:
MNEs face multiple changes (economic crises, climate change, technology innovation…)(Melián-Alzola et al., 2020). This study investigated the association between national culture, organisational culture and employee proactive pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). The study also investigated the mediating effect of organisational culture between national culture and proactive PEB in the background of climate change. Over 280 employees from 15 MNEs are the respondents in this study. The researchers used a cross-sectional approach and partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the data. Results found a significant relationship between national culture, organisational culture and proactive PEB. Findings of the study revealed that organisational culture significantly meditates the relations between national culture and proactive PEB. This study presents practical implications for HRM practitioners by emphasising the effects of culture on employee behaviour when building the Green HRM towards sustainable development. Theoretical contributions are made by constructing a new structural model supported by the system theory and the induction of national culture, organisational culture, and proactive PEB and measuring the factors simultaneously. The study further established the mediating role of organisational culture between national culture and proactive PEB.
Saadatu Umaru Baba (Kaduna State University) Rakiya Mamman (National Open University of Nigeria) Abubakar Bakare-Aremu (National Open University of Nigeria, FCT, Abuja)
Paper short abstract:
Social norms in northern Nigeria interact with religion, and are evolving due to the effects of climate change, such that the practices themselves can be said to adapt to climate change.
Paper long abstract:
Cultural practices and social norms shape the ways in which individuals and communities experience and respond to a changing climate, especially in societies where culture plays a large role in how societies function. In northern Nigeria, cultural and religious practices shape daily lives and many of these norms are gendered. In this study we examine the potential of some social norms to either constrain or enable agency in addressing the effects of climate change. We specifically examine the effect of two cultural practices within households, wife seclusion (the restriction of mobility of married women) and male provisioning. These practices are underpinned by Islamic religious values. We employ a qualitative approach, using in depth interviews and focus group discussions with men and women in households in Kaduna, northern Nigeria in areas which were affected by flooding in the 2022 rainy season.
We find that these norms are not static, and evolve and shift during extreme weather events such as flooding and in response to climate induced changes to food security. The nature of the traditional strong male provisioning roles and restriction on mobility are evolving with the impact of climate related events on food security, and women are taking up more provisioning roles. We argue that these social norms are fluid, and by being dynamic, the practices themselves adapt to climate change.
Monika Rozalska (University of Lodz)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the place of traditional knowledge in contemporary youth's environmental activism and politics in Ghana. The paper presents the research results from a study trip to Ghana in the Spring of 2023.
Paper long abstract:
Ghana's culture provides various approaches to nature and development based on the values of sharing and cooperation. Traditional societies believe the environment has a spiritual significance and brings harmony to humans. People protect forests near their settlements in rural areas as they are supposed to bring water to their villages. Cultural rules place taboos on fishing or water pollution because water bodies are perceived as the dwelling of gods. These practices have helped to protect nature many times. Unfortunately, some disappear as people resign from protecting the environment because of the necessity of survival.
Rural societies and poorer city inhabitants are the most vulnerable to climate change effects and environmental degradation. The same applies to young people – they will be most affected soon. Ghana's youth are aware of the anthropocentric catastrophe and aspire to work for nature protection and climate change mitigation. The question is whether they reflect on the old practices and incorporate them into their activism to develop new environmental protection policies, in line with the Akan adage that the past serves as a guide for the future.
This paper examines the place of traditional knowledge in contemporary youth's environmental activism and politics in Ghana. Can Ghanaian youth utilize old traditions in climate and sustainability advocacy? How does Ghana’s government support the youth and their aspirations in climate and sustainability commitments? How do governmental institutions refer to traditional knowledge? The paper presents the research results from a study trip to Ghana in the Spring of 2023.
Agnes Silva (Far Eastern University) Marian Gongora (Far Eastern University - Manila)
Paper short abstract:
Considering that the Philippines tops the most at risk country to natural disasters (World Risk Index, 2022), the authors are eager to highlight the limiting Filipino cultural practices as a source of hindrance in having a sustainable approach in climate change policy-making on a national scale.
Paper long abstract:
The World Risk Index 2022 reports that the Philippines is ranked first out of one-hundred and ninety-three countries when it comes to natural disasters. A frequent life experience, an average of nineteen out of the eighty developing annual typhoons make landfall in the Philippine area of responsibility. The normalisation of inconvenience has imprinted on the Filipino culture and way of life which has mirrored succeeding Philippine government administrations’ varying approaches on climate change policies and laws hindering the ability to implement sustainable Disaster Response and Risk Mitigation practices. Considered as the largest demographic affected during and post-natural disasters in the Philippines, the burden shared by Filipino women who are traditionally identified as household managers, have higher vulnerability in an occurrence of natural disasters. This study poses the question on how the cultural outlook on the normalcy of inconvenience has shaped the development of sustainable climate change policies and its effect on women during and post-Typhoon Rai (Odette) in December 2021. The initial findings of this study concluded that the political administrative changes resulted into a shift in approaching climate change policies which thereby hindered sustainability in addressing the needs of women.
Netsayi Noris Mudege (WorldFish) Keagan Kakwasha (WorldFish Zambia) Olajumoke Adeyeye (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria) Steven Cole Lizzy Muzungaire (WorldFish) Esther Leah Achandi (International Livestock Research Institute) Renee Bullock (International Livestock Research Institute) Alessandra Galie (International Livestock Research Institute)
Paper short abstract:
The study addresses gender norms constraining women Agrifood Systems Actors from building economic resilience to climate change impacts. The intersection of gender norms and structural inequalities leads to a lack of resources, services and voice which further constrains women’s economic resilience.
Paper long abstract:
The paper addresses gender norms at different institutional levels that constrain women Agrifood Systems Actors from building economic resilience to climate change impacts and identifies levers and entry points to address gaps and empower women. We used a case study approach targeting three agriculture value chains (catfish, cassava, chicken and fisheries) in Nigeria and Tanzania. One hundred seventy-two people (50% women) participated in qualitative data-gathering activities, including stakeholder workshops, focus group discussions, and individual and key informant interviews. Data collected included background information on climate change impacts in the targeted value chains, gender mapping of the value chains to understand where men and women were located and the differential impacts of climate change, gender norms influencing economic resilience at the different value chain nodes, and the impact of government policy and regulations on resilience. Strong gender and cultural norms that affect women's resilience to climate change impacts exist in both countries. For example, norms such as those barring women from accessing loans or purchasing land without the husband's approval prevented them from adopting technologies and strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Structural barriers such as a lack of supportive physical infrastructure and poor regulatory and policy environments put both men's and women's value chain actors at risk of not being economically resilient to the impacts of climate change. Results show that a holistic approach that addresses gender norms and discriminatory structures and integrates gender-sensitive agricultural policies can achieve economically and socially sustainable impacts that promote women's economic resilience.
Bikash Chetry (University of Cape Town)
Paper short abstract:
Disaster is often seen as a ‘leveller’ that affects everyone equally but the impact of disasters varies due to structural inequalities, social norms, cultural practices, gender roles, and power relations, leading to a disproportionate effect on certain populations.
Paper long abstract:
Vulnerabilities of the community are not only because of their physical nature but also due to the arrangements in societies. This paper is based on a case study of three flood-affected districts of Assam and explores how social norms and cultural practices of the community are used in a restrictive manner, confining it to women and non-binary gender identities. It is important to discern how communities living in vulnerable geographies like Assam or Majuli, in particular, being patriarchal and their disasters responses being informed based on the cultural and social constructed gender norms, and cultural practices wherein each gender group has been seen through the lens or enactments of either being feminine or masculine. And these gender stereotyping has been often produced and (re)produces through the different popular public and institutional discourses and media through reports limiting women and non-binary as ‘Victims’ of such disasters who are waiting to be rescued or emancipated by the opposite gender (Zarqa, 2014). Hence one group being idyllically portrayed as feminine limits them as victims of disasters and at the same time gendered imposed femininities of women (particularly being caregivers)restricts them and further aggravates their vulnerabilities. But at the same time, it is vital to consider that only the presence of women in public spaces doesn’t guarantee them to have decision-making power and customary practices or norms don’t allow women to govern these bodies. Hence, this paper will unpack some of these lived experience of ‘living with floods’, and their impacts.