Short Abstract

The panel examines how social solidarity mediates adaptation in contexts of climate vulnerability. Through exploring a continuum of gendered, grassroots initiatives, we aim to build theoretical perspectives on climate justice and resilient, inclusive, and locally rooted adaptation strategies.

Description

Climate change is driving individuals and communities to explore a range of strategies for building resilience. While migration and remittances form a critical pathway for reducing livelihood risks, diverse forms of collective action are emerging as community-led responses for resource sharing, strengthening relations of care, and adaptive decision-making. This panel seeks to examine how communities, particularly women, and those marginalised, engage with collective action, from informal social networks to formal institutions such as Self-Help Groups (SHGs), cooperatives or Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). It will explore how collective agency and social capital enable vulnerable communities to respond to overlapping climatic and non-climatic challenges, in relation to resources and skills, negotiate gendered power structures and the social relations in which they are embedded, and sustain livelihoods amidst uncertainty.

Bringing together case studies from South Asia, including of women-led FPOs in semi-arid Karnataka, SHGs in Odisha, migrant networks in Bengaluru’s informal settlements, and women’s groups in Nepal’s Sindhupalchok district, we welcome papers from other regions that situate collective action at the intersection of gender, migration/livelihoods, and climate adaptation. These case studies reposition SHGs and FPOs - traditionally conceived as vehicles for financial inclusion and community empowerment - as vital agents of development, climate action and community resilience. By foregrounding women’s leadership, social networks, and community-based institutions, the panel examines how social solidarity mediates adaptation in contexts of climate vulnerability and social change - offering grounded insights into co-creating resilient, inclusive, and locally rooted adaptation strategies to climate risks.

This Panel has 2 pending paper proposals.
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