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" A political ecology of urban flood hazard and social vulnerability in Guyana. "
Pelling, Mark.
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Latin Dissertation
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1093051
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TLets263908
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| Main Entry
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Pelling, Mark.
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| Title & Author
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A political ecology of urban flood hazard and social vulnerability in Guyana.\ Pelling, Mark.
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| College
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University of Liverpool
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| Date
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1997
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| student score
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1997
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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During the 1990s vulnerability analysis has brought political ecology into the study ofhazards, and in so doing allowed the study of risk in society/environment relations toengage more directly with broader issues of social science interest. This approachacknowledges that hazards are the product of risk and vulnerability but focusesprimarily on the ways in which social organisation influences the distribution of hazardimpacts; when and where risk becomes hazard, who is affected. if and how peoplerespond and the extent to which hazard events may provide opportunities for, as well asconstraints on, society. The vulnerabilities approach rests upon two key conceptualtools, the Pressure and Release Model and the Access Model, which were designed foruse in exploring a wide variety of stressful events. Their utility in an urban floodhazard context is, however, limited because of a lack of meso-level conceptual toolsand models. This weakness was overcome by bringing in a range of tools from theurban management literature which can also be combined within a political ecologyframe.For the 90% of the Guyanese population, resident on the Atlantic coastal plain. floodhazard as a consequence of episodic and everyday events is an ongoing problemmanifesting in collective and individual vulnerabilities, and a problem which is likelyto become more acute as a consequence of global climate change. This project soughtboth to identify superficial experiences of hazard and vulnerability, and the deeperhuman and physical processes producing risk and vulnerability. National levelexperience and vulnerability indicators were gathered from a review of secondary datafrom the press, consultants' reports and government and academic publications.Following this, the first stage of primary field research identified the extent to whichvulnerability indicators were associated with observed vulnerability and flood impactin both urban and peri-urban case studies. The second stage of field research examinedlocal social/political-economic relations and their role in directing the flow of resourcesfor environmental management and, consequently, in shaping distributions ofvulnerability within the case study areas.For households in peri-urban and urban neighbourhoods economic and social assets areshown to be equally important for shaping the distribution of vulnerabilities; however,for low-income groups, and for squatter communities in particular, social assets areoften the key to mitigating vulnerability. The importance of social assets at thehousehold level contrasts with the weakened condition of social capital locally, andwithin Guyana as a whole. Locally, the low level of social capital was seen in awithdrawal of households from communal activity and a preference for investing inflood adaptation mechanisms within the household or extended family, and by topdownconstructions of community and unrepresentative and unresponsive leadershipserving to deepen dependency and alienation from the decision-making process. At anational level, government and public institutions are weak and ineffective, the privatesector and civil society are undeveloped with few inter-sectoral linkages beingmaintained. Failures in social development and the low level of social capital areidentified as key determinants in the production of vulnerability despitedemocratisation and structural adjustment which has promoted both privatisation andthe funding of community sponsored development.
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Geography
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University of Liverpool
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