This thesis aims to explore whether and how the frequency and severity of climate-related hazards are associated with changes in adaptive capacity. Despite increased hazard frequency and severity in the world, it is still contested whether hazard frequency and severity are associated with changes in adaptive capacity, often referred to as the preconditions necessary to enable adaptation. The ‘disaster-reform’ position holds that increased frequency and severity can create critical junctures providing legitimacy for governmental action and windows of opportunity for change in adaptive capacity. The ‘conservative’ position holds that exposure to frequent and severe climate-related hazards tends to be overwhelming and create a policy environment where change is unlikely. It further argues that exposure can hinder change in adaptive capacity due to the complexity in maintaining public support long enough for substantial changes in adaptive capacity since initial improvements can be perceived as successes. The method of choice to explore the association is linear regression analysis on the correlation between the frequency and severity of climate-related hazards measured in the International Disasters Database 2008-2016 and changes in adaptive measured in the World Risk Index for 180 countries in 2011-2019. This study shows that climate-related hazard frequency and severity are generally unassociated with adaptive capacity change in line with the ‘conservative’ position. Despite the lack of a global correlation, some countries deviate from the pattern by having significant improvements in adaptive capacity after exposure to frequent and severe climate-related hazards, thus confirming the ‘disaster-reform’ position. In addition to supporting the ‘conservative’ position, these results highlight the potential for future studies on the causal mechanisms behind the countries deviating from the overall pattern.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-466138 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Wedholm, Johanna |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
Page generated in 0.0392 seconds