IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodeso/v32y2016i4p454-483.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impacts of Climate Change in the Andean Foothills of Chile: Economic and Cultural Vulnerability of Indigenous Mapuche Livelihoods

Author

Listed:
  • Elvis Parraguez-Vergara

    (Rural Development and Research Consultant)

  • Jonathan R. Barton

    (Instituto de Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile)

  • Gabriela Raposo-Quintana

    (Escuela of Geografía, Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano)

Abstract

The Mapuche communities have the highest levels of vulnerability in Chile in terms of income, basic needs, and access to services. Nevertheless, those living in the Andean foothills have historically been exposed to extreme weather. Examining three Andean municipalities of the Araucanía Region from 1990 to 2015, including climate data, interviews with mayors, and adaptation responses of the Chilean state, the article provides evidence of a changing climate and increased vulnerability. The results show trends in scarcity of water, reduction of agricultural production, colonization of plants and population shifts to higher altitudes, increase pressure on Andean ecosystems, and displacement of traditional Mapuche knowledge and practices. Based on these findings, the authors argue it is necessary to change the context in which Mapuche communities develop their livelihoods. This involves strengthening the knowledge of local actors in order to increase their resilience, with adaptation initiatives that emerge from the local context. It also requires enhanced capacity for municipal emergencies and suitable adaptations in road infrastructure, housing, communications, and agricultural planning. At the national level, this also requires recognition of the specific vulnerabilities of indigenous people.

Suggested Citation

  • Elvis Parraguez-Vergara & Jonathan R. Barton & Gabriela Raposo-Quintana, 2016. "Impacts of Climate Change in the Andean Foothills of Chile: Economic and Cultural Vulnerability of Indigenous Mapuche Livelihoods," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 32(4), pages 454-483, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:32:y:2016:i:4:p:454-483
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X16667874
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0169796X16667874
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0169796X16667874?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heike Schroeder, 2010. "Agency in international climate negotiations: the case of indigenous peoples and avoided deforestation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 317-332, December.
    2. Alex Lo & Alex Chow, 2015. "The relationship between climate change concern and national wealth," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 335-348, July.
    3. Thora Martina Herrmann, 2005. "Knowledge, values, uses and management of the Araucaria araucana forest by the indigenous Mapuche Pewenche people: A basis for collaborative natural resource management in southern Chile," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(2), pages 120-134, May.
    4. Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep & Mendelsohn, Robert, 2008. "A Ricardian analysis of the impact of climate change on African cropland," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Ford, J.D., 2012. "Indigenous health and climate change," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(7), pages 1260-1266.
    6. Fikret Berkes, 2007. "Understanding uncertainty and reducing vulnerability: lessons from resilience thinking," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 41(2), pages 283-295, May.
    7. Berta Schnettler & Horacio Miranda & Marcos Mora & German Lobos & Jean-Laurent Viviani & José Sepulveda & Ligia Orellana & Marianela Denegri, 2013. "Acculturation and consumption of foodstuffs among the main indigenous people in Chile," Post-Print halshs-00816112, HAL.
    8. Cristian Parker & Mario Letelier & Juan Muñoz, 2013. "Elites, climate change and agency in a developing society: the Chilean case," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 1337-1363, October.
    9. Radoslav S. Dimitrov, 2010. "Inside Copenhagen: The State of Climate Governance," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 10(2), pages 18-24, May.
    10. Mark Purdon, 2015. "Advancing Comparative Climate Change Politics: Theory and Method," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(3), pages 1-26, August.
    11. Jennifer Hadden, 2014. "Explaining Variation in Transnational Climate Change Activism: The Role of Inter-Movement Spillover," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 14(2), pages 7-25, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Frank Biermann & Michele Betsill & Joyeeta Gupta & Norichika Kanie & Louis Lebel & Diana Liverman & Heike Schroeder & Bernd Siebenhüner & Ruben Zondervan, 2010. "Earth system governance: a research framework," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 277-298, December.
    2. James Ford & Michelle Maillet & Vincent Pouliot & Thomas Meredith & Alicia Cavanaugh, 2016. "Adaptation and Indigenous peoples in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 429-443, December.
    3. Philipp Pattberg & Cille Kaiser & Oscar Widerberg & Johannes Stripple, 2022. "20 Years of global climate change governance research: taking stock and moving forward," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 295-315, June.
    4. David Ciplet, 2014. "Contesting Climate Injustice: Transnational Advocacy Network Struggles for Rights in UN Climate Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 14(4), pages 75-96, November.
    5. Vipin Kumar Oad & Xiaohua Dong & Muhammad Arfan & Vicky Kumar & Muhammad Salman Mohsin & Syed Saad & Haishen Lü & Muhammad Imran Azam & Muhammad Tayyab, 2020. "Identification of Shift in Sowing and Harvesting Dates of Rice Crop ( L. Oryza sativa ) through Remote Sensing Techniques: A Case Study of Larkana District," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Yongdeng Lei & Jing’ai Wang & Yaojie Yue & Hongjian Zhou & Weixia Yin, 2014. "Rethinking the relationships of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation from a disaster risk perspective," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 70(1), pages 609-627, January.
    7. Ana Raquel Nunes, 2021. "Exploring the interactions between vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to extreme temperatures," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 109(3), pages 2261-2293, December.
    8. Busby, Joshua & Smith, Todd G. & Krishnan, Nisha & Wight, Charles & Vallejo-Gutierrez, Santiago, 2018. "In harm's way: Climate security vulnerability in Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 88-118.
    9. Zhang, Ruirui & Wang, Guiling & Shen, Xiaoxu & Wang, Jinfeng & Tan, Xianfeng & Feng, Shoutao & Hong, Jinglan, 2020. "Is geothermal heating environmentally superior than coal fired heating in China?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    10. Sarah Ann Wheeler & Céline Nauges & Alec Zuo, 2021. "How stable are Australian farmers’ climate change risk perceptions? New evidence of the feedback loop between risk perceptions and behaviour," Post-Print hal-04670841, HAL.
    11. J. Park & T. P. Seager & P. S. C. Rao & M. Convertino & I. Linkov, 2013. "Integrating Risk and Resilience Approaches to Catastrophe Management in Engineering Systems," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(3), pages 356-367, March.
    12. Giorgia Silvestri & Julia M. Wittmayer & Karlijn Schipper & Robinah Kulabako & Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng & Philip Nyenje & Hans Komakech & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Transition Management for Improving the Sustainability of WASH Services in Informal Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    13. Ming-Kuang Chung & Dau-Jye Lu & Bor-Wen Tsai & Kuei-Tien Chou, 2019. "Assessing Effectiveness of PPGIS on Protected Areas by Governance Quality: A Case Study of Community-Based Monitoring in Wu-Wei-Kang Wildlife Refuge, Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-20, August.
    14. repec:ags:aaea22:335970 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Architesh Panda, 2013. "Climate Variability and the Role of Access to Crop Insurance as a Social-Protection Measure: Insights from India," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 31, pages 57-73, November.
    16. Christian Hott & Judith Regner, 2023. "Weather extremes, agriculture and the value of weather index insurance," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 48(2), pages 230-259, September.
    17. Florence Jacquet & A Aboul-Naga & Bernard Hubert, 2020. "The contribution of ARIMNet to address livestock systems resilience in the Mediterranean region," Post-Print hal-03625860, HAL.
    18. Liang Zhao & Gaofeng Xu & Yan Cui & Feng Kong & Huina Gao & Xia Zhou, 2023. "Post-Disaster Restoration and Reconstruction Assessment of the Jiuzhaigou Lake Landscape and a Resilience Development Pathway," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-18, February.
    19. Sam Crawley & Hilde Coffé & Ralph Chapman, 2022. "Climate Belief and Issue Salience: Comparing Two Dimensions of Public Opinion on Climate Change in the EU," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 307-325, July.
    20. Ríos-Núñez, Sandra M. & Coq-Huelva, Daniel & García-Trujillo, Roberto, 2013. "The Spanish livestock model: A coevolutionary analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 342-350.
    21. Kabiri, Ngeta, 2016. "Public participation, land use and climate change governance in Thailand," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 511-517.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:32:y:2016:i:4:p:454-483. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.