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Adaptation to Social–Ecological Change in Northwestern Pakistan: Household Strategies and Decision-making Processes

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Abstract

Values are important factors shaping people’s perceptions of social–ecological changes and the associated impacts, acceptable risk, and successful adaptation to various changes; however, little empirical work has examined how values interact to influence adaptation decision-making. We drew on 25 semi-structured interviews with community leaders, farmers, fisherfolk, and individuals in the tourism industry in northwestern Pakistan to identify types of adaptations employed by households and explore what values were present in these households’ adaptation decisions. Our results show that households frequently employed environmental management and livelihood diversification to adapt to a wide range of social–ecological change. We found that multiple values influenced household adaptation and that employing an adaptation strategy often involved a tradeoff of values. We also found that household adaptations were embedded in multi-scalar social, cultural, economic, and political processes that could constrain or conflict with such adaptations. Overall, our research illustrates the complex influence of values on household adaptation decisions and highlights the need to further understand how adaptations are aligned, or misaligned, with stakeholders’ diverse values in order to inform more equitable adaptation to social–ecological change.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a grant from the United States Government and the generous support of the American people through the United States Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Pakistan—U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation Program. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government. The authors would also like to thank the interviewees and community leaders who made this research possible.

Funding

This research was funded by a grant from the United States Government and the generous support of the American people through the United States Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Pakistan—U.S. Science and Technology Cooperation Program. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Rebecca Nixon

  2. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Zhao Ma

  3. Department of Anthropology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Laura Zanotti

  4. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, KP, Pakistan

    Bushra Khan

  5. Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Trevor Birkenholtz

  6. Department of Agronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Linda Lee

  7. Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Peshawar, KP, Pakistan

    Ishaq Mian

Authors
  1. Rebecca Nixon
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  2. Zhao Ma
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  3. Laura Zanotti
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  4. Bushra Khan
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  5. Trevor Birkenholtz
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  6. Linda Lee
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  7. Ishaq Mian
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Nixon.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

The interview protocols and methodology for this study were approved by the Institutional Review Board at Purdue University (IRB #1803020343).

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Verbal informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Nixon, R., Ma, Z., Zanotti, L. et al. Adaptation to Social–Ecological Change in Northwestern Pakistan: Household Strategies and Decision-making Processes. Environmental Management 69, 887–905 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01583-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01583-7

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