Abstract
Adaptive capacity (AC) plays a prominent role in reducing community vulnerability, an essential goal for achieving sustainability. The related concept, transformative capacity (TC), describes a set of tools from the resilience paradigm for making more fundamental system changes. While the literature appears to agree generally on the meaning of AC and TC, operational definitions vary widely in empirical applications. We address measurement of AC and TC in empirical studies of community vulnerability and resilience, with special attention to the problems of arctic communities. We discuss how some challenges follow from ambiguities in the broader vulnerability model within which AC is embedded. Other issues are more technical, such as a confounding of stocks (capacity) with flows (time-specific inputs or outcomes). We view AC and TC as forms of capital, as distinct from flows (i.e., ecosystem services, well-being), and propose a set of sequential steps for measuring the contribution of AC and TC assets to reducing vulnerability. We demonstrate the conceptual application in a comparative analysis of AC in two arctic Alaskan communities responding to an increase in the price of fuel. The comparative case study illustrates some key empirical challenges in measuring AC for small arctic communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adger, W. N. (2006). Vulnerability. Global Environmental Change, 16, 268–281.
Adger, W. N., Huq, S., Brown, K., Conway, D., & Hulme, M. (2003). Adaptation to climate change in the developing world. Progress in Development Studies, 3(3), 179–195.
Adger, W. N., Brooks, N., Bentham, G., Agnew, M., & Eriksen, S. (2004). New indicators of vulnerability and adaptive capacity. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Technical Report 7, January.
Agrawal, A. (2010). Local institutions and adaptation to climate change. In Mearns, R., Norton, A. (Eds.), Social dimensions of climate change: Equity and vulnerability in a warming world (pp. 173–197). Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The World Bank).
ASI. (2010). Arctic social indicators: A follow-up to the arctic human development report (J. N. Larsen, P. Schweitzer, & G. Fondahl, Eds.). Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.
ASI. (2014). Arctic social indicators ASI-II implementation (J. N. Larsen, P. Schweitzer, & A. Petrov, Eds.). Stockholm: Nordic Council of Ministers. http://www.svs.is/en/home/10-all-languages-content/22-the-arctic-social-indicators-project-asi-5
Berman, M. (2013). Modeling regional dynamics of human-rangifer systems: A framework for comparative analysis. Ecology and Society, 18(4), 43. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05535-180443.
Brinkman, T., Maracle, K. B., Kelly, J., Vandyke, M., Firmin, A., & Springsteen, A. (2014). Impact of fuel costs on high-latitude subsistence activities. Ecology and Society, 19(4), 18. doi:10.5751/ES-06861-190418.
Brose, D. A. (2015). Developing a framework for measuring community resilience. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Callo-Concha, D., & Ewert, F. (2014). Using the concepts of resilience, vulnerability and adaptability for the assessment and analysis of agricultural systems. Change and Adaptation in Socioecological Systems, 1, 1–11.
Caulfield, R. A. (1983). Subsistence land use in upper Yukon-Porcupine communities, Alaska. Juneau: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Subsistence.
Chance, N. A. (1990). The Inupiat and arctic Alaska: An ethnography of development. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.
Cutter, S. L., Barnes, L., Berry, M., Burton, C., Evans, E., Tate, E., & Webb, J. (2008). A place-based model for understanding community resilience to natural disasters. Global Environmental Change, 18, 598–606.
Denevan, W. M. (1983). Adaptation, variation and cultural geography. Professional Geographer, 35(4), 399–406.
Division of Community and Regional Affairs (DCRA). (2007). Current community conditions: Fuel Prices Across Alaska, June 2007 Update. Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development. August.
Division of Community and Regional Affairs (DCRA). (2008). Current community conditions: Fuel prices across Alaska, November 2008 Update. Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development. December.
Field, C. B., Barros, V., Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Dokken, D. J., Ebi, K. L., Mastrandrea, M. D., Mach, K. J., Plattner, G.-K., Allen, S. K., Tignor, M., & Midgley, P. M. (Eds.). (2012). Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation (Special report of working groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.
Folke, C., Chapin, F. S., & Olsson, P. (2009). Transformations in ecosystem stewardship. In F. S. Chapin, G. Kofinas, & C. Folke (Eds.), Principles of ecosystem stewardship: Resilience-based natural resource management in a changing world (pp. 103–128). New York: Springer.
GallopÃn, G. C. (2006). Linkages between vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity. Global Environmental Change, 16, 293–303.
Hovelsrud G.K., & Smit B., (Eds.), (2010). Community adaptation and vulnerability in arctic regions. Dordrecht: Springer.
Howe, E. L., Huskey, L., & Berman, M. (2013). Migration in arctic Alaska: Empirical evidence of the stepping stones hypothesis. Migration Studies, 2(1), 97–123. doi:10.1093/migration/mnt017.
Kliskey, A., Alessa, L., Lammers, R., Arp, C., White, D., Hinzman, L., & Busey, R. (2008). The Arctic Water Resource Vulnerability Index: an integrated assessment tool for community resilience and vulnerability with respect to freshwater. Environmental Management, 42(3), 523–541.
Kofinas, G., Chapin, F. S., BurnSilver, S., Schmidt, J., Fresco, N., Kielland, K., Martin, S., Springsteen, A., & Rupp, T. S. (2010). Resilience of Athabascan subsistence systems to interior Alaska’s changing climate. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 40, 1347–1359.
Kofinas, G., Clark, D., Hovelsrud, G. K., Alessa, L., Amundsen, H., Berman, M., Berkes, F., Chapin, F. S., Forbes, B., Ford, J., Gerlach, C., & Olsen, J. (2013). Adaptive and transformative capacity. In Arctic Council, Arctic resilience interim report 2013 (pp. 73–93). Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centre.
Kofinas, G., BurnSilver. S., Magdanz, J., Stotts, R., & Okada, M. (2016). Subsistence sharing networks and cooperation: Kaktovik, Wainwright, and Venetie Alaska. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Fairbanks.
McCarthy, J. J., Canziani, O. F., Leary, N. A., Dokken, D. J., & White, K. S. (Eds.). (2001). Climate change 2001: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (IPCC third assessment report, working group II. Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. ). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Medred, C. (2014). AK beat: Porcupine Caribou Herd hits historic highs. Alaska Dispatch, March 17.
Nelson, R., Kokic, P., Crimp, S., Meinke, H., & Howden, S. M. (2010a). The vulnerability of Australian rural communities to climate variability and change: Part I-conceptualising and measuring vulnerability. Environmental Science & Policy, 13(1), 8–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2009.09.006.
Nelson, R., Kokic, P., Crimp, S., Martin, P., Meinke, H., Howden, S. M., de Voil, P., & Nidumolu, U. (2010b). The vulnerability of Australian rural communities to climate variability and change: Part II-integrating impacts with adaptive capacity. Environmental Science & Policy, 13(1), 18–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2009.09.007.
Office of the State Assessor. (2015). Alaska taxable 2014. Anchorage: Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development, January.
Pike, A., Dawley, S., & Tomaney, J. (2010). Resilience, adaptation and adaptability. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3, 59–70. doi:10.1093/cjres/rsq001.
Sen, A. K. (1981). Poverty and famines: An essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford: Clarendon.
Shepro, C. E., Maas, D. C., et al. (2003). North Slope Borough 2003 economic profile and census report. Barrow: North Slope Borough, Department of Planning and Community Services.
Sietchiping, R. (2007). Applying an index of adaptive capacity to climate change in northwestern Victoria, Australia. Applied GIS, 2(3), 16.1–16.28. doi:10.2104/ag060016.
Smit, B., & Wandel, J. (2006). Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Global Environmental Change, 16, 282–292.
Turner, B. L., II, Kasperson, R. E., Matson, P. A., McCarthy, J. J., Corell, R. W., Christensen, L., Eckley, N., Kasperson, J. X., Luers, A., Martello, M. L., Polsky, C., Pulsipher, A., & Schiller, A. (2003). A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100(14), 8074–8079.
USA Today. (2006). Alaska villages reject Venezuela oil. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-09-alaska-venezuela_x.htm
Walker, B., Holling, C. S., Carpenter, S. R., & Kinzig, A. (2004). Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 9(2), 5. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5
Wilson, S., Pearson, L. J., Kashima, Y., Lusher, D., & Pearson, C. (2013). Separating adaptive maintenance (resilience) and transformative capacity of social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 18(1), 22.
Yohe, G., & Tol, R. (2002). Indicators for social and economic coping capacity: Moving toward a working definition of adaptive capacity. Global Environmental Change, 12, 25–40.
Young, O. R. (2009). Institutional dynamics: Resilience, vulnerability and adaptation in environmental and resource regimes. Global Environmental Change, 20, 238–385. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.10.001.
Acknowledgement
The research for this chapter received support from the Alaska EPSCoR program, funded by National Science Foundation award # OIA 1208927 and the State of Alaska, as well as from National Science Foundation award # ICER 1342979. Support for background research was provided by The Sharing Project of the Northwest Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit through US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Cooperative Agreement M07AC12496.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Berman, M., Kofinas, G., BurnSilver, S. (2017). Measuring Community Adaptive and Transformative Capacity in the Arctic Context. In: Fondahl, G., Wilson, G. (eds) Northern Sustainabilities: Understanding and Addressing Change in the Circumpolar World. Springer Polar Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46150-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46150-2_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46148-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46150-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)