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Human, Gender and Environmental Security at Risk from Climate Change

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Preventing Health and Environmental Risks in Latin America

Part of the book series: The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science ((APESS,volume 23))

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Abstract

This chapter analyses the risks of extreme hydrometeorological events with the concept of dual vulnerability : environmental and social vulnerability , which focuses on people affected by global environmental change and climate change. The understanding of dual vulnerability orientates the policy to promote resilience that may mitigate impacts of extreme events, since it is only recently that the factors that create, increase or limit risks have been analysed. Improving adaptation and mitigation may reduce the impact of disasters and the loss of life and livelihood. This chapter explores an integrated human, gender and environmental—a HUGE—security approach. The gender perspective allows the differential susceptibility between men and women during an extreme event to be understood, which reflects gender relations consolidated during thousands of years by the patriarchal system characterized by violence , authoritarianism, exclusion and discrimination . This integrated security opens analytical perspectives for policy reflections that could enhance resilience and facilitate the empowerment of men and women before, during, and after a disaster. Governments will achieve greater success in disaster management when they promote participatory governance where authoritarian arenas , agendas , activities and actors are replaced, the dual vulnerability addressed, and adaptation and resilience embraced.

Prof. Dr. Úrsula Oswald Spring, Research Professor, Regional Centre for Multidisciplinary Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Email: uoswald@gmail.com.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Global environmental change is more than climate change, since it interrelates physical aspects (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and pedosphere) with anthropogenic factors (urbanisation, population growth, production processes, transportation and consumption).

  2. 2.

    I would like to acknowledge the support received from the research project funded by PAPIIT-UNAM IN 300213 ‘Integral management of a basin affected by climate change: risks, adaptation and resilience’, as well as careful anonymous review by academic peers.

  3. 3.

    UNISDR (2009: 10–11) defines DRR ‘The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events.’

  4. 4.

    The first revolution, the agricultural one, began 7000 years ago, when humans settled in villages and small towns and developed irrigation systems to produce their food. Subsequently, with the surplus of several harvests, began an internal division of labour, a social stratification, and struggles for power with violence, slavery and conquests. The industrial revolution followed around 1750, when the majority of the peasantry in northern countries moved to cities and became salaried workers. In the South these changes have occurred from 1950 onwards and in Africa there still exist a majority of rural people, however most of the world population is now living in cities. Fifty years ago, a third revolution began, called IT: technological and communicative, which facilitated the globalization of communication systems, trade of goods and financial flows, but did not include the free flow of people. The acute environmental and social deterioration, as well as the threats caused by global environmental change and climate change, require a new revolution, a sustainable one, as soon as possible, in order to guarantee the survival of humanity and Planet Earth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Centre for Multidisciplinary Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

    Úrsula Oswald Spring

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  1. Úrsula Oswald Spring
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Correspondence to Úrsula Oswald Spring .

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  1. Institute of Psychological Research, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Ma. Luisa Marván

  2. Interdisciplinary Psychology Research Center, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    Esperanza López-Vázquez

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Oswald Spring, Ú. (2018). Human, Gender and Environmental Security at Risk from Climate Change. In: Marván, M., López-Vázquez, E. (eds) Preventing Health and Environmental Risks in Latin America. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73799-7_12

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