Perspectives on Social Vulnerability Edited by Koko Warner No. 6/2007 UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) UN Campus Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10 D-53113 Bonn, Germany Copyright UNU-EHS 2007 Cover design by Gerd Zschäbitz Copy editor: Ilona Roberts, Vilma Liaukonyte Printed at Paffenholz, Bornheim, Germany 1. edition, 1000 copies, February 2007 The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s). Publication does not imply endorsement by the UNU-EHS or the United Nations University of any of the views expressed. ISBN: 978-3-939923-00-8 (printed version) ISBN: 978-3-939923-01-5 (electronic version) ISSN: 1816-1154 SOURCE ‘Studies of the University: Research, Counsel, Education’ Publication Series of UNU-EHS No. 6/2007 1 About the Authors Dr. Koko Warner is an academic officer at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). Dr. Warner has worked for the past eight years on the economic and societal impacts of natural disasters and climate change in developing countries. Warner coordinates the Munich Re Foundation Chair on Social Vulnerability. At UNU-EHS she is responsible for the area of environmental migration and social vulnerability. Her research encompasses the economic and social science analysis of how groups of people manage shocks and risk, including how they use financial tools including insurance to manage these risks. She currently also serves as an assistant professor at the University of Richmond’s Emer- gency Service Management graduate program. She holds a PhD from the University of Vienna Department of Economics. Christian Kuhlicke is a PhD student at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in the Department of Urban and Environmen- tal Sociology. He studied Geography, Sociology and Geology at the University of Potsdam and spent one year as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Kentucky. His thesis deals with the interrelatedness of knowledge, ignorance and vulnerability both empirically and theo- retically. Danny H. de Vries is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthro- pology and Predoctoral Trainee in Demography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), USA. He has worked as a Research Associate at UNC-CH’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies on social vulnerability and hazard mitigation research projects funded by the United States Federal Emergency Management Administration, and is currently a monitoring and evaluation officer at USAID. Vries completed his master thesis in the Department of Psychology at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands on images of nature, environmental values, and landscape preferences. Patrik Sakdapolrak studied Geography with Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Heidelberg/Germany. For his master dissertation entitled “International Labour Migration as a Livelihood Strategy: A Case Study from Northeast-Thailand” he conducted field research on international labour migration in Thailand, and finished his degree in Geography with distinction. In addition, he studied at the University of Wollongong/Australia, where he obtained the master degree with distinction in Social Change and Development. He is cur- rently conducting a PhD research on the topic “Adaptation Behaviour and Negotiation Processes” in the Department of Geography at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn. 2 Dr. Amber Wutich is a Postdoctoral research associate at Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability. She is a cultural anthro- pologist, and has conducted research in Bolivia, Mexico, the United States, and China. Her research focuses on water scarcity among the urban poor. She also studies reciprocity, social networks, science- policy interactions, and research methods. Byron Real is a PhD candidate at the University of Florida, Department of Anthropology. He is also a lawyer from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador in Quito and practices human and environmental law. Fernando Briones Gamboa is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Social Geography Laboratory, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. He completed his research in the project ENSO Disaster Risk Management in Latin America (LA RED, IAI) at CIESAS (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social, Mexico City). Firoz Verjee specializes in the use of geospatial technologies for envi- ronmental and humanitarian risk management. Between 1995-2000, Verjee represented the Canadian Space Agency’s RADARSAT program in Asia. Since 2001 he is based in Washington DC providing full time humanitarian intelligence services to the US Government, World Bank, United Nations, and several commercial, academic and non-govern- mental organizations. Currently he is completing a PhD in disaster management at the George Washington University. 3 Fabiola Sagrario Sosa Rodriguez is currently a PhD student in Urban and Environmental Studies at El Colegio de México. She obtained a Master’s degree in Urban Development Studies and a Major in Economics. She is also working as a researcher of the City Program University Studies supported by the National University of Mexico (UNAM). Rodriguez participated at the Mexico City Risk Profile for Earthquakes and Mega-Cities Initiative (EMI), has collaborated with Mexican research institutions in several projects, and worked for Mexico City Government. Laura Olson is a research scientist at the George Washington University Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management. She has authored case studies on public safety and worked as a disaster preparedness consultant for federal, state, and local government entities in the Washington D.C. region. Olson is currently a PhD candidate in the field of public administration at the George Washington University School of Business. She holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science and German Literature from the Karls-Ruprecht-Universität Heidelberg, Germany and a Bachelors Degree in Political Philosophy from Macalester College. 4 Perspectives on Social Vulnerability Edited by Koko Warner Selected Papers from the First Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability 22-28 July 2006, Hohenkammer, Germany 5 Acknowledgements We would like to thank Vilma Liaukonyte, Ilona Roberts, and Francesca Burchi for their assistance with copy editing; Alexander Fekete for feedback about the introductory chapter; and the academic officers of UNU-EHS, Katharina Thywissen, Jörn Birkmann, Torsten Schlurmann, Juan Carlos Villagran de Leon, Dusan Sakulski and Fabrice Renaud for comments on the chapters of this SOURCE. We also would like to thank all peer reviewers for their critiques of individual chapters. Úrsula Oswald Spring shaped the program for this year´s academy, and all the Munich Re Foundation Chairs on Social Vulnerability – Hans Georg Bohle, Anthony Oliver-Smith, and Tom Downing helped participants articulate the main outcomes of the academy – a working definition of social vulnerability and the research and policy agenda. Ben Wisner and Hans Günter Brauch, CASA scientists, played mentoring roles that also facilitated the refinement of papers in this volume. We appreciate the collaboration of the Munich Re Foundation in preparing and executing the Summer Academy. Angelika Boos strongly supported organizational and logistical arrangements for the academy. Dirk Reinhard ably facilitated some of the key discussions among the academy participants. The partnership with the Munich Re Foundation makes the MRF Chair on Social Vulnerability and the annual Summer Academy possible. The Foundation’s generous funding of the Summer Academy created the forum where these and other contributions on social vulnerability were discussed and debated. Finally, we are deeply grateful to Janos Bogardi, Director of UNU-EHS, and Thomas Loster, Chairman of the Munich Re Foundation, for their vision and leadership in bringing together three “generations” of scientists to push the frontiers of research and practice. Their personal involvement breathed vigor and momentum into a creative process and represents a lasting contribution to applied science. 6 Foreword “Perspectives on Social Vulnerability” is a title that suggests some of the fundamental aspects of the multidisciplinary, debate-filled, and policy relevant research surrounding the impact of shocks groups at risk from multiple stressors. This publication is the first SOURCE dedicated to examining the state of research and emerging perspectives on social vulnerability. The volume is part of a larger effort by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) to consolidate research on social vulnerability and facilitate science that increases the understanding, and proposes possible solutions to manifestations, of social vulnerability to environmental and social stressors. In response to a growing need for knowledge about social vulnerability UNU-EHS began forging new partnerships to fill knowledge gaps and foster a corps of scientists to address complex questions surrounding the multiple aspects of vulnerability, including social vulnerability. UNU-EHS and Social Vulnerability Research Three complementary components make up our approach to addressing social vulnerability. First, UNU-EHS provides, in partnership with the Munich Re Foundation, leading academics a platform for expanded research on social vulnerability. In 2005 we set up the Munich Re Foundation Chair on Social Vulnerability. The partnership complements other research on vulnerability at UNU-EHS,