or “marginalized� populations, with an emphasis on inequalities, children and gender. Without better consideration of the limitations of current understandings of vulnerability and adaptation, and incorporation of an understanding of population dynamics in addressing these limitations, adaptation policies and programmes will increasingly fall short of their intended outcomes. In particular, this chapter shows how incorporating a range of population dynamics and related demographic issues in adaptation policies and programmes can aid in reducing exposure to the impacts of climate change and in strengthening adaptive capacity to deal with these impacts. Population dynamics is here defined as the change in population size, distribution by age, spatial distribution (including urbanization), density, composition of households and family and the variables that generate these results: fertility, mortality, migration and marriage patterns. The next section reviews the limitations of current approaches to vulnerability and adaptation and argues that many of these can be addressed by an appropriate consideration of population dynamics. The following three sections unpack the concepts of vulnerability, exposure and adaptive capacity and illustrate the specific ways in which these are shaped by demographic issues. The final section of the chapter identifies some initial directions towards a framework for integrating development, adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction, based on the importance of connecting with the lives of individuals, households and communities, informed by both population data and a holistic understanding of population dynamics.
Current Limitations in Approaches to Adaptation Since the recognition of adaptation as one of the core pillars of global responses to climate change (along with mitigation, technology transfer and financing), there has been a rapid growth of interest in the topic and a rapid expansion in the development and implementation of adaptation projects. The overwhelming scientific consensus on the causes and likely effects of climate change suggests that much of this adaptation activity has been driven by a sense of urgency to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of people living in particularly vulnerable countries (Huq and Ayers, 2007). However, these expansion efforts have often taken place without a broader understanding of the drivers of social change, with the result that several key limitations can be identified. First, perspectives on vulnerability have often been superficial, overly general and deterministic. Direct translation of vulnerability to climate change solely from economic, social or political factors is common, without full consideration of what that translation may mean.1 Adaptation and poverty reduction are not the same thing, and, while vulnerability associated with poverty is related to climate vulnerability, the two do not overlap perfectly. As a result of this mistranslation, practitioners frequently list vulnerable groups (e.g., women, children, the elderly, indigenous groups or disabled people) rather than specifying the underlying mechanisms that create vulnerability. Members of these groups may indeed have heightened vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, but, specifying a framework for understanding and addressing that vulnerability is essential. One of the purposes of this chapter is to fill this gap. Popul at i ng Adap tat i o n I nco rp o rat i ng P o p ul at i o n Dy nam i c s i n C li m at e Ch ange Adap tat i o n P o li c y an d P ract i c e
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