IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i9p5250-d802845.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Engaging Communities in Adaptation to Climate Change by Understanding the Dimensions of Social Capital in Atlantic Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Liette Vasseur

    (Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada)

  • Mary J. Thornbush

    (School of Environment, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada)

  • Steve Plante

    (Département de Sociétés, Territories et Développement, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300, Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC G5L 3A1, Canada)

Abstract

This paper examines the role of social capital and its influence on the capacity of coastal communities in Atlantic Canada to respond and adapt to climate change, especially when dealing with extreme weather events. Three elements of social capital—social trust, institutional trust, and social networks—were considered. They were analyzed based on four questions targeting social capital during semi-structured interviews on climate change adaptation in 10 rural coastal communities located in three Canadian provinces (Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island). Results showed that these communities exhibited strong social capital, mainly because of a high level of social trust. People were ambivalent in the way they connected to institutions, especially with governments. They often felt isolated and left to themselves to deal with climate change adaptation decisions. The research conveys the difficulties and challenges of multilevel governance, where coastal communities generally ensure trust within the community first before trusting higher levels of government. Initiatives to improve public engagement and participation in decision making should be supported for further adaptation, although they would require greater accountability and transparency.

Suggested Citation

  • Liette Vasseur & Mary J. Thornbush & Steve Plante, 2022. "Engaging Communities in Adaptation to Climate Change by Understanding the Dimensions of Social Capital in Atlantic Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5250-:d:802845
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5250/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5250/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joakim Kulin & Ingemar Johansson Sevä, 2021. "Who do you trust? How trust in partial and impartial government institutions influences climate policy attitudes," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 33-46, January.
    2. Liette Vasseur & Mary Thornbush & Steve Plante, 2017. "Climatic and Environmental Changes Affecting Communities in Atlantic Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-10, July.
    3. Erik Persson & Åsa Knaggård & Kerstin Eriksson, 2021. "Public Perceptions concerning Responsibility for Climate Change Adaptation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-23, November.
    4. Liette Vasseur, 2021. "How Ecosystem-Based Adaptation to Climate Change Can Help Coastal Communities through a Participatory Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-10, February.
    5. N. Jones & J. Clark, 2014. "Social capital and the public acceptability of climate change adaptation policies: a case study in Romney Marsh, UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 123(2), pages 133-145, March.
    6. W. Neil Adger, 2003. "Social Capital, Collective Action, and Adaptation to Climate Change," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 79(4), pages 387-404, October.
    7. Carlie D. Trott & Andrea E. Weinberg & Laura B. Sample McMeeking, 2018. "Prefiguring Sustainability through Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Reflections and Recommendations for Student Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Woolcock, Michael & Narayan, Deepa, 2000. "Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 15(2), pages 225-249, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elinor Haldane & Lauren MacDonald & Nolan Kressin & Zoe Furlotte & Pelin Kınay & Ryan Guild & Xander Wang, 2023. "Sustainable Tourism in the Face of Climate Change: An Overview of Prince Edward Island," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Julio C. Vargas-Burgos & Marco Heredia-R & Yenny Torres & Laura Puhl & Biviana N. Heredia & Jhenny Cayambe & Julio Hernán-González & Alexandra Torres & Marcelo Luna & Theofilos Toulkeridis & Bolier To, 2023. "Livelihoods and Perceptions of Climate Change among Dairy Farmers in the Andes: Implications for Climate Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Malherbe, Willem & Biggs, Reinette & Sitas, Nadia, 2024. "Comparing apples and pears: Linking capitals and capacities to assess the resilience of commercial farming operations," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aparna Kumari & Tim G. Frazier, 2021. "Evaluating social capital in emergency and disaster management and hazards plans," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 109(1), pages 949-973, October.
    2. Desai, Raj M. & Olofsgård, Anders, 2019. "Can the poor organize? Public goods and self-help groups in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 33-52.
    3. Yadira Méndez-Lemus & Antonio Vieyra & Lorena Poncela, 2017. "Peri-urban local governance? Intra-government relationships and social capital in a peripheral municipality of Michoacán, Mexico," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Stephane, Victor, 2021. "Hiding behind the veil of ashes: Social capital in the wake of natural disasters," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    5. Yanjun Cai, 2017. "Bonding, bridging, and linking: photovoice for resilience through social capital," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 88(2), pages 1169-1195, September.
    6. Rupsha Banerjee & Josey Kamanda & Cynthia Bantilan & Naveen Singh, 2013. "Exploring the relationship between local institutions in SAT India and adaptation to climate variability," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 65(3), pages 1443-1464, February.
    7. Foa, Roberto, 2009. "Social and governance dimensions of climate change : implications for policy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4939, The World Bank.
    8. Moon, Won-Ki & Kahlor, Lee Ann & Olson, Hilary Clement, 2020. "Understanding public support for carbon capture and storage policy: The roles of social capital, stakeholder perceptions, and perceived risk/benefit of technology," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    9. Giuseppe Terzo, 2021. "Social capital, social economy and economic resilience of Italian provinces," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(5), pages 1113-1135, October.
    10. Baird, Timothy D. & Gray, Clark L., 2014. "Livelihood Diversification and Shifting Social Networks of Exchange: A Social Network Transition?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 14-30.
    11. Loan Thi Phan & Sue Ching Jou & Jun-Hua Lin, 2019. "Gender Inequality and Adaptive Capacity: The Role of Social Capital on the Impacts of Climate Change in Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, February.
    12. Paavola, Jouni & Adger, W. Neil, 2005. "Institutional ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 353-368, May.
    13. Zhou, Lingxu & Chan, Eric & Song, Haiyan, 2017. "Social capital and entrepreneurial mobility in early-stage tourism development: A case from rural China," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 338-350.
    14. Ishihara, Hiroe & Pascual, Unai, 2009. "Social capital in community level environmental governance: A critique," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 1549-1562, March.
    15. Mogues, Tewodaj & Carter, Michael R., 2003. "Social Capital and Incentive Compatibility: Modelling the Accumulation and Use of Social Collateral," Staff Paper Series 460, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    16. Ana Raquel Nunes, 2021. "Exploring the interactions between vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to extreme temperatures," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 109(3), pages 2261-2293, December.
    17. Dufhues, Thomas & Buchenrieder, Gertrud & Quoc, Hoang Dinh & Munkung, Nuchanata, 2011. "Social capital and loan repayment performance in Southeast Asia," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 679-691.
    18. Mahto, Raj V. & Belousova, Olga & Ahluwalia, Saurabh, 2020. "Abundance – A new window on how disruptive innovation occurs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    19. Tapio Riepponen & Mikko Moilanen & Jaakko Simonen, 2023. "Themes of resilience in the economics literature: A topic modeling approach," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 326-356, April.
    20. Pilar Useche, 2016. "Who Contributes to the Provision of Public Goods at the Community Level? The Case of Potable Water in Ghana," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 34(6), pages 869-888, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5250-:d:802845. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.