deliberative governance on vulnerability to climate change: voices from madhesi farmers
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Water for a food-secure worldwww.iwmi.org
Dr Floriane Clement, IWMI-NepalAnnual Conference on Nepal and
the HimalayaKathmandu 22 July 2015
Deliberative governance on
vulnerability to climate change: voices from
Madhesi farmers
Photo credit: Pawan Kumar/ Himalay Films
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Water for a food-secure world
Context
• Massive investment on adaptation to climate change in the development sector
• Climate change debates largely driven by natural scientists and risk-hazard perspective
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• Constructivist approach: ‘various groups of people conceive of the world in different ways’ (Hajer and Wagenaar 2003: 11)
• Plural framings contingent upon social values, economic interests and organizational structures
• Difficult to separate facts from values (Forsyth, 2005)
• ‘Governance is seen to be as much about shared problem construction as it is about collective solutions’ (Leach et al., 2007: 28)
Reflexive Governance
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Connecting Farmers’ Voices to Climate Change Policies and Discourses in Terai-Madhesh
• Participatory video (2013); 12 films produced
• Responses of 24 policy-makers video-recorded
• Audiovisual material compiled in a 35’ film
Photo credit: Pawan Kumar/ Himalay Films
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Using audiovisual material for deliberative and reflexive governance
• Evocativeness and action orientation• Can be easily spread and disseminated
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Deliberative dialogues
• Screenings in 6 VDCs – 200 farmers
• 2 radio roundtable discussions on local and national radios
• 2 workshopsPhoto credit: Pawan Kumar/ Himalay Films
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Framings of vulnerability
Risk-hazard and entitlement approaches (Ribot, 2010)
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NAPA
Climate change
Agriculture and Food Security
Water Resources and Energy
Forests and Biodiversity
Public Health
Urban Settlements and Infrastructure
Climate induced Disasters
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Farmers’ views
Failure of agriculture
Migration
Changes in weather patterns
Lack of access to agricultural inputs
Poverty
Lack of infrastructure
Lack of access to irrigation facilities
Dowry system
Poor education system
Lack of employment opportunities
Interventions not reaching the poor
Poor discriminated in accessing facilities
Poor’s voices not heard
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NAPA (GoN 2010) Farmers
Perspective Risk hazard approach – impact of CC on different sectors
Entitlement approach – CC one of the multiple factors creating vulnerability
Causes of vulnerability
Natural environment, household characteristics, local context
Lack of and unequal access to public services and facilities; lack of accountable government representatives ; lack of influence in decision-making
Type of interventions
Technical and managerial options (e.g. construction of water storage, adoption of drought-resistant crop varieties and organic farming practices) defined for each sector/domain in isolation
Technical interventions
Role of actors Government to coordinate programmes and deliver public services
Local people to better adapt through increased awareness and adoption of better practices
Government to deliver public services and monitor service delivery
Local people to raise their voice, ask for funds and keep the government accountable
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Root causes of vulnerabilityClimate change or lack of public facilities and services?• “Plants are drying because of a lack of irrigation”;
“Because of a lack of irrigation water, farming is a failure”
Poverty or unequal access to basic services?• : “the government doesn’t provide these facilities. Only
the rich people receive benefits and nobody listens to the poor”.
• “Teachers in public schools educate their own children …uh.. in private schools. Public schools are only the choice of poor children”.
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“The failure of agriculture”
• “Farming is impossible”• “Nothing seems possible”• “Without migration, men would have
eaten men”• “What to say, we are in trouble here”
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Creating a new discursive space
• Film well acknowledged • Stakeholders’ discourses opened a bit to new
spaces but overall did not change– Farmers emphasized government’s lack of
accountability and declining level of community cooperation
– Civil society advocated for a right-based, demand-based and participatory approach
– Government representatives stressed the need for farmers to adopt good practices
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Conclusion
• Need for the facilitator to simplify and synthesise the different storylines in play to allow stakeholders engaging a dialogue
• Objective is not for stakeholders to reach a consensus but rather to acknowledge multiple framings and unpack their social and political-economic underpinnings
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THANK YOU