Pernille Gooch

Climate change and poverty: building resilience of rural mountain communities in South Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya, India

The rural mountain communities have long faced challenges from a range of social, economic, political and environmental factors and the threat from these factors has only intensified due to the current climate change. This study was conducted in South Sikkim, a mountain region located in the Indian Eastern Himalaya, to get a deeper insight of the multitude of barriers and stresses that a poor rural mountain community experiences. The purpose of the study was to get community’s perception on the kind of interventions that they consider important to lift them out of poverty and enhance their resilience to manage climate risk. The analysis is based on focus group discussions and household survey, using a multidimensional poverty assessment tool. The study highlights that the vulnerability of the study region to climate change is not concentrated to physical or geographical factors alone, but mostly to the socio-economic factors like lack of access to education, health care, limited livelihood opportunities, limited resources, etc. People consider that these non-climatic factors act as barriers for them to overcome poverty, contribute to their weak resilience, and make it extremely difficult for them to manage the risk posed by climate change. The study therefore suggests that it is of utmost importance that the interventions are planned in ways that address the multidimensional poverty in the region which in turn will enhance community’s inherent capacity to adapt to current as well as future climate risk.

Farm crisis, mobility and structural change in Swedish agriculture, 1992-2000

This is a longitudinal study of structural change in Swedish agriculture during 1992 to 1999/ 2000, in which period the country entered the European Union and its agriculture went through a major economic crisis. The study is unique in drawing on a theoretically grounded typology to describe the agrarian structure and its dynamism. The results show that there has been a great deal of mobility of farming households in the agrarian structure during the period. As expected, the rate of closure has been high. It is remarkable, though, that despite the fluidity, the farm structure remains remarkably stable, but increasingly bimodal: it continues to be dominated economically by a relatively small stratum of family farms, while being numerically dominated by part-time farms and by pluriactive farmers.

Ebola: Improving the Design of Protective Clothing for Emergency Workers Allows Them to Better Cope with Heat Stress and Help to Contain the Epidemic

It is a complex task to find optimal protective clothing to prevent the spread of Ebola virus disease (Martin-Moreno et al., 2014; Ryschon, 2014). The fear of getting infected is an obstacle for recruiting healthcare workers. In addition, the current design of protective clothing might curtail their working capacity severely in the hot and humid climate of West Africa and, in addition, paradoxically increase the risk of infection. Emergency work in full protective clothing including respiratory mask may lead to extreme heat stress in the hot climates resulting in shortened work time, dehydration, reduced professional judgement, and exhaustion. This increases risk of infection of health stuff (WHO, 2014). In Monrovia, Liberia, daytime maximum temperatures in the end of the year often reach 30–31°C, and the temperatures will be higher January to May, the hot season (Kjellstrom et al., 2014; http://climatechip.org/). In order to manage this heat stress, the workers need breaks (Kjellstrom et al., 2009). This leads to a frequent need to remove the protective gear, which involves an increased risk of infection. The multiple steps to remove the suit can take up to 30min (Kitamura, 2014). The modified Predicted Heat Strain (ISO 7933, 2004) model was used to indicate the expected work times (Fig. 1). The estimation was made based on the following assumptions. Standard man was chosen for the model calculations. Medium heavy activity (300W) was taken as the average work rate. The core temperature limit to cease such emergency work was set to 38.5°C. Three clothing types with different moisture permeability (i m) were selected for comparison: an impermeable outer layer (i m = 0.00), a semipermeable outer layer (i m = 0.07), and a relatively tight but still permeable outer layer (i m = 0.20). The basic clothing insulation in all cases was theoretically taken as 1 clo (0.155 m2K W−1) for comparative purposes. In all air temperature conditions, the other environmental factors were kept constant. Ambient water vapour pressure was set to 3.0 kPa, air velocity/body motion was 1 m s−1, and there was assumed no radiation effect present (work indoors or in shade). 1 Continuous work times for a work rate of 300W at different air temperatures before reaching a core temperature limit at 38.5°C in clothing with different moisture permeability (i m). The chosen work load in impermeable and semipermeable clothing allows 40min or shorter exposure during the hottest periods (Fig. 1) until the core temperature exceeds the suggested safe limit for occupational exposure. Higher core temperature is associated with decreased mental performance and increased misjudgement and mistakes (O’Neal and Bishop, 2010). Maximizing the moisture permeability and minimizing the clothing layers worn beneath the protective gear, provided that it should be resistant to penetration by body fluids, is a simple way of preventing heat stress and increasing the time spent inside the gear. However, dehydration and water intake must also be considered during extended exposures. A heat stress management program including rehydration should be an essential part of the overall health and safety program in any case. A desirable addition would be personal cooling used inside the protective clothing, such as cooling vests with ice or phase change materials (PCMs; Gao, 2014) or filtered ventilated coveralls (Kuklane et al., 2012). This may prolong working time to about 2h and reduce the number of gear changes per day. With 2-h work time in protective gear, the number of required personnel could be halved with possible decrease in contaminated waste. The final choice of the cooling method depends on specific air temperature and humidity. Increasing air temperature and, especially, humidity do reduce the effectiveness of air cooling and increase the benefits of PCM products. The use of PCMs requires freezers or cool areas for solidification after use. Cooling vests with ice are the cheapest and electricity for freezers is required. Power is one of the basic resources to provide healthcare and to cope with epidemics. Otherwise, the other types of PCM, e.g. Glauber’s salt or organic hydrocarbons/wax, with melting/solidifying temperature at about 28°C are available. For workers’ recovery after heat exposure, a room with air temperature below 27°C is recommended. The room or connected facilities could be used for PCM solidification storage. If still unavailable, then the melted PCM can be solidified in a relatively cooler water bath (using underground/well water, etc.), in an underground cave or in a cooler area during night. The higher the melting temperatures are, the less effective cooling is. However, if the temperature gradient is about 6°C or greater, the PCM can still provide a cooling effect. Considering cooling effect in ventilated garments, the provided air flow should be above 100 l min−1. There are filtered fan systems available on the market that manage the flows up to and above 200 l min−1 with the battery power lasting at least 5–8h (recharging takes about 2h). Ventilated systems (positive pressure suits) may allow even drinking water in the suit and that may prolong the work time even more. Table 1 gives a rough cost comparison of the present and a possible future protective clothing system based on 1-day (8-h) shift. It takes into account only the equipment cost. Estimation is based on the work time predictions given in Fig. 1 for the hottest work periods, i.e. 30min for the impermeable set and 2h for the new system that prolongs work period by higher permeability or by use of a cooling device. In both cases, similar final core temperatures are expected to limit the exposure. Also, it is expected that both sets take 30min for dressing, 30min for undressing, and require 30min for recovery between the work periods. As it can be seen the equipment cost of a new, theoretically even a 10 times more expensive solution is almost 3 times higher for a day. Table 1. Comparison of the equipment cost of the present and a possible, 10 times more expensive protective clothing system based on 1-day (8-h) shift. Assumed work time is 30min for present and 2h for the new system. In both cases, expected donning, doffing, ... Simultaneously, there are also other benefits with an actively cooling clothing system. The personnel need to cover one workstation is halved. The personnel have even extra time (about 30min) between the shifts to help with any other tasks or for additional recovery. Due to fewer times of dressing–undressing (16 + 16 times 30min versus 4 + 4 times 30min for present respective new system), there is also less need for assistance and disinfection during these periods. There will be less contaminated waste or fewer amounts of products to be cleaned. The new systems are meant to be reusable (extra costs for decontamination procedures have to be considered) compared to present, supposedly disposable systems, and already 2.5 times reuse will even up the equipment costs at the estimated prices. Infection risks are diminished due to the reduced need for undressing and cleaning procedures. In conclusion, reducing the risk of infection among the front-line healthcare workers and allowing a doubling of their work capacity could be a critical factor to successfully contain the epidemic. Considering that this epidemic is not the last, and with warmer climate both the epidemics are expected becoming more frequent, and conditions to fight them more severe (IPCC, 2013), then the testing and evaluation for selection of the optimal equipment is required long before missions are set out.

Van Gujjars: The Persistent Forest Pastoralists

During the last decade the condition of life has changed in many ways for the pastoral Van Gujjar who have their winter camps in the interior of the forests of the Shiwalik foot hills of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal in northern India. While the Gujjar in most of northern India are a very large and ethnically as well as religiously diversified population, the pastoral Gujjar in this particular area are all Muslims and constitute a rather homogenous, specialised community based on the production of buffalo milk from pastoralism in state forest. Although most other pastoral communities in the Himalayan region have a village base where they practice agriculture for part of the year, this is not so for the Van Gujjar, who live scattered in temporarily erected huts, made from forest materials, in both their winter and summer pastures in the interior of the forests. During summer they migrate to the spruce forests and alpine meadows of Uttaranchal or to the Shimla hills in Himachal Pradesh. I visited the Gujjar of this area for the first time in 1987 and conducted the main part of my fieldwork among them in 1989-1992. What I found in 1987 was a non-literate, not very well known, pastoral people living with their herds at the periphery of local Indian society. Socially and politically marginalised and heavily exploited by both forest officials and middlemen, they appeared to have all odds against them (Gooch 1992). (Less)

Intergenerational Interests, Uncertainty and Discrimination -II: An Empirical Analysis of the Process of Declining Child Sex Ratios in India

This article is an empirical analysis of the problem of declining child sex ratios in India. The rapid transformation of the social and economic fabric in India is altering the institution of the family, as the young become increasingly disembedded from customary social relations. Case studies in Karnataka and Uttaranchal show how this transformation has lead to differing intergenerationai interests, thereby increasing parental uncertainty about the future. The uncertainty experienced by the older generation concerns apprehensions about future socioeconomic obligations and the younger generation becoming disembedded from those intergenerational interests. It is in the face of this uncertainty that the situational context of the social devices transmitted through centuries of gendered prescriptions is fallen back upon and receives renewed importance. This context is constituted by highly gendered norms wherein daughter discrimination is legitimised and rationalised.

Climate change-induced heat risks for migrant populations working at brick kilns in India : a transdisciplinary approach

During the summer of 2015, India was hit by a scorching heat wave that melted pavements in Delhi and caused thousands of deaths, mainly among the most marginalized populations. One such group facing growing heat risks from both occupational and meteorological causes are migrant brick kiln workers. This study evaluates both current heat risks and the potential future impacts of heat caused by climate change, for the people working at brick kilns in India. A case study of heat stress faced by people working at brick kilns near Chennai, India, is the anchor point around which a transdisciplinary approach was applied. Around Chennai, the situation is alarming since occupational heat exposure in the hot season from March to July is already at the upper limits of what humans can tolerate before risking serious impairment. The aim of the study was to identify new pathways for change and soft solutions by both reframing the problem and expanding the solution space being considered in order to improve the quality of life for the migrant populations at the brick kilns. Technical solutions evaluated include the use of sun-dried mud bricks and other locally “appropriate technologies” that could mitigate the worsening of climate change-induced heat. Socio-cultural solutions discussed for empowering the people who work at the brick kilns include participatory approaches such as open re-localization, and rights-based approaches including the environmental sustainability and the human rights-based approach framework. Our analysis suggests that an integrative, transdisciplinary approach could incorporate a more holistic range of technical and socio-culturally informed solutions in order to protect the health of people threatened by India’s brick kiln industry.

Daughters of the Hills: Gendered Agricultural Production, Modernisation, and Declining Child Sex Ratios in the Indian Central Himalayas

In her seminal findings on female neglect in rural North India, based on the census from 1961 and literature studies, the anthropologist Barbara Miller detected a strong correlation between neglect of daughters, agricultural production and the cost of marriage (Miller, The endangered sex: Neglect of female children in rural North India, 1981). She also found significant regional and social variations between the South and the North. In examining studies from throughout India, she observed a pattern in which exceedingly high cost of marriages of daughters among upper social groups in the North corresponded with son preference and high female juvenile mortality, whereas the figures for the South indicated much more equal conditions. With agricultural production and the demand for female labour as the motivating factor, she observed a North/South dichotomy, expressed as “masculinism” in the North, with dry-field plough cultivation and a low demand for female labour, and “feminism” in the South where swidden and wet rice cultivation accompanied a high demand for female labour (Miller, The endangered sex: Neglect of female children in rural North India, 1981, p. 27 f.). Ester Boserup discovered a similar pattern dividing the subcontinent in female participation in farming, with much higher female participation in the South than in the North (Boserup, Woman’s role in economic development, 1970, p. 59 f.). Miller further found that the Himalayan region of Northern India did not fit the geographical dichotomy between the North and the South. Her study showed that, although geographically belonging to the North, the mountainous region was in some cultural ways more akin to the South, including a high participation of women of cultivator families in agricultural work in the Himalayan area (Miller, The endangered sex: Neglect of female children in rural North India, 1981, p. 108; cf. Agarwal, A field of one’s own: gender and land rights in South Asia, 1994, p. 358).

Conservation for Whom? Van Gujjars and the Rajaji National Park

This chapter discusses the growing conflict between people and national park administrations using the example of the Van Gujjars, a people of transhumant buffalo herders. In 1992, after returning from their summer pastures in the higher ranges of the Himalayas, the Van Gujjars were denied entrance to parts of their winter quarters in the Shivalik forest in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which had been proclaimed a national park in 1983. This was the beginning of an open conflict, which has given the ‘victims of conservation’ a human face among the Indian public.