Exploring the relationship between belief systems and climate change adaptation

Transcription

1 Exploring the relationship between belief systems and climate change adaptation SANCOOP Final Conference (4-5 December 2017) Prof Karen O Brien (University of Oslo) Dr Ananka Loubser (North-West University)

2 Objectives of the project The primary objective of this project is to explore the relationship between belief systems and climate change adaptation, assessing the hypothesis that flexible belief systems contribute to an increased capacity to adapt to climate change. Empirical research in several South African communities provided data and understanding of belief system flexibility in relation to climate change adaptation. Since this study involved people s personal experiences regarding climate change adaptation and religious beliefs, as well as determining specific worldviews, the mixed method approach of Q- methodology was deemed appropriate. This methodology was used to determine community experiences and understandings of climate change adaptation while producing statistical data to test the hypothesis that there is a link between climate change adaptation and belief systems.

3 Research Design The research design consisted of four phases: Phase 1 included semi-structured interviews with participants from three different research sites. Three rural communities in the North West Province of South Africa were chosen for the collection of data: Ikageng, Jouberton, and Ventersdorp. Respondents were chosen using purposive sampling, based on their willingness to participate. Snowball sampling was used to find additional participants in cases where initial sampling attempts were unsuccessful. From the data of phase 1, 40 significant statements (Q-sorts) were identified for use in further phases. A total of 103 participants were involved in Phase 1 of the research. During Phases 2 and 3, participants were asked to rate these statements on a Likert-type scale in order to determine level of agreement and disagreement to each of the statements. 51 of the participants were invited to take part in Phase 2, based on a random selection and participant availability and 25 participants were in Phase 3. Phase 4 involved participants identifying one of the five worldviews (compiled from Phase 2 and Phase 3 data) which represented their own set of beliefs the best. Phase Four had a total of eight participants, chosen based on their significant loading for each of the factor narratives (worldviews). The overall sample was kept relatively small in order to keep with Q-methodology requirements. The PQMethod software program (version 2.35) was used for data analysis and provided the statistical results and factor arrays on which interpretations and conclusions are based.

4 Results (briefly ) One of the overarching aims of this study was to investigate whether religious beliefs have any impact in the way people perceive climate change, as well as on their willingness and ability to adapt to it. In this regard the study was successful: it has been determined that within this specific context, participants who regard themselves as religious exhibited evidence of influence from their religious beliefs, whether this improved their ability to adapt to climatic changes, or hamper it. This finding showed that it is worth pursuing the incorporation of religious beliefs in climate change research, and the overall outcome was an optimistic one encouraging further study. A practical example from the study results highlights the link between climate beliefs and adaptation: one of the groups of respondents was distinguished from the other group by their belief that natural objects and phenomena are under God s control and displayed what can be interpreted as a type of religious determinism or fatalism. These participants denied human involvement in the changing of the climate and reason that because of the power over nature enforced by God, humans can have no influence on it at all. This belief leads to a metaphorical shrugging of the shoulders that has the potential to hamper adaptive capacity and willingness. Interestingly, this group expressed a willingness to change their beliefs, based on the principle of seeing is believing merely telling this group to adapt will not be successful. It will require careful education with the inclusion of practical examples to change their behaviour towards the climate. Another finding worth mentioning regards the respondent s beliefs about time. Climate change is experienced in actual time and the respondents awareness of climatic change is based on present and past experiences. The motivation for climate change adaptation is however based on possible future events and scenarios. In some traditional African conceptions of time, future events cannot constitute time and is suitably referred to as no-time. In Afro-polychronism the future beyond two years from the present is silent and indifferent and people can neither plan for the distant future nor build castles in the air (Mbiti, 1969:20, 23). This future view of no-time may prove to be challenging for climate change adaptation as little emphasis is place on future events. In this sense the study results also show that beliefs can influence the ways in which we understand and address climate change.

5 Results (cont. briefly ) Regarding objectives 1-3 and the empirical study of perceptions of beliefs and climate from three communities in the North West province, five unique semantic patterns were found. They can be summarized as naturalist/ collectivist, religious, religious determinist, activist/collectivist, and government/structural thinkers and show a propensity for collectivistic and religious modes of reasoning. In the context of climate change seven factors were identified as impeding belief revision: a high level of integration, social embedment, importance of belief, perception narrowed by cultural beliefs, perceived frightening consequences, negative authority beliefs, and new knowledge that is seen as threat to identity. Factors that improve openness to belief change include a perception of high controllability, positive referents in authority beliefs, and clear evidence. Regarding objective 4, there is an increasing integration of human and natural systems as the impact of humanity on nature intensifies. A holistic approach to climate change adaptation, which includes mental adjustments, is recommended as opposed to trying to fix single problems in isolation. Addressing underlying causes that is at the root of several risk drivers and creating enabling conditions for sustainable development was found remains to be a big priority. Purposive adaptation involves vulnerability reduction, resilience strengthening, and capacity building. Beliefs about oneself and the world determine one s capacity to respond, and the way climate change is defined shapes adaptation. Similarly, definitions of disaster, importance, and vulnerability are not universal and they influence behavior and action (or inaction). Social networks, local knowledge, socio-economic characteristics and nonclimatic pressures were identified as important for shaping adaptation measures.

6 Research Outputs 1. Staff and student exchanges: Dr. R.A. Loubser to the University of Oslo for the following months: August 2014, May and December 2015, September Conferences: 2016: O'BRIEN, K., "From theory to practice: What quantum social theory means for collaboration", Conference of the American Association of Geographers. San Francisco. 2016: LOUBSER, R.A, The role of emotions in the formation and justification of beliefs about the external world: adaptation to climate change in rural South Africa, paper presented at MENS SANA: THE FOURTH ARGUMENTOR CONFERENCE Rethinking the role of emotions, Oradea, Romania from 7-8 October : LOUBSER, R.A, Exploring the relationship between belief systems and climate change adaptation, poster presented at the first conference of the Experimental Philosophy Group Germany, Investigating the Nature and our Understanding of Causality, Morality, Language, Mind and Aesthetics, Rühr University, Bochum, Germany from November : LOUBSER, R.A, Achieving sustainability through epistemic framework changes: redefining the place of humanity in nature, paper presented at the IARU Sustainability Science Congress: Global Challenges: Achieving Sustainability, on October 2014, Copenhagen, Denmark. 3. Guest lectures: 2016: O'BRIEN, K., "Responding to climate change: Is it time for a quantum leap?", Q Symposium on "Peace and Security in a Quantum Era". Sydney, Australia. 2015: LOUBSER, R.A, Belief system flexibility in relation to climate change adaptation in rural South Africa, invited talk at the Institute for Global Change, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa on 18 September : LOUBSER, R.A, Exploring the relationship between belief systems and climate change adaptation, seminar at the department of Philosophy, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa on 13 August : LOUBSER, R.A, Climate beliefs: the relationship between belief systems and climate change adaptation, guest lecture at the Institute for Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway on 20 August 2014.

7 Research Outputs (cont.) 4. Students trained in the programme: Three masters students, one honours student and three postgraduate diploma students completed their degrees/studies in the project. 5. Articles in peer-reviewed journals: O'BRIEN, K. (2016), Climate change and social transformation: is it time for a quantum leap? Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change. ISSN/ISBN: A.C. TERBLANCHÉ-GREEFF, J.V. DOKKEN, D. VAN NIEKERK, R.A. LOUBSER (2016), Cultural time orientation beliefs and its influences on climate change adaptation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, forth coming. B.S. Jooste, J.V. Dokken, D. Van Niekerk, R.A. Loubser (2016), Challenges to belief systems in the context of climate change adaptation. Environmental Values, forth coming. S. Schuman, J.V. Dokken, D. Van Niekerk, R.A. Loubser (2016), The influence of fundamental beliefs on a community s understanding and experience of climate change adaptation. Human Ecology, forth coming. 6. Workshop: A workshop introducing Q-methodology and presenting the SANCOOP: Climate & Beliefs project to illustrate the application of the quali-quantological method, was held on 24 August 2016, at Kumkani Lodge, Potchefstroom, South Africa. 7. Community feedback and education: During Phase 3 of the fieldwork (5-7 October 2015) a community feedback session was held to communicate the progress of the experiment to the members of the participating rural communities. This session also included some information/education about climate change in the form of a brochure and presentation, including a short video. The need for this education was voiced by the community members during previous phases of the fieldwork.

8 Benefits of collaboration Capacity Building: Both the principal investigators in the project are female. In addition, we have committed ourselves to positively impact the redress effort by actively involving students from the designated groups in the project. Our three Masters students are all female, while the Honours/diploma students involved in the fieldwork of the project are black students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. Through their involvement with the project, we hope to develop the students into independent researchers. We hope to have most of the students continue to pursue their future studies after the completion of their current degrees. Two of the masters students have indeed indicated already that they are interested in pursuing PhD studies on the general topic of the SANCOOP project. Future Research: This project aims to contribute to an understanding of the human/community dimensions of climate change and future research to reduce vulnerability and risk in rural communities. We explored possible international collaboration to investigate community belief dynamics, using quantum social theory, as part of the "Adaptation: combining old and new knowledge to enable conscious transformations towards sustainability" project (project number: ). This project has been approved for EU funding. Furthermore, we are discussing possible collaboration with Wits University on a project involving the Interfaith Group of South Africa in a study on the role of beliefs in climate change adaptation. Impact on Industry/Community: Most of the discussion on climate change and beliefs has been limited to understanding whether and why people do or do not believe in climate change. In contrast, the study of beliefs as a structuring agent of inner reality has received very little attention in conjunction with climate change and climate change adaptation. The research here approaches the study of climate change and beliefs at a deeper level, recognizing internal and external realities and the need for collaboration among different types of knowledge. This study aimed to fill that gap and examined the interaction between belief systems and climate change adaptation. The challenges that climate change exerts on belief systems, and that belief systems exert on climate change adaptation were specific focuses of the study. The Climate & Beliefs project thus opens up for a much larger inquiry into the potential for reflections on beliefs as a structuring agent of inner reality that may eventually contribute to larger paradigm shifts that transforms the way that society approaches climate change adaptation. The findings of the project are currently being written up as journal articles, and results will also be presented in a special issue on climate change and beliefs in the journal Jamba (Journal of Disaster Risk Studies), forthcoming in 2017/18.

9 We would like to express our gratitude: National Research Foundation (NRF) Research Council of Norway (RCN) All involved in the management and administration of the project To the members of the communities of Ikageng, Jouberton and Ventersdorp.