Case study reveals state-mandated dryland transitions reduce adaptive capacity in wetland communities, highlighting the necessity of anticipatory, equity-focused adaptation.
Key Points
Investigate how environmental flooding variability and state-mandated livelihood adaptations influence structural vulnerability and long-term adaptive capacity.
Conducted an empirical case study utilizing household surveys, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation sessions.
Assessed local and institutional responses following severe flooding events that displaced residents and submerged agricultural fields in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
State-led responses increasingly restricted wetland-based livelihoods and directed households to transition permanently to dryland agriculture.
Interventions diminished overall adaptive capacity among wetland-reliant ethnic minorities, notably the Bayei tribe, by disrupting customary subsistence strategies and deep cultural ties to aquatic ecosystems.