Chapter 16: Adaptation Opportunities, Constraints, and Limits
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16.3. Adaptation Opportunities and Constraints
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16.3.2. Adaptation Constraints
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16.3.2.7. Social and Cultural Constraints:
Different actors within and among societies experience different constraints,which result in differential adaptive capacities and preferences for adaptation options (Wolf et al., 2013). As discussed in the AR4, for example, gender can be a factor that constrains adaptation. Recent studies from Nepal and India report that adaptation decisions among women, in particular, can be constrained by cultural and institutional pressures that favor male land ownership (Jones and Boyd, 2011) and constrain access to hazard information (Ahmed and Fajber, 2009), respectively. Studies of evacuation during Hurricane Katrina suggest that females were more likely to evacuate New Orleans than males (Brunsma et al., 2010), as were individuals without sufficient resources and access to transportation (Cutter and Emrich, 2006). Studies from both the USA and UK find that the elderly do not necessarily perceive themselves as vulnerable to extreme heat events (Sheridan, 2007;Wolf et al., 2009), which may create disincentives to react to such events (Chapter 11).
16.7. Ethical Dimensions of Adaptation Opportunities, Constraints, and Limits
Nevertheless, the complexity of international law comprises a significant constraint to making the case for addressing the breaching of adaptation limits (Koivurova, 2007). At national and subnational levels, cultural attitudes can contribute to stakeholder marginalization from adaptation processes (Section 16.3.2.7), thus preventing some constraints and limits from being identified (such as gender issues and patriarchal conventions).
