Linking poverty, HIV/AIDS and climate change to human and ecosystem vulnerability in southern Africa consequences for livelihoods and sustainable ecosystem management

Shackleton, S.E.; Shackleton, C.M.

The International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 19(3): 275-286

2012


DOI: 10.1080/13504509.2011.641039
Document Number: 552182
People in southern Africa are facing escalating levels of risk, uncertainty and consequently vulnerability as a result of multiple interacting stressors, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, food insecurity, weak governance, climate change and land degradation, to name but a few. Vulnerability or livelihood insecurity emerges when poor people as individuals or social units have to face harmful threats or shocks with inadequate capacity to respond effectively. In such situations, people often have no choice but to turn to their immediate environment for support. Evidence suggests that rising levels of human vulnerability are driving increased dependency on biodiversity and ecosystem services, which in turn, and along with other threats, is rendering ecosystems more vulnerable. This paper explores the dynamic and complex linkages and feedbacks between human vulnerability and ecosystem vulnerability, drawing on data from the southern African region. Human vulnerability is conceptualized as a threat to ecosystem heal.

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