Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics

The land-water dichotomy plays a key role in the prevailing global climate change adaptation (CCA) policy discourse for tropical coastal areas. This dichotomy is implicitly informed by a land centered conception of property which regards areas that fluctuate between water and land, or 'aquaterr...

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Main Authors: Haripriya Rangan, Judith Carney
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Arizona Libraries 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Political Ecology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/5860/
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author Haripriya Rangan
Judith Carney
author_facet Haripriya Rangan
Judith Carney
author_sort Haripriya Rangan
collection DOAJ
description The land-water dichotomy plays a key role in the prevailing global climate change adaptation (CCA) policy discourse for tropical coastal areas. This dichotomy is implicitly informed by a land centered conception of property which regards areas that fluctuate between water and land, or 'aquaterras', as marginal and in need of development to make them economically profitable. By adopting this perspective, mainstream CCA policies ignore the diverse, vernacular systems of adaptation that communities that dwell in such tropical coastal aquaterras have developed through multigenerational and lived experiences to negotiate climatic and contingent uncertainties. The article calls on political ecologists to jettison land-centered, economic representations of marginality and marginalization in favor of a 'buoyant', critical CCA approach which recognizes and builds on the vernacular knowings and expertise of tropical coastal aquaterra communities.
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spelling doaj-art-3f6a84c5cb9e4ce6b23a458cb727b3b22025-08-20T02:42:49ZengUniversity of Arizona LibrariesJournal of Political Ecology1073-04512025-01-0132110.2458/jpe.5860Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropicsHaripriya Rangan0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4238-2353Judith Carney1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2758-431XSchool of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of MelbourneGeography, University of California Los AngelesThe land-water dichotomy plays a key role in the prevailing global climate change adaptation (CCA) policy discourse for tropical coastal areas. This dichotomy is implicitly informed by a land centered conception of property which regards areas that fluctuate between water and land, or 'aquaterras', as marginal and in need of development to make them economically profitable. By adopting this perspective, mainstream CCA policies ignore the diverse, vernacular systems of adaptation that communities that dwell in such tropical coastal aquaterras have developed through multigenerational and lived experiences to negotiate climatic and contingent uncertainties. The article calls on political ecologists to jettison land-centered, economic representations of marginality and marginalization in favor of a 'buoyant', critical CCA approach which recognizes and builds on the vernacular knowings and expertise of tropical coastal aquaterra communities.http://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/5860/political ecologymarginalizationtropicsuncertaintyclimate change adaptation
spellingShingle Haripriya Rangan
Judith Carney
Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics
Journal of Political Ecology
political ecology
marginalization
tropics
uncertainty
climate change adaptation
title Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics
title_full Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics
title_fullStr Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics
title_full_unstemmed Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics
title_short Towards a buoyant political ecology: Rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics
title_sort towards a buoyant political ecology rethinking marginalization for coastal climate change adaptation in the tropics
topic political ecology
marginalization
tropics
uncertainty
climate change adaptation
url http://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/5860/
work_keys_str_mv AT haripriyarangan towardsabuoyantpoliticalecologyrethinkingmarginalizationforcoastalclimatechangeadaptationinthetropics
AT judithcarney towardsabuoyantpoliticalecologyrethinkingmarginalizationforcoastalclimatechangeadaptationinthetropics