Seventeenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

The paper aims to understand the ways in which relations of class shape local, adaptive responses to climate change in village societies. Focusing on a village in western Maharashtra, India, the study draws on two types of primary data, both quantitative and qualitative, including a household socio-economic survey questionnaire and qualitative semi-structured interviews. The research demonstrates that economic conditions (class membership) create specificities in human-climate relations – it affirms that adaptive capacity is class specific. In descriptive modelling terms, private adaptation alters behaviour according to experiences of shifts in climate and private capacity to adapt to this shift. As such, our findings call for a more comprehensive understanding of the class nature of climate change as central in developing effective climate adaptation strategies that address the specificities of village life. Examining the complexities of class relations and climate adaptation is particularly important in the Indian context because class privileges shape the ownership and access to natural resources, carrying implications for adaptive competences and capacities.