Collaborative Action for Community Resilience to Climate Risks: Opportunities and Barriers

Olivia Jensen and Corinne Ong
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Olivia Jensen: LRF Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk, National University of Singapore, Innovation 4.0, 3 Research Link, Singapore 117602, Singapore
Corinne Ong: Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, 469C Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 117602, Singapore

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: Collaborative actions between citizens and government agencies at the local level have the potential to raise community resilience to climate risks via social learning and increased social capital. However, for these actions to succeed, community members’ values, norms and risk perceptions must support collaborative action and be accompanied by self-efficacy. This paper develops a theoretical framework linking these concepts and applies the framework to a collaborative climate risk project in Singapore, using qualitative data from focus group discussions. We find that pro-social values are a strong enabling factor for residents to engage in collaboration, but that perceptions of low collective efficacy are a potential barrier. In particular, we find that the relative competence of the government leads to a perception of “exemptionalism,” which undermines individuals’ intentions to devote resources to collaborative action.

Keywords: community resilience; climate risk; social learning; social capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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