Abstract
Introduction
The collaborative research presented in this article was carried out by members of Environmental Education for Sustainability, a program attached to the Educational Research Institute at Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico. This interdisciplinary working group investigates challenges and problems related to environmental and educational processes from a perspective that includes social context in a political action framework. These investigations follow the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that correspond to climate action (SDG 13), but they also address sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11). In addition, research problems related to other goals such as quality education (SDG 4), good health and well-being (SDG 3), and responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) are addressed indirectly.
In this investigation, the researchers were centrally located in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas in order to view education from both inside and outside of the school environment (e.g., community, virtual schools, etc.). Their work focused on different population sectors, for example, civil society organizations, indigenous peoples, the school community, and others.
The Project
Description
This research was carried out in the municipalities of Tlacotalpan, Cotaxtla, and José Cardel in La Antigua, all located in the state of Veracruz. The inhabitants of these towns have been periodically affected by the ravages of climate change due to the higher frequency, duration, and intensity of extreme hydrometeorological phenomena that produce floods of varying magnitudes.
The study consisted of three stages. 1.) Research with young people, high school teachers, and municipal agents concerning their physical and social vulnerability to climate threats. (See Methods section.) This stage also addressed how these groups perceive community resilience, and their own abilities to recover and cope with an environmental contingency. 2.) Participatory workshops held in the high schools gave teachers and young people an opportunity to address topics related to strengths and weaknesses discussed in the study. 3.) The workshop Acciones Comunitarias ante el Riesgo de Inundaciones (Community Actions in the Face of Flooding Risk) was held at Universidad Veracruzana and aimed at a small group of young leaders.
This article describes the general context as well as the theoretical approaches and the methodological design of each stage, which have been detailed in depth in previous publications.1–4
The high schools selected for this research are located in the municipalities of Tlacotalpan, Cotaxtla, and José Cardel, small cities located in low-lying areas and near rivers that often overflow and cause flooding during the rainy season. In 2010 Hurricane Karl seriously affected these localities and since then, their vulnerability has become more evident, although their resilience capacities are also evident. Therefore, the study focused on both vulnerability and resilience in these three localities, and the potential of young people as agents of change to participate together with local actors before, during, and after an event, such as a flood.
Anderson and Woodrow 5 have clearly informed the concept of physical vulnerability (land, climate, location, productive activity, housing, health), social vulnerability (political, institutional, leadership, economic and social organization systems), and motivational-attitudinal vulnerability (social groups' self-perception in terms of their ability to manage environmental conditions). On the other hand, resilience, according to Adger, 6 can be conceived as the ability of groups or communities to cope with unstable environments without losing the capacity for self-organization.
Based on our findings, the authors have concluded that vulnerability and resilience are inversely proportional, but they are both unequal and cumulative; they become apparent in different individual and collective ways depending on the degree of exposure to threats in particular local environments and under certain social conditions. Even the most resilient people and communities can be vulnerable as they cannot be resilient to everything at all times. Climate threats can be risks to vulnerable populations even if they exhibit a wide range of social resilience, such resilience is a volatile and dynamic process in which risk factors and protection against climate phenomena, floods in this particular case, can have simultaneous influence.
Methods
This research project took place over the course of three years (2015-2017). The first stage analyzed the theoretical and conceptual aspects of the study that supported the rationale of the research and the methodological design, first from an interpretive paradigm, then reflective critique. Mixed methods were used: surveys, semi-structured interviews, participatory workshops, and direct observation of community participants.
In the first stage, a survey was provided to a representative sample of young students in each of the three localities (N=411). The survey was conducted during the school day, in the classroom, and focused on categories of perceived risk, social vulnerability, and community resilience. In addition, 15 semi-structured interviews were held with key actors (mainly school administrators and municipal and community agents). The results of these interviews made it possible to explore and expand categories in the survey.
In the next stage, the results of the surveys and interviews were considered to design and develop participatory workshops with young people about climate change, extreme hydrometeorological phenomena, flooding, risk, vulnerability and resilience, health, and responsible consumption. In addition, some workshops about these topics were adapted for groups of teachers. The workshop topics were all connected to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3, 4, 11, 12, and 13).
In 2017, a small group of young leaders and teachers from the three high schools were invited to participate in the workshop, Acciones Comunitarias ante el Riesgo de Inundaciones (Community Actions in the Face of Flooding Risk), held at Universidad Veracruzana. During this workshop, the researchers shared the results of the surveys while supporting the community in climate resilience. Based on information refined during this workshop, the participants went back to their communities, conducted activities, and shared the information learned with other young people. Community spaces were opened, enabling more local involvement, and proposals were presented for ways to face climate events. These young people assumed the role of agents of change and thereby participated in furthering SDG 11—Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Outcomes
The research helped to identify communities that had taken action to ameliorate future climate-related events, working collaboratively to adopt measures based on previous flooding experiences. Identifying the essential elements that help communities become more resilient can be enhanced by targeted educational strategies inside and outside the school environment.
It was also possible to identify how social relationships in these communities were kindled by these experiences, and how these communities were then able to reduce their vulnerability despite the risk factors of their physical and social conditions. These communities now recognize the importance of taking some preventive measures, given the probability of continued flooding events, a lesson learned from their experiences in 2010 when they ignored the alerts from civil protection agents who, in any case, arrived late.
Young people are increasingly aware of the escalating risks around them and, therefore, make even greater efforts to strengthen their initiatives to reduce the vulnerability of their communities and increase climate resilience. In this study, young people became actively involved during the development of the research, which confirmed the hypothesis that this cohort consists of people willing to act as agents of change within their families and their communities. Young people not only want to be taken into account, they also want to have leading roles in processes that strengthen the social cohesion, solidarity, and climate resilience in their localities.
Future Planning
The results of this research can be adapted to communities that are similarly vulnerable to extreme hydrometeorological phenomena. It is important to recognize young people as agents of change who wish to participate and contribute to community well-being. The lesson derived from this study and other experiences is that major weather events can be a trigger for climate resilience in the face of adverse situations and in preparation for future events.
The most important take away from this study is that the quality of life in local communities is impacted by an effective and timely response to environmental emergencies. Helping these communities mitigate these impacts can be achieved through educational intervention strategies that can contribute to changing the social dynamics. Adversity can be an agent of change in the processes that contributes to improving lives. Communication skills, coordination among organizations, leadership, and solidarity can be effective only if the community is organized and fully aware of its vulnerabilities and risks.
The results of this study can be used to strengthen governance processes to produce more effective interactions and more beneficial agreements between local authorities and citizens. These steps can go a long way toward preventing and solving the growing problems resulting from climate change.
Footnotes
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.