Page 70 - IJPS-6-1

Values, environmental vulnerabilities and adaptation in India

Seasonal livestock migration, which was the trusted adaptation strategy of the Raikas in the face of drought and
water scarcity, has been sidelined by urban migration, education, and private jobs. In the past, entire villages would
migrate with their livestock during the dry season. This adaptation strategy spoke of social cohesion and allowed them
to achieve the belongingness value. A higher quantity of livestock was a source of esteem. It offered them financial
safety and even determined marriage alliances. The same belongingness is now derived from wearing trousers and
shirts like city dwellers. Marriage alliances are based on the level of education and ability to secure private jobs.
This finding gives credence to the argument that social and individual characteristics limit adaptation (Adger, Dessai,
Goulden, et al., 2009; O’Brien, 2009; O’Brien and Wolf, 2010; Grothmann and Patt, 2005; Neef, Benge, Boruff et al.,
2018). It implies that adaptation policy and practice must appropriate an understanding of the importance of social
values to build sustainable adaptation pathways. Taking this argument further, this study highlights that the decline of
seasonal livestock migration is matched by the rise in urban migration and education. The practice of these adaptation
pathways is relatively new and driven by a change in social values. It must also be noted that power and preference
foreground the expansion of adaptation pathways (Pelling, O’Brien, Matyas, et al., 2015; Fook, 2017). This study
advances this argument to posit that value preferences can not only limit adaptation but also offer a means to expand
adaptation pathways.
This study also observes the dynamic and conflicting nature of values. Economic, demographic, and biophysical
changes exert influence on Raikas’ value systems and produce tensions. The youth have migrated to cities and are driven
by ambitions of material wealth and consumption. They are often unwilling to partake in local customs and livelihood
practices, while the older generation seeks to preserve some of these practices. This shift is consistent with the findings
from other pastoralist communities such as Bhotiyas of Kumaon region in Central Himalayas in India, where young
adults are discarding traditional practice in search of jobs in urban centers (Cultural Survival, 1998). The fact that there
exist generational differences in values has been corroborated by Inglehart and Baker (2000) and O’Brien (2009). The
insights on dynamism and conflicting nature of values build the evidence base for adaptation relative to place, time, and
subjectivities.
The study raises questions on the social justice implications of adaptation, especially when it entails trade-offs in the
allocation of resources. Masking these trade-offs marginalizes the less powerful groups and raises questions of social
justice (Graham, Barnett, Fincher, et al., 2015). This dynamic is currently playing out in the rural areas of Rajasthan.
The village commons have been fenced and closed for cattle grazing by powerful groups in the name of environmental
protection. The inability to use these grazing areas has made it difficult for the Raikas to eke out a livelihood from
livestock management. These conditions mean that adaptation policy needs to consider the interests and objectives of
multiple stakeholders and identify the trade-offs that come with adaptation choices. Doing that would shed light on the
winners and losers of adaptation as well as its acceptable and unacceptable losses (Nalau, Handmer, Dalesa, et al., 2016;
Neef, Benge, Boruff, et al., 2018).
There has been little accommodation for sociological, legal, and philosophical perspectives on intergenerational
rights and responsibilities (Rayner and Malone, 2001; Gibbons, 2014). Some of these tensions became visible in this
study. For example, the Raikas invest time and financial resources on their children’s education and encourage them
to migrate to urban areas for work. These adaptation choices entail the compromise of their current adaptive capacity
for future gains. Further, these choices trap older adults in villages, without adequate financial means and family
support, to pursue livestock management. A similar development was recorded in Odisha, where the youth migrated
to urban areas (after natural disasters), leaving the older adults to fend for themselves (Patel, Mathew, Nanda, et al.,
2020). Therefore, adaptation can involve intergenerational tensions as well as the sacrifice of short-term adaptive
capacity to bolster long-term adaptive capacity. This study makes a case for closer scrutiny of these intergenerational
dynamics.
It is not advisable to consider environmental vulnerabilities in isolation (Assessment A.C.I., 2004; O’Brien, 2008;
McCubbin, Smit, and Pearce, 2015). Adaptation policies that do not respond to a suite of forces (socioeconomic,
cultural, and political) run the risk of increasing vulnerabilities. This study reinforces the point that adaptation needs
to be designed in response to multiple interacting forces. For instance, the study found that even when seasonal
livestock migration was a viable option against environmental stressors, the sociopolitical context made the strategy
unviable. The breakdown of the relationship between farmers and the Raikas meant that the farmers are unwilling
to offer them shelter and food during their migration cycle. Furthermore, there is an increased occurrence of cattle
theft by raiders, putting the Raikas in harm’s way. This shows that their vulnerability is a result of a combination of
factors. This study builds the argument that addressing these structural issues will allow adaptation policy to have
a long-term impact.

64 International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 1