Determining the vulnerability of women to the effects of climate change: A study on the economic, social, and political implications of climate change on the women of three rural communities in the Valles Cruceños region of Bolivia

Abstract

The few climate change studies that have been done in the Valles Cruceños region of Bolivia have mainly focused on investigations of climate change impacts on the natural system. Adaptation and mitigation measures, therefore, addressed only the biophysical vulnerability of the system. This preliminary research on three rural communities in the Valles Cruceños region explores the social construction of women‘s vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Formal and informal institutions determine and distribute entitlements, and a system‘s level of vulnerability or its capacity to cope with external stressors is defined by its ability to access these entitlements. Although all community members are vulnerable to the effects of climate change, women in particular, have specific roles and responsibilities in the household and community levels that disproportionately affect their resilience to shocks and stresses. I argue that the vulnerability of women to the effects of climate change in the Valles Cruceños region of Bolivia can be attributed to the absence of support from formal institutions and the presence of constraints from informal institutions.