Climate Gating: A Case Study of Emerging Responses to Anthropocene Risks

Simpson, N.P., Shearing, C. & Dupont, B. 2019. Climate Gating: A Case Study of Emerging Responses to Secure Resilience. Climate Risk Management vol. 26.

Posted: 25 Aug 2019 Last revised: 14 Sep 2019

See all articles by Nicholas Simpson

Nicholas Simpson

University of Cape Town (UCT)

Clifford Shearing

University of Cape Town; University of Montreal, School of Criminology; University of New South Wales; University of Toronto

Benoit Dupont

University of Montreal - School of Criminology

Date Written: 2019

Abstract

This article explores responses to one type of climate risk, severe water scarcity, during Cape Town’s drought from 2016 to mid-2018. Advancing our understanding of how societies can cope and develop despite disruptions, it considers how selected pathways shaped noteworthy response diversity to mitigate the impact and potential harms associated with the unprecedented drought. Enhancing capacity through off-grid alternatives, private responses led to the emergence of innovative arrangements, at extraordinary scales, to adaptively secure variants of household level water access and reserves while expanding general reserve margins. Unintended consequences of nascent off-grid capacity arrangements precipitated transformations and accommodation challenges to public governance systems. We relate these observations to emerging trends in ‘off-grid’ provision of goods by non-state actors, seen in other fields, a phenomenon we call ‘climate gating’. These observations highlight what is and what is not potentially safeguarded by such decentralised and polycentric responses.

Keywords: Climate gating, Water security, Harmscapes, Anthropocene, Reserve capacity

Suggested Citation

Simpson, Nicholas and Shearing, Clifford D and Dupont, Benoit, Climate Gating: A Case Study of Emerging Responses to Anthropocene Risks (2019). Simpson, N.P., Shearing, C. & Dupont, B. 2019. Climate Gating: A Case Study of Emerging Responses to Secure Resilience. Climate Risk Management vol. 26., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3442361

Nicholas Simpson

University of Cape Town (UCT) ( email )

Private Bag X3
Rondebosch, Western Cape 7701
South Africa

Clifford D Shearing (Contact Author)

University of Cape Town ( email )

Private Bag X3
Rondebosch, Western Cape 7701
South Africa

HOME PAGE: http://www.publiclaw.uct.ac.za/pbl/staff/cshearing

University of Montreal, School of Criminology ( email )

C.P. 6128 succursale Centre-ville
Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7
Canada

University of New South Wales ( email )

Sydney
Australia

University of Toronto ( email )

Robarts Library
130 St. George Street, Room 8001
Toronto, ON M5S 1A5
Canada
416-978-3720 Ext. 234 (Phone)
416-978-4195 (Fax)

Benoit Dupont

University of Montreal - School of Criminology ( email )

CP 6128 Succursale Centre-ville
Montreal, QC H2P 2H4
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.benoitdupont.net

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