Fischer, Harry
- Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Vulnerability is a core concept within the environmental social sciences. Yet contemporary discussions often focus narrowly on specific kinds of risks, especially relating to climate, with particular attention to avoiding loss and harm. We recast vulnerability as an experientially grounded, cross-cutting concept by arguing for two analytical shifts. First, we decenter climate by analyzing how vulnerability unfolds across interconnected spheres of life within a broader life trajectory. Second, we argue for an understanding of vulnerability that is far more than avoiding loss but always experienced in relation to the lives people have reason to value and strive to build. We illustrate this framing by recounting three in-depth life histories complemented with observations from a broader sample of 52 households in rural Nepal, a context that has experienced significant climate, environmental, and other shocks in recent years. Our work reveals how these more dramatic events intersect with a wide range of everyday human concerns - health, labour, debt, care for loved ones, and the need for social belonging. We argue that a more experiential and cross-cutting understanding of vulnerability holds potential to support development pathways that better address people's lived needs and aspirations in ways that recognize their sense of self and agency. More fundamentally, this framing provides insight into our shared human condition in present times, amidst mounting climate-related damages, a pandemic, wars, and continued political upheaval. If vulnerability is the propensity for loss and suffering, what lies in wait if it is to be addressed? To which future should we strive?
Keywords
Climate change; Development; Health; Well-being; Adaptation; Transformation; Futures
Published in
World Development
2026, volume: 198, article number: 107214
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
SLU Authors
Khatri, Dil
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS)
- Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Studies in Social Sciences
Development Studies
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107214
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/144674