Study on Process of Building Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change through Social Capital in Low-Income Communities

A Case Study of Nakhon Sawan Municipality in Thailand

Abstract

This study observes the case study of the “Nakhon Sawan Community Development Organisation,” which is a network of 21 low-income communities in Nakhon Sawan City Municipality in Thailand. This network’s adaptive activities before, during, and after the mega flood in Thailand in 2011 are considered to be progressive. This study tries to investigate 1) What types of social network/capital can promote building adaptive capacities to flooding in low-income communities, and 2) Poor urban communities’ processes and conditions to form social capital that lead to building adaptive capacity. In this study, three types of social capital–bonding, bridging, and linking social capital–are used for analysis, and these three types are classified at three levels: local, national, and international. From the research, it is revealed that 1) From normal time to during and after the flood, bonding social capital, or the community network, is the basis of adaptive activities, 2) Bonding social capital can carry out adaptive activities in combination with linking and bridging social capital at national and international levels, 3) Low-income communities’ first step to expand its social networks with other organizations is uniting within a community and collaborating with neighborhood communities, and 4) A multi-layered, low-income community network system is effective for disaster management.