Procedural vulnerability: Understanding environmental change in a remote Indigenous community

The research identifies a 'procedural vulnerability' in climate change studies where Indigenous perceptions of environmental change, rooted in 'Dreaming', are marginalised by Western scientific discourses of risk. The author argues that adaptation efforts in remote Indigenous Australian communities risk failure if they ignore cosmologically embedded risks, assume universal vulnerability based on ecosystem reliance, or fail to recognise colonisation as an ongoing disaster. Such failures may lead to policies that move people away from colonial-defined risks but into risks defined by the Indigenous communities themselves.

• A 'procedural vulnerability' exists in climate change research when Indigenous perceptions of environmental change, which are rooted in 'Dreaming', are marginalised in favour of Western scientific discourses of hazard and risk.
• Adaptation strategies for remote Indigenous Australian communities are likely to be ineffective if they assume universal vulnerability based on ecosystem reliance, ignore risks tied to the capacity to 'take care of country', or treat the effects of colonisation—such as poverty and ill health—as primary climate vulnerabilities rather than secondary disasters.
• Procedural vulnerabilities in the Australian context may lead to policy failures where solutions move Indigenous people away from risks defined by colonial traditions but inadvertently place them in the path of risks as perceived by the communities themselves.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2014). Procedural vulnerability: Understanding environmental change in a remote Indigenous community. https://www.sei.org/publications/procedural-vulnerability-understanding-environmental-change-in-a-remote-indigenous-community/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Procedural vulnerability: Understanding environmental change in a remote Indigenous community. 2014. https://www.sei.org/publications/procedural-vulnerability-understanding-environmental-change-in-a-remote-indigenous-community/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Procedural vulnerability: Understanding environmental change in a remote Indigenous community |date=16 October 2014 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/procedural-vulnerability-understanding-environmental-change-in-a-remote-indigenous-community/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2014procedural, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Procedural vulnerability: Understanding environmental change in a remote Indigenous community}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2014}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/procedural-vulnerability-understanding-environmental-change-in-a-remote-indigenous-community/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }