One of the objectives of the research activities supported by the FONDECYT/ANID Program is to generate knowledge about the factors that explain the differences in the responses of Chilean local governments to the social effects of climate change and environmental risks, which is of interest to the scientific community and useful to decision-makers. We aim to achieve this objective through the following activities:
Formation of a Competent Work Team: Mixed methods research (qualitative and quantitative) on project topics.
Production of Studies: Published in high-impact, mainstream international journals, peer-reviewed, available at PUBLICATIONS.
Working Papers: Presented at international seminars and conferences (International Political Science Association IPSA, Midwest Political Science Association MPSA, Western Political Science Association WPSA, Princeton University Sustainable Futures Conference, among others), available at SEMINARS.
Seminars and Workshops: National and international, with municipal officials, social leaders, academics, and professionals, available at ACTIVITIES.
Scientific Notes and Communication Instruments: For disseminating knowledge generated in society, available at SCIENTIFIC NOTES.
The initial specific objectives of our research were to:
Characterize the social effects of climate change and other environmental risks (CCEE) in Chilean communities affected by exposure and vulnerability.
Identify and characterize the responses of municipalities and other actors in local governance.
Characterize the governance systems in which municipalities participate to respond to these challenges.
Characterize the stocks of social capital in communities where municipalities respond to the social effects of CCEE.
Explore and estimate the effects that multilevel governance and social capital linking have on the responses of local governments.
Our efforts prioritized the following activities:
Design and Application of Mixed Research Methods: Working with qualitative and quantitative information, conducting in-depth comparative case analyses with a multi-systemic and dynamic perspective, formulating propositions and hypotheses, and empirically examining these ideas with rigor across a larger number of communes.
Production of Updated and Reliable Information: On communes and municipalities.
Production of Scientific Articles and Presentations: For the academic community.
Seminars and Workshops: National and international, to disseminate partial results and findings, and receive feedback from academics, experts, public officials, and social leaders.
Originally, our research began with the analysis of two Chilean municipalities, Cauquenes (Region of Maule) and Panguipulli (Region of Los Rios), as they are representative of vulnerable communes in the valley and the Andes mountain range. We later included Lebu (Region Biobio) in the analysis, a comparable municipality on the coast, enriching the comparative and geographically representative analysis. Subsequently, more representative cases were included, applying institutional analysis to better understand the contexts shaping local government decisions.
We collected pertinent information from the remaining 342 municipalities through:
Permanent review of municipal documentation.
Requests for information from municipalities.
Exhaustive work with databases.
Semi-structured interviews with heads of households, social leaders, and municipal officials in representative communities.
Our progress in dynamic and multi-systemic analysis was thanks to the combination of interdisciplinary knowledge contributed by collaborators, co-researchers, researchers in training, and support professionals, including:
Gabriel Davidovics (Statistician): Sample designs, hypothesis testing, and programming for modeling.
Dr. Pablo José Neudörfer (U Talca) and Dr. Benjamin Villena-Roldán (U Andres Bello): Conceptualizations, model specifications, programming for econometric analysis, and result analysis.
Dr. Krister P. Andersson (U Notre Dame): Conceptualization for multi-systemic analysis.
Professionals also collaborated in designing and producing audiovisual material and scientific notes for dissemination, making information accessible to society, counterparts, and for feedback. Undergraduate and graduate students contributed by conducting case studies, examining theoretical expectations, and gathering reliable information.
Rigorous research activities and dissemination of results involved:
Systematic literature review.
Interactions with academics.
Office and fieldwork.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Conceptualization, operationalization, and hypothesis testing.
Our contributions to international academic debate and public policies aim to illustrate complex institutional problems at the local level in low- and middle-income countries, with the goal of learning and improving. Findings from our research are valid for settings where local governments have significant roles in environmental management, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation.
Through our research, we found an urgent need for efforts that provide a better understanding of the motivation, factors, processes, and institutional dynamics that can strengthen local environmental management and risk reduction policies.