Student: Ricardo Suárez Silva

Date: February 4, 2024

Word count: 337
Report: who is most vulnerable?

Yes, they indeed qualify as a social vulnerable group more sensitive to events such as the wildfires
of 2023 we refer to the social vulnerability framework to climate change.

Cultural and Economic Factors: Being like other indigenous people, Native Hawaiians are
particularly tied to the land and nature where they dwell and from which the area’s climate change
and its manifestations in such disasters as wildfires may disproportionately affect them. These
links, however, go beyond cultural and economic as many native Hawaiians rely on the land for
their survival, either through farming, fishing, or a tourism that celebrates their heritage. In
instances of wildfires, these lands are not only destroyed but also the homes of people and the
ecosystem get wiped out and the cultural sites, the economic base they all make the social and
economic vulnerabilities worse still. If there is a loss of land, there may be a cultural
disambiguation on a very deep level, this is why all traditional practices, knowledge, and languages
may be put in danger.

Historical and Ongoing Inequalities: Indigenous peoples, including Native Hawaiians, have
experienced systemic forms of discrimination such as marginalization, restricted access to benefit
from essential resources, and denial of structural political harness in the society. These injustices
could lead to enhancements of climate events. For example, within communities, infrastructural
capacity to respond and recover from wildfires may be inadequate, while there may be insufficient
investment in fire prevention and management in the concerned regions. More to this,
socioeconomic variables, including lower incomes and reduced availability of insurance, might
make it difficult for them to prepare for, react to, and recover from such disasters. Given these
historical as well as current equalities, Native Hawaiians may be not as resilient as other groups
thus exposing them to the adverse effects of climate change such as wildfires.

Consequently, taking account of the cultural-economic implications and historical-social

inequality, Native Hawaiian represents such a group that is highly vulnerable to the harmful effects
of climate change including the devastating fires of 2023.
Reference:

Socially vulnerable groups sensitive to climate impacts. (s/f). Org.uk. Recuperado el 5

de febrero de 2024, de https://www.climatejust.org.uk/socially-vulnerable

groups-sensitive-climate-impacts