Food System Vulnerability Amidst The Extreme 2010-2011 Flooding in The Peruvian Amazon: A Case Study From The Ucayali Region

Food system vulnerability amidst the
extreme 20102011 flooding in the

Peruvian Amazon: a case study from the
Ucayali region
IHACC Research Group
Food Security
The Science, Sociology and Economics
of Food Production and Access to Food
ISSN 1876-4517
Food Sec.
DOI 10.1007/s12571-016-0583-9
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Food Sec.
DOI 10.1007/s12571-016-0583-9
ORIGINAL PAPER
Food system vulnerability amidst the extreme 20102011 flooding

in the Peruvian Amazon: a case study from the Ucayali region
Mya Sherman 1 & James Ford 1 & Alejandro Llanos-Cuentas 2 & Mara Jos Valdivia 2 &
IHACC Research Group
Received: 30 November 2015 / Accepted: 25 April 2016

# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and International Society for Plant Pathology 2016
Abstract Projections of climate change indicate an increase

in the frequency and intensity of climatic hazards such as
flooding and droughts, increasing the importance of understanding community vulnerability to extreme hydrological
events. This research was conducted in the flood-prone indigenous community of Panaillo, located in the Ucayali region of
the Peruvian Amazon, examining how the 20102011
flooding affected the food system at community and institutional levels. Drawing upon in-depth fieldwork using participatory research methods over multiple seasonsincluding
semi-structured interviews (n = 74), focus groups, and seasonal food security calendar and historical timeline exercises
the flooding was documented to have created several opportunities for increased fishing and agricultural production in
Panaillo. However, households lacked the resources to fully
exploit the opportunities presented by the extreme conditions
and increasingly turned to migration as a coping mechanism.
International aid organizations were drawn to Ucayali in response to the flooding, and introduced additional programming and provided capacity-building sessions for local
Indigenous Health Adaptation to Climate Change Research Group: Dr.
Lea Berrang-Ford, Dr. Cesar Carcamo, Dr. Shuaib Lwasa, Didacus
Bambaiha Namaya, Dr. Victoria Edge, and Dr. Sherilee Harper at the
Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall 805
Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 0B9
* Mya Sherman
Mya.Sherman@mail.mcgill.ca
Department of Geography, McGill University, Burnside Hall 805

Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 0B9
Fundacin Cayetano Heredia, Universidad Peruana Cayetano

Heredia, Casa Honorio Delgado, Av. Armendariz 445, Miraflores,
Lima, Peru
institutions. However, local institutions remain weak and continue to generally disregard the increasing magnitude and frequency of extremes, documented in the region over the last
decade. Moreover, the long-term implications of communitylevel and institutional responses to the extreme flooding could
increase food system vulnerability in the future. This case
study highlights the importance of considering both slow
and fast drivers of food system vulnerability in the aftermath
of an extreme hydrological event.
Keywords Adaptation . Climate change . Extreme event .
Flood . Food system . Indigenous . Temporal analogue .
Peruvian Amazon
Introduction
Over the past decade, the Peruvian Amazon has experienced
the most intense flooding and droughts in recent history
(Marengo et al. 2013; Espinoza et al. 2009). Flood regimes
are expected to continue to change in response to warming
temperatures and increased precipitation variability with anthropogenic climate change (Malhi et al. 2008; Pinho et al.
2014). Langerwisch et al. (2013), for example, calculated future flood duration and area in the Amazon Basin using 24
climate models from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report,
with the majority projecting the area of flooding to increase
by one-third. On average, flooding also lasted 3 months longer
in the western Amazon. The National Meteorological and
Hydrological Service of Peru (SENAMHI) has already reported that climate events in the country have intensified without
precedent since 2003, including extreme climate phenomena
that do not align with El Nio-La Nia (Santa Cruz et al. 2013;
Vegas de Cceres 2010).

M. Sherman et al.
Rainfall variability and related hydrological disasters are

serious threats to agricultural production in developing countries (IPCC 2014). According to the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), climate change will negatively impact
food security in the Peruvian Amazon, including production,
access, use and stability (Vegas de Cceres 2010). Several
studies project lower crop yield, increased soil erosion, reduced water availability, and increased human diseases in
the Peruvian Amazon in response to changes in seasonality
(Malhi et al. 2008; Santa Cruz et al. 2013; Vegas de Cceres
2010). Climate change could thus have profound implications for agro-fishing livelihoods, biodiversity, water availability, and human health (Pinho et al. 2014; Brondizio and
Moran 2008; Marengo et al. 2013), increasing the importance of understanding the vulnerability of communities to
extreme hydrological events.
This research was conducted in the flood-prone indigenous
community of Panaillo, located in the Ucayali region of the
Peruvian Amazon. The study uses the 20102011 flooding as
a temporal analogue to examine how the Panaillo food system
is currently affected by and responds to extreme climatic
events in the context of socio-economic-political-biophysical
conditions and changes, using this understanding to make
inferences for future food system vulnerability in the light of
climate change (Smit and Wandel 2006; Ford et al. 2010).
Analogues are increasingly being used in human dimensions
of climate change (HDCC) research and are based upon the
idea that knowledge about a socio-ecological systems interaction with a climatic event can be used to provide insight into
how a system might interact with a climatic event in another
time or place, provided that the systems of interest have a
similar structure and organization (Ford et al. 2010).
Temporal analogues examine current and past experiences
with climatic hazards in order to gain insight into future vulnerability to climate change (Glantz 1991; McLeman and
Hunter 2010; Brooks et al. 2005; Ford et al. 2010; Statham
et al. 2014). Although such analogues cannot exactly replicate
future conditions, they are useful for examining societal interactions with current climate variability and provide an empirical baseline for assessing future vulnerability and opportunities for adaptation (Ford et al. 2010; Ford et al. 2006;
McLeman and Hunter 2010; Giles and Perry 1998).
Several temporal analogue studies have focused specifically on vulnerability and extreme climatic events due to the
increase in frequency of climate extremes, the projection that
extreme events will become more normal and severe with
climate change, and the potential for extreme events to
markedly increase vulnerability and/or motivate adaptation
actions (Adger 1999; Adger et al. 2007, 2012; Giles and
Perry 1998; McLeman and Hunter 2010; Travis and
Huisenga 2013; Trenberth and Fasullo 2012; Espinoza et al.
2009; Statham et al. 2014; Pinho et al 2014). Although
extreme events almost always increase vulnerability in
the short-term, extreme events have been shown to both increase or decrease vulnerability over longer time scales (e.g.,
Adger et al. 2007; Fazey et al. 2011; Travis and Huisenga
2013). Frequent and severe climatic events may trigger positive changes in adaptive strategies, leading to increased resilience for future climatic events, for example, by planting
hazard-resistant seeds or increasing livelihood diversification
(Adger et al. 2007; Sherman and Ford 2013). Several studies
have documented how extreme events may lead to a window
of opportunity by catalyzing social, economic, policy and
legal changes due to the vulnerabilities that are exposed as a
result of the climatic event (Ford et al. 2009; Berrang-Ford
et al. 2011; Kates et al. 2010; Travis 2012; McSweeney and
Coomes 2011). Whether these transformational changes occur
is dependent upon the frequency and severity of the extreme
event, decision-making context, and socio-economic conditions (Yohe and Tol 2002; Kates et al. 2010). Extremes may
also lead to increased vulnerability since household resources
are depleted in the climatic event and recovery is more difficult (Ford et al. 2013; Travis 2010; Fazey et al. 2011; Travis
and Huisenga 2013). Adaptive strategies used for the extreme
event also have the potential to foster maladaptation, especially when changes following a climatic hazard encourage a false
sense of security or foster dependency on unreliable institutions and limited resources (Kates et al. 2010; Travis 2010;
Arnell et al. 1984). For example, maladaptive strategies developed in the Pacific Islands when households stopped cultivating famine foods after the introduction of food aid, despite the unreliable and poorly timed distribution of this external relief (Campbell 2006). It is thus important to critically
analyze the effectiveness of adaptive strategies at varying spatial and temporal scales.
This study examines these themes through the extreme
20102011 flooding event in the Ucayali region of the
Peruvian Amazon. Specifically, the paper characterizes how
an extreme flood event influenced the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of the food system of the remote case study
community of Panaillo. By examining institutional and community responses to a specific historical event, this temporal
analogue case study highlights how climate risks are managed, the ways socioeconomic and biophysical stressors shape
post-hazard vulnerability, and the tension that exists between
fast and slow drivers of vulnerability.
Methodology
Conceptual approach
In order to address the multi-scalar, context-dependent, and
dynamic nature of food security and adaptive strategies for
climatic hazards, the conceptual framework for this study is
based on the vulnerability approach (e.g. Ford and Smit 2004;

Extreme flooding in the Peruvian Amazon causes food insecurity
Smit and Wandel 2006). The climatic hazards literature has

increasingly recognized the role of socioeconomic conditions
in producing natural disasters (Hewitt 1983). Rather than try
to re-establish pre-event conditions, disaster management and
hazards literature increasingly focus on addressing underlying
vulnerabilities (Reenberg et al. 2008; Blaikie et al. 2004). The
vulnerability approach emerged from this literature, incorporating concepts from sustainable livelihoods, resilience, and
political ecology in order to examine complex humanenvironmental systems that shape how environmental stresses
and change are experienced and responded to (Ford et al.
2010; Eakin and Luers 2006). As an evolving research paradigm, vulnerability research has increasingly shifted away
from an outcome-led biophysical approach to a contextual
or starting point approach that recognizes how socioeconomic and cultural factors shape vulnerability in particular
places (OBrien et al. 2007). The conceptual model that will
be used in this research will thus reflect a contextual approach
to vulnerability, examining how socioeconomic, political, and
cultural conditions interact with climatic hazards to make
some individuals, households, groups and communities more
or less vulnerable to climatic hazards (OBrien et al. 2007;
Smit and Wandel 2006; Yohe and Tol 2002). Herein, vulnerability is often described as a function of 1) exposure, referring
to the nature of the stimulus itself (e.g., magnitude and duration of the flood), 2) sensitivity, referring to how a stimulus
manifests in a particular socio-ecological system (e.g., flood
impacts will vary depending on the biodiversity of an agricultural system), and 3) adaptive capacity, referring to the capacity of that system to manage, adjust to, and take advantage of
the conditions that result from exposure and sensitivity (e.g.,
social support systems, income diversification). Adaptive capacity is closely related to the concept of resilience (Smit and
Wandel 2006).
This study specifically focuses on the vulnerability of
Panaillos food system (Ingram et al. 2010). Food systems
encompass the range of activities that are responsible for the
production, processing, distribution, and consumption of
food, as well as the outcomes of those activities, such as food
security (Ericksen 2008a; Ford 2009). The FAO defines food
security as Bwhen all people have access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle^
(FAO 1999). Many food security issues pertain to a range of
social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental factors, especially in the context of globalization and global environmental change (Ingram et al. 2010). It is thus important
to also consider the broader socioeconomic and environmental
conditions that influence and result from food system activities (Ericksen 2008b).
The food systems approach emerged as a more holistic and
nuanced approach to food security research, which has typically focused on food security outcomes, including the availability, accessibility, and utilization of food (FAO 2008). The
food systems approach recognizes the multi-scalar, multidimensional nature of food security by considering environmental and social welfare as outcomes of food system activities, in addition to traditional food security outcomes.
Accordingly, food system vulnerability results from the inhibition or disruption of food insecurity (e.g., lack of availability, access, proper utilization), diminished social welfare (e.g.,
income loss, increased migration), and environmental degradation (e.g., biodiversity loss, nutrient cycle alteration)
(Ericksen 2008a). Similar to the vulnerability approach, the
food systems approach also emphasizes the importance of
examining multiple spatial and temporal scales, as well as
the cross-scale interactions and feedback loops that can occur
between scales and components of the food system (Ericksen
2008b). Overall, the food systems approach is better equipped
to illustrate how vulnerability is nested within multiple spatial
and temporal scales than an approach centered exclusively on
food security (Ericksen 2008a).
Both vulnerability and food systems literature discuss the
fast and slow drivers of food system vulnerability (Ericksen
2008b; Ford et al. 2013). Fast variables determine whether or
not a given exposure can be effectively coped with on relatively short time scales (i.e., weeks to years), whereas slow
variables describe upstream drivers of vulnerability that operate on larger spatial and temporal scales and shape the context
in which fast variables manifest. Although the interplay of
both fast and slow variables is important for vulnerability,
slow variables are outside of direct control and ultimately
direct sensitivity and adaptive capacity (Ford et al. 2013;
Chapin et al. 2004). Chapin et al. (2004: 347) explain that fast
variables often receive the greatest attention from institutions,
decision-makers, and the public, even though Bfailure to manage the slow variables can lead to irreversible changes, such as
the loss of a fishery or traditional ties to the land, with grave
societal consequences^. Exclusively addressing fast variables
also has the potential to lead to maladaptive trajectories if the
resulting adaptations are inflexible, limiting, and/or have negative long-term consequences (Fazey et al. 2011). In this case
study, we characterize the fast and slow drivers of the Panaillo
food system and identify how they influenced the community
and institutional responses to the 20102011 extreme
flooding.
Case study community
This study uses a case study from the Shipibo-Konibo community of Panaillo (Fig. 1) to examine food system vulnerability and adaptive capacity in the context of flood extremes.
Panaillo is located on a riverbank in the Amazonian Lowlands
of Peru where the Panaillo tributary and the Ucayali River
meet (Fig. 2). Ucayali is characterized by a tropical climate
and an annual flood cycle (Kvist and Nebel 2001). The rainy
season is typically from January to March, a semi-dry season

M. Sherman et al.
Fig. 1 The Shipibo-Konibo community of Panaillo (taken during

fieldwork)
from April to May, a dry season from July to August, and a

semi-rainy season from September to December (Carranza
2013). Due to the rivers low gradient (approximately 5 cm
per kilometer), the Ucayali is one of the largest actively
meandering rivers in the world (Abizaid 2005; Abad et al.
2012). During the rainy season, the river typically widens
from 400 m to 2 km and rises 10.79 m from its low stage at
Pucallpa, the capital city of the Ucayali (Bureau of Marine
Tr a n s p o r t f r o m M i n i s t r y o f Tr a n s p o r t a t i o n a n d
Communications - Ucayali, interview, 2013).
The community of Panaillo was originally founded in the
late 19th century along the Ucayali River in the Contamana
region, and was forced to relocate in the late 1940s when the
Ucayali River changed course. The community temporarily
relocated to the city of Yarinacocha for 6 years, until moving
in 1954 to a different location on the Ucayali riverbank near
the mouth of the Callera River and above the mouth of the
Fig. 2 Study site location
Aguaytia River (Bergman 1980). It was in this location that

Ronald W. Bergman carried out a detailed ethnography of the
community in 19711972 (see Bergman 1980). Between
1954 and 1971, Bergman (1980) reported that Panaillo was
flooded three times, with the most severe flooding occurring
in 1965 when the community was covered with 1 m of water.
In 2004, the community was forced to move from this location
when the Ucayali River changed course again. The community is now located further inland on the Panaillo River. Based
on community memory and fieldwork observations of damage to housing, the community floods every year with between .75 and 1.5 m of water in the current location.
Many households never returned to Panaillo after the 2004
flooding, and instead assumed permanent residence in
Pucallpa (Hofmeijer et al. 2013). According to semistructured interviews in this study, Panaillo currently has a
population of 220 people representing 22 households,1 which
indicates that about one-third of the community permanently
left the community following the extreme flooding in 2004,
noting that there are no recent official census estimates for the
settlement. According to interview respondents, the population of Panaillo has been decreasing since 2004 as a result of
out-migration.
Like many communities in the area, Panaillo experiences
political and cultural marginalization, and is undergoing dramatic changes from economic development (Hofmeijer et al.
2013). The community has become increasingly integrated
into the market economy following the construction of a road
to the city of Pucallpa in 2009. Panaillo is now relatively
accessible from Pucallpa by traveling 57 h by boat or 24 h
by road. However, boat access to the community is restricted
in the dry season when water levels lower substantially, and
the road is often unusable due to flood damage and inadequate
maintenance. This lack of consistent transportation severely
constrains market access. Constrained market access is a common issue for communities throughout the region, where
many communities lack road access and must travel for days
to reach Pucallpa. In this sense, Panaillos relatively close
proximity to Pucallpa is advantageous. Panaillo also has two
schoolhouses and a health post where community members
can receive basic medical treatment. However, the health post
is closed whenever the nurse technician is not present in the
community, which was observed and reported to be a common
occurrence. Panaillo also struggles with the frequent absence
of schoolteachers, resulting in the cancellation of classes.
Previous research in Panaillo identified acculturative stress,
marginalization, and the loss of traditional knowledge as
pressing community concerns (Hofmeijer et al. 2013).
Most households are still highly dependent on subsistence
agriculture and fishing. Households plant cowpea, peanuts,
Bergman (1980) recorded that the Panaillo population in 1971 was 107.

watermelon, and rice on the sandbar and mudflats at the beginning of the dry season (typically May) and harvest these
crops in August until the onset of the flood in December.
Bergman (1980) reported the cultivation of similar crops on
a similar timescale in the 1970s. This cultivation is responsible
for the majority of harvest foods for household consumption
and income in Panaillo. Households also cultivate yuca (also
known as cassava or manioc) and plantain in chacras (forest gardens) located around the houses in the community and
in nearby forests. Since Panaillos current location lacks
higher ground, Panaillo residents can no longer maintain as
expansive chacras as Bergman (1980) described during his
fieldwork in the 1970s. Bergman (1980) also noted that the
plantain grown in Panaillo is killed by very high flooding,
which occurred approximately every 57 years. In the
communitys current location, the communitys normal plantain varieties are killed almost every year, during normal
flooding as well as more extreme flooding. Both men and
women engage in agricultural activities, whereas only men
hunt, fish, and work in seasonal timber extraction and mostly
women work in traditional handicrafts (Sherman 2014).
Whereas hunting is discussed in detail in Bergmans study
(1980), Panaillo community members report that they rarely
hunt today, stating that the animal populations in the surrounding area have declined. Women are exclusively responsible for
cooking and men typically provide the majority of food for the
household (Sherman 2014). Household income has become
increasingly important to purchase foods, especially in the offseason and when harvested food supplies are low. Food is
purchased from two local stores, the market in the neighboring
town of Tacshitea, and the regional markets in Pucallpa
(Sherman 2014). A significant number of households also
migrate seasonally to live in Pucallpa and the surrounding area
during the rainy season (Sherman 2014). Panaillo community
members often rely on extended family members for work,
housing, and food while in Pucallpa.
The Shipibo-Konibo residents of Panaillo have maintained strong traditional beliefs and customs, including the
use of the indigenous language (Sherman 2014). Panaillo is
relatively egalitarian, which is facilitated by the frequently
rotation of authority positions between households and the
presence of strong family networks. Some households were
identified by Panaillo residents to have relatively greater
difficulty in coping with the flood, including those that must
depend on other family members for sources of food and
income (e.g., elderly, widows, single mother, orphans) and
those that are unable to work in agro-fishing or incomegenerating livelihoods (Sherman 2014). Some households
were also reported to have better access to livelihood equipment, such as an ice chest, saw, or fish trap, and some
households are also more actively engaged in incomegenerating activities, such as the two families that own the
local stores in the community (Sherman 2014).
Temporal analogue approach

Temporal analogues are commonly employed in HDCC research in order to improve the understanding of current responses to climate extremes and to make inferences for the
future (Ford et al. 2010; Glantz 1991; Tol et al. 1998;
Hallegatte et al. 2007; Ford et al. 2006; Duncan 1992).
Analogues are limited in that no two places/times are identical, and this paper does not suggest that Panaillos unique
experience with flooding in the recent past can be necessarily
generalized to other communities or other time periods.
However, important issues and overarching themes can be
drawn from a case-study analogue approach, and spatial and
temporal analogues have proven to be useful in climate
change vulnerability research in assessing and characterizing
the drivers and circumstances that produce a particular outcome and in creating inference about future conditions
(Hayman et al. 2012; Berrang-Ford et al. 2011; Ford et al.
2010; McLeman and Hunter 2010; Glantz 1991).
Since future climate change is expected to increase the
frequency and severity of flooding events, the 20102011
extreme flooding event is useful as an analogue to gain insight
into the current and potential future responses to extreme
flooding. We cannot conclude with certainty that the specific
flooding that occurred in 20102011 is directly and exclusively linked to climate change, since it is possible that the 2010
2011 flooding resulted from a combination of natural climate
variability and other socioeconomic drivers. However, there
has been a documented increase in the frequency of extreme
hydrological events in the Amazon basin since the end of the
1980s, which is consistent with projections of climate change
for the area (Espinoza et al. 2012). Prior to the 20102011
rainy season, the Peruvian Amazon was characterized by a
severe drought, which unprecedentedly transitioned into one
of the highest river discharges recorded in the area in April
2011 as a result of heavy rainfall (Espinoza et al. 2012). In the
month of February 2011, 473 mm of rain fell in Ucayali,
exceeding the February average of 279 mm (Vsquez et al.
2012). On February 22nd alone, 101 mm of rain fell in the
region (Vsquez et al. 2012). The Ucayali River reached
147.463 m above sea level on March 5, 2011, which was the
highest level recorded since 1980 when the Ucayali Coast
Guard began to take annual measurements (Vsquez et al.
2012). Panaillo residents in this study also reported that the
flooding in 20102011 lasted longer and rose substantially
higher than flooding in normal years. Although 23 regions
in Peru reported emergencies in response to the 20102011
flooding, Ucayali was one of the most affected (Vsquez et al.
2012). In 20102011, Ucayali reported 6706 injuries, 59,021
affected people, 22,500 houses damaged or destroyed, damage to 30 bridges and 400 km of roads, and the loss of 30,000
animals and 40,000 ha of agricultural land (Vsquez et al.
2012). The regional government declared a state of emergency

M. Sherman et al.
on February 25, 2011, and a federally-declared state of emergency in the region was pronounced on April 25, 2011
(Vsquez et al. 2012).
Methods
Fieldwork utilized Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
methods, which enable researchers to obtain information from
community members about local conditions in a cost-effective, timely, and culturally appropriate fashion (Chambers
1994). PRA methods are a family of qualitative field research
methods in which the researcher works in partnership with
community members and both the research process and results
are shared between community members and the research
team (Sherman et al. 2012). PRA activities often use local
materials, such as posters, markers, and pebbles, and are typically designed to be accessible to individuals with low education levels (e.g., use of visuals) (Chambers 1994). PRA
methods are particularly suitable for food systems research
due to their accessibility to community members with low
levels of education and their ability to thus incorporate local
smallholder perspectives on the food system in the research.
PRA methods are also well suited for interdisciplinary research given the flexibility and holistic approach of most
PRA activities. PRA was employed as part of a communitybased participatory research (CBPR) process in which
Panaillo actively collaborated at each stage of the research
process, and research was guided by the ethical framework
developed with indigenous communities in the Peruvian
Amazon in previous work (see Sherman et al. 2012;
Hofmeijer et al. 2013). The work, in turn, is part of the larger
5-year Indigenous Health Adaptation to Climate Change
(IHACC, www.ihacc.ca) project, involving a full 1-year project development phase during which community members
and decision makers at various levels helped design the
project.
Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 27
Panaillo residents, representing a census of all households
present in the community (n = 18). Interviews were carried
out with at least one head of household, and in some cases
both the male and female heads of household were
interviewed. A snowball sampling technique was employed
for 15 interviews with former Panaillo residents who had migrated to the Pucallpa. Snowball sampling is a non-probability
sampling technique that is frequently used in qualitative research. In snowball sampling, the existing study participants
recommend or recruit future study participants based on their
personal contacts (Marshall 1996). Thirty-two interviews
were carried out with institutions working with Panaillo or
related issues of food security and extreme climate events,
including interviews with NGOs and institutions working at
the community, local, regional, and national levels. Interviews
were carried out with personnel from non-governmental and
governmental institutions, including organizations working

with health, agriculture, disaster risk management, education,
research, and indigenous issues. All interviews were conducted in-person, in Spanish or Shipibo-Konibo, and lasted between 45 and 120 min. An interview guide was applied for
all semi-structured interviews. The interview guide was informed by food systems and vulnerability literature and was
pre-tested for content and context by academics, local research
collaborators and community members. Food security questions were specifically adapted from the Latin American and
Caribbean Household Food Security Measurement Scale
(ELCSA).
Three participatory rural appraisal focus groups were
conducted in Panaillo. The focus groups lasted 13 h with
813 individuals participating in each. In accordance with
local cultural norms, focus groups were carried out with separate groups of men and women in order to overcome the
power relations that can form within the group participating
in the workshop and to explore and compare the different
perspectives that exist in the community (Davis 2001;
Mayoux 2005; Kesby 2000). To ensure that the focus groups
were not dominated by a vocal minority, the field researcher
worked with community authorities, local research assistants,
and the communitys elders to ensure that diverse and alternate perspectives were present at each focus group. The field
researcher also actively managed the power dynamics in the
focus group, for example, by separating the focus group participants into smaller groups to complete PRA activities.
A historical timeline activity was carried out in the first
focus group to better understand community context and collective memory (see Fig. 3). Participants were asked to recollect important social and environmental events in their lives or
in the popular memory of the community in order to chart the
communitys history from a point in the past to the present. In
this manner, participants created a historical timeline to explore food practices, resource availability, and important
events in the communitys history. The discussion of the diagram centered on the nature of the events and the adaptive
strategies used in response to these events (Mayoux 2005;
Davis 2001).
In the second focus group, participants created a seasonal
food security calendar (FAO 2011). Each group was provided
a calendar with ten categories related to household food security, precipitation, transportation, food markets, livelihoods,
and planting and harvest activities (see Fig. 3). Participants
were asked to evaluate each category in accordance with its
availability and/or abundance for each month. The group was
also asked to identify a year with extreme flooding to discuss
the similarities and differences between a normal flood year
and a severe flood year for each category of the original seasonal calendar. All groups chose to discuss the 20102011
flooding, which was consistent with local hydrological records noting 20102011 as an extreme hydrological year

Fig. 3 Posters from Participatory

Rapid Appraisal Focus Group
activities, including, a Historical
timeline, b Seasonal food security
calendar, and c Risk ranking
(Vsquez et al. 2012; Espinoza et al. 2012). This activity revealed how normal seasonality influences food security and
livelihoods, as well as how extreme climatic hazards impact
food security before, during, and after the event. Seasonal
calendars also provided the opportunity to discuss the various
adaptive strategies that have been used in the community in
response to climatic extremes, and to explore how these strategies change over time.
To examine community perceptions of vulnerability
drivers and adaptive strategies, risk ranking was employed.
In this focus group, participants were asked to list and rank
what they consider to be the major difficulties and opportunities of maintaining household food security in the rainy season. The activity was then repeated for the dry season (see
Fig. 3). This activity helped to identify the relative perceived
risk of flooding for food security in comparison to nonclimatic risks. Discussion also explored the persistent effect
of certain drivers of risk (e.g., if flooding affects food security
in the dry season), and the availability and preferences to
certain adaptive strategies for climatic hazards.
Participant observation also provided the field researcher
with a more in-depth contextualized understanding of the information documented in the interviews and focus groups. By
participating in local routines and practices in multiple seasons
over 3 years, the researcher was able to culturally integrate and
build rapport with community members.
All interviews, focus group notes, and participant observation notes were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. A codebook was developed and employed using the
Mayring approach to qualitative analysis, which uses a systematic approach guided by theory to analyze qualitative text
(Mayring 2004). According to the Mayring approach, inductive category development was utilized. Transcriptions were
initially coded using the analytical framework for vulnerability and food systems (see Ford and Smit 2004; Smit and
Wandel 2006; Ericksen 2008b). The codebook was then modified to incorporate the prominent themes that emerged in the
preliminary data analysis. These revised categories were then
applied deductively to the data in the final analysis.
Accordingly, a food systems vulnerability framework served
as the foundation for the collection and analysis of data, although the organization of final results also reflects the pronounced themes in the data.
Results
Impact of the 20102011 flooding on livelihoods
The 20102011 flooding created several opportunities for increased fishing and agricultural production in Panaillo.
According to the seasonal food security focus group and seven
Panaillo interviewees, the flood created more expansive riverbeds for agriculture, as well as enhanced soil fertility and
removed debris from these riverbeds. Rice production in
Panaillo particularly benefited from the post-flood conditions
since the flood created more expansive mudflats for rice cultivation. However, participants in the seasonal food security
focus group commented that the extreme flood damaged
household assets and limited the working conditions for agriculture, fishing, and traditional handicrafts during the rainy
season (see Table 1).

M. Sherman et al.
Table 1
Constraints to traditional livelihoods, as reported by Panaillo residents in the seasonal food security calendar focus group
Livelihood
Description of livelihood activity/

practice
Limitations in normal years
Rain-fed agriculture on the sandbars in Variable soil conditions and timing for
planting depending on how river level
the dry season. Main crops include
lowers
rice, cowpea, plantain, yuca, corn,
Delayed planting due to other job
peanut, and watermelon. All
obligations
households sell agricultural products
Shortened harvest season from longer
to the local markets.
flood duration/ early flood onset
Lack of seeds poor storage, insufficient
production, and household consumption
Insufficient workers for planting and
harvest
Pests
Illness/injury
Fishing
Small-scale fishing with harpoons and/ Lack of access to boat
or nets. Five residents sell fish to the Lack of fishing equipment (e.g., net, ice
local markets.
box)
Lack of time/labor to extract and preserve
all available fish
Selling fish meant for household
consumption
Illness/injury
Traditional
Traditional handicrafts, such as
Over-extraction of natural materials used
Handicrafts
embroidery, textiles, jewelry, and
for traditional handicrafts
paintings.
Lack of financial resources to purchase
materials (e.g., cloth, needle, string)
Difficulty working in house during flood
conditions
Inability to dry, dye, and prepare materials
due to unpredictable rains
Illness/injury
Lack of equipment (e.g., power saw)
Timber Extraction Timber extraction. Timber is sold
Lack of labor, money, and boat access
directly to logging companies
Illness/injury
through concessions (mostly
illegal).
Employment
Employment in commercial
Illness/injury
plantations, construction, oil and
Low levels of education
logging companies, and service
Limited job contacts
industry (e.g., restaurants, cleaning). Discrimination
Agriculture
Households lacked the resources to fully exploit the opportunities presented by the extreme flood conditions due to the
same financial and environmental constraints that inhibited
livelihoods during normal flood years. For example, participants explained that the increased agricultural potential of the
riverbeds was wasted since residents did not have sufficient
seeds to take advantage of the larger planting area and they
also lacked the laborers and/or money to hire additional
workers for the harvest. The extended duration of the 2010
2011 flood also significantly shortened the harvest season and
many crops were not yet mature by the time the next floodwaters arrived in November 2011. Although rice production
was higher in 2011, the saturation of local markets with rice
product lowered its price and households struggled to generate
as much income as normal years. The majority of Panaillo
residents in this study commented that they generally struggle
Specific limitations in 20102011

All plants were killed by the flood
Shortened agricultural season, resulting in
smaller harvest since crops did not reach
maturity before next flood onset
Insufficient quantities of rice and corn
seeds that were most suited to
agricultural conditions on riverbeds
Inability to sell crops for good price due to
market saturation
Difficulty fishing and low fish catches in

the rainy season
River shifted and changed flow of fish
away from Panaillo
Inability to sell fish for good price due to
market saturation
Inability to work in house during flood
conditions
Difficulty working in higher water levels
Limited available jobs since companies

operations also recovering from flood
damage
to sell their agricultural crops at a fair price, which was similarly noted by Bergman in 1980. Panaillo residents also reported struggling to effectively store surplus agricultural products, such as rice, mainly due to lacking a proper storage
container (n = 7), pests (i.e. rats, insects, fungus) (n = 7), and
insufficient drying of the seeds in humid conditions (n = 4).
Storage was reported to be equally difficult during the 2010
2011 flooding as in normal flood years.
Fish populations were reported by two institutional interviewees to increase after strong flood years (Interview #67,
7/16/2013; Interview #70, 7/22/2013). Participants in the seasonal food security focus group similarly reported having improved fish quality after the 20102011 flooding as a result of
a more pronounced mijano, the period of fish abundance when
water levels are lower and fish become trapped in new lakes
(Junk et al. 1989). However, community members could only

sell fish for a low price due to market saturation. Furthermore,

households with greater access to livelihood equipment
tended to have stronger income-generating livelihoods and
were generally better able to withstand the climatic shock than
households with fewer financial resources. For example, participants in the historical timeline focus group noted that some
community members in Panaillo owned fishing equipment,
which enabled the household to achieve a relatively higher
income. Households that could not afford a fish trap
(USD$1821) used a spear or a harpoon and struggled to
catch as many fish for both consumption and sale. This was
particularly important in 20102011 since the low market
price of fish required households to sell fish of a better quality
and/or quantity in order to generate sufficient income.
Additionally, the extreme flooding in 20102011 also led to
erosion in some areas, causing fish to asphyxiate as a result of
increased sedimentation. Participants in the seasonal food security calendar focus group also reported that fish catches
were lower in the Panaillo River after the 20102011 flooding
because the Ucayali river flow shifted during the flood and the
new flow partially prevented fish from entering the tributary.
One-third of community members also reported a general decline in fish populations over the past decade. Declines in fish
populations in the Amazon as a result of population growth
and over-extraction have been documented for several decades (Bergman 1980; Hern 1992).
For households unable to produce sufficient food or income from agro-fishing livelihoods in 20102011, incomegenerating livelihoods became increasingly important for
household food security, yet many of these alternatives were
also limited for Panaillo residents during the extreme 2010
2011 flooding. Four Panaillo interview respondents discussed
the difficulty of making traditional handicrafts when the floor
is covered with water. Community members in the seasonal
food security focus group also reported struggling to find employment outside Panaillo in 20102011 since many companies operations also needed to recover from flood damage.
However, certain livelihoods benefited from the flood conditions. Men in the risk ranking focus group discussed being
able to extract timber more easily in the flooded conditions
due to the high water levels and rapid access to trees by boat.
Tomasella et al. (2013) discuss how flooded conditions are
advantageous for timber extraction since it is easier to transport timber from remote areas. However, four community interview respondents also reported being unable to extract timber for sale since they did not own a power saw, and male
focus group participants discussed struggling to sell timber for
fair prices at the market.
Many of these challenges, such as poor market access,
insufficient labor, limited access to livelihood equipment, limited seed supplies and limited employment opportunities,
were also reported to constrain the food system in normal
flood years in focus groups and interviews. Bergman (1980)
similarly noted that there were limited income-generating opportunities for Panaillo residents. However, in the aftermath of
the 20102011 flooding, Panaillo households reported an
even greater need for homegrown food and income to aid
recovery, which made the negative impact of these
constraining factors arguably more pronounced than during
normal flood years.
Impact of the 20102011 flooding on adaptive strategies
According to research in the Peruvian Amazon, intensification
of fishing efforts, increased resource extraction from forests,
and reliance on upland cropping are often used to cope with
flood shocks (Takasaki et al. 2010; Coomes et al. 2010).
However, in this research, Panaillos location in a low-lying
area precluded the option of upland cropping. Community
members were sometimes able to increase fishing efforts and
extract timber products for sale, yet many households do not
have access to livelihood equipment that helps to make these
activities profitable, as mentioned in the previous section.
Interview respondents also reported declines in fish populations (n = 30) and the over-extraction of desirable timber species (n = 14) in the past decade, as well as limited transportation (n = 18) and constrained market access (n = 35) in the
present-day, all of which potentially constrain fishing and timber extraction as a viable coping strategy in Panaillo.
Many traditional strategies for coping with seasonal
flooding were rendered unusable for community members in
the 20102011 flooding according to community interviews
and the seasonal food security focus group (Table 2). When
income is low and harvested food sources are limited, foodsharing among family members and social networks is critical
to maintain household food security. This arrangement is
meant to smooth over temporary food shortages as well as
avoid food spoilage (Behrens 1992). According to the historical timeline focus group and interviews with Panaillo residents, food-sharing networks have generally declined over
the past few decades as a result of insufficient household food
quantities (n = 5), as well as cultural changes (n = 7). While
social capital often increases a households resilience amidst
a shock (Aldrich and Meyer 2014), during the 20102011
flooding, participants in the historical timeline focus group
noted that households were unable to share food at all due to
insufficient supplies of food in every household. Participants
in the seasonal food security calendar focus group discussed
how the long duration of the 20102011 flooding delayed
planting and thus shortened the harvest season. The shorter
harvest season significantly reduced the window of time in
which the starchy tuberous root of yuca could be dried and
preserved in the form of faria, an important food consumed
throughout the flood season. Similarly, Bergman (1980) also
describes observing women hurriedly harvesting yuca to
make faria at the start of the flood season.

M. Sherman et al.
Table 2
Constraints to traditional adaptive strategies, as reported by Panaillo residents in the seasonal food security calendar focus group
Traditional
adaptive strategy
Description of strategy
Main limitations in normal years
Main limitations in the 20102011 flooding
Faria
A traditional food made from dried

and preserved yuca that is
consumed throughout the rainy
season
Shorter agricultural season reduced time to

for yuca production and preservation
Seed storage
Storing leftover seeds from the

harvest for consumption during
the rainy season and planting
material for the next agricultural
season
Lack of labor, time, and planting material

to produce sufficient yuca
Early flood onset
Shortened harvest season
Lack of traditional knowledge to make
faria
Lack proper storage container
Pests
Insufficient drying of seeds
Campen and
sapo plantain
Cultivating more flood-tolerant

plantain varieties to ensure
plantain source in the rainy season
Consumption of breadfruit
Breadfruit
Food-sharing
Sharing food with extended family

and neighbors to overcome
temporary food shortages and to
avoid spoilage.
Lack of planting material

Fruit dies after 12 days submergence
Plant dies after 1+ week submergence
Low amount of naturally-occurring breadfruit in surrounding area
Insufficient household food quantities
Decline of food-sharing tradition with
westernization
Six Panaillo respondents identified that households increasingly cultivated flood-tolerant plantain varieties (i.e., campen
and sapo) after seeing the need for a more flood-tolerant variety. Campen and sapo varieties were likely the result of selective breeding carried out by smallholder agriculturalists
throughout this part of the Amazon, although no formal research has been carried out on this specific topic. Panaillo community members reported that they first encountered these
flood-tolerant varieties while visiting family members in communities located downstream of Panaillo. Two respondents began to cultivate flood-tolerant plantain after the 20102011
flooding in particular. The main benefit of these varieties over
normal plantain is that the plant will be able to continue to
produce fruit after the flooding period, whereas normal plantain
plants do not survive the flooding, even if flooding lasts less
than 1 week. However, the 20102011 flooding destroyed all
of the flood-tolerant plantain varieties that the community had
planted. The campen and sapo plantain themselves can only
withstand up to 1 week of water submergence, and fruit yield is
impaired by cloudy conditions and the submergence of roots.
Accordingly, the seasonal food security focus group mentioned
needing to increase dependence on breadfruit during the 2010
2011 flooding since plantain was unavailable. Community
members also reported in the seasonal food security calendar
focus group that Panaillo residents only consume breadfruit
that grows naturally in Panaillo and that breadfruit is increasingly scarce in the surrounding area. Community members do
not cultivate breadfruit and have not attempted to limit the overextraction of natural breadfruit in the area. Furthermore,
Lower crop yield from shortened

agricultural season
Need to sell greater proportion of crops out
to meet financial needs for flood
recovery
All plantain plants died from water
submergence. Community members had
to wait 9+ months for new plants to reach
maturation.
Increased breadfruit scarcity from overextraction and from flood damage
Insufficient household food quantities
Increased theft between households and
communities
community members reported that extreme flood conditions

can also damage breadfruit trees.
The extreme flood conditions in 20102011 also necessitated additional measures to protect housing and belongings
from wind and water damage. Community respondents mentioned constructing a raised platform to be placed over the
submerged floor (n = 13), placing wooden poles in strategic
locations to support the house structure (n = 6), and securing
belongings to the house (n = 3), practices that Bergman (1980)
also observed. Over one-fifth of community respondents
(n = 9) reported that houses collapsed during extreme flooding
as a result of strong winds and erosion. Some residents reconstructed their houses using stronger materials. For example, in
2011, one Panaillo resident used a stronger tin material for his
houses roof since the traditional palm fronds used for roofing
are increasingly scarce in the area (see Fig. 4). However, financial resources were required to purchase the metal roofing
and some households also preferred natural housing materials
that were less hot and more traditional.
Eight community members reported that the 20112012
flooding was easier to manage as a result of these structural
changes and increased preparedness from the experience in
20102011. However, households also increasingly turned
to migration in response to severe flood events, as discussed
in 19 interviews. In normal flood years, the principal motivation for migration among current and former Panaillo residents (n = 25) was to seek out employment and educational
opportunities in Yarinacocha, Pucallpa, and settlements along
the Lima-Pucallpa highway (see Table 3). Panaillo migrants

Table 3 Motivation to migrate permanently and/or temporarily among
community and institutional respondents in normal flood years
Fig. 4 Houses that were reconstructed with metal roofing (left, center)
next to a traditional house with a roof made with palm fronds (right)
also reported permanently migrating to live with family in the

city due to illness, injury, and old age (n = 7) and/or to avoid
flood conditions in Panaillo (n = 4). While young adults might
be among the first to permanently migrate, the migration of
children or a spouse often instigates the migration of other
family members, particularly the elderly, as mentioned in six
community interviews. Three Panaillo interviewees discussed
the difficulties experienced by the elderly in Panaillo, since
many of their children have migrated to the city and are unable
to provide for their parents. Participants in the historical timeline focus group believed that the abandonment of elderly
parents reflects the westernization that is happening among
younger generations.
Five community members reported going to the city in
20112012 for the rainy season and were motivated by the
20102011 flood conditions. One community health worker
in Panaillo explained:
Now they leave their homes for the city because [they]
think that the flood will be strong its changed a lot
recently because in these past few years there have been
big floods in comparison to other years, and because of
this the population has left (Interview #43, 5/3/2013).
Four community members also stated that they decide
whether or not to migrate to the city during the rainy season
by waiting to see if the house floor will be covered with water,
leaving for the city as soon as the floodwaters cover the floor.
In this sense, the decision to temporarily migrate during the
rainy season is a pre-emptive risk management strategy for
some households and an almost-instantaneous response to
flood conditions for others. Panaillo respondents stated that
households do not migrate to the city at the start of the rainy
season predominantly due to lack of financial resources
(n = 12) and lack of family contacts in the city (n = 6),
highlighting the importance of financial and social resources
at the household level.
Migrants from Panaillo who were interviewed in this research in 2013 (a normal flood year) had reportedly worse
Migrant
interview
respondents
(n = 15)
Institutional
interview
respondents
(n = 32)
Migration motivation
Panaillo
interview
respondents
(n = 27)
Education and job

opportunities
Avoid flood conditions
Live with family in city
due to illness, injury or
old age
Lack of government
services in rural
communities
Decline in natural resource
availability
44 % (n = 12) 87 % (n = 13) 22 % (n = 7)
41 % (n = 11) 27 % (n = 4)
13 % (n = 4)
0 % (n = 0)
47 % (n = 7)
0 % (n = 0)
0 % (n = 0)
0 % (n = 0)
6 % (n = 2)
0 % (n = 0)
0 % (n = 0)
6 % (n = 2)
food security outcomes than individuals currently living in

Panaillo (See Table 4). Due to the small sample size of migrants interviewed in this study, as well as the systematic
differences between individuals who migrate and those who
continue to reside in Panaillo, additional research is required
to assess the statistical significance of this finding. However,
the qualitative data collected in this case study supports the
view that migrants experienced substantial challenges in
household food security. The majority of migrant respondents
(n = 14) mentioned continuing to struggle with money after
migrating due to inconsistent income sources and/or high dependence on financial resources for household food. One institutional respondent noted:
Their lives dont get much better after they migrate to
the city because they dont have a place to work. If they
dont work, how are they going to live? What are they
going to eat? So the people start to become malnourished And when the men want to do some work and
know how to do it, they wont employ them here because they dont have a [national identification card]
(Interview #56, 5/31/2013).
Accordingly, 10 community members reported lacking the
qualifications needed for desirable jobs, such as government,
schools, law, and other highly skilled occupations. Instead,
Panaillo respondents most commonly reported working as laborers for commercial plantations (n = 9), oil and logging companies (n = 4), and construction work (n = 2). Women in Panaillo
and other Shipibo communities have sold traditional handicrafts
in Pucallpa or Yarinacocha for several decades (Follr 2001).
Participants in the historical timeline activity reported that women used to make their traditional handicrafts in Panaillo and then
travel to Yarinacocha to sell their handicrafts, staying with family members in the city. After permanently moving to the city,

M. Sherman et al.
Table 4 Community reporting
on dimensions of household food
insecurity
Dimension of food insecurity
Panaillo interview
respondents
(n = 27)
Migrant interview
respondents
(n = 15)
Insufficient food quantities
100 % (n = 27)
100 % (n = 15)
Insufficient food quantities leading to reduced food consumption

Poor food quality
85 % (n = 23)
89 % (n = 24)
100 % (n = 15)
100 % (n = 15)
Skipping 12 meals
77 % (n = 21)
87 % (n = 13)
Eating less than they know they should

Feeling hungry
77 % (n = 21)
85 % (n = 23)
100 % (n = 15)
80 % (n = 12)
several former Panaillo residents (n = 9) continued to sell traditional handicrafts as their main income-generating livelihood.
However, these respondents noted that it is difficult to generate
sufficient income from selling handicrafts to pay for the higher
costs of living associated with urban lifestyles (e.g., purchasing
food, using electricity).
Two migrants respondents reported that they still maintained agricultural plots on the sandbar in Panaillo, in spite
of permanently residing in the city. Over half of the migrants
interviewed also reported living in the Pucallpa area and traveling for several months to find work in other rural parts of the
Peruvian Amazon, not including Panaillo. The majority of
Panaillo residents interviewed also mentioned temporarily migrating in the flood season to live and work in Pucallpa or the
surrounding area. Padoch et al. (2008) examined the patterns
of rural-urban migration in Amazonia over the past several
decades, noting the complexity of rural-urban networks.
Padoch et al. (2008) noted that many Amazonian households
in urban areas are Bmulti-sited^ in the sense that households
maintain economic activities, land-use rights, and/or houses in
both rural and urban areas. In the case of Panaillo, some
households are Bmulti-sited^, although the location of a given
livelihood may change over time depending on the individuals job security and only one migrant interviewed reported
having two houses, one in Panaillo and one in the city.
Migration also has several implications for Panaillos food
system and community structure. Eleven community members discussed how temporary migration separates family
members, which has serious ramifications for the food security of individuals that rely on a male family member for fishing
(e.g., women, children, elderly). For example, over onequarter of Panaillo women interviewed (n = 4) were separated
from their spouses during the time of fieldwork. Nine interview respondents and participants in the historical timeline
focus group also experienced difficulty in tending crops and
controlling pests when a family member was working outside
the community. Temporary migration of a household member
was stated as the cause of decreased food quantity (n = 5),
skipping meals (n = 4), eating less than one should (n = 4),
and feeling hungry but not eating (n = 4) in Panaillo interviews. Fieldwork observations and the historical timeline
focus group also showcased how the permanent migration of

the elderly removes a source of traditional knowledge and
history from the community and furthers the process of westernization among migrants.
Institutional response to the 20102011 flooding
Due to the severity of the flooding in 20102011, recovery
efforts depended on support from local government institutions and NGOs, including the Red Cross, COOPI, Caritas
and CARE. Since UNICEF had already been working in
Ucayali for several years, it played a particularly important
role in attracting international attention to the region by
contacting international media and newspapers. The 2010
2011 flooding thus created an opportunity to build local institutional capacity and raise public awareness on the issues of
poverty and flooding in Ucayali.
Prior to the 20102011 flooding, Ucayali had poor disaster
preparation (Vsquez et al. 2012) and a low presence of international organizations, with the exception of UNICEF.
According to four institutional interviewees, the majority of
local institutions had no specific budget designated for emergency situations. An interview with the Civil Defense for
Yarinacocha further affirmed that communities in the
Yarinacocha district (Panaillos district) received no flood relief from its district government during the 20102011
flooding due to budget misallocations and low financial resources. Instead, Panaillo received some flood relief in lateMarch 2011 from the Coronel Portillo district government, in
spite of Panaillo being outside the offices jurisdiction
(Interview #53, 5/30/2013). Panaillo residents were dissatisfied with the supplies delivered by the Coronel Portillo Civil
Defense, stating that it was insufficient and providing food
and materials for no more than a few days and to only some
households.
Institutional capacity is an issue in this area under normal
conditions as well. This research extensively documented
challenges among institutions at the community, district, provincial, regional and national level, including limited institutional resources, poor planning, high turnover, dependency
and corruption. For example, over one-third of institutional

respondents (n = 13) discussed how local institutions are

constrained in their ability to carry out activities due to limited
financial resources. In six interviews, respondents attributed
low financial resources to poor budget management and limited capacity to formally solicit funds from the federal government. Five institutional interviewees noted that institutions are
constrained by the frequent change in authorities and the lack
of knowledge transfer among them. These respondents
commented on how Ucayali is a relatively young department
with lower human capital compared to other regions. As a
result, many government officials in Ucayali are migrants that
are unfamiliar with the area. Another respondent asserted that
dependence on international organizations and day-to-day
thinking in Peruvian institutions obstruct sustainable development and preventative action (Interview #52, 5/28/2013).
Political favors and the politicization of services have also
become widespread in Peru, as discussed in 25 % of institutional interviews (n = 8). As a result of these issues, government services were reported to be generally lacking in rural
and/or indigenous areas like Panaillo, as discussed in all focus
groups and over 30 % of interviews (n = 23). One NGO interviewee reiterated that,
The regional government doesnt pay much attention to
the indigenous communities. The indigenous communities are not so important to them because the government
works politically Since they dont have [a national
identification card], they dont serve the government,
not even to think about them (Interview #56, 5/31/2013).
The extreme flooding in 20102011 created an opportunity
to improve the disaster management and planning of local institutions. After the flood, the institutional organization of disaster management in Peru shifted. In May 2011, the National
System for Civil Defense (SINADECI) was replaced by the
current National Disaster Risk Management System
(SINAGERD). SINAGERD places a greater emphasis on prevention and risk reduction and introduces the National Center
of Disaster Risk Estimation, Prevention and Reduction
(CENEPRED) as an entire institution dedicated to these issues.
However, CENEPRED has only one office in Lima and does
not work directly with the regional and local Civil Defense, but
rather acts as a consultant to each president of the region. One
CENEPRED interview respondent commented that,
Since were just starting out, the [regional presidents and
mayors] need to call us, but some of them still dont
know we exist. Theyre saying, Where are we? and
Who are we? because we dont have much capacity
to assist everyone (Interview #64, 6/24/2013).
Three institutional interview respondents have commented
that so far CENEPRED has not been very actively engaged in
preventative action in Ucayali, instead focusing on other regions. The State also formed a Lima Working Group for
Ucayali in 2011 to coordinate the collaboration between the
Peruvian government and international institutions, which resulted in capacity-building sessions for Ucayali institutions to
improve their disaster management skills (Vsquez et al.
2012). Consequently, many local institutions increased their
budgetary allocations for emergencies in 2011, including
Yarinacochas Civil Defense, which provided Panaillo with
some flood relief in February 2013. However, five institutional respondents, including a respondent from Yarinacochas
Civil Defense, also discussed how the local Civil Defense in
Yarinacocha did not properly design the budget to cover their
jurisdictions needs during the flood season in 20122013.
Many of the international institutions that started to work in
Ucayali in response to the 20102011 flooding also began to
work with general development issues in the region after the
flood event, including the Mi Agua (My Water) project, which
was carried out in Panaillo as well as other rural communities
in the region. Mi Agua is a collaborative effort from international organizations and local institutions to improve access to
clean water in rural areas (Vsquez et al. 2012). However,
most Panaillo residents do not actively use the water treatment
materials provided by Mi Agua, mainly due to the time and
effort involved in treating the water. It is important therefore to
ensure that local institutions effectively monitor and evaluate
these, particularly after international organizations have left
the area.
Another remaining issue is the low perceived importance
of climate change issues among Peruvian institutions.
Approximately 30 % of community members (n = 13) and
38 % of institutional interview respondents (n = 12) reported
changes in climate, including less predictable rains, hotter
temperatures in the dry season, and more frequent and severe
flooding events. One-third of institutional respondents (n = 11)
and 45 % of community interviewees (n = 19) also discussed
changes in fish and animal populations in the recent past.
Several studies have similarly attributed changes in climate
and ecosystem dynamics in the Amazon Basin to agricultural
expansion, deforestation, mining and oil exploration, urbanization, and, to a lesser extent, climate change (Santa Cruz et al.
2013; Davidson et al. 2012; Vegas de Cceres 2010; Kvist and
Nebel 2001; UNDP and BCPR 2013; Futemma and Brondzio
2003; Finer and Orta-Martnez 2010). Despite this, over 25 %
of community members interviewed (n = 11) and two institutional respondents explicitly denied that recent extreme
flooding events might be linked to changes in climate. The
majority of these respondents believed that extreme flooding
is a normal event that occurs every 5 or 10 years, and that
recent extreme flooding reflects this natural trend. This perception of extreme flooding resembles the frequency of extreme flooding reported by Bergman in 1980. However, recent
literature states that the Peruvian Amazon has experienced the

M. Sherman et al.
most intense floods and droughts in the period following the

publication of Bergmans study (Marengo et al. 2013;
Espinoza et al. 2009). Two respondents reported that
CENEPRED has not taken enough initiative on the issue. A
respondent from CENEPRED itself noted: BFor me, climate
change is just a word^ (Interview #64, 6/24/2013), referring to
the lack of available information on specific climate change
impacts in Peru.
Discussion and conclusions

While the long term effect of the 20102011 flooding is difficult to estimate due to the dynamic nature of vulnerability,
community and institutional responses provide insight into
the multiple drivers of vulnerability that exist at different spatial
and temporal scales. While there is a rich tradition of adaptation
in Panaillo, the 20102011 floods exceeded the short-term coping capacity of the community to a great extent, as evidenced
by Panaillo residents constrained livelihoods and inhibited
adaptive strategies immediately following the flooding.
Community members were unable to take advantage of the
improved fishing and agricultural conditions mainly due to
limited household resources. The flood conditions also compromised traditional adaptive strategies, mainly by shortening
the harvest season, constraining faria production, and impeding food-sharing among social networks. In this sense, the
Panaillo food systems food security and social welfare were
disrupted and Panaillos food system vulnerability was exacerbated not only during the 20102011 flooding, but the following year as well. This study also identifies some potentially
concerning trends for environmental welfare, such as the potential declines in fish and animal populations, as well as shifts
in river flow pattern. Similarly, Pinho et al. (2014) noted that
extreme climatic events in the Brazilian Amazon overwhelmed
the local coping capacity of communities, in spite of these
communities ability to cope with normal climate variability.
Some new strategies emerged to adapt to the extreme flood
conditions in 20102011, such as reinforcing housing structures with stronger manufactured materials and increasing the
cultivation of more flood-tolerant plantain varieties. However,
stronger housing structures may also enable Panaillo residents
to stay in their flood-prone location, potentially placing them
at high risk for another dramatic shift in river flow and erosion.
As evidenced by the 2004 flooding event that led to Panaillos
relocation, a shift in river flow could lead to the complete
destruction of the community.
In 2011, community members relied on breadfruit after the
plantain crops were wiped out during the extreme flooding.
Although alternating between multiple adaptive strategies has
been shown in other case studies to increase resilience (see
Eriksen et al. 2005; Ziervogel et al. 2006), in this case, the
continued preference of Panaillo community members for
flood-tolerant plantain varieties as an adaptive strategy could

possibly reduce the communitys resilience to future extreme
flooding. Although campen and sapo were unable to withstand the severe flooding in 20102011, breadfruit was still
not prioritized as an alternative flood-tolerant food source
according to community interviews and focus groups.
Community members did not attempt to cultivate breadfruit
following the 20102011 flooding. Instead, community interviews indicated that Panaillo residents still viewed campen
and sapo varieties as a preferred flood-tolerant food source,
and decided to increasingly plant these varieties after 2011
largely due to experiencing more severe flooding in recent
years. Although these plantain varieties are more tolerant of
moderate flooding in comparison to normal plantain varieties,
campen and sapo plantain have limited potential to withstand
severe flooding, according to local knowledge. The increased
reliance on campen and sapo thus overlooks the need to find
a staple food that can withstand the severe and prolonged
flooding that is projected to occur with climate change
(Adger et al. 2007). This issue potentially reflects a limited
awareness of the directional change that may result with climate change, which was also observed in institutional interviews. Institutions and community members in this research
consider extreme flood events to be part of a normal 5- or 10year cycle, rather than an indication of a new climatic norm
where extreme flooding occurs more frequently. Therefore,
increased cultivation of campen and sapo plantain varieties
may reduce vulnerability to moderate flood events, but the
reliance on these varieties may increase vulnerability overall
amidst a projection of more extreme flooding in the future.
Many households in this case study also migrated mainly in
response to the extreme flooding and/or to seek out employment opportunities. The urban-rural migration patterns and
Bmulti-sited^ households described earlier by Padoch et al.
(2008) are particularly relevant to the migration patterns observed in Panaillo. Recent literature has similarly noted that
rural migrants in the Peruvian Amazon struggle to find permanent, fair-wage positions in the city and often seek employment elsewhere (Padoch et al. 2014; Santa Cruz et al. 2013).
Unemployment in Pucallpa itself was recently estimated to be
as high as 50 % when the underemployment rate of Pucallpas
informal settlements was considered (Padoch et al. 2014).
Almost all recent rural migrants live in these informal settlements, including all of the temporary and permanent migrants
from Panaillo who participated in this study, and Padoch et al.
(2014) report that few migrants in informal settlements obtained formal, stable employment. Todaro (1969) and Harris and
Todaro (1970) sought to explain why migration to urban areas
continues to occur in spite of high urban unemployment. They
assert that the expected wage differential between urban and
rural areas is largely responsible for the migration decision.
Migration in the aftermath of the 20102011 flooding may
more closely resemble a recent migration model put forth by

the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM). The

NELM model examines the migrants household, in contrast
to other migration models that only consider the individual
migrant (Stark and Bloom 1985; Liller and Van den Broeck
2011). In the case of Panaillo, it was common for one family
member to migrate temporarily or permanently, with other
family members sometimes migrating to the city several years
after the first migrant left. Additionally, according to the
NELM model, the migration decision is a product of both
the expected wage differential and the risk involved in rural
livelihoods (Stark and Bloom 1985). As previously mentioned, many Panaillo community members migrated not only
to seek out opportunities in education and employment, but
also in direct or indirect response to flood conditions.
Permanent migration, therefore, might increase following the
onset of more frequent extreme flooding projected with future
climate change (IPCC 2014; Pinho et al. 2014). The potential
future increase in migration is concerning considering the
challenges with urban employment faced by rural migrants,
as well as the impact of migration on the original rural
communitys social structure, as demonstrated in this case
study. It is thus increasingly important that institutions work
to buffer the impacts of climate change and preserve rural
livelihoods and adaptive strategies.
The increased attention to the Ucayali region in the aftermath of the 20102011 flooding also presents an opportunity to
transform local institutions to be better able to respond to climatic events and to foster adaptation. Unfortunately, the interventions that resulted in response to the 20102011 flooding
were incorporated into the operations of relatively weak
existing institutions. High employee turnover and low capacity
among local institutions were prominent themes that emerged
in this research. These issues could have possibly impeded the
full impact of the capacity-building of local institutions and the
new projects that were created in the aftermath of the 2010
2011 flooding. For example, the Mi Agua project was not effective in Panaillo, mainly as a result of poor monitoring.
These examples support the literature that describes how
multiple stressors act simultaneously to shape vulnerability
outcomes and the importance of considering both fast and
slow drivers of vulnerability (Watts and Bohle 1993; Lauer
et al. 2013; Liu et al. 2008; Belliveau et al. 2006; Ford et al.
2013). In the case of 20102011, severe flooding was an immediate and visible fast driver of food insecurity in Panaillo.
The Panaillo food system was also directly impacted by a
range of biophysical and socioeconomic factors, including
market price fluctuations, changing ecosystem dynamics, migration, and limited services and resources reaching indigenous and rural communities, as previously discussed.
However, this vulnerability needs to be situated in the broader
context of these drivers. For example, several authors have
described the persistence of discrimination against indigenous
peoples in Peru, which may be contributing to the limited
services and underemployment in indigenous communities

(Goy and Waltner-Toews 2005; Figueroa and Barrn 2005;
Carmona and Cristbal 2009; Aikman 2012). Additionally,
Takahashi and Meisner (2013) note that several decisionmakers in Peru prioritized economic growth over other development initiatives (Takahashi and Meisner 2013). Several authors have also documented the poor regulation of extractive
industries, such as oil, gas, and timber industries, in the
Peruvian Amazon, which has the potential for serious impacts
on environmental and social welfare (Finer and Orta-Martnez
2010; Sears and PinedoVasquez 2011; Gutierrez-Velez and
MacDicken 2008). Over 84 % of the Peruvian Amazon has
been or is currently zoned for oil and gas activities and over
half of those concessions are located on legally titled indigenous territories (Finer and Orta-Martnez 2010). Furthermore,
Takahashi and Meisner (2013) assert that agenda-setting and
policy-formulation processes on climate change issues in Peru
are limited by inaccurate information, competition with other
policy issues, and highly politicized institutions. The treatment of indigenous populations, the current economic agenda
in Peru and internationally, and other institutional issues in
Peru are thus potentially important slow drivers of food system vulnerability in this area.
However, at both the community and institutional levels,
slow variables were generally overlooked in the response to
the 20102011 flooding. For example, at the community level,
Panaillo residents increasingly relied on temporary or permanent migration to cope with the flood impacts after the 2010
2011 flood event. This research found that migration did not
improve food security outcomes for Panaillo residents in the
short-term, primarily due to the difficulty of finding employment and the increased importance of financial resources for
household food. Furthermore, many migrants were employed
in jobs in resource extraction, which may be partly responsible
for some of the changes in flood regimes and ecosystem dynamics that helped to motivate migration at the outset. Other
studies have also discussed the positive feedback loops that can
form when short-term coping methods lead to maladaptation
and eventually heighten vulnerability (Fazey et al. 2011;
Eriksen et al. 2005; Westerhoff and Smit 2009). In a case study
in Ghana, Westerhoff and Smit (2009) describe how declines in
soil fertility constrained agricultural production and led individuals to pursue other income-generating livelihoods, such as
charcoal production, which further depleted the soil and exacerbated resource degradation. In this research, temporary or
permanent migration as an adaptive strategy for flooding may
potentially launch Panaillo residents on a maladaptive trajectory if the migrants continue to struggle with job insecurity and
the regulation of extractive practices remains weak.
At the institutional level, post-flood interventions tended to
directly focus on climate risk management, without much attention given to other important slow variables in food system
vulnerability, such as constrained market engagement and

M. Sherman et al.
discrimination. Furthermore, most capacity-building initiatives for local institutions did not include transformational
changes to institutional structures. However, this research documented several systemic problems in existing institutions,
such as low institutional memory and the politicization of
services, and the community members interviewed in this
study had a generally negative perception of many local
institutions. Adger et al. (2012) described the importance of
public perceptions of institutions in order to reduce vulnerability and foster adaptation. In their comparison of individual
responses to flooding in western Ireland and northwest
England, they found that the failure of the Irish government to
provide sufficient flood aid fostered a Bsense of helplessness^
which manifested through Ban unwillingness to take personal
responsibility for flood protection. Reliance on charitable organizations, outside the formal humanitarian aid provided, was a
source of government-directed anger from many Galway
respondents^ (2012: 332). Similarly, the UNDP described
how the regularity of climatic hazards in Peru has not resulted
in better adaptation, but has rather led populations to rely on
humanitarian aid as a way of life (Santa Cruz et al. 2013). Since
flooding occurs annually in Ucayali, it is important that climate
risk management not only provides assistance to families after
an extreme climatic event, but that institutions also work to
prevent a food crisis by strengthening the capacity of families
to cope with extreme climate events. In the Brazilian context,
Marengo et al. (2013) asserted that ineffective Amazonian policies in response to climatic hazards have undermined resilience
by encouraging dependency on government aid.
This research highlights the importance of both the slow and
fast drivers of food system vulnerability in the aftermath of an
extreme climatic event. Several underlying institutional issues
were identified in this case study, such as the politicization of
services and discrimination, which contribute to the slow variables driving food system vulnerability in Panaillo and likely
affect other communities in the area in a similar way. It is thus
important to make substantial changes to institutions at the
regional, national, and international level in order to better promote equity, inter-institutional coordination, accountability, and
environmental sustainability. A holistic, preventative, and cohesive approach to climate risk management is crucial in order
to manage flood impacts in an efficient and timely manner
(Santa Cruz et al. 2013; Sherman 2014). Although the disaster
management system was modified in 2011 to include a stronger
focus on prevention, climate change issues were still not considered a high priority among the Peruvian institutions documented in this study. The low awareness and prioritization of
climate change issues in this area has the potential to exacerbate
vulnerability to climate change in the future (Takahashi and
Meisner 2013). Several authors also emphasize the need to
create a flexible fund in the Ucayali Regional Government
for use in emergency situations, as well as special funds for

risk reduction, climate change adaptation projects, and incorporating climate change into existing projects (Santa Cruz et al.
2013; Vsquez et al. 2012).
In order to more directly address the fast drivers of vulnerability and enhance the Panaillos ability to respond to both
climatic and non-climatic shocks, it is important to bolster the
communitys resilience with stronger and more diversified livelihoods and adaptive strategies. Firstly, it is critical to create an
enabling environment for Panaillo livelihoods and adaptive
strategies by addressing the aforementioned institutional issues
such as corruption and short-term institutional memory. Since
flooding will always constrain yearlong fishing and agricultural
production, it is important that Panaillo residents are able to
maximize agriculture and fishing in the dry season so that they
have a sufficient supply of income and preserved or stored
foods to consume in the flood season. For example, agricultural
production can be improved if community members have access to sufficient and high-quality seeds, and are able to store
harvested seeds in a waterproof, lightproof container. Improved
access to markets and information on market prices, more reliable and affordable transportation, and increasing the frequency
and regularity of visits from agricultural extension workers
could also improve agro-fishing livelihoods (Vsquez et al.
2012; Vegas de Cceres 2010; Liller and Van den Broeck
2011). It is also important to foster livelihood diversity so that
community members are potentially less dependent on fragile
natural resources, particularly considering the poorly regulated
land use practices documented in the Peruvian Amazon (Goy
and Waltner-Toews 2005; Finer and Orta-Martnez 2010).
Education and capacity-building in business management,
technology, and basic professional skills may help Panaillo
residents to obtain secure, profitable employment and/or to
better manage current income-generating livelihoods, such as
traditional handicrafts (Vsquez et al. 2012). Monitoring and
evaluation of current project activities, as well as household
food security status and climate risks are also essential for program development and implementation.
This research raises a number of issues that need to be examined in greater detail. In particular, further research is needed
to explicitly examine future food system vulnerability and the
impact of extractive industries on food systems in this region. It
is also important to better distinguish between novel and typical adaptive strategies, for example, by defining the relative
time scale in which a particular strategy has employed a particular plan of action. While our data indicates that planting floodtolerant plantain varieties is a relatively new strategy that was
introduced to Panaillo community members in the past
10 years, we do not have complete data on the time scale of
other strategies, such as raising houses. Warner et al. (2009)
consider migration induced by climate change to be inevitable.

It is thus important to also conduct more extensive research in

this region on multi-sited livelihoods and migration amidst socioeconomic and climatic changes.
Acknowledgments We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the
community of Panaillo for their hospitality and participation in this research, and particularly those community members who participated in
focus groups and interviews. We would also like to thank the local institutions that participated in interviews, the IHACC team in Lima and Pucallpa,
and the three Shipibo-Konibo research assistants who supported this work.
This work was funded by the International Development Research Centre
(IDRC) of Canadas International Research Initiative on Adaptation to
Climate Change, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council,
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council, McGill University, and a National Geographic Young
Explorer Grant. This research was approved by the McGill University
Research Ethics Board in Montreal, Canada, and the Institutional Ethics
Committee at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru.
We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and the two
editorial teams for their contributions to improve this paper.
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
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M. Sherman et al.
Mya Sherman is a researcher for
the Indigenous Health Adaptation
to Climate Change (IHACC) research program. In addition to
work on climate change vulnerability and food security, Mya has
carried out several qualitative
studies related to research ethics,
stakeholder engagement, and
market engagement. She has presented at international conferences and received the Peoples
Choice award for Best
Presentation at the Climate and
Health Summit in 2014. Mya is
currently leading an international project related to the monitoring and
evaluation of climate change adaptation in the Peruvian Amazon, southwestern Uganda, and the Canadian Arctic.
Dr. Alejandro Llanos-Cuentas

is a physician, specializing in infectious and tropical medicine with an
emphasis on vector-transmitted diseases, such as leishmaniasis and
malaria. He founded several research groups at the Universidad
Peruana Cayetano Her edia
(UPCH) in Lima Peru, including
the leishmaniasis and malaria research units and the Public Health
School of the UPCH. Dr. Llanos
also has extensive experience in
multi-disciplinary work. He was
the founder and leader of a successful malaria control program in bordering areas of Andean countries, which
was distinguished by the Pan American Health Organization as the best
program in the fight against malaria in 2009. He has more than 25 years of
experience in the planning, direction, execution, monitoring and evaluation of
clinical trials, research, and interventions and has worked on a range of topics,
including leishmaniasis and malaria control, indigenous health, and climate
change adaptation. Dr. Llanos has been the Principal Investigator or CoInvestigator in more than 50 studies, and has presented at more than 30
scientific events in Peru and around the world.
Dr. James Ford is an Associate

Professor and CIHR Chair in
the Department of Geography
at McGill University where
he leads the Climate Change
Adaptation Research Group.
Dr. Ford obtained his B.A. in
Geography at the University
of Oxfo rd, UK, M.Sc. in
Environmental Change and
Management at the University
of Oxford, UK, and Ph.D. in
Geography at the University
of Guelph. His research focuses on climate change vulnerability and adaptation with a strong focus on indigenous populations. The author of over 100 peer reviewed articles, he is currently Editor in Chief at Regional Environmental Chief.
Maria Jos Valdivia is the coordinator for the Juanjui branch of the
Amazonian Association for
Amazonia (Asociacin
Amaznicos Por la Amazona
[AMPA]) in the region of San
Martn, Peru. She currently works
on a project regarding conservation
and green economy concessions,
and focuses on issues of capacity
building and local empowerment
with indigenous and rural communities in the Yungas ecosystem. She
has over 5 years of experience
working with traditional ecological
knowledge and its contribution to climate change adaptation in rural areas of
Peru. Maria Jos served as the national coordinator of the Indigenous Health
Adaptation to Climate Change research program in Peru, and collaborated on
several qualitative and quantitative studies in indigenous communities in the
Ucayali and Loreto regions. Maria Jos is interested in the sociocultural
aspects of climate change adaptation and indigenous issues in the Peruvian
Amazon, including governance, land rights, and interculturality.

Food System Vulnerability Amidst The Extreme 2010-2011 Flooding in The Peruvian Amazon: A Case Study From The Ucayali Region

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