Guermond, Vincent, Iskander, Dalia, Michelis, Sebastien, Brickell, Katherine, Fay, Grainne, Vouch, Long Ly, Natarajan, Nithya, Parsons, Laurie, Picchioni, Fiorella ORCID: 0000-0002-3456-386X and Green, W. Nathan (2023) Depleted by debt: ‘green’ microfinance, over-indebtedness, and social reproduction in climate-vulnerable Cambodia. Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. ISSN 0066-4812 (Print), 1467-8330 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12969)

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Abstract

The operations of microfinance are exalted in mainstream development thinking as a key means of supporting smallholder farmers facing growing crises of agricultural productivity in the context of daily, ongoing, and often slow-onset climate disasters. Enhancing coping and adaptative capacity, the provision of microfinance products and services would facilitate adaptation by facilitating both risk recovery and reduction. Bringing together original and mixed-method data collected between 2020-2022 in Cambodia, this paper critically examines this ‘green microfinance’ narrative by highlighting the ways in which microfinance contributes to reproducing and exacerbating climate precarity and harm for many. We evidence how credit-taking can lead to more dangerous and individualised efforts to cope with, and adapt to, existing conditions at home, often at the cost of emotional and bodily depletion. By doing so, we contribute to answering calls for connecting the literatures on social reproduction, depletion, and climate change adaptation.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	microfinance; depletion; social reproduction; climate change adaptation; Cambodia
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human ecology. Anthropogeography H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Food & Markets Department
Last Modified:	27 Jul 2023 15:03
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/43407

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