The Catalytic Role of Weak Ties in Enabling Transformational Adaptation: Evidence from Vulnerable Fishers in Coastal Gujarat, India

Climate extremes, particularly the slow-onset climate stressors, pose a significant challenge to the vulnerable and marginalized communities that lack the capacity to adapt. Adaptation is a dynamic, socially embedded process shaped by our interpersonal relationships, experiences, the flow of information, and our ability to act collectively. We conceptualize transformational adaptation as changes that expand livelihood and institutional options beyond existing constraints. Yet adaptation outcomes vary widely, especially when state support is constrained. We argue that weak ties catalyze transformational adaptation in social-ecological systems, drawing on evidence from three villages of the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat, India. Using mixed methods, we map family, friendship, and business networks among fishers and compute density, centralization, and clustering alongside qualitative interviews. The findings reveal that villages with high social capital, characterized by bonding ties, exhibit a cohesive social network but low business centrality, and rely largely on incremental coping and adjustments to address structural vulnerability and climate stress. In contrast, in communities with a greater prevalence of weak ties, fishers have better access to markets, boat-sharing arrangements, knowledge of policies and credit schemes, and support for diversified strategies, which expand their perceived options and future strategies despite similar hazards. Therefore, policies for transformational adaptation should promote cross-village exchanges and peer learning to strengthen weak ties.