scholarly journals Decision-Making Heuristics for Managing Climate-Related Risks: Introducing Equity to the FREE Framework

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Camilla Audia ◽  
Emma Visman ◽  
Gino Fox ◽  
Emmah Mwangi ◽  
Mary Kilavi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Impact Pathways ◽  
Pathways Analysis ◽  
Development And Validation ◽  
Impact Models ◽  
Previous Scholarship

AbstractManaging climate-related risks is clouded in differing levels of uncertainty that are magnified when trying to understand their potential impacts on socio-ecological systems. The ‘cascade of uncertainty’ is particularly apparent in Africa where socio-ecological data are sparse, and the development and validation of impact models are at varying stages. In this context, using heuristics may serve as an effective way for policy makers to incorporate climate change knowledge into decision-making. Previous scholarship has identified the principles of Flexibility, Robustness and Economic low/no regrets in decision-making under uncertainty. In this chapter, we first make the case for adding Equity to these heuristics, where equity involves ensuring that reducing the climate change risk for one cohort of society does not result in its increase for another. Second, we describe how these principles have been applied under two DFID/NERC funded projects: ForPAc and AMMA-2050 through the use of Participatory Impact Pathways Analysis tools.

scholarly journals Using building adaptation to deliver sustainability in Australia

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara J. Wilkinson ◽  
Kimberley James ◽  
Richard Reed
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Carbon Neutrality ◽  
Building Adaptation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Decision Making Tool

PurposeThis paper seeks to establish the rationale for existing office building adaptation within Melbourne, Australia, as the city strives to become carbon neutral by 2020. The problems faced by policy makers to determine which buildings have the optimum adaptation potential are to be identified and discussed.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts the approach of creating a database of all the buildings in the Melbourne CBD including details of physical, social, economic and technological attributes. This approach will determine whether relationships exist between attributes and the frequency of building adaptation or whether triggers to adaptation can be determined.FindingsThis research provided evidence that a much faster rate of office building adaptation is necessary to meet the targets already set for carbon neutrality. The findings demonstrate that a retrospective comprehensive examination of previous adaptation in the CBD is a unique and original approach to determining the building characteristics associated with adaptation and whether triggers can be identified based on previous practices. The implication is that a decision‐making tool should be developed to allow policy makers to target sectors of the office building stock to deliver carbon neutrality within the 2020 timeframe.Practical implicationsDrastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are required to mitigate global warming and climate change and all stakeholders should be looking at ways of reducing emissions from existing stock.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the existing body of knowledge by raising awareness of the way in which the adaptation of large amounts of existing stock can be fast tracked to mitigate the impact of climate change and warming associated with the built environment, and in addition it establishes a framework for a decision‐making tool for policy makers.

scholarly journals Communicating Climate Change Risk: A Content Analysis of IPCC’s Summary for Policymakers

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 4861 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Marijn Poortvliet ◽  
Meredith T. Niles ◽  
Jeroen A. Veraart ◽  
Saskia E. Werners ◽  
Fiona C. Korporaal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Extended Parallel Process Model ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Ipcc Report

This study investigated the effectiveness of climate change risk communication in terms of its theoretical potential to stimulate recipients’ awareness and behavioral change. We selected the summary for policy makers (SPM) of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in order to conduct a content analysis; the extended parallel process model and construal level theory served as conceptual lenses to perform the analysis. Specifically, we evaluated to what extent the SPM included informational elements of threat, efficacy and psychological distance related to climate change. The results showed that threat information was prominently present, but efficacy information was less frequently included, and when it was, more often in the latter parts of the SPM. With respect to construal level it was found that in the IPCC report concrete representations were used only sparingly. Theoretical relevance and implications for climate change risk communication with key audiences are discussed.

Understanding the Communication of Climate Change Risk: Climate Scientists' Perspectives of Media Sources and Policy Makers

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Stoutenborough ◽  
Robert Nicholas Fette ◽  
Arnold Vedlitz ◽  
Carol L. Goldsmith
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Policy Makers

scholarly journals Road to green future - Decision making model for the environmental and energy sector

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-113
Author(s):  
Alexandra Teodora Bârsan ◽  
Mihai Pop
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Climate Change Issue ◽  
Energy Field ◽  
Decision Making Model

Abstract The mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions has become one of the most important topics on the agenda of EU- and national policy-makers. The importance of the climate change issue is exponentially growing from year to year, gathering specialist from the academic, economic and energy fields in the hope of finding the best solutions in fighting the negative effects of the phenomenon. This challenge has issued an intense debate around the doctrines on which policymakers ground the process of law making. Two of the most debated theories are the neoclassic economic doctrines, on which the major part of the climate change regulation is based, and the innovation economic doctrines, which gained a lot of popularity and supporters in the academic field for the last couple of years. The paper presents the advantages and opportunities of current climate change legislation, as well as their disadvantages and limits. Furthermore it focuses on emphasizing common issues that lead to the failure of climate change legislation and implicitly cause economic loss, lowering the attractiveness of future investments. Based on our research we have developed a decision making model for legislation and regulations of the environmental and energy sectors. The developed model offers guidelines to policy-makers of the energy field and aims both environmental and economic sustainability.

scholarly journals Corrigendum to: A collaboratively derived environmental research agenda for Galápagos

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Arturo Izurieta ◽  
Byron Delgado ◽  
Nicolas Moity ◽  
Monica Calvopiña ◽  
Iván Cedeño ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

Galápagos is one of the most pristine archipelagos in the world and its conservation relies upon research and sensible management. In recent decades both the interest in, and the needs of, the islands have increased, yet the funds and capacity for necessary research have remained limited. It has become, therefore, increasingly important to identify areas of priority research to assist decision-making in Galápagos conservation. This study identified 50 questions considered priorities for future research and management. The exercise involved the collaboration of policy makers, practitioners and researchers from more than 30 different organisations. Initially, 360 people were consulted to generate 781 questions. An established process of preworkshop voting and three rounds to reduce and reword the questions, followed by a two-day workshop, was used to produce the final 50 questions. The most common issues raised by this list of questions were human population growth, climate change and the impact of invasive alien species. These results have already been used by a range of organisations and politicians and are expected to provide the basis for future research on the islands so that its sustainability may be enhanced.

scholarly journals To Mitigate or Adapt? Explaining Why Citizens Responding to Climate Change Favour the Former

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 240
Author(s):  
Kristina Blennow ◽  
Johannes Persson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Positive Experiences ◽  
Local Impacts ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Why do citizens’ decisions made because they favour the mitigation of climate change outnumber those made because they favour adaptation to its impacts? Using data collected in a survey of 338 citizens of Malmö, Sweden, we tested two hypotheses. H1: the motivation for personal decisions because they favour adaptation to the impacts of climate change correlates with the decision-making agent´s knowledge of specific local impacts of climate change, and H2: the motivation for personal decisions because they favour mitigation of climate change correlates with the risk perception of the decision-making agent. While decisions made because they favour mitigation correlated with negative net values of expected impacts of climate change (risk perception), decisions made because they favour adaptation correlated with its absolute value unless tipping point behaviour occurred. Tipping point behaviour occurs here when the decision-making agent abstains from decisions in response to climate change in spite of a strongly negative or positive net value of expected impacts. Hence, the decision-making agents´ lack of knowledge of specific climate change impacts inhibited decisions promoting adaptation. Moreover, positive experiences of climate change inhibited mitigation decisions. Discussing the results, we emphasised the importance of understanding the drivers of adaptation and mitigation decisions. In particular, we stress that attention needs to be paid to the balance between decisions solving problems ‘here and now’ and those focusing on the ‘there and then’.

scholarly journals Informing UK governance of resilience to climate risks: improving the local evidence-base

2020 ◽  
Vol 163 (1) ◽  
pp. 499-520
Author(s):  
Candice Howarth ◽  
Sian Morse-Jones ◽  
Andrew Kythreotis ◽  
Katya Brooks ◽  
Matt Lane
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Climate Change Risk ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Local Evidence

AbstractInternational assessments of evidence on climate change (e.g. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC) or national climate change risk assessments (e.g. UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, CCRA) do not offer a sufficiently granular perspective on climate impacts to adequately inform governance of resilience to climate risks at the local level. Using an analysis of UK decision-makers managing and responding to heatwaves and flood risks, this paper argues how more robust local evidence is needed to inform decision-making regarding adaptation options for enhancing local resilience. We identify evidence gaps and issues relating to local climate change impacts, including sources and quality of evidence used, adequacy and accessibility of evidence available, ill-communicated evidence and conflicting or misused evidence. A lack of appreciation regarding how scientific evidence and personal judgement can mutually enhance the quality of decision-making underpins all of these gaps. Additionally, we find that the majority of evidence currently used is reductively based upon socio-economic and physical characteristics of climate risks. We argue that a step change is needed in local climate resilience that moves beyond current physical and socio-economic risk characterisation to a more inclusive co-constitution of social and politically defined climate risks at the local scale that are better aligned with the local impacts felt and needs of stakeholders.

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