Extreme Weather Events and the German Economy: The Potential for Climate Change Adaptation

AbstractAs climate change unfolds, extreme weather events are on the rise worldwide. According to experts, extreme weather risks already outrank those of terrorism and migration in likelihood and impact. But how well does the public understand weather risks and forecast uncertainty and thus grasp the amplified weather risks that climate change poses for the future? In a nationally representative survey (N = 1004; Germany), we tested the public’s weather literacy and awareness of climate change using 62 factual questions. Many respondents misjudged important weather risks (e.g., they were unaware that UV radiation can be higher under patchy cloud cover than on a cloudless day) and struggled to connect weather conditions to their impacts (e.g., they overestimated the distance to a thunderstorm). Most misinterpreted a probabilistic forecast deterministically, yet they strongly underestimated the uncertainty of deterministic forecasts. Respondents with higher weather literacy obtained weather information more often and spent more time outside but were not more educated. Those better informed about climate change were only slightly more weather literate. Overall, the public does not seem well equipped to anticipate weather risks in the here and now and may thus also fail to fully grasp what climate change implies for the future. These deficits in weather literacy highlight the need for impact forecasts that translate what the weather may be into what the weather may do and for transparent communication of uncertainty to the public. Boosting weather literacy may help to improve the public’s understanding of weather and climate change risks, thereby fostering informed decisions and mitigation support.

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Policy options for addressing climate change, with a focus on ecosystem based adaptation: a case study of Guyana

10.32920/ryerson.14645337.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ramesh Lilwah

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sea Level ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Extreme Weather ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Weather Events ◽

Resource Sector ◽

Adaptation Method ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

Close to ninety percent of Guyana‟s population live along a low lying coastal plain, which is below sea level and very vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. While the national government has not yet developed a comprehensive climate policy, the potential impacts of climate change is considered in several sectoral policies, much of which emphasize mitigation, with little focus on adaptation. This research examined the current priorities for adaptation by a review of the policies within the natural resource sector to identify opportunities for adaptation, especially ecosystem based adaptation. A Diagnostic Adaptation Framework (DAF) was used to help identify approaches to address a given adaptation challenge with regards to needs, measures and options. A survey questionnaire was used to support the policy reviews and identified four key vulnerabilities: coastal floods; sea level rise; drought and extreme weather events. The application of the DAF in selecting an adaptation method suggests the need for more data on drought and extreme weather events. Coastal flooding is addressed, with recognized need for more data and public awareness for ecosystem based adaptation

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Building organizational resilience through sensemaking: The case of climate change and extreme weather events

Business Strategy and the Environment ◽

10.1002/bse.2062 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 (8) ◽

pp. 1197-1208 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Daniel Tisch ◽

Jeremy Galbreath

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Extreme Weather ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Organizational Resilience ◽

Weather Events

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Projecting Climate Change Impacts on Mediterranean Finfish Production: A Case Study in Greece.

10.21203/rs.3.rs-179323/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Orestis Stavrakidis-Zachou ◽

Konstadia Lika ◽

Panagiotis Anastasiadis ◽

Nikos Papandroulakis

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Population Level ◽

Extreme Weather ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Mediterranean Country ◽

Farm Level ◽

Weather Events ◽

The Future ◽

The Individual

Abstract Finfish aquaculture in the Mediterranean Sea faces increasing challenges due to climate change while potential adaptation requires a robust assessment of the arising threats and opportunities. This paper presents an approach developed to investigate effects of climate drivers on Greek aquaculture, a representative Mediterranean country with a leading role in the sector. Using a farm level approach, Dynamic Energy Budget models for European seabass and meagre were developed and environmental forcing was used to simulate changes in production and farm profitability under IPCC scenarios RCP45 and RCP85. The effects of temperature and extreme weather events at the individual and farm level were considered along with that of husbandry parameters such as stocking timing, market size, and farm location (inshore, offshore) for nine regions. The simulations suggest that at the individual level fish may benefit from warmer temperatures in the future in terms of growth, thus reaching commercial sizes faster, while the husbandry parameters may have as large an effect on growth as the projected shifts in climatic cues. However, this benefit will be largely offset by the adverse effects of extreme weather events at the population level. Such events will be more frequent in the future and, depending on the intensity one assigns to them, they could cause losses in biomass and farm profits that range from mild to detrimental for the industry. Overall, these results provide quantification of some of the potential threats for an important aquaculture sector while suggesting possibilities to benefit from emerging opportunities. Therefore, they could contribute to improving the sector’s readiness for tackling important challenges in the future.

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