scholarly journals Are cities prepared for climate change? An analysis of adaptation readiness in 104 German cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Otto ◽  
Christian Göpfert ◽  
Annegret H. Thieken
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
City Size ◽  
Small Cities ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Adaptation Readiness ◽  
Mere Existence ◽  
Reported Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
German Cities

AbstractCities can be severely affected by climate change. Hence, many of them have started to develop climate adaptation strategies or implement measures to help prepare for the challenges it will present. This study aims to provide an overview of climate adaptation in 104 German cities. While existing studies on adaptation tracking rely heavily on self-reported data or the mere existence of adaptation plans, we applied the broader concept of adaptation readiness, considering five factors and a total of twelve different indicators, when making our assessments. We clustered the cities depending on the contribution of these factors to the overall adaptation readiness index and grouped them according to their total score and cluster affiliations. This resulted in us identifying four groups of cities. First, a pioneering group comprises twelve (mainly big) cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, which showed high scores for all five factors of adaptation readiness. Second, a set of 36 active cities, which follow different strategies on how to deal with climate adaptation. Third, a group of 28 cities showed considerably less activity toward climate adaptation, while a fourth set of 28 mostly small cities (with between 50,000 and 99,999 inhabitants) scored the lowest. We consider this final group to be pursuing a ‘wait-and-see’ approach. Since the city size correlates with the adaptation readiness index, we recommend policymakers introduce funding schemes that focus on supporting small cities, to help them prepare for the impact of a changing climate.

Impact of extreme hydrological perturbation on sediment distribution from source to sink, PETM, Spain.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marine Prieur ◽  
Alexander C. Whittaker ◽  
Fritz Schlunegger ◽  
Tor O. Sømme ◽  
Jean Braun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Lead Author ◽  
Current Increase ◽  
Sediment Distribution ◽  
Current Climate ◽  
Source To Sink ◽  
The Impact

<p>Sedimentary dynamics and fluxes are influenced by both autogenic and allogenic forcings. A better understanding of the evolution of sedimentary systems through time and space requires us to decipher, and therefore to characterise, the impact of each of these on the Earth’s landscape. Given the current increase in the concentration of atmospheric carbon, studying the impact of rapid and global climate changes is of particular importance at the present time. Such events have been clearly defined in the geologic record. Among them, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) has been extensively studied worldwide and represents a possible analogue of the rapid current climate warming.</p><p>The present project focuses on the Southern Pyrenees (Spain) where excellent exposures of the Paleocene-Eocene interval span a large range of depositional environments from continental to deep-marine. These conditions allow us to collect data along the whole depositional system in order to document changes in sediment fluxes and paleohydraulic conditions. Because hydrological conditions have an impact on sediment transport through hydrodynamics, paleoflow reconstructions can shed light on changes in sediment dynamics. This information is reconstructed from the statistical distributions of channel morphologies, characteristic system dimensions including bankfull channel depth and width, and grain-sizes.</p><p>With this approach, our aim is to provide both qualitative and quantitative assessments of the magnitude and extent of the perturbation of sedimentary fluxes along an entire source-to-sink system during an episode of extreme climate change. This will lead to a better understanding of the impact of abrupt climate change on earth surface systems in mid-latitudinal areas, with possible implications for current climate adaptation policy.</p><p>This research is carried out in the scope of the lead author’s PhD project and is part of the S2S-FUTURE European Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN (Grant Agreement No 860383).</p>

Promote Nature-Based Solutions to adapt the environment to climate change – The LIFE ARTISAN project

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Antoine Versini ◽  
Daniel Schertzer ◽  
Mathilde Loury
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Relevant Alternatives ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
The Impact

<p>Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) appear as some relevant alternatives to mitigate the consequences of climate change. For this reason, they are promoted for the implementation of the national plan for adaptation to climate change (PNACC) in France, in line with the Paris Agreement, the strategy of the European Union for adaptation to climate change and the French national strategy for biodiversity.</p><p>Nevertheless, this ambitious goal of democratizing NBS poses some institutional and technical challenges because many obstacles remain to their implementation. Overcoming these shortcomings is the objective of the LIFE integrated project called ARTISAN (Achieving Resiliency by Triggering Implementation of nature-based Solutions for climate Adaptation at a National scale). Coordinated by the French Biodiversity Office (OFB), its consortium regroups several local authorities, technical, research and education institutes.</p><p>For this purpose, ARTISAN is creating a framework promoting the implementation of NBS by improving scientific and technical knowledge about them, then by developing and disseminating relevant tools for project leaders (for the design, sizing, implementation and evaluation of ecosystem performance).</p><p>To demonstrate that NBS can respond to a diversity of climatic, ecological and institutional contexts, 10 pilot sites will be monitored in metropolitan and overseas France. The concerned issues are for example the reduction of urban heat island by the de-waterproofing of the public space, the limitation of the impact of cyclonic episodes on the urbanized coastline overseas by promoting the restoration of the mangrove, and the decrease of agricultural water stress during the low flow period by the hydromorphological restoration of wetlands. These pilot sites will serve to develop, improve and validate operational tools, methods and trainings devoted to practitioners.</p>

scholarly journals Crop adaptation to climate change as a consequence of long-term breeding

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rod J. Snowdon ◽  
Benjamin Wittkop ◽  
Tsu-Wei Chen ◽  
Andreas Stahl
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Major Gene ◽  
Stress Constraints ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Yield Stability ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Conventional Breeding ◽  
The Impact

AbstractMajor global crops in high-yielding, temperate cropping regions are facing increasing threats from the impact of climate change, particularly from drought and heat at critical developmental timepoints during the crop lifecycle. Research to address this concern is frequently focused on attempts to identify exotic genetic diversity showing pronounced stress tolerance or avoidance, to elucidate and introgress the responsible genetic factors or to discover underlying genes as a basis for targeted genetic modification. Although such approaches are occasionally successful in imparting a positive effect on performance in specific stress environments, for example through modulation of root depth, major-gene modifications of plant architecture or function tend to be highly context-dependent. In contrast, long-term genetic gain through conventional breeding has incrementally increased yields of modern crops through accumulation of beneficial, small-effect variants which also confer yield stability via stress adaptation. Here we reflect on retrospective breeding progress in major crops and the impact of long-term, conventional breeding on climate adaptation and yield stability under abiotic stress constraints. Looking forward, we outline how new approaches might complement conventional breeding to maintain and accelerate breeding progress, despite the challenges of climate change, as a prerequisite to sustainable future crop productivity.

scholarly journals A Strategic Approach for Existing Buildings to Withstand Climate Change

2012 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
T. Valdbjørn Rasmussen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Change In Mean

Buildings play a vital economic and social role in society and are vulnerable to climate change. This paper suggests a strategic approach for existing buildings to withstand climate change. It emphasises the most likely climate impacts, including the change in mean year values as well as the extent of maximum and minimum extremes, which are pointed out and set against a background of national and international agreements. Assumptions that form the basis for the scenarios are outlined and evaluated in a Danish context and similar evaluations can be drawn for other countries. As climate change progresses, the uncertainty of the scenarios leaves major challenges that will grow far more serious, if not addressed and taken into account in building design and into a strategy for the adaptation of existing buildings. An outline of the actions needed for developing a broad strategic approach to the adaptation to climate change for buildings is given. The actions include four stages: a survey of the performance, the impact of climate change, the vulnerability of the existing building stock and climate adaptation needs. This leads to the identification of a risk-based strategic framework for adaptation to climate change based on the results of a vulnerability analysis. In addition, this paper describes some issues that must be addressed in case a strategic approach is not developed, as the building sector is continuously investing in measures to adapt to climate change.

The impact of climate change on Canadian archives

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Disaster Planning ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Records Management ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Projected Changes ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This study aims to identify Canadian archives that are at risk for climate change threats, to present a snapshot of current practices around disaster planning, sustainability and climate adaptation and to provide recommended next steps for records managers and archivists adapting to climate change. Design/methodology/approach These objectives were achieved by analyzing the geographic locations of Canadian archives in relation to projected climate data and by analyzing the results of a survey distributed to staff at Canadian archival repositories. Findings This study found that all Canadian archives will be impacted by projected changes in both annual mean temperatures and precipitation to the year 2080. Themes that emerged surrounding climate adaptation strategies include the investment in the design and efficiency of spaces housing records and the importance of resilient buildings, the need for increased training on climate change, engaging senior leadership and administrators on climate change and developing regional strategies. Preparing for and mitigating the impact of climate change on the facilities and holdings needs to become a priority. Originality/value This research underscores the importance of developing climate adaptation strategies, considering the sustainability of records management and archival professional practice, increasing the resilience of the facilities and records and strengthening the disaster planning and recovery methods.

scholarly journals Climate change perception and determinants of adoption of agricultural practices in Rasuwa district of Nepal

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 63-70
Author(s):  
Binaya Joshi ◽  
Ganesh R. Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Potato Production ◽  
Adaptation Strategy ◽  
The Impact

Climate change has become unequivocal with its implications in every aspects of life and livelhood options, including agriculture. The present paper analyzes the agrarian households’ perception on climate change, identify the major agricultural practices adopted to minimize the effects of climate change and their determinants in Rasuwa district of Nepal. Nepal's agricultural production system being rain-fed in nature, the impact of climate change on productivity and production has already been experienced. During the study, the purposive sampling technique was adopted while selecting the VDCs located within the buffer zone of Langtang National Park. Four VDCs namely Laharepauwa, Dhaibung, Dhunche and Syaphru were purposively selected representing paddy, wheat, maize, and potato production area of the district. Thirty households from each VDC were interviewed by using the structured questionnaire totaling a sample size of 120 households. In addition, the present study also used Focus Group Discussions with local government officials, buffer zone communities and other stakeholders about the climate change knowledge and adaptation, and to assess perception on different climate change related threats and strategies adapted to cope the impact. Information with regard to the experience of the respondent in cultivating the crop in question, changes in rainfall amount and time, seasonal change in temperature and their effect on the time of planting and yield, and the adaptation strategy were collected. The factors influencing whether to adopt climate adaptation practices in agriculture was analyzed using binary logit model. The education level of household head, household size, food self-sufficiency from their own production and inadequacy of current knowledge on agricultural adaptation influenced the adoption. In the Nepalese context, where agricultural occupation is the dominant means of living, climate adaptation seems to be the most efficient and friendly way for farmers to neutralize the potential adverse effects. The farmer’s knowledge and skills on techniques of adaptation need to be enhanced and support in availing such practices and technologies which may result for better adoption. The awareness raising campaigns need to be organized and indigenous knowledge and practices should be documented and verified for further replication.

scholarly journals Impact of Climate Change on Animal Production and Expansion of Animal Disease: A Review on Ethiopia Perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 64-76 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
West Nile Fever ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Animal Diseases ◽  
The Impact

Climate change is a result of the global increase in average air and ocean temperatures, and rising average sea levels. Livestock production and health are significantly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Climate change has direct and indirect impacts on emerging and re-emerging animal diseases and zoonoses since it disrupts natural ecosystems and allows disease-causing pathogens to move into new areas where they may harm wildlife and domestic species, as well as humans. Climate change affects diseases and pest distributions, range prevalence, incidence, and seasonality but the degree of change remains highly uncertain. The occurrence and distribution of vector-borne diseases such as bluetongue, west Nile fever, rift valley fever, African horse sickness, etc. are closely associated with weather patterns and long-term climatic factors strongly influence the incidence of outbreaks. The interaction between animal production and climate change is complex and multi-directional since animal production contributes to climate change; but to the reverse and worse condition, climate change highly affects animal production. Climate change, animal production systems, and animal diseases are strongly linked to each other. But what is worse is that both change in climate and the production systems of animals highly affect the occurrence, distribution, emergence, and re-emergence of animal diseases. The close linkage among climate change, animal production, and disease; the increased threat of climate on the animal production and health sectors needs: the hands of stakeholders in the environment, animal production and health to work in an integrated and systematic manner; researches with emphasis given to the state of climate change and the direct and indirect effects it poses on animal production and health; and ensuring development of sustainable animal farming and land use, and climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Consumers' Intention to Use Shared-Mobility Services in German Cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Garaus ◽  
Christian Garaus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Ecological Benefits ◽  
Physical Risk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
German Cities

One sector that severely suffers from the outbreak of the coronavirus is carsharing (i.e., short-term car access). The downswing of the carsharing industry may not only experience negative economic consequences but also ecological ones. Carsharing has the potential to reduce emissions, occupied space, and congestion and hence can actively contribute to mitigating climate change. As Bill Gates strikingly states: “Covid-19 is awful. Climate change could be worse.” For this reason, it is important to understand which underlying mechanisms drive carsharing usage during the Covid-19 pandemic. The current research has the overall objective to provide deeper insights into the mediating mechanisms that explain carsharing usage intention during the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, we draw on signaling theory to explore how different claims (environmental claims, safety claims) that prompt two different opposing underlying processes (perceived ecological benefits, perceived physical risk) influence carsharing usage intention. An online experiment employing a 3 (environmental claim vs. safety claim vs. no claim) × 2 (high information diagnosticity vs. low information diagnosticity) between-subjects design with participants acquired by the online panel platform Clickworker was conducted in April 2020. Fictitious labels and fictitious advertisements served as stimulus material and constituted the five experimental conditions. The data were analyzed by a multicategorial moderated mediation analysis and a multivariate analysis of covariance. Results reveal that environmental claims can stimulate perceived ecological benefits, which, in turn, positively affect carsharing usage intention. Interestingly, our research demonstrates that safety claims cannot decrease perceived physical risk in the context of Covid-19 and carsharing. Nevertheless, perceived physical risk has a (marginal) negative influence on carsharing usage intention and hence should not be discarded altogether. The findings of this article offer new insights into the mental processes that guide consumer decision-making during the coronavirus crisis and also offer important policy implications by highlighting the relevance of environmental claims during the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the negative influence of perceived physical risk on carsharing usage intention points to the need for alternative measures to reduce users' risk perceptions.

scholarly journals Implications of Development Cooperation and State Bureaucracy on Climate Change Adaptation Policy in Bangladesh

Climate ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Md Saifur Rahman ◽  
Pradip Kumar Sarker ◽  
Ryokichi Hirono ◽  
Lukas Giessen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Adaptation Policy ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
International Climate ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation Policy

Policy action is visible in national and international climate governance. However, policy-making and its implementation often fail to generate the desired outcomes that aim to adapt to the adverse impact of climate change in a developing nation, such as Bangladesh—a country highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Against this backdrop, the study aims to analyze the implication of development cooperation and bureaucratic politics on the policy-making and implementation of climate change adaptation policy in Bangladesh. In doing so, the research uses national and international climate adaptation funds and the existing state administrative framework of the climate adaptation regime. Methodologically, it follows a mixed qualitative–quantitative research approach. The study discusses the following key findings: (1) the general cross-sectoral nature and thrusts of domestic and external climate adaptation funding; (2) how Bangladesh technical departments, such as that for water management, have reacted successfully to ensure the utilization of the funds is for implementing adaptation policy; (3) simultaneously, how Bangladesh bureaucracy, made of the elite, together with politics, have maintained their traditional values, practices, and structures in responding to the administrative requirements of climate adaptation funders, especially bilateral and multilateral development agencies, and (4) what changes should be brought to the bureaucratic cadre and added to the administrative setup in Bangladesh to provide a better overall impact of the adaptation policy and funding.

scholarly journals Climate change, power, and vulnerabilities in the Peruvian Highlands

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Marjaana Heikkinen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe intensifying impacts of climate change pose a serious global threat, particularly for rural populations whose livelihoods are closely tied to natural resources. Yet there is a lack of critical understanding of how asymmetric power dynamics shape the vulnerabilities of such populations under climate change. This article examines the interrelations between smallholders’ climate-related vulnerability experiences and power relations across multiple scales of climate adaptation in the Peruvian Andes, a region susceptible to increasing climatic threats. The analysis draws on a case study conducted in the Mantaro River Valley in Central Peru using qualitative methods: open-ended interviews, participant observation, and document analysis. Findings of the study show that in the context of climate change, the production of vulnerabilities has much to do with larger socio-political structures in which protection of the highland farmers is not prioritized. The impact of the uneven scalar power dynamics in climate adaptation and other overlapping fields of policy have created uneven terms of adaptation among smallholders. This has created marginalization, conflicts, and deepened smallholders’ vulnerabilities under climate change. I argue that to reach a better understanding of the multidimensionality of vulnerabilities, more detailed attention must be paid to place-based climate experiences within context-specific, socio-political processes, and to the ways these are shaped by unequal power relations across multiple scales.

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