Climate change adaptation: integrating climate science into humanitarian work

2010 ◽  
Vol 92 (879) ◽  
pp. 693-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisette M. Braman ◽  
Pablo Suarez ◽  
Maarten K. van Aalst
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
New Information ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Vulnerable People ◽  
The Face ◽  
Reduce Risk ◽  
Humanitarian Work

AbstractA changing climate means more work for humanitarian organizations. Vulnerable people served by the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement are likely to experience new patterns of disasters. In the face of these rising dangers, science-based information about likely threats can be used to reduce risk and improve resource allocation. Examples such as the 2008 emergency appeal for flood preparedness in West Africa illustrate the benefits of turning early warnings into early actions at community, national, and regional levels, at timescales ranging from hours to decades ahead of a looming threat. By making better use of a wide range of new information, humanitarian organizations can enhance their work even in the face of the rising risks of climate change.

Changing minds about climate change: a pervasive role for domain-general metacognition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manos Tsakiris ◽  
Neza Vehar ◽  
Stephen M Fleming ◽  
Sophie De Beukelaer ◽  
Max Rollwage
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Social Effects ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Prior Beliefs ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
The Face ◽  
Metacognitive Abilities ◽  
Insight Into

Updating one’s beliefs about the causes and effects of climate change is crucial for altering attitudes and behaviours. Importantly, metacognitive abilities - insight into the (in)correctness of one’s beliefs- play a key role in the formation of polarized beliefs. We investigated the role of domain-general and domain-specific metacognition in updating prior beliefs about climate change across the spectrum of climate change scepticism. We also considered the role of how climate science is communicated in the form of textual or visuo-textual presentations. We show that climate change scepticism is associated with differences in domain-general as well as domain-specific metacognitive abilities. Moreover, domain-general metacognitive sensitivity influenced belief updating in an asymmetric way : lower domain-general metacognition decreased the updating of prior beliefs, especially in the face of negative evidence. Our findings highlight the role of metacognitive failures in revising erroneous beliefs about climate change and point to their adverse social effects.

Health, sustainability, and climate change

2013 ◽  
pp. 548-555
Author(s):  
David Pencheon ◽  
Sonia Roschnik ◽  
Paul Cosford
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Carbon Reduction ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Good For

This chapter will help you understand the relationships between health, health care, sustainability, climate change, and carbon reduction, locally and globally. The specific objectives of the chapter are to help you make the case for action by showing how health, health care, sustainable development, and climate change are linked positively such that what is good for mitigating climate change is also good for health and health care today, translate science into policy and practice and help move research and action about climate science into policy and practice, and engage a wide range of stakeholders and appreciate that, as in much public health practice, appropriate action comes from involving a diverse group of people through genuine engagement.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Mary Meldrum ◽  
David Szymanski ◽  
Eric A. Oches ◽  
P. Thompson Davis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
General Public ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Wide Range

Broadcast meteorologists are trusted by the general public to convey knowledge on climate change and they make choices about what information to present to their viewing audiences. Interviews with broadcast meteorologists revealed a wide range in their knowledge base and confidence in conveying climate science to their audiences. However, all interviewees agreed that visual images are an essential means for communicating with their viewers. Three major themes emerged from interviews with participants: visual imagery is important, dramatic images are powerful motivators, and the new visual presentation technologies have great value.

Interview with Peter Maurer

2017 ◽  
Vol 99 (906) ◽  
pp. 875-884
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Response ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
The Face ◽  
Access To Food

Since 2011, the humanitarian impact of the crisis in Syria has continued to worsen. The conflict is characterized by frequent violations of international humanitarian law (IHL): indiscriminate attacks in urban areas, the targeting of civilians and essential services such as water supply and health care, and the use of prohibited weapons, to name just a few. All of these have devastating consequences for the Syrian people, who are caught between the opposing sides. The conflict has brought not only bombs and missiles but also harsh living conditions, displacement, lack of access to food, water and medicine, uncertainty regarding the fate of missing or detained loved ones, and interruption of all aspects of life, including the education of a generation of Syrian children. Many people have fled, while others have stayed and attempted to live their lives amid the chaos of war.In the face of these overwhelming needs, humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) struggle to respond. The ICRC is helping people both inside Syria, who are facing extremely difficult conditions because of the conflict, and the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. In partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the ICRC distributes food and other essentials, restores water supplies and supports medical services.In this interview, ICRC president Peter Maurer reflects on the complexities of the armed conflict in Syria, the difficulties of providing a neutral and impartial humanitarian response in this context and the importance of the parties to the conflict upholding their obligations to the civilian population.

scholarly journals Covering Copenhagen: Climate Politics in B.C. Media

2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Gunster
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
The Political ◽  
Changement Climatique ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Ownership Structures ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
Analyse De Discours

ABSTRACT  In December 2009, considerable media attention was devoted to climate change as global leaders gathered in Copenhagen for a two-week summit to negotiate an extension to the Kyoto Protocol. This article conducts a discourse and content analysis of how regional media in British Columbia covered the event, with a particular focus on how climate politics was framed. A wide range of sources encompassing different media and different ownership structures was analyzed. Debates about climate science played very little role in media coverage. Conversely, focus on the summit ensured that the political dimensions of climate change played a central role. Climate politics, however, was framed in very different ways by mainstream and alternative media.RÉSUMÉ  En décembre 2009, on porta une attention médiatique considérable sur le changement climatique lorsque des dirigeants mondiaux se sont rassemblés à Copenhague pour un sommet de deux semaines afin de négocier une extension du protocole de Kyoto. Cet article effectue une analyse de discours et de contenu sur la manière dont des médias régionaux en Colombie-Britannique ont couvert l’événement, en portant une attention particulière à la manière dont on présenta les politiques sur le climat. Nous avons analysé un vaste éventail de sources comprenant des médias et des structures de propriété différents. Les débats sur la science du climat ont joué un rôle étonnamment restreint dans la couverture médiatique. En revanche, l’attention portée au sommet était telle que les aspects politiques du changement climatique y ont joué un rôle central. Les médias dominants, cependant, ont présenté les politiques sur le climat très différemment par rapport aux médias alternatifs.

scholarly journals Water Security and Climate Change: The Need for Adaptive Governance

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuula Honkonen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Main Element ◽  
Adaptive Governance ◽  
Security Risks ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Face ◽  
Governance Institutions ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Climate change will bring about unprecedented economic, social and environmental effects, which require both the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to its adverse effects. Water is the main element through which the impacts of climate change will be felt. Climate change results in increased uncertainties, complexities, stress and potential for conflicts within water management, both among and within states. New forms of governance are needed if the world is to respond to the need to adapt to changes in freshwater supply and to manage water security risks.This paper suggests that adaptive governance should to be main-streamed into all water regulation to ensure the availability of and access to safe water resources and to prevent water-related conflicts. The paper discusses the concept of water security in the context of climate change, the threats that climate change poses to water security, and the concept and implications of adaptive governance as a possible solution.The application of adaptive governance requires a certain degree of institutional and normative flexibility, instruments and institutions that can respond and adapt to changes and manage the level of uncertainty associated with the impacts of climate change. The governance institutions, methods and instruments should be responsive to new information and different kinds of uncertainties, while reflecting the vulnerabilities, capacities, needs and priorities of both societies and ecosystems in the face of climate change. Water security risks could be reduced by increased hydrosolidarity among states, which would present the challenges posed by climate change on water governance and security as primarily an opportunity for new forms of cooperation.

Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Centre and Balance-Unbalance: The art! ⋈ climate Project

Leonardo ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 493-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Dal Farra ◽  
Pablo Suarez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Humanitarian Work ◽  
Management Issues

The art! ⋈ climate contest used art as a catalyst in helping to build bridges between sound artists and specific humanitarian actions related to climate change, with the intent of engendering a deeper awareness and creating lasting working partnerships in addressing our global environmental crisis. Both the process and the outcomes of this initiative highlight the value of integrating creative approaches into humanitarian work for complex risk management issues.

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

2018 ◽  
pp. 288-304
Author(s):  
Helen Mary Meldrum ◽  
David Szymanski ◽  
Eric A. Oches ◽  
P. Thompson Davis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
General Public ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Visual Images ◽  
Wide Range

Broadcast meteorologists are trusted by the general public to convey knowledge on climate change and they make choices about what information to present to their viewing audiences. Interviews with broadcast meteorologists revealed a wide range in their knowledge base and confidence in conveying climate science to their audiences. However, all interviewees agreed that visual images are an essential means for communicating with their viewers. Three major themes emerged from interviews with participants: visual imagery is important, dramatic images are powerful motivators, and the new visual presentation technologies have great value.

scholarly journals Mapping the climate: guidance on appropriate techniques to map climate variables and their uncertainty

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1875-1906 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. R. Kaye ◽  
A. Hartley ◽  
D. Hemming
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Mapping Technique ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Mapping Approach ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Other Information

Abstract. Maps are a crucial asset in communicating climate science to a diverse audience, and there is a wealth of software available to analyse and visualise climate information. However, this availability makes it easy to create poor maps as users often lack an underlying cartographic knowledge. Furthermore, communicating and visualising uncertainties in climate data and climate change projections, using for example ensemble based approaches, presents additional challenges for mapping that require careful consideration. This paper assesses a range of techniques for mapping uncertainties, comparing "intrinsic" approaches that use colour in much the same way as conventional thematic maps, and "extrinsic" approaches that incorporate additional geometry such as points or features. We proposes that, unlike traditional cartography, where many known standards allow maps to be interpreted easily, there is no standard mapping approach used to represent uncertainty (in climate or other information). Consequently, a wide range of techniques have been applied for this purpose, and users may spend unnecessary time trying to understand the mapping approach rather than interpreting the information presented. We use cartographic knowledge and lessons learned from mapping other information to propose a suitable mapping technique that represents both magnitude and uncertainty in climate data. This technique adjusts the hue of a small palette of colours to show the mean or median of a climate variable, and the saturation of the colour to illustrate a measure of uncertainty. It is designed to be easy to replicate, visible to colour blind people and intuitive to understand. This technique may be utilised to map a wide range of climate data, and it is proposed that it would provide a consistent approach suitable for mapping information for the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5).

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