scholarly journals Humanitarian need drives multilateral disaster aid

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. e2018293118
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Dellmuth ◽  
Frida A.-M. Bender ◽  
Aiden R. Jönsson ◽  
Elisabeth L. Rosvold ◽  
Nina von Uexkull
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Multilateral Institutions ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Disaster Impacts ◽  
Out Of Sample ◽  
Disaster Data ◽  
Emergency Events ◽  
Out Of Sample Prediction ◽  
Disaster Aid ◽  
Allocation Decisions

As the climate changes, human livelihoods will increasingly be threatened by extreme weather events. To provide adequate disaster relief, states extensively rely on multilateral institutions, in particular the United Nations (UN). However, the determinants of this multilateral disaster aid channeled through the UN are poorly understood. To fill this gap, we examine the determinants of UN disaster aid using a dataset on UN aid covering almost 2,000 climate-related disasters occurring between 2006 and 2017. We make two principal contributions. First, we add to research on disaster impacts by linking existing disaster data from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) to a meteorological reanalysis. We generate a uniquely global hazard severity measure that is comparable across different climate-related disaster types, and assess and bolster measurement validity of EM-DAT climate-related disasters. Second, by combining these data with social data on aid and its correlates, we contribute to the literature on aid disbursements. We show that UN disaster aid is primarily shaped by humanitarian considerations, rather than by strategic donor interests. These results are supported by a series of regression and out-of-sample prediction analyses and appear consistent with the view that multilateral institutions are able to shield aid allocation decisions from particular state interests to ensure that aid is motivated by need.

scholarly journals The Fiscal Cost of Hurricanes: Disaster Aid versus Social Insurance

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana Deryugina
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Safety Nets ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Government Transfers ◽  
Social Safety Nets ◽  
Disaster Aid

Little is known about the fiscal costs of natural disasters, especially regarding social safety nets that do not specifically target extreme weather events. This paper shows that US hurricanes lead to substantial increases in non-disaster government transfers, such as unemployment insurance and public medical payments, in affected counties in the decade after a hurricane. The present value of this increase significantly exceeds that of direct disaster aid. This implies, among other things, that the fiscal costs of natural disasters have been significantly underestimated and that victims in developed countries are better insured against them than previously thought. (JEL H51, H53, H84, J65, Q54)

Modelling the Bioclimatic Niche of a Cohort of Selected Mite Species (Acari, Acariformes) Associated with the Infestation of Stored Products

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 399-416
Author(s):  
V. M. Tytar ◽  
Ya. R. Oksentyuk
Keyword(s):  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Species Distribution Modeling ◽  
Mite Species ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Stored Products ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Moisture Regimes ◽  
Bioclimatic Variables ◽  
Contemporary Climate ◽  
Future Management

Abstract In this study an attempt is made to highlight important variables shaping the current bioclimatic niche of a number of mite species associated with the infestation of stored products by employing a species distribution modeling (SDM) approach. Using the ENVIREM dataset of bioclimatic variables, performance of the most robust models was mostly influenced by: 1) indices based on potential evapotranspiration, which characterize ambient energy and are mostly correlated with temperature variables, moisture regimes, and 2) strong fluctuations in temperature reflecting the severity of climate and/or extreme weather events. Although the considered mite species occupy man-made ecosystems, they remain more or less affected by the surrounding bioclimatic environment and therefore could be subjected to contemporary climate change. In this respect investigations are needed to see how this will affect future management targets concerning the safety of food storages.

Urban Population Knowledge of Climate Change in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

2013 ◽  
pp. 55-76
Author(s):  
Sergio A. Molina Murillo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
International Policies ◽  
General Concern

Most scenarios indicate that people in developing countries are more vulnerable and less capable of adapting to climate change. Since our public understanding of risk toward climate change in developing countries is limited, this article presents results from Costa Rica and Nicaragua, two countries which are socio-economically distinct, but which are expected to suffer similar extreme weather events. From October of 2008 until May 2010, a total of 1,047 respondents were surveyed in cities of both countries. The main results indicate that climate change is a widely known concept but other notions such as “carbon footprint” are foreign to most respondents. Despite the general concern with its negative consequences, respondents’ foremost concern is linked to their socioeconomic situation, and how it will be impacted by climate change in such aspects as poverty and social security. The results presented here contribute to advance national and international policies aiming to support mitigation or adaptation strategies in developing countries.

Reliability, Resilience and the Oncoming Wave of Retiring Baseload Units, Volume I: The Critical Role of Thermal Units During Extreme Weather Events

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Balash, PhD ◽  
Kenneth C. Kern ◽  
John Brewer ◽  
Justin Adder ◽  
Christopher Nichols ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Weather Events

Governing climate change for sustainable food production: A case study of emerging markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-75
Author(s):  
Robert Ddamulira
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Future Success ◽  
Governance Challenges ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
Document Review

This article addresses three research questions: How does climate change impact food production? What are the governance challenges associated with managing such impacts? What are the conditions for future success in managing the impacts of climate change on food production? To answer these questions, the researcher undertook a document review and analysis to address these various aspects with a major focus on East Africa. The study finds that climate change affects food production largely through its physical impacts on precipitation and increased the frequency of extreme weather events. Within a context of weak governance; climate change further challenges governance institutional structures and mechanisms. The study concludes that specific aspects of the prevailing climate change governance regime require major reforms (particularly the role of the state, corporations and civil society) while other climate governance mechanisms need to be completely overhauled (for example through establishment of a new World Environment Organization).

scholarly journals Spatial variations in the warming trend and the transition to more severe weather in midlatitudes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Estrada ◽  
Dukpa Kim ◽  
Pierre Perron
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Warming Trend ◽  
Severe Weather ◽  
Montreal Protocol ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Jet Stream ◽  
Atmospheric Blocking ◽  
Regional Warming ◽  
Weather Events

AbstractDue to various feedback processes called Arctic amplification, the high-latitudes’ response to increases in radiative forcing is much larger than elsewhere in the world, with a warming more than twice the global average. Since the 1990’s, this rapid warming of the Arctic was accompanied by no-warming or cooling over midlatitudes in the Northern Hemisphere in winter (the hiatus). The decrease in the thermal contrast between Arctic and midlatitudes has been connected to extreme weather events in midlatitudes via, e.g., shifts in the jet stream towards the equator and increases in the probability of high-latitude atmospheric blocking. Here we present an observational attribution study showing the spatial structure of the response to changes in radiative forcing. The results also connect the hiatus with diminished contrast between temperatures over regions in the Arctic and midlatitudes. Recent changes in these regional warming trends are linked to international actions such as the Montreal Protocol, and illustrate how changes in radiative forcing can trigger unexpected responses from the climate system. The lesson for climate policy is that human intervention with the climate is already large enough that even if stabilization was attained, impacts from an adjusting climate are to be expected.

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