Climate change, urban settlements and quality of life: The case of the Southern African Development Community region

This chapter uses the trajectory of the Southern African Development Community (“SADC”) Tribunal to chart sociopolitical constraints on international judicial lawmaking. It studies the SADC Tribunal backlash case, which paved the way for a curtailment of the Tribunal’s authority, stripping the Tribunal of both private access and its jurisdiction over human rights. Showing how jurisprudential engagement with sociopolitical context plays a significant role in explaining the Tribunal's loss of authority, the chapter introduces the concept of sociopolitical dissonance. Sociopolitical dissonance is a state that results when a legal decision contradicts or undermines deeply held norms that a given society or community forms on the basis of its social, political, and economic history. Sociopolitical resonance, on the other hand, describes the quality of affirming or according with a given society's norms as informed by its sociopolitical history.

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Study on Optimization Strategy of Urban Residential Quarter Dealing with the Climate Change in Winter Cities

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.174-177.2222 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 174-177 ◽

pp. 2222-2225

Author(s):

Fei Lv ◽

Yuan Sheng Guo

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Public Participation ◽

Public Space ◽

Carbon Emissions ◽

Optimization Strategy ◽

Emergency Response System ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Residential Quarter ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

In recent years, climate change has been getting more serious. How to mitigate and adapt to climate change has caught the concerns of governments and academia. Firstly, this article briefly addresses the causes of climate change and its impacts, and then analyzes the link between climate change and urban settlements and the impacts of climate change to urban settlements in winter city. Finally, according to the Characteristics of winter city, the paper presents some optimization strategies of urban residential quarter in winter city addressing climate change including reducing carbon emissions, ensuring settlements security and guiding residents to public participation. Reducing urban settlements carbon emissions includes improving internal functions, combing the internal transportation system, optimizing the green mode and applying special techniques. Protecting the safety of urban settlements includes improving emergency response system, strengthening the vertical and horizontal connection and optimizing the layout of public space. Guiding residents to public participation includes establishing the information banks of urban settlements addressing to climate change and improving the quality of the residents.

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A novel methodology for supporting integration between refugees and host communities: NAUTIA (need assessment under a technological interdisciplinary approach)

Journal of Refugee Studies ◽

10.1093/jrs/feab027 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Adela Salas-Ruiz ◽

Andrea A Eras-Almeida ◽

Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero ◽

Alberto Sanz-Cobena ◽

Susana Muñoz-Hernández ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Mixed Method ◽

Human Mobility ◽

Interdisciplinary Approach ◽

Refugee Camp ◽

Need Assessment ◽

Political Conflicts ◽

Method Approach

Abstract More than 26 million people are recognized globally as refugees and have been forced to flee from their home countries because of poverty, human rights violations, natural disasters, climate change, and other social and political conflicts. What is more, most host communities are usually poor and face social and economic crises. This is why supporting integration between refugees and host communities is imperative at the global humanitarian context. Thereby, this research presents the NAUTIA (Need Assessment under a Technological Interdisciplinary Approach) methodology, an innovative mixed-method approach designed by the Platform on Refugees of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The main objective of NAUTIA is to identify the basic needs of refugees and locals to improve their quality of life through interdisciplinary and inclusive intervention proposals based on technology. The methodology was applied in the permanent Shimelba Refugee Camp (Ethiopia), where energy, shelter, and food security solutions have resulted essential to improve the living conditions of both population groups. The results are useful for researchers, stakeholders, and practitioners from the humanitarian sector as they provide a more innovative and comprehensive way to support the unprecedented global human mobility there is nowadays.

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Quality of life of the population resident at the radioactively contaminated area in Zhytomyr Region

Ukrainian Journal of Ecology ◽

10.15421/2019_778 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 476-483

Author(s):

L. D. Romanchuk ◽

L. O. Herasymchuk ◽

S. P. Kovalyova ◽

Yu. V. Kovalchuk ◽

O. V. Lopatyuk

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Housing Stock ◽

Local Population ◽

Population Decline ◽

Circulatory System ◽

The Elderly ◽

Rural Settlements ◽

Urban Settlements ◽

Health Directorate

The article provides the assessment of the quality of life of the population resident at the radioactively contaminated areas of the Yemilchyno, Malyn, Korosten, Narodychi, Olevsk, Luhyny and Ovruch raions of the Zhytomyr region. The basis for the study and assessment of the quality of life of the population of radioactively contaminated administrative raions of the Zhytomyr region were the statistical data of the Main Directorate of Statistics in Zhytomyr Region, the Health Directorate of Zhytomyr Region State Administration, as well as our own results of a sociological survey. It was established that for the period between 2002 and 2018, the population of radioactively contaminated areas decreased by 24.7% (maximum values are representative of Malyn and Korosten raions). Natural population decline rates in rural settlements exceeded the corresponding values for urban settlements from 1.4 (Malyn raion) to 13 times (Olevsk raion). There is also the aging of the population, the largest share of the elderly (65 years old and older) - 21.7% and 20.8% are resident in the Korosten and Narodychi raions. The values of birth rates (7.5 (Ovruch raion) - 13 (Olevsk raion) per 1,000 of present population) did not have a positive effect on the demographic situation as a whole because of the high mortality rate exceeding the birth rate by 1.1 (Olevsk raion) - 2.9 times (Malyn raion). The main causes of death are diseases of the circulatory system (75.4%), cancer (10%) and external factors (7.3%). It was noted that there is a deterioration of the health of the local population; they pointed out that diseases related to the ChNPP accident include cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the circulatory, nervous and endocrine systems, diseases of bones and joints, headaches. The living conditions of the population resident at the radioactively contaminated areas of Zhytomyr region are unsatisfactory, which is confirmed by both objective data and subjective assessments of the residents themselves. The housing stock is outdated and it needs renovation. In order to improve the quality of life of the population of radioactively contaminated territories in the Zhytomyr region, it is necessary to reform the state policy, to provide financial support for their revival and creation of normal living and reproduction conditions for the population.

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WROCŁAWSKI BUDŻET OBYWATELSKI JAKO NARZĘDZIE DO WZMACNIANIA KAPITAŁU NATURALNEGO I ODPORNOŚCI MIASTA NA ZMIANY KLIMATU W LATACH 2016-2018

STUDIA MIEJSKIE ◽

10.25167/sm.1523 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 ◽

pp. 65-77

Author(s):

Marta Joanna Jamontt ◽

Karol Kociszewski ◽

Johannes Platje

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

Health Communication ◽

Public Space ◽

Natural Capital ◽

Participatory Budget ◽

The City

Participatory budgets are a popular form of co-decision of residents about public space and quality of life in the city. Projects submitted to participatory budgets respond to needs such as recreation, health, communication and safety. This article evaluates the projects from 2016-2018 of the Wroclaw Participatory Budget in terms of aspects related to the wider issue of natural capital and climate change. The results obtained indicate that despite increasing financial outlays on projects that can contribute to strengthening environmental and climate aspects, the share of investments directly targeted at their implementation is relatively small. A total of 201 projects were analyzed, of which 12% directly and 18% indirectly referred to issues related to natural capital and/or climate change.

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The Global Challenge of

Fourteen Points for the Twenty-First Century ◽

10.5810/kentucky/9780813179001.003.0008 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 153-172

Author(s):

Kathryn C. Kaufman

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Quality Of Life ◽

International Collaboration ◽

Development Fund ◽

Global Challenge ◽

Economic Progress ◽

The Creation ◽

Global Growth

This chapter addresses the lack of adequate global infrastructure and the limits imposed on global growth, prosperity, and quality of life. Inadequate infrastructure causes loss of lives, constrains economic progress, and exacerbates climate change. To address the infrastructure gap between what is being constructed and what is genuinely required, the author proposes the creation of a development fund, which will require international collaboration and cooperation, to make available a substantial amount of capital and dedicate it to projects that contribute to the betterment of society. This development fund will not only improve infrastructure but also enhance the quality of many lives.

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Perceived Adverse Effects of Separating Government Institutions for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Within the Southern African Development Community Member States

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science ◽

10.1007/s13753-020-00303-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Livhuwani D. Nemakonde ◽

Dewald Van Niekerk ◽

Per Becker ◽

Sizwile Khoza

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Risk Reduction ◽

Climate Change Adaptation ◽

Disaster Risk Reduction ◽

Disaster Risk ◽

Southern African Development Community ◽

Community Member ◽

Member States ◽

African Development ◽

Government Institutions

Abstract Integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) is widely recognized as a solution for reducing the risk and impacts of disasters. However, successful integration seems elusive, and the two goals continue to function in isolation and in parallel. This article provides empirical insights into the perceived effects of separating government institutions for DRR and CCA within the Southern African Development Community member states. A mixed method research design was applied to the study. A total of 40 respondents from Botswana, Eswatini (until April 2018 Swaziland), Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe participated in face-to-face interviews or an online survey. Five major effects of separating the organizations for DRR and CCA that impede efforts to reduce disaster risk coherently were identified: duplication of services, polarization of interventions, incoherent policies, competition for the same resources, and territorial contests. Given the continued fragmentation of institutions for DRR and CCA, highlighting these effects is important to emphasize the need for integrated approaches towards the reduction of disaster risk.

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