Spatial-Explicit Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments Based on Impact Chains. Findings from a Case Study in Burundi

Climate change vulnerability assessments are an essential instrument to identify regions most vulnerable to adverse impacts of climate change and to determine appropriate adaptation measures. Vulnerability assessments directly support countries in developing adaptation plans and in identifying possible measures to reduce adverse consequences of changing climate conditions. Against this background, this paper describes a vulnerability assessment using an integrated and participatory approach that builds on standardized working steps of previously developed ‘Vulnerability Sourcebook’ guidelines. The backbone of this approach is impact chains as a conceptual model of cause–effect relationships as well as a structured selection of indicators according to the three main components of vulnerability, namely exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. We illustrate our approach by reporting the results of a vulnerability assessment conducted in Burundi focusing on climate change impacts on water and soil resources. Our work covers two analysis scales: a national assessment with the aim to identify climate change ‘hotspot regions’ through vulnerability mapping; and a local assessment aiming at identifying local-specific drivers of vulnerability and appropriate adaptation measures. Referring to this vulnerability assessment in Burundi, we discuss the potentials and constraints of the approach. We stress the need to involve stakeholders in every step of the assessment and to communicate limitations and uncertainties of the applied methods, indicators and maps in order to increase the comprehension of the approach and the acceptance of the results by different stakeholders. The study proved the practical usability of the approach at the national level by the selection of three particularly vulnerable areas. The results at a local scale supported the identification of adaption measures through intensive engagement of local rural populations.

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Financing climate change in the conditions of the Slovak agricultural sector

SHS Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/shsconf/20219202021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 92 ◽

pp. 02021

Author(s):

Ivan Holúbek ◽

Marián Tóth ◽

Tomáš Rábek ◽

Johana Jakabovičová

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Global Climate ◽

National Level ◽

Value Added ◽

Economic Effects ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

European Investment

Research background: Globalization is a powerful engine of structural changes in national, regional and global economies. Except for positive economic effects, globalization also has negative effects. One of them is the deterioration of the global environmental situation and the ongoing global climate change. Purpose of the article: The paper focuses on the current global financing trends to mitigate the effects of climate change. Generally financial funds come from international, national and regional actors. Governments have a range of funding mechanisms and resources at their disposal. Within the EU, these are the Structural Funds, investment funds and the financing from European Investment Bank. At the national level, it is financial assistance from state budgets and local government budgets. Methods: The paper provides literature review of the possibilities of financing climate change at the national and international level and, using analysis and synthesis, points to future trends and sources of financing climate change. We also analyse the proposal of Common agricultural policy 2021-2027 and effects on Slovak agriculture. European Commission wants member states to use up to 40% of the budget for environmental goods and climate change. Slovakia might have problems to spend the allocation due to the fact, that most of the money will be voluntary schemes. Farmers will have the option to participate. Findings & Value added: Agriculture is seriously exposed to the adverse effects of climate change as agricultural activities are directly depending on climate conditions. The article analyses in detail the possibilities and sources of financing adaptation measures in the Slovak agricultural sector.

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A strategic analysis of climate vulnerability of national park resources and values

10.36967/nrr-2287214 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Julia Michalak ◽

Josh Lawler ◽

John Gross ◽

Caitlin Littlefield

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Adaptive Capacity ◽

National Park ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Cultural Resources ◽

Vulnerability Factors ◽

Climate Change Vulnerability ◽

Vulnerability Assessments ◽

Wide Range

The U.S. national parks have experienced significant climate-change impacts and rapid, on-going changes are expected to continue. Despite the significant climate-change vulnerabilities facing parks, relatively few parks have conducted comprehensive climate-change vulnerability assessments, defined as assessments that synthesize vulnerability information from a wide range of sources, identify key climate-change impacts, and prioritize vulnerable park resources (Michalak et al. In review). In recognition that funding and planning capacity is limited, this project was initiated to identify geographies, parks, and issues that are high priorities for conducting climate-change vulnerability assessments (CCVA) and strategies to efficiently address the need for CCVAs across all U.S. National Park Service (NPS) park units (hereafter “parks”) and all resources. To help identify priority geographies and issues, we quantitatively assessed the relative magnitude of vulnerability factors potentially affecting park resources and values. We identified multiple vulnerability factors (e.g., temperature change, wildfire potential, number of at-risk species, etc.) and sought existing datasets that could be developed into indicators of these factors. To be included in the study, datasets had to be spatially explicit or already summarized for individual parks and provide consistent data for at least all parks within the contiguous U.S. (CONUS). The need for consistent data across such a large geographic extent limited the number of datasets that could be included, excluded some important drivers of climate-change vulnerability, and prevented adequate evaluation of some geographies. The lack of adequately-scaled data for many key vulnerability factors, such as freshwater flooding risks and increased storm activity, highlights the need for both data development and more detailed vulnerability assessments at local to regional scales where data for these factors may be available. In addition, most of the available data at this scale were related to climate-change exposures, with relatively little data available for factors associated with climate-change sensitivity or adaptive capacity. In particular, we lacked consistent data on the distribution or abundance of cultural resources or accessible data on infrastructure across all parks. We identified resource types, geographies, and critical vulnerability factors that lacked data for NPS’ consideration in addressing data gaps. Forty-seven indicators met our criteria, and these were combined into 21 climate-change vulnerability factors. Twenty-seven indicators representing 12 vulnerability factors addressed climate-change exposure (i.e., projected changes in climate conditions and impacts). A smaller number of indictors measured sensitivity (12 indicators representing 5 vulnerability factors). The sensitivity indicators often measured park or landscape characteristics which may make resources more or less responsive to climate changes (e.g., current air quality) as opposed to directly representing the sensitivity of specific resources within the park (e.g., a particular rare species or type of historical structure). Finally, 6 indicators representing 4 vulnerability factors measured external adaptive capacity for living resources (i.e., characteristics of the park and/or surrounding landscape which may facilitate or impede species adaptation to climate changes). We identified indicators relevant to three resource groups: terrestrial living, aquatic living (including living cultural resources such as culturally significant landscapes, plant, or animal species) and non-living resources (including infrastructure and non-living cultural resources such as historic buildings or archeological sites). We created separate indicator lists for each of these resource groups and analyzed them separately. To identify priority geographies within CONUS,...

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The impact of methodological choices on the outcome of national-level climate change vulnerability assessments: An example from the global fisheries sector

Fish and Fisheries ◽

10.1111/faf.12199 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 717-731 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Iris Monnereau ◽

Robin Mahon ◽

Patrick McConney ◽

Leonard Nurse ◽

Rachel Turner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

National Level ◽

Climate Change Vulnerability ◽

Methodological Choices ◽

Vulnerability Assessments ◽

The Impact

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Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for Forest Management: The Case of the U.S. Forest Service

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10111030 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 1030 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Thomas J. Timberlake ◽

Courtney A. Schultz

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Forest Management ◽

Vulnerability Assessment ◽

Scientific Information ◽

Forest Service ◽

Fundamental Aspect ◽

Climate Change Vulnerability ◽

Vulnerability Assessments ◽

The U.S ◽

Forest Managers

Forest managers need access to targeted scientific information about the impacts of climate change in order to adapt to climate change. Vulnerability assessments address this need and are common across a range of disciplines and geographies; however, the practice of vulnerability assessment has revealed challenges that warrant further examination in a specific context. The U.S. Forest Service, a national forest-management agency in charge of 78 million hectares, has developed a collection of climate change vulnerability assessments to support adaptation by forest managers. We conducted a qualitative document analysis, informed by a series of research interviews with scientists, of 44 vulnerability assessments developed for the U.S. Forest Service. We found that partnerships between research scientists and land managers were central to the development of vulnerability assessments in the U.S. Forest Service. Assessment processes vary across settings. As the practice has developed, vulnerability assessments increasingly cover larger spatial extents and a broader range of resources associated with forest management. We identified ways in which vulnerability assessments can support decision-making, including approaches already in use and opportunities to improve practice. In particular, we discuss how vulnerability assessments are well-positioned to support the development of land-management plans, which set strategic management direction for periods of at least a decade. This paper provides baseline knowledge on a fundamental aspect of a large national forestry agency’s climate change adaptation strategy, with many findings transferable to the study of other forest-management organizations.

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Vulnerability to Climate Change of “Giant Squid” (Thysanoteuthis rhombus) Fishery in Marinduque, Philippines

The Philippine Journal of Fisheries ◽

10.31398/tpjf/28.2.2021-0002 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 181-190

Author(s):

Paloma De Chavez ◽

Gilda Joannah Calderon ◽

Sherwin Santos ◽

Emmanuel Vera Cruz ◽

Mudjekeewis Santos

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Vulnerability Assessment ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Climate Change Vulnerability ◽

Giant Squid ◽

Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Management And Conservation ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

The Philippine fisheries sector has been affected by the impacts of climate change. Vulnerability to climate change pertains to a natural system's ability to cope with the negative impacts of climate change, variability, and extremes. Vulnerability Assessment (VA) provides a framework for climate change impacts evaluation over a broad range of systems. Tools such as Fisheries Vulnerability Assessment Tool (Fish Vool) have been developed to do VA. The "giant squid" diamondback (Thysanoteuthis rhombus) fishery in the province of Marinduque is an essential source of food and livelihood in the area. However, its vulnerability to climate change impacts has not been assessed. In this study, the "giant squid" fishery in Gasan, Marinduque, was assessed using Fish Vool. Results revealed that overall climate change vulnerability of the fishery is high, where both sensitivity and adaptive capacity are medium while exposure is high. Overall, the study provided a better understanding of the "giant squid" fishery vis-à-vis climate change and provided information for future fisheries management and conservation in the province.

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Adaptation to Climate Change

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.013.4 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Philipp Schmidt-Thomé

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Local Level ◽

National Level ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Political Stability ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Adaptation Measures ◽

Flood Prone Areas

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. Please check back later for the full article. Adaptation to climate change is the ability of a society or a natural system to adjust to the conditions that support life in a certain climate region, including weather extremes in that region. The current discussion on adaptation to climate began in the 1990s with the publication of the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Scientific results are mainly published internationally or at a national level, and political guidelines are written at transnational (e.g., European Union), national, or regional levels. But since the implementation of adaptation measures must be planned and conducted at the local level, a major challenge is to actually implement adaptation to climate change in practice. Needless to say, the challenges for implementation are rooted in a large number of uncertainties from long time spans to matters of scale, as well as with economic, political, and social interests. From a human perspective, climate change impacts occur rather slowly while local decision makers are engaged with daily business over much shorter time spans. Among the obstacles to implementing adaptation measures to climate change are three major groups of uncertainties: (1) the uncertainties surrounding the development of our future climate, which include the exact climate sensitivity of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the reliability of emission scenarios and underlying storylines, and inherent uncertainties in climate models; (2) uncertainties about anthropogenically induced climate change impacts (e.g., long-term sea level changes, weather patterns, and extreme events); and (3) uncertainties about the future development of socioeconomic structures, economic development and stability, and overall political stability. Important challenges that add to these uncertainties involve current legislation (e.g., granting building permissions in potentially flood-prone areas and related economic interests). Besides slow changes that influence areas such as vegetation zones, extreme events are a factor of major importance. In addition, many societies and their socioeconomic systems are not properly adapted to their current climate zones (e.g., intensive agriculture in dry zones) or to extreme events (e.g., housing built in flood-prone areas). Adaptation measures can be successful only by gaining common societal agreement on their necessity and overall benefit. Ways to identify and implement societal and economically acceptable adaptation measures also optimally include “no-regret” measures—measures that have at least one function of immediate social benefit as well as long-term, future benefit. To identify socially acceptable and financially viable adaptation measures successfully it is useful to employ structured communication measures that give all involved parties and actors a voice and a possibility to engage in the process of identifying adaptation measures that best fit collective needs.

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