scholarly journals Updated Basis Knowledge of Climate Change Summarized from the First part of Thailand’s Second Assessment Report on Climate Change

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Atsamon Limsakul ◽  
Boonlue Kachenchart ◽  
Patama Singhruck ◽  
Suriyan Saramul ◽  
Jerasorn Santisirisomboon ◽  
...  

Recent evidence and key issues on climate change in Thailand have been presented in the first part of Thailand’s Second Assessment Report on Climate Change (2ndTRAC). The report highlights key findings including 1) a significant country-wide warming of 1.30 oC over the past 48 years (1970-2017); b) significant changes in rainfall patterns at smaller spatial and finer temporal scales; c) significant changes in temperature and rainfall extreme events over the last four-five decades; d) a significant decrease in frequency of tropical cyclones entering Thailand; e) significant rise in sea level in the seas around Thailand at higher rates than the global average; and f) significant projected increases in temperature and rainfall in Thailand by 2100. The first part of the 2nd TARC provides a comprehensive and updated analysis of climate change impacts in Thailand that can be used as an authoritative reference for building understanding and awareness, as well as for designing adaptation and mitigation strategies. Moreover, it can serve as a repository for scientific information to support further research related to impact, adaptation and vulnerability to climate change. Regular assessment of national climate change impacts is essential to informing national policy and to allow policymakers to assess priorities and set meaningful targets in line with the country’s international obligations under the Climate Change Agreement.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Leclerc ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
Céline Bellard

Abstract Despite their high vulnerability, insular ecosystems have been largely ignored in climate change assessments, and when they are investigated, studies tend to focus on exposure to threats instead of vulnerability. The present study examines climate change vulnerability of islands, focusing on endemic mammals and by 2050 (RCPs 6.0 and 8.5), using trait-based and quantitative-vulnerability frameworks that take into account exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Our results suggest that all islands and archipelagos show a certain level of vulnerability to future climate change, that is typically more important in Pacific Ocean ones. Among the drivers of vulnerability to climate change, exposure was rarely the main one and did not explain the pattern of vulnerability. In addition, endemic mammals with long generation lengths and high dietary specializations are predicted to be the most vulnerable to climate change. Our findings highlight the importance of exploring islands vulnerability to identify the highest climate change impacts and to avoid the extinction of unique biodiversity.


2017 ◽  
pp. 713-738
Author(s):  
Steve Maximay

To fully appreciate climate change impacts and adaptations in the Caribbean, several aspects of the phenomenon and the region's response must be placed in historical and chronological sequence. This chapter starts with a review of the Caribbean islands, focusing on the agricultural sector and its vulnerability to climate change impacts. It then provides a brief review of the Caribbean's foray into organized planning for climate change; the early advocacy of those who believed the issue was a serious threat to the region, and the projects that were developed. It also traces organized institutional level responses, some national efforts, and the degree to which climate change issues have now become part of the routine agricultural development discourse. An overview of the possible climate change impacts and the programmed adaptations at a regional level are presented, and the chapter ends with a look at the importance of communication to raise awareness and ultimately change behaviours.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carola Klöck ◽  
Patrick D. Nunn

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) share a common vulnerability to climate change. Adaptation to climate change and variability is urgently needed yet, while some is already occurring in SIDS, research on the nature and efficacy of adaptation across SIDS is fragmentary. In this article, we systematically review academic literature to identify where adaptation in SIDS is documented; what type of adaptation strategies are taken, and in response to which climate change impacts; and the extent to which this adaptation has been judged as successful. Our analysis indicates that much adaptation research is concentrated on the Pacific, on independent island states, and on core areas within SIDS. Research documents a wide array of adaptation strategies across SIDS, notably structural or physical and behavioral changes. Yet, evaluation of concrete adaptation interventions is lacking; it thus remains unclear to what extent documented adaptation effectively and sustainably reduces SIDS’ vulnerability and increases their resilience.


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (43) ◽  
pp. 26692-26702
Author(s):  
Hélène Benveniste ◽  
Michael Oppenheimer ◽  
Marc Fleurbaey

Migration may be increasingly used as adaptation strategy to reduce populations’ exposure and vulnerability to climate change impacts. Conversely, either through lack of information about risks at destinations or as outcome of balancing those risks, people might move to locations where they are more exposed to climatic risk than at their origin locations. Climate damages, whose quantification informs understanding of societal exposure and vulnerability, are typically computed by integrated assessment models (IAMs). Yet migration is hardly included in commonly used IAMs. In this paper, we investigate how border policy, a key influence on international migration flows, affects exposure and vulnerability to climate change impacts. To this aim, we include international migration and remittance dynamics explicitly in a widely used IAM employing a gravity model and compare four scenarios of border policy. We then quantify effects of border policy on population distribution, income, exposure, and vulnerability and of CO2 emissions and temperature increase for the period 2015 to 2100 along five scenarios of future development and climate change. We find that most migrants tend to move to areas where they are less exposed and vulnerable than where they came from. Our results confirm that migration and remittances can positively contribute to climate change adaptation. Crucially, our findings imply that restrictive border policy can increase exposure and vulnerability, by trapping people in areas where they are more exposed and vulnerable than where they would otherwise migrate. These results suggest that the consequences of migration policy should play a greater part in deliberations about international climate policy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth P. Tuler ◽  
Thomas Webler ◽  
Jason L. Rhoades

Abstract Numerous decision support tools have been developed to assist stormwater managers to understand future scenarios and devise management strategies. This paper presents one such tool, the Vulnerability, Consequences, and Adaptation Planning Scenarios (VCAPS) process, and reports on experiences from its deployment in 10 coastal communities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. VCAPS helps to elucidate local complexities, couplings, and contextual nuance through dialogue among technical experts and those with detailed contextual knowledge of a community. Participants in the process develop qualitative scenarios of climate change impacts and how different management strategies may prevent or mitigate undesirable consequences. The scenarios help stormwater managers diagnose potential problems that may emerge from climate change and variability, which can then be subject to further detailed analysis. The authors describe five challenges faced by stormwater managers and how insights that emerge from scenario-based processes like VCAPS can help address them: characterizing the implications of interacting climate stressors that originate stormwater, bringing all available expertise and local knowledge to bear on the problem of stormwater management, integrating local and scientific information about coupled human–environment systems, identifying management actions and their trade-offs, and facilitating planning for sustained coordination among multiple public and private entities.


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