Articles
WMO Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update – 2024-2028
The Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update is issued annually by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It provides a synthesis of the global annual to decadal predictions produced by the WMO-designated Global Producing Centres and other contributing centres for 2024-2028.
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Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat: Assessing and Addressing the Risks
this new report from scientists at World Weather Attribution, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and Climate Central assesses the influence of human-caused climate change on dangerous heat waves over the past 12 months (May 15, 2023 to May 15, 2024).
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Identifying constraints and limits to climate change adaptation in Austria under deep uncertainty
Although humanity has always been adapting to a changing environment, the accelerated rate of climate change in combination with continued socioeconomic development and the delay in climate action result in deep uncertainties, further challenging policy, and decision making. A main are of concern, triggered by the increasing frequency and intensity of climatic hazards are growing uncertainties regarding the effectiveness of prevailing adaptation strategies, as well as constraints and eventually
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Climate change adaptation for biodiversity in protected areas: An overview of actions
Protected Areas (PAs) have been a cornerstone of conservation policy in the past but are generally static and thus might be less useful under climate change as species move away from reserves designated for them
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Adaptation Gap Report 2023
In 2023, temperature records toppled, while storms, floods, droughts and heatwaves caused devastation. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2023: Underfinanced. Underprepared – Inadequate investment and planning on climate adaptation leaves world exposed finds that progress on climate adaptation is slowing when it should be accelerating to catch up with these rising climate change impacts.
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Adaptation to climate change: A study on regional climate change adaptation policy and practice framework
Although planning and policy instruments are important for climate change adaptation, the implementation of these measures is critical for success. This paper studies different climate change adaptation strategies by analysing the measures adopted by stakeholders in charge of government policy development and implementation to minimise the impacts of climate change in the northern tropical region of Queensland, Australia.
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Provisional State of the Global Climate in 2022
The State of the Global Climate in 2022 is produced on an annual basis, complementing the most
recent long assessment cycle provided by the sixth IPCC Assessment Report.
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recent long assessment cycle provided by the sixth IPCC Assessment Report.
Forests at the heart of sustainable development - Investing in forests to meet biodiversity and climate goals
Forests, forestry and forest-based industries are moving towards a sustainable forest-based bioeconomy. The European Green Deal includes the EU Forest Strategy for 2030. This strategy, together with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, shapes the policy framework for the forestry sector in line with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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Nature-based solutions - A tool for climate adaptation and other societal challenges
This report defines and explains nature-based solutions, while offering guidance on implementation together with a selection of real-world cases that demonstrate nature-based solutions in different landscape types including wetlands, urban areas, coastal areas, forests and agricultural landscapes.
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Adaptation Gap Report 2022 - Too Little, To Slow: Climate adaptation failure puts world at risk
The report looks at progress in planning, financing and implementing adaptation actions. At least 84 per cent of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have established adaptation plans, strategies, laws and policies – up 5 per cent from the previous year. The instruments are getting better at prioritizing disadvantaged groups, such as Indigenous peoples.
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Climate change as a threat to health and well-being in Europe: focus on heat and infectious diseases
Unprecedented heatwaves — as seen earlier this year across Europe — are the greatest direct climate-related health threat to Europe’s population. Heatwaves already account for numerous deaths and illnesses. This burden is set to increase without more climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. Heat-health action plans, urban greening, better building design and adjusting working times can contribute to better protect the most vulnerable groups in society.
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Scientists' warning on climate change and insects
Climate warming is considered to be among the most serious of anthropogenic stresses to the environment, because it not only has direct effects on biodiversity, but it also exacerbates the harmful effects of other human-mediated threats.
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Limited climate change mitigation potential through forestation of the vast dryland regions
Forestation of the global drylands has been suggested to be a way to decrease global warming, but how much promise does it actually have? Rohatyn et al. found that the climatic benefits are minor.
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Agriculture, irrigation and drought induced international migration: Evidence from Mexico
There is now substantial empirical evidence that climatic variability increases international migration, but relatively little is known about the mechanism driving the association and about adaptations that may reduce it. We use detailed data on migrants from Mexico to the U.S. to provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that drought induced migration from Mexico to the U.S. is mediated by agricultural income shocks.
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Beating the urban heat: Situation, background, impacts and the way forward in China
This paper reviews urban heat (UrHT) challenges following the SBAR (situation, background, assessment and recommendation) framework. The results indicate that heatwaves become more frequent, lasting and intense, especially after 1990s. Above 1960s level, heatwaves across China doubled in both magnitude and frequency by 2018.
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Climate change increases risk of extreme rainfall following wildfire in the western United States
Post-wildfire extreme rainfall events can have destructive impacts in the western United States. Using two climate model large ensembles, we assess the future risk of extreme fire weather events being followed by extreme rainfall in this region. By mid-21st century, in a high warming scenario (RCP8.5), we report large increases in the number of extreme fire weather events followed within 1 year by at least one extreme rainfall event.
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GAR Special Report on Drought 2021
The GAR Special Report on Drought 2021 explores the systemic nature of drought and its impacts on achievement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the SDGs and human and ecosystems health and wellbeing. Droughts have deep, widespread and underestimated impacts on societies, ecosystems, and economies. They incur costs that are borne disproportionately by the most vulnerable people.
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IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change
The IPCC has finalized the third part of the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, the Working Group III contribution. It was finalized on 4 April during the 14th Session of Working Group III and 56th Session of the IPCC.
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Impacts of Climate Change on Water Management. Stocktaking, scope for action and strategic fields of action
In December 2020, the German Working Group on Water Issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government (LAWA) prepared a comprehensive report on the concerns, potential responses and strategic fields of action in water resources management, updating the previous work released in 2017.
The application-oriented report briefly describes how changes in climate elements (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.) affect surface water, groundwater and the ecology of water bodies.
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The application-oriented report briefly describes how changes in climate elements (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.) affect surface water, groundwater and the ecology of water bodies.
Policy Brief: Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction
This policy brief explores challenges faced in gender-responsive disaster risk reduction. Gender inequality, coupled with climate and environment crises, is the greatest sustainable development challenge of the present time.
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Plan of approach for exceptional low water events in the Meuse basin
The Meuse International River Basin District faced several consecutive years of the summer drought between 2017 and 2020. In order to be able to adapt to these events, which are likely to occur more often because of climate change, the International Meuse Commission has drafted a plan of approach to deal with exceptional low water events, published at the end of 2020.
The document aims to answer three questions:
What is an exceptional low-water event in the Meuse basin?
What are their con
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The document aims to answer three questions:
What is an exceptional low-water event in the Meuse basin?
What are their con
IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
The IPCC has finalized the second part of the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report. It was finalized on 27 February 2022 during the 12th Session of Working Group II and 55th Session of the IPCC.
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Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires
Climate change and land-use change are making wildfires worse and anticipates a global increase of extreme fires even in areas previously unaffected. Uncontrollable and extreme wildfires can be devastating to people, biodiversity and ecosystems. They also exacerbate climate change, contributing significant greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.
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Nature-based solutions and global climate protection: Assessment of their global mitigation potential and recommendations for international climate policy
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) build synergies between biodiversity conservation and societal challenges such as climate change. This paper derives a working definition of NbS based on an evaluation of existing definitions. It assesses the global mitigation and adaptation potential of NbS in relevant studies for forests, croplands, grasslands, terrestrial and coastal wetlands as well as settlements. Recommendations for international climate policy are derived. The study finds that it is likely tha
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UK Climate Change Risk Assessment - 2022
As required by the Climate Change Act 2008, the UK government has undertaken the third five-year assessment of the risks of climate change on the UK. This is based on the Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk, the statutory advice provided by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), commissioned by the UK government and devolved administrations.
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Assessment Frameworks of Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction
Nature-based solutions (NBS) play an important and increasing role in both adaptation and disaster risk management. This is also recognized within several global and European agreements and policies (e.g., UN’s SFDRR, EU Green Deal, the EU Adaptation Strategy) which embed NBS as a means to address climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) as well as other societal challenges (e.g., biodiversity loss, climate mitigation). This calls for fit-for-purpose assessments, which c
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Global Environment Outlook For Cities - Towards Green and Just Cities
GEO for Cities aims to inform, engage and support dialogue among decision makers and other actors involved in urban issues. The GEO-6 report identified urbanization as one of five main drivers of environmental change and also looked at the impact on cities and city residents of related challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. The GEO for Cities looks at these issues but also presents the types of solutions that can lead to environmentally sustainable and just cities.
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Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities
Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities, states that by the end of this century, many cities could warm as much as 4 °C if GHG emissions continue at high levels. Even at 1.5°C of warming, 2.3 billion people could be vulnerable to severe heat waves. The new guide offers planners an encyclopedia of proven options to help cool cities.
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The way forward: Supporting climate adaptation in coastal towns and small cities
This article summarizes and reflects upon the work presented in ‘The Unusual Suspects in Climate Change Adaptation – Small Coastal Cities and Towns’ special issue. Across the special issue the challenge of adapting coastal towns and small cities to the impacts of climate change was clearly evident. In order to address some of the challenges, an initial way forward is outlined here to act as a pathway for future research. The areas requiring particular focus include: building a network of coastal
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IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis
The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.
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Rethinking resilient agriculture: From Climate-Smart Agriculture to Vulnerable-Smart Agriculture
Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is seeking to overcome the food security problem and develop rural livelihoods while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. However, when such synergies exist, the situation of small-scale farmers is often overlooked, and they are unable to implement new practices and technologies. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to improve CSA by adding the neglected but very important element “small-scale farmer”, and introduce Vulnerable-Smart Agriculture (VSA
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Index for climate change adaptation in China and its application
With the increasing awareness of the risks and impacts of climate change, scholars tend to pay more attention to the applications of indicators, which access the effectiveness of climate change adaptation. This study aims to evaluate the overall progress of climate change adaptation in China during 2010‒2018 in a quantitative manner. The Index for Climate Change Adaptation in China (ICCAC) has been thus developed by adopting the analytic hierarchy process weighting and expert scoring method. Nam
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The impact of climate change on mental health and emotional wellbeing: current evidence and implications for policy and practice
Climate change and mental health are two of the most significant and pressing challenges facing societies across the world. Yet, growing awareness of these global issues has not been met with sufficient action to mitigate their impacts. Mental illness – or the disabling effects of distress – already affects around a billion people globally, while the effects of climate change are increasingly apparent. Both of these issues are projected to increase and stand to affect many more people without su
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The impact of climate change on mental health and emotional wellbeing: current evidence and implications for policy and practice
Climate change and mental health are two of the most significant and pressing challenges facing societies across the world. Yet, growing awareness of these global issues has not been met with sufficient action to mitigate their impacts. Mental illness – or the disabling effects of distress – already affects around a billion people globally, while the effects of climate change are increasingly apparent. Both of these issues are projected to increase and stand to affect many more people without su
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Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk-Advice to Government For the UK's third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3)
The Adaptation Committee’s Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk sets out the priority climate change risks and opportunities for the UK. The report draws on an extensive programme of analysis, consultation and consideration by the Committee involving over 450 people, 130 organisations and more than 1,500 pages of evidence and analysis.
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Urban landscapes and climate change: the contribution of Landscape Architects to improve the quality of life
The Report, which is concerned with the practice of Landscape Architecture to improve the quality
of life in cities, outlines the context of climate change in terms of the science, the politics and
aspirations, both in Europe and globally. It discusses how cities are changing, how their resident
populations are at risk, and how Covid-19 has further complicated the situation, perhaps advancing even more urgently the need for action. It notes two major studies commissioned by the European Unio
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of life in cities, outlines the context of climate change in terms of the science, the politics and
aspirations, both in Europe and globally. It discusses how cities are changing, how their resident
populations are at risk, and how Covid-19 has further complicated the situation, perhaps advancing even more urgently the need for action. It notes two major studies commissioned by the European Unio
Business-as-usual will lead to super and ultra-extreme heatwaves in the Middle East and North Africa
Global climate projections suggest a significant intensification of summer heat extremes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). To assess regional impacts, and underpin mitigation and adaptation measures, robust information is required from climate downscaling studies, which has been lacking for the region. Here, we project future hot spells by using the Heat Wave Magnitude Index and a comprehensive ensemble of regional climate projections for MENA. Our results, for a business-as-usual path
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Changing Lengths of the Four Seasons by Global Warming
How long will the four seasons be by 2100? Increasing evidence suggests that the length of a single season or in regional scales has changed under global warming, but a hemispherical-scale response of the four seasons in the past and future remains unknown. We find that summer in the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes has lengthened, whereas winter has shortened, owing to shifts in their onsets and withdrawals, accompanied by shorter spring and autumn. Such changes in lengths and onsets can be mai
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Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin Current Situation and Risks for the Future - 1st Mediterranean Assessment Report
The First Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR1) prepared by the independent network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and environmental Change (MedECC) founded in 2015 is now finished.
MedECC assesses the best available scientific knowledge on climate and environmental change and associated risks in the Mediterranean Basin in order to render it accessible to policymakers, stakeholders and citizens. The report includes a Summary for Policymakers (SPM), which comprises the key messages of the
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MedECC assesses the best available scientific knowledge on climate and environmental change and associated risks in the Mediterranean Basin in order to render it accessible to policymakers, stakeholders and citizens. The report includes a Summary for Policymakers (SPM), which comprises the key messages of the
Climate change strategic narratives in the United Kingdom: Emergency, Extinction, Effectiveness
Achieving policy, business and behaviour change necessary to mitigate climate change is one of the most formidable challenges of the twenty-first century. Increasingly, researchers have argued that communicating purposively designed stories – ‘strategic narratives’ – may be effective in building support for the policy measures necessary to limit anthropogenic warming to 2˚C above pre-industrial levels. Recently, following the release of the IPCC's 1.5˚C special report, novel dynamics have em
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United Nations Climate Change Annual Report 2019
Greater efforts are required to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to
protect people and the planet. The UNFCCC interacts with governments and
partners in searching for ways to increase developing countries’ capacity to adapt.
This year in adaptation was marked by the secretariat’s provision of support to
countries for developing their national adaptation plans, the work of the
Adaptation Committee on climate finance, the enhancement of partnerships
under the Nairobi work programme
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protect people and the planet. The UNFCCC interacts with governments and
partners in searching for ways to increase developing countries’ capacity to adapt.
This year in adaptation was marked by the secretariat’s provision of support to
countries for developing their national adaptation plans, the work of the
Adaptation Committee on climate finance, the enhancement of partnerships
under the Nairobi work programme
Collaboratively Developing Tools for Climate Change Adaptation-Lessons for Research and Policy
Climate change is causing extreme weather events to increase in frequency and intensity, putting cities, home to most of Europe’s population, at rapidly increasing risk
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Collaboratively Developing Tools for Climate Change Adaptation-Lessons for Research and Policy
Climate change is causing extreme weather events to increase in frequency and intensity, putting cities, home to most of Europe’s population, at rapidly increasing risk
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Shifting to climate change aware cities to facilitate the city resilience implementation
Climate change (CC) is one of the most urgent threats to modern societies, having direct and indirect consequences on the rapid growth of urban areas. Cities are attempting to both reduce their impact on the environment and build resilience to be able to face the irreversible effects of CC through plans and strategies. However, barriers, such as the fact that cities are complex systems and the uncertainty posed by CC have led to less engaged and committed city stakeholders, which have hampered t
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What is ecosystem-based adaptation?
Healthy ecosystems can reduce the negative impacts of climate change. For instance, coastal habitats like mangroves provide natural flood defences, well-protected lakes retain water sources during droughts, and healthy forests reduce the risk of devastating wildfires. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is an approach that uses these ecosystem services as part of a holistic adaptation strategy. Often through win-win outcomes, EbA protects vulnerable communities from extreme weather while simultaneo
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Accelerating invasion potential of disease vector Aedes aegypti under climate change
Vector-borne diseases remain a major contributor to the global burden of disease, while climatechange is expected to exacerbate their risk. Characterising vector development rate and its spatio-temporal variation under climate change is central to assessing the changing basis of human disease risk. We develop a mechanistic phenology model and apply it to Aedes aegypti, an invasive mosquito vector for arboviruses (e.g. dengue, zika and yellow fever)
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The Dasgupta Review – Independent Review on the Economics of Biodiversity- Interim Report
he Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta (Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge). The Review was commissioned last year by HM Treasury and is supported by an Advisory Panel drawn from public policy, science, economics, finance and business.
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How our responses to climate change and the coronavirus are linked
The coronavirus pandemic may lead to a deeper understanding of the ties that bind us on a global scale Well-resourced healthcare systems are essential to protect us from health security threats, including climate change The support to resuscitate the economy after the pandemic should promote health, equity, and environmental protection
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The projected timing of abrupt ecological disruption from climate change
As anthropogenic climate change continues the risks to biodiversity will increase over time, with future projections indicating that a potentially catastrophic loss of global biodiversity is on the horizon1,2,3. However, our understanding of when and how abruptly this climate-driven disruption of biodiversity will occur is limited because biodiversity forecasts typically focus on individual snapshots of the future.
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The Global Risks Report 2020
The Global Risks Report 2020 presents the major risks the world will be facing in the coming year. The global economy is facing an increased risk of stagnation, climate change is striking harder and more rapidly than expected.
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Climate Finance and Sustainable Cities
The theme of the 2019 SCF Forum was “Climate finance and sustainable cities”. The objective of the Forum was toenhance understanding of how to accelerate the mobilization and delivery of climate finance for the development of sustainable cities
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Yearbook of global climate Action 2019
The Yearbook identifies opportunities and challenges for mitigation and resilience in the seven thematic areas of the Marrakech Partnership (land use, oceans and coastal zones, water, human settlements, transport, energy and industry) and the cross-cutting area of finance.
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Meeting the looming policy challenge of sea-level change and human migration
Minimizing the adverse consequences of sea-level change presents a key societal challenge. New modelling is necessary to examine the implications of global policy decisions that determine future greenhouse gas emissions and local policies around coastal risk that influence where and how we live
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IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate - 2019
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report
highlights the urgency of prioritizing timely, ambitious and coordinated action to address
unprecedented and enduring changes in the ocean and cryosphere.
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highlights the urgency of prioritizing timely, ambitious and coordinated action to address
unprecedented and enduring changes in the ocean and cryosphere.
Business Climate Resilience: Thriving Through the Transformation
WBCSD’s report brings together important global developments and latest thinking on climate adaptation and resilience, with particular focus on private sector climate resilience. It builds on the need for businesses to prepare for both the physical risks that are associated with climate change, as well as the associated transitional risks on the path towards a net-zero economy.
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The Global Climate in 2015–2019
Compared to the previous five-year assessment period 2011–2015, the current five-year period 2015–2019 has seen a continued increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
and an accelerated increase in the atmospheric concentration of major greenhouse
gases (GHGs), with growth rates nearly 20% higher.
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and an accelerated increase in the atmospheric concentration of major greenhouse
gases (GHGs), with growth rates nearly 20% higher.
A Land Without Water
Climate change, waves of refugees and poor planning are draining water supplies
in Jordan.
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in Jordan.
Changing climate both increases and decreases European river floods
Climate change has led to concerns about increasing river floods resulting from the greater water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere1. These concerns are reinforced by evidence of increasing economic losses associated with flooding in many parts of the world, including Europe2. Any changes in river floods would have lasting implications for the design of flood protection measures and flood risk zoning.
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UN 2019 sixth Global Environment Outlook: GEO-6 - Summary for Policymakers
UN Environment’s sixth Global Environment Outlook (2019) calls on decision makers to take immediate action to address pressing environmental issues to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as other Internationally Agreed Environment Goals, such as the Paris Agreement.
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Long-Term Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Change: A Cross-Country Analysis
We study the long-term impact of climate change on economic activity across countries,
using a stochastic growth model where labour productivity is affected by country-specific
climate variables—defined as deviations of temperature and precipitation from their
historical norms. Using a panel data set of 174 countries over the years 1960 to 2014, we
find that per-capita real output growth is adversely affected by persistent changes in the
temperature above or below its historical norm, but w
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using a stochastic growth model where labour productivity is affected by country-specific
climate variables—defined as deviations of temperature and precipitation from their
historical norms. Using a panel data set of 174 countries over the years 1960 to 2014, we
find that per-capita real output growth is adversely affected by persistent changes in the
temperature above or below its historical norm, but w
The imperative of climate action to protect human health in Europe
The report focuses on the consequences of climate change for human health in Europe and the benefits of acting now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to stabilise the climate.
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Ice sheet contributions to future sea-level rise from structured expert judgment
Future sea level rise (SLR) poses serious threats to the viability of coastal communities, but continues to be challenging to project using deterministic modeling approaches. Nonetheless, adaptation strategies urgently require quantification of future SLR uncertainties, particularly upper-end estimates. Structured expert judgement (SEJ) has proved a valuable approach for similar problems. Our findings, using SEJ, produce probability distributions with long upper tails that are influenced by inte
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Why, and How, Utilities Should Start to Manage Climate-Change Risk - McKinsey & Company
The Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in late 2018, stated that climate change was already having noticeable effects in the United States and predicted “more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events,” such as floods and hurricanes. For utilities, the assessment concluded, the possibilities were grave: lower efficiency, higher expenses, and more power outages—even as demand for energy rises. And many utilities are not ready. As the assessment noted, “Infrastructu
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Gender in conservation and climate policy
Men and women differ in their perceptions of environmental risk, vulnerability to climate change impacts and adaptation behaviour. Effective policies must address the diversity of gender roles and identities, and the underlying drivers of inequality.
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The Global Risks Report 2019
The Global Risks Report 2019 is published against a backdrop of worrying geopolitical and geo-economic tensions. If unresolved, these tensions will hinder the world’s ability to deal with a growing range of collective challenges, from the mounting evidence of environmental degradation to the increasing disruptions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
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Climate Change Adaptation - Research, Science and Innovation
The European Commission has published a policy booklet presenting a selection of its research, science and innovation on climate change adaptation. Mitigating the impacts of impacts of climate change and adapting to changes already taking place or impossible to avoid require fundamental changes to societies and behaviours all over the world – as well as scientific breakthroughs, both technological and social. The projects in the booklet have provided information on risks and impacts of global wa
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Risks associated to climate and environmental changes in the Mediterranean - MedEC - 2018
Recent accelerated climate change has exacerbated existing environmental problems in the Mediterranean Basin that are caused by the combination of changes in land use, increasing pollution and declining biodiversity. In most impact domains (such as water, ecosystems, food, health and security), current change and future scenarios consistently point to significant and increasing risks during the coming decades.
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The Adaptation Gap Health Report - 2018
The 2018 Adaptation Gap Report has two parts. First, it provides an overview of the status and trends of the adaptation gap in terms of vulnerability to climate change, adaptation costs and finance, and countries’ adaptation commitments and actions. Second, the report undertakes an
in-depth assessment of the adaptation gap in health.
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in-depth assessment of the adaptation gap in health.
Shade maps for climatically-aware urban design in Tel Aviv-Yafo
Tel Aviv is a coastal city of hot and humid climate, exposed to relatively high levels of solar radiation. Such climatic conditions make direct solar radiation a crucial element that negatively affects outdoor thermal comfort between April and October and thus the use of streets and public spaces for a variety of outdoor activities (Shashua-Bar et al., 2009; Shashua-Bar et al., 2011; Hiemstra et al., 2017). Our study, commissioned by Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, developed a new methodology for
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Wildlife in a Warming World - The effects of climate change on biodiversity in WWF’s Priority Places
This report summarises a groundbreaking research project from WWF,
which we carried out in partnership with experts from the Tyndall Centre
for Climate Change at the University of East Anglia. Our findings result
from the most comprehensive global analysis to date of projected changes
in the climatic ranges of plants and animals, and they paint a startling
picture of the link between global temperatures and the status of wildlife
and ecosystems around us.The research looks at the projected
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which we carried out in partnership with experts from the Tyndall Centre
for Climate Change at the University of East Anglia. Our findings result
from the most comprehensive global analysis to date of projected changes
in the climatic ranges of plants and animals, and they paint a startling
picture of the link between global temperatures and the status of wildlife
and ecosystems around us.The research looks at the projected
Climate Change, Impacts and Vulnerability in Europe 2016 - An Indicator-based Report
This report is an indicator-based assessment of past and projected climate change and its impacts on ecosystems and society. It also looks at society’s vulnerability to these impacts and at the development of adaptation policies and the underlying knowledge base.
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Adaptation Strategies for European Cities: Final Report
DG Climate Action commissioned a consortium led by Ricardo-AEA and ICLEI to undertake the Adaptation Strategies for European Cities project. The aims of this project were to provide capacity building and assistance for cities in developing and implementing an adaptation strategy, and technical support to DG CLIMA on the state of play of urban adaptation. The project also intended to raise awareness throughout Europe of the importance of preparing for climate change in cities and encourage the ex
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Overview of challenges and achievements in the climate adaptation of cities and in the Climate Proof Cities program
Despite all international, national and local initiatives to mitigate climate change, a certain degree of climate change is unavoidable. Urban environments in particular seem vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. How can cities, which are dynamic systems where most people live and work, prepare for such changes in climate? In the Netherlands, the Climate Proof Cities (CPC) research program (2010–2014) was established, aimed at: “strengthening the adaptive capacity and reducing the vu
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Adapting to climate change: 2013 strategy for exercising the adaptation reporting power
he adaptation reporting power under the Climate Change Act 2008 aims to ensure that climate change risk management is systematically undertaken by reporting authorities. This aims to help ensure that public service and infrastructure are resilient to climate change, and to monitor the level of preparedness of key sectors to climate change.
The 2013 strategy for the adaptation reporting power has been developed after discussions with stakeholders and consideration of consultation responses. Th
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The 2013 strategy for the adaptation reporting power has been developed after discussions with stakeholders and consideration of consultation responses. Th
Climate adaptation reporting second round: UK Power Networks
Progress report by UK Power Networks on their climate change adaptations. This report sets out their progress in adapting to the current and future predicted effects of climate change on their organisation.
This report was invited by Defra under the adaptation reporting power under the Climate Change Act 2008.
The Economic Consequences of Climate Change
This report provides a new detailed quantitative assessment of the consequences of climate change on economic growth through to 2060 and beyond. It focuses on how climate change affects different drivers of growth, including labour productivity and capital supply, in different sectors across the world. The sectoral and regional analysis shows that while the impacts of climate change spread across all sectors and all regions, the largest negative consequences are projected to be found in the heal
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Climate Change Legislation in Israel
Israel faces a number of challenges that require clear and robust energy and climate policies – including an average population growth rate of 1.8% per year (2000-2010), soaring energy demand and high emissions per capita (despite negligible total emissions). It is also an arid, coastal country exposed to climate-related risks, mainly water shortages and sea level rise. Regulatory developments in the last few years have been informed by both international and domestic processes, including the pr
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ENERGY DARWINISM II- Why a Low Carbon Future Doesn’t Have to Cost the Earth
Up to $44 trillion could be going up in smoke if the world does not act on climate change, according to the latest piece of research from U.S. banking giant Citigroup. The report – Energy Darwinism II: Why a Low Carbon Future Doesn't Have to Cost the Earth -- has forecast that spending on energy will hit around $200 trillion in the next 25 years. The study then examines two scenarios: one that Citi describe as an "'inaction' on climate change scenario", and another that looks at what could happen if a low carbon, "different energy mix" is pursued.
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Climate Change Risks and Adaptation: Linking Policy and Economics - 2015
Climate change is giving rise to diverse risks, ranging from changing incidences of tropical diseases to increased risks of drought, varying widely in their potential severity, frequency and predictability. Governments must integrate the management of these climate risks into policy making if they are to successfully adapt to a changing climate. Economic analysis has a vital role to play in supporting these efforts, by identifying costs and benefits and supporting decision-making for an uncertai
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Impacts of Climate Change on Vector Borne Diseases in the Mediterranean Basin — Implications for Preparedness and Adaptation Policy-2015
The Mediterranean region is vulnerable to climatic changes. A warming trend exists in the basin with changes in rainfall patterns. It is expected that vector-borne diseases (VBD) in the region will be influenced by climate change since weather conditions influence their emergence. For some diseases (i.e., West Nile virus) the linkage between emergence andclimate change was recently proved; for others (such as dengue) the risk for local transmission is real. Consequently, adaptation and preparati
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The Role of the 2015 Agreement in Enhancing Adaptation to Climate Change
Adaptation responses are needed to address the existing levels of climate variability and to prepare for future climate impacts. There is wide agreement that adaptation is an important issue and would benefit from being enhanced through more effective action and better planning. The prominence of adaptation in the UNFCCC negotiations has increased, in part as the scientific evidence has become clearer that climate change is occurring and its impacts are projected to grow in future. Efforts to enhance adaptation actions and increase resilience are thus expected to play a key role in the post-2020 climate agreement to be agreed at COP21 in December 2015. This paper explores how the 2015 agreement can help to foster enhanced policies and co-ordinate planning for greater resilience and adaptation capabilities at the national level. The paper considers the technical advantages and disadvantages of selected adaptation-related concepts that have been put forward in the negotiations. These include proposals for global or national goals; developing or improving adaptation institutions or planning; enhancing information availability; and facilitating or enhancing adaptation finance. Many of these proposals have the potential to improve sub-national, national and international planning about and responses to climate adaptation. However, the actual impact of these proposals is likely to vary significantly depending on how they are implemented on the ground.
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OECD, IEA Provide Overview of First 29 INDCs
September 2015: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and International Energy Agency (IEA) have published a report, titled 'Overview of INDCs Submitted by 31 August 2015,' which summarizes the key information communicated in countries' intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) submitted under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The report examines the mitigation components of INDCs that had been submitted by 31 August 2015, analyzing their clarity and transparency as well as the likely aggregate impact on greenhouse (GHG) emissions. The report was authored by Christina Hood (IEA), Liwayway Adkins (IEA)and Ellina Levina (IEA). On the transparency and clarity of the INDCs, the report assesses the nature of the goals, whether absolute emission reduction targets or relative to a baseline; and whether economy-wide or sectoral. It also looks at the conditions attached to some of the INDCs, particularly relating to the availability of international support.The report also analyzes the mitigation ambition of the INDCs, using four studies that have undertaken assessments of the INDCs.
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French National Climate Change Impact Adaptation Plan
The first French National Adaptation Plan aims to plan adaptation actions, prevent inappropriate adaptation and ensure consistency across public policy measures relating to adaptation. It aims to present measures designed to help France prepare for and exploit new climatic conditions in France for the next five years, covering the period 2011-2015.
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Systematic review approaches for climate change adaptation research
Recent controversy has led to calls for increased standardization and transparency in the methods used to synthesize climate change research. Though these debates have focused largely on the biophysical dimensions of climate change, human dimensions research is equally in need of improved methodological approaches for research synthesis. Systematic review approaches, and more recently realist review methods, have been used within the health sciences for decades to guide research synthesis. Despi
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USACE Climate Preparedness and Resilience Policy Statement
The Policy Statement says that "Mainstreaming climate change adaptation means that it will be considered at every step in the project life cycle for all USACE projects, both existing and planned… to reduce vulnerabilities and enhance the resilience of our water-resource infrastructure."The Policy Statement establishes the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) as the agency official responsible for ensuring implementation of all aspects of this policy. Through this policy, USACE establishes the USACE Committee on Climate Preparedness an Resilience to oversee and coordinate agency-wide climate change adaptation planning and implementation. The Committee is chaired by the Chief, Engineering and Construction.
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FY 2015 National Water Program Guidance
The National Water Program released the final FY 2015 National Water Program Guidance Addendum (published 4/2014). The entire NWPG can be viewed as one document on the EPA's Office of the Chief Financial Officer's website.
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Protecting Health from Climate Change in the WHO European Region - 2014
“How far are we in the WHO European Region in implementing action to counter the health impacts of climate change?” This was the question posed to representatives of Member States in the WHO European Region of in the WHO working group on health in climate change (HIC). Twenty-two Member States provided answers to a comprehensive 2012 questionnaire that focused on eight thematic areas (governance; vulnerability, impact and adaptation (health) assessments (VIA); adaptation strategies and action pl
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Adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience
Climate change poses new challenges to cities and new flexible forms of governance are required that are able to take into account the uncertainty and abruptness of changes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss adaptive climate change governance for urban resilience. This paper identifies and reviews three traditions of literature on the idea of transitions and transformations, and assesses to what extent the transitions encompass elements of adaptive governance. This paper uses the open sour
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Building Resilience against Climate Effects—A Novel Framework to Facilitate Climate Readiness in Public Health Agencies
Climate change is anticipated to have several adverse health impacts. Managing these risks to public health requires an iterative approach. As with many risk management strategies related to climate change, using modeling to project impacts, engaging a wide range of stakeholders, and regularly updating models and risk management plans with new information—hallmarks of adaptive management—are considered central tenets of effective public health adaptation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has developed a framework, entitled Building Resilience Against Climate Effects, or BRACE, to facilitate this process for public health agencies. Its five steps are laid out here. Following the steps laid out in BRACE will enable an agency to use the best available science to project likely climate change health impacts in a given jurisdiction and prioritize interventions. Adopting BRACE will also reinforce public health’s established commitment to evidence-based practice and institutional learning, both of which will be central to successfully engaging the significant new challenges that climate change presents.
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Climate change adaptation and water resourc emanagement: A review of the literature
This paper considers the extent and usefulness of the existing empirical literature on water supply, demand, and adaptation to climate change for incorporation into integrated assessment modeling efforts. We review the existing literature on the likely economic impacts of climate change, acting through water supply and demand effects in specific river basins, and the ability of adaptation to mitigate those impacts. Since adaptive responses will be implemented largely by local, regional, and nati
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Climate Change And President Obama's Action Plan
The United States is leading global efforts to address the threat of climate change. President Obama is taking the biggest step yet to combat climate change by finalizing America’s Clean Power Plan, which sets the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants.
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Flood risk in Europe: the long-term outlook
Floods, storms and other hydro-meteorological events account for around two thirds of the damage costs of natural disasters, and these costs have increased since 1980, according to a recent EEA assessment of climate change impacts in Europe.The observed increase in damage costs from extreme weather events is mainly due to land use change, increases in population, economic wealth and human activities in hazard-prone areas and to better reporting. To confirm the exact role played by climate change in flooding trends in past decades, it would be necessary to have more reliable, long-time series data for rivers with a natural flow regime.
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On Welfare Frameworks and Catastrophic Climate Risks
Recent theoretical work in the economics of climate change has suggested that climate policy is highly sensitive to ‘fat-tailed’ risks of catastrophic outcomes (Weitzman, 2009) [68]. Such risks are suggested to be an inevitable consequence of scientific uncertainty about the effects of increased greenhouse gas concentrations on climate. Criticisms of this controversial result fall into three categories: The first suggests that it may be irrelevant to cost benefit analysis of climate policy, the second challenges the fat-tails assumption, and the third questions the behavior of the utility function assumed in the result. This paper analyses these critiques and suggests that those in the first two categories have formal validity, but that they apply only to the restricted setup of the original result, which may be extended to address their concerns. They are thus ultimately unconvincing. Critiques in the third category are shown to be robust however they open up new ethical and empirical challenges for climate economics that have thus far been neglected—how should we ‘value’ catastrophes as a society? I demonstrate that applying results from social choice to this problem can lead to counterintuitive results, in which society values catastrophes as infinitely bad, even though each individual's utility function is bounded. Finally, I suggest that the welfare functions traditionally used in climate economics are ill-equipped to deal with climate catastrophes in which population size changes. Drawing on recent work in population ethics I propose an alternative welfare framework with normatively desirable properties, which has the effect of dampening the contribution of catastrophes to welfare.
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Rural Households in a Changing Climate
This paper argues that climate change poses two distinct, if related, sets of chenges for poor rural households: chenges related to the increasing frequency and severity of weather shocks and chenges related to long-term shifts in temperature, rainf patterns, water availability, and other environmental factors Within this framework, the paper examines evidence from existing empirical literature to compose an initial picture of household-level strategies for adapting to climate change in rural settings The authors find that although households possess numerous strategies for managing climate shocks and shifts, their adaptive capacity is insufficient for the task of maintaining—let alone improving—household welfare They describe the role of public policy in fortifying the ability of rural households to adapt to a changing climate
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Conceptualizing Urban Adaptation to Climate Change: Findings from an Applied Adaptation Assessment Framework
Urban areas have particular sensitivities to climate change, and therefore adaptation to a warming planet represents a challenging new issue for urban policy makers in both the developed and developing world. Further to climate mitigation strategies implemented in various cities over the past 20 years, more recent efforts of urban management have also included actions taken to adapt to increasing temperatures, sea level and extreme events. Through the examination and comparison of seven cities, this paper identifies the various levels of administrative adaptation planning, the tools and information used in making policy choices, and the roles of governance and finance in urban adaptation to climate change. Lessons learned from these seven cases are presented to better inform the next generation of cities adapting to climate change.
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Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must Be Avoided
This report, produced for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics, attempts to describe what climate change impacts are likely to be felt in a ‘4°C world', i.e. a world where global average temperatures have risen four degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In doing so, it hopes to motivate actors and insert urgency into climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
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UK climate change risk assessment: government report
The Government published the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) on 25 January 2012, the first assessment of its kind for the UK and the first in a 5 year cycle. It sets out the main priorities for adaptation in the UK under 5 key themes identified in the CCRA 2012 Evidence Report - Agriculture and Forestry; Business, industries and Services; Health and Wellbeing; Natural Environment and Buildings and Infrastructure - and describes the policy context, and action already in place to tackle
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Simulation of temperature and precipitation climatology for the Central Asia CORDEX domain using RegCM 4.0
The Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) is a framework designed to coordinate international efforts on regional climate simulations. CORDEX domains encompass the majority of land areas of the world. Region 8 of the CORDEX basically covers Central Asia, with the corners of the domain at 54.76 degrees N, 11.05 degrees E; 56.48 degrees N, 139.13 degrees E; 18.34 degrees N, 42.41 degrees E; and 19.39 degrees N, 108.44 degrees E and with a horizontal resolution of 50 km. In the present study, the results of an experiment with the ICTP regional climate RegCM 4.0 model that was run for seasonal mean air temperature and precipitation total series are presented. The experiment consists of one simulation from 1989 to 2010 using ERA-Interim reanalysis data as the boundary condition, another simulation for the period 1970-2000 using the global climate model ECHAM5 A1B scenario data for forcing, and finally a simulation for the period 2070-2100 using the ECHAM5 A1B scenario projection data for forcing. Between these 3 simulations we determined the temperature and precipitation climatology obtained from RegCM 4.0 downscaling for Region 8 of the CORDEX framework. In spite of the diverse topography of the region, the temperature and precipitation climatology obtained by RegCM 4.0 from hindcast data captures the general characteristics of the climate of Central Asia. In winter, the warm temperature bias of the forcing data is slightly decreased by regional downscaling. The influences of the Indian monsoon system are well represented, as this region covers a large area towards the southern boundary of Region 8, even though the focus of this work was to capture the general characteristics of the whole region.
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Climate change impacts on international seaports: knowledge, perceptions, and planning efforts among port administrators
Seaports are located in vulnerable areas to climate change impacts: on coasts susceptible to sea-level rise and storms or at mouths of rivers susceptible to flooding. They serve a vital function within the local, regional, and global economy. Their locations in the heart of sensitive estuarine environments make it an imperative to minimize the impacts of natural hazards. Climate impacts, like a projected SLR of .6 m to 2 m and doubling of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes by 2100, will result in more extreme events at many seaports. To assess the current state of knowledge on this issue, we surveyed port authorities from around the world about how administrators felt climate change might impact their operations, what sea-level change would create operational problems, and how they planned to adapt to new environmental conditions. The planned rapid expansion of ports reported by the survey respondents indicates that adaptation measures should be considered as ports construct new infrastructure that may still be in use at the end of the century. Respondents agreed that the ports community needs to address this issue and most felt relatively uninformed about potential climate impacts. Although most ports felt that SLR would not be an issue at their port this century, sea-level rise was nevertheless an issue of great concern. Our results suggest opportunities for the scientific community to engage with port practitioners to prepare proactively for climate change impacts on this sector.
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Cambridge City Council Carbon Management Plan 2011 - 2016
This updates our first Strategy and Action Plan, which covered the period from 2008-2012. The revised strategy sets out the framework for action by the City Council to manage the risks associated with climate change and contribute towards the global effort to avert future dangerous climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Key actions contained within this strategy include:
Improving the energy efficiency of council-owned homes
Through development of the Cambridge Local Plan, ensure that new developments meet recognized sustainability standards, ie Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes for residential developments
Working with the County Council to improvement cycling facilities and infrastructure in Cambridge, including cycling parking and new routes
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Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into the Town of Ajax Official Plan
This case study offers insight into how climate change adaptation str
ategies can be main
-
streamed into official documents. It provides background information on how climate
change is expected to affect the Town of Ajax and describes the importance of
mainstreaming climate change initiatives and planning.
The case study con
cludes with lessons learned that may assist other Ontario communities
to adopt action
-
oriented policies to move toward adapting to climate change.
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International Exchange Governance of Climate Change Adaptation: National Strategies and their Implementation
Climate change
adaptation is becoming more and more relevant in climate
change
governance
.
Certain geographical regions are particular
ly
vulnerable to a changing climate, notably t
he Alpine
space
.
F
or
the
first time
representatives of
seven
Alpine countries
met in
Ittigen
(Switzerland)
on
May 9
,
2012
.
These were
26
p
articipants from Austria, France
,
Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein,
Slovenia and
Switzerland
.
The international exchange was initiated
in the frame of the
ETC Alpine
Space
project C3
-
Alps (Capitalising Climate Change Knowledge for Adaptation in the Alpine Space)
by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment
,
supported by
the
Environment Agency Austria.
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Helsinki Metropolitan Area Climate Change Adaptation Strategy
The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Climate Change Adapta
-
tion Strategy has been prepared in close cooperation with
the four cities of the metropolitan area (Helsinki, Espoo,
Vantaa and Kauniainen), the Helsinki Region Environmen
-
tal Services Authority HSY and other municipal, regional
and state level organisations. In the strategy, strategic
starting points and policies with which the metropolitan
area prepares for the consequences of climate change,
are compiled.
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The Mediterranean City: A Conference on Climate Change Adaptation
The Mediterranean City: A Conference on Climate Change Adaptation will initiate an ongoing collaboration of cities working together to share ideas, needs and strategies to adapt to the current and future impacts of climate change as they similarly affect the five Mediterranean-climate regions of the world. The conference will bring together an international network of experts from the academic, policy, business, public health and government worlds. Mediterranean-climate regions largely occur along the western edges of continents between the 30 degree and 40 degree parallels in both northern and southern hemispheres. The Mediterranean climate, moderated by cold ocean currents offshore, is characterized by hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. While these ecosystems cover just under three percent of the earth's land area, they contain about 20 percent of its plant biodiversity, including over 26, 000 endemic species.
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Interactions between climate and habitat loss effects on biodiversity: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Climate change and habitat loss are both key threatening processes driving the global loss in biodiversity. Yet little is known about their synergistic effects on biological populations due to the complexity underlying both processes. If the combined effects of habitat loss and climate change are greater than the effects of each threat individually, current conservation management strategies may be inefficient and at worst ineffective. Therefore, there is a pressing need to identify whether inte
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A Structural Land-Use Analysis of Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change: A Proactive Approach
This article proposes a proactive approach for analyzing agricultural adaptation to climate change wherein agricultural production technologies are regarded as potential targets of research and development (R&D) efforts. We develop a structural land-use model wherein farmers maximize profit by allocating their land among crop-technology bundles. Proactive R&D directions are derived by identifying the technological attributes through which climate change reduces overall agricultural profitability
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Adaptation to Climate Change and Economic Growth in Developing Countries
The global climate is changing, and will continue to do so even if greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically curbed. Economies are therefore faced with the challenge of adapting to climate change. This challenge is particularly important in developing countries, which, due to a combination of unfortunate geography and high sensitivity, are most vulnerable to climate change. From a macro-economic point of view, there remains much to learn about the characteristics of optimal adaptation. In partic
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Plan or React? Analysis of Adaptation Costs and Benefits Using Integrated Assessment Models
The present work seeks to examine adaptation and mitigation interaction and to assess dynamically the regional costs and benefits of adaptation. This is done by developing a framework to incorporate adaptation as a policy variable in an Integrated Assessment framework in three Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs): the Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy (DICE), the Regional Integrated model of Climate and the Economy (RICE), and the World Induced Technical Change Hybrid (WITCH) model. The modified models – AD-DICE, AD-RICE and AD-WITCH – are calibrated and used in policy simulations to examine the regional distribution of adaptation costs, the optimal policy mix between different types of adaptation, and the interactions between adaptation and mitigation. The AD-WITCH model also includes investments in “adaptive capacityâ€, such as social protection programmes, which can enhance the effectiveness of adaptation actions, though not directly reducing damages. By using different IAMs, this paper presents the first inter-model comparison of results on adaptation costs. Results show that the total costs of climate change are the lowest when both mitigation and adaptation are undertaken in conjunction. Any least-cost policy response to climate change will need to involve substantial amounts of mitigation efforts, investments in adaptation stock and reactive adaptation measures to limit the remaining damages.
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Distributional Consequences of Climate Change Impacts on the Power Sector: Who Gains and Who Loses?
Climate change tends to negatively affect the power sector, inter alia, by causing cooling problems in power plants and impairing the water supply required for hydro-power generation. In future, when global warming is expected to increase, autonomous adaptation to climate change via international electricity markets inducing reallocations of power generation may not be sufficient to prevent supply disruptions. Furthermore, the consequent changes of supply patterns and electricity prices might cause an undesirable redistribution of wealth both between individual power suppliers and between suppliers and consumers. This study ascertains changes in European power supply patterns and electricity prices caused by ongoing global warming as well as related redistribution of wealth for different climate change scenarios. Our results confirm that autonomous adaptation in the power sector should be complemented by planned public adaptation in order to preserve energy security and to prevent undesired distributional effects.
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ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE Cost Benefits and Modelling Approaches
As part of the research carried out under the Gemina Work Package 6.2.10, this paper provides a summary and a critical survey of the methodologies and results of the literature on the economics of adaptation.
We divide the literature into two broad areas of research. First, we examine the studies that analyse adaptation from a bottom-up perspective. Second, we introduce the studies that examine adaptation using a top-down approach. The first group of studies investigates cost and benefits of sectoral adaptation strategies with a geographical detail that varies from country-level to global-level. The second group gathers two different streams of literature that share macro approaches, as opposed to the micro ones of the former group. It includes both theoretical works as well as the contributions based on Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs).
IAMs have originally been created to study policies aimed at limiting global warming. Recently they have also been extended to include adaptation as an alternative policy option to mitigation. This latter development has raised new issues that represent new challenges for the research community. In particular, how to make use of the vast amount of information provided by the bottom-up literature and how to integrate it into global models is paramount. Important research gaps to be filled include the improvement of the quantitative assessment of cost and benefit of adaptation needs, especially in some sectors and in developing countries and the clarification of the aggregation procedure used for scaling up bottom-up data. In addition, uncertainty and irreversibility are very marginally tackled by adaptation studies. Finally, the role of adaptation in international climate change negotiations, which is presently growing in importance, remains largely unexplored.
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Ethics and the Economist: What Climate Change Demands of Us
Climate change is changing not only our physical world, but also our intellectual, social, and moral worlds. We are realizing that our situation is profoundly unsafe, interdependent, and uncertain. What, then, does climate change demand of us, as human beings and as economists? A discipline of economics based on Enlightenment notions of mechanism and disembodied rationality is not suited to present problems. This essay suggests three major requirements: first, that we take action; second, that we work together; and third, that we focus on avoiding the worst, rather than obtaining the optimal. The essay concludes with suggestions of specific steps that economists can take as researchers, teachers, and in our other roles.
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Mitigation + Adaptation: What is the optimal climate change policy mix?
In dealing with climate change, how much should governments focus their effort on mitigation (emission reduction to prevent climate change) and on adaptation (coping with a changed climate)? Very little research has gone into pinning down which strategy is dynamically optimal under what kind of conditions. This paper contributes to this debate by developing a parsimonious optimal control model that focuses on the non-linearity of climate change and the presence of multiple countries. Calibrated simulation results are provided to characterize the model. The results show that the optimal policy mix – or the adoption decision for mitigation and adaptation – is determined by two key parameters: an adjusted mitigation/adaptation cost ratio and the climate change damage elasticity. The latter depends crucially on the non-linearity (suddenness) of climate change. Country heterogeneity influences the policy choice strongly in favour of adaptation.
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Climate change and children’s health
Through many pathways, and in particular via placing additional stress upon the availability of food, clean air, and clean water and by potentially expanding the burden of disease from certain vector-borne diseases, climate change represents a major threat to child health. Pediatricians have already seen and will increasingly see the adverse health effects of climate change in their practices. Because of this, and many other reasons, pediatricians have a unique capacity to help resolve the climate change problem.
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Climate change and farmers' mental health: risks and responses
Climate change is exacerbating climate variability, evident in more frequent and severe weather-related disasters, such as droughts, fires, and floods. Most of what is known about the possible effects of climate change on rural mental health relates to prolonged drought. But though drought is known to be a disproportionate and general stressor, evidence is mixed and inconclusive. Over time, like drought other weather-related disasters may erode the social and economic bases on which farming communities depend. Rural vulnerability to mental health problems is greatly increased by socioeconomic disadvantage. Related factors may compound this, such as reduced access to health services as communities decline and a "stoical" culture that inhibits help-seeking. Australia has the world's most variable climate and is a major global agricultural producer. Yet despite Australia's (and, especially, rural communities') dependence on farmers' well-being and success, there is very little-and inconclusive-quantitative evidence about farmers' mental health. The aim of this review is to consider, with a view to informing other countries, how climate change and related factors may affect farmers' mental health in Australia. That information is a prerequisite to identifying, selecting, and evaluating adaptive strategies, to lessen the risks of adverse mental health outcomes. The authors identify the need for a systematic epidemiology of the mental health of farmers facing increasing climate change- related weather adversity.
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Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation – The Water Sector
This guidebook aims to provide expert information on the technologies most relevant for climate change adaptation in the water sector in developing countries.It is meant to be a practical tool for use by a broad range of stakeholders, including those in governmental agencies, water utilities, community water boards, non-governmental organizations, and private sector companies.The guidebook first reviews the projected impacts of climate change on the water sector. It then addresses the role of adaptation in the water sector and six typologies under which available strategies are categorized.Eleven technologies and practices are given detailed treatment in this guidebook and four others are covered briefly. While these do not constitute all of the adaptation technologies available in the water sector, they do represent many of the most important adaptation technologies for developing countries
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Adapting to Climate Change: Cities and the Urban Poor
Global climate change will have enormous impacts on urban areas in the developing world. The known and growing effects of climate change –increased temperatures, rising seas, and increased incidence of severe storms –will be especially significant for cities due to the location of many along the coast ,the population and capital assets at risk, and the important role of port cities in national economies. This paper explores some of the emerging issues that cities in the developing world confront as they begin to develop plans and strategies to adapt to the effects of global climate change. The emphasis is on low-income populations, both those now settled in cities and those still to migrate from rural areas. In some instances, this migration is due to reduced agricultural productivity, itself a product of global climate change. The urban poor are vulnerable because of where they live and the condition of their shelter. Yet their low incomes, poor access to information, and lack of market alternatives limit their ability to move to safer environments.
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The Value of Green Infrastructure for Urban Climate Adaptation
In this paper the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) provides information on the costs and benefits of “green” infrastructure solutions for bolstering local adaptation to climate change. The report provides examples of a variety of approaches to incorporating green practices as well as the benefits to urban communities, such as improvements in land value, quality of life, public health, hazard mitigation, and regulatory compliance. A selection of green infrastructure solutions are evaluated for their performance and benefits, discerning their value for climate adaptation. Eco-roofs, green alleys and streets, and urban forestry techniques are examined in detail along with their respective economic cost and benefits. In addition, the report describes managerial, institutional, and market-based approaches to climate resilience, in which local governments can use incentives to lower climate risks and encourage adaptive behavior. Select examples of green infrastructure costs, performance, and benefits from pioneering cities are provided in detail as well.
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Managing risks and increasing resilience: the Mayor’s climate change adaptation strategy
Managing risks and increasing resilience is the Mayor’s climate change adaptation strategy for London. It details his strategic approach to managing the climate risks we face now and in the future in order to maintain London as one of the best big cities in the world.Our climate is changing and further changes are expected. Together, we need to prepare for warmer, wetter winters, hotter, drier summers and more frequent extreme weather. Timely action will bring positive benefits, including jobs, investment, economic security and an improved quality of life. If we don’t act, we are likely to face an increasing risk of floods, droughts and heat waves.Managing risks and increasing resilience looks at who and what is vulnerable to extreme weather today, considers how climate change will affect the existing climate risks, or create new risks or opportunities in the future and provides a framework for action.
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Federal, State, and Local Tax Policies for Climate Change: Coordination or Cross-Purpose?
Although the United States has not yet enacted comprehensive climate change legislation at the Federal level, federal tax laws affecting energy have significant climate change effects. At the regional level, several groups of States have joined together in climate change legislation. Most States and many localities have tax laws affecting energy. State and local governments often enact legislation in response to federal actions, or to fill gaps in federal legislation. When national, state, and local governments all attempt to influence energy use through tax legislation, without coordination, inefficiencies and conflicts are bound to arise. In the absence of Federal leadership on climate change, a second best alternative is coordination between Federal, State and local efforts to encourage energy-wise behavior. This essay explores alternatives for coordination and potential challenges.
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Protecting the Coast
In this draft book chapter, the authors – one a former political appointee at EPA in the Obama administration, the other a senior climate change adaption adviser at EPA – discuss the law and policy of adapting to climate change in coastal areas of the United States. The most dramatic effects of climate change will occur on the coast. That’s where the twin threats of rising seas and stronger storms are already mounting the beaches. And that is where most Americans, along with billions of dollars in cultural and commercial assets, currently reside. Cities like Miami, New York, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., are in the crosshairs. Adapting to climate change on the coast will require a plan based on a tough defense, smart adjustment, and managed retreat. This Chapter addresses the legal framework of the first two elements. Part I of this Chapter divides adaptation into helpful categories and sets out some guiding principles that we think all adaptation strategies should follow. Part II focuses on strategies geared toward resisting storm surge or floodwaters. These include “hard armoring” strategies, like dikes and levees and “soft armoring strategies,” like coastal restoration. Part III focuses on strategies of adjustment, in which use patterns or consumption patterns are modified to take into consideration climate impacts. We illustrate this type of adaptation with the example of adapting to saltwater intrusion. In Part IV, we offer concluding remarks.
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Total Costs and Budgetary Effects of Adaptation to Climate Change: An Assessment for the European Union
Adaptation to climate change is gaining increasing relevance in the public debate of climate policy. However, detailed and regionalised cost estimates as a basis for cost-benefit-analyses are rare. We compose available cost estimates for adaptation in Europe, and in particular Germany, Finland and Italy. Furthermore, a systematic overview on fiscal aspects of adaptation is provided, with focus on budgetary effects of adaptation in the different impact sectors. Combining cost estimates, considerations on fiscal aspects and governmental interventions in adaptation processes, we present data-based guesses of public adaptation costs in the EU, divided by impact sectors. The findings show an expectedly large public burden in the adaptation of transport infrastructure and coastal protection, while high adaptation costs in the agriculture sector are predominantly private. The change in energy demand may well lead to a significant decrease in public expenditure. Considering the regional heterogeneity of adaptation measures and the high uncertainty of quantitative adaptation analyses, further research in the form of bottom-up-studies is needed.
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Future hydrology and climate in the River Nile basin: a review
A critical discussion of recent studies that analysed the effects of climate change on the water resources of the River Nile Basin (RNB) is presented. First, current water-related issues on the RNB showing the particular vulnerability to environmental changes of this large territory are described. Second, observed trends in hydrological data (such as temperature, precipitation, river discharge) as described in the recent literature are presented. Third, recent modelling exercises to quantify the effects of climate changes on the RNB are critically analysed. The many sources of uncertainty affecting the entire modelling chain, including climate modelling, spatial and temporal downscaling, hydrological modelling and impact assessment are also discussed. In particular, two contrasting issues are discussed: the need to better recognize and characterize the uncertainty of climate change impacts on the hydrology of the RNB, and the necessity to effectively support decision-makers and propose suitable adaptation strategies and measures. The principles of a code of good practice in climate change impact studies based on the explicit handling of various sources of uncertainty are outlined.
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Thinking through the climate change challenge
In October 2010, a group of leading thinkers on environmental policy met at the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester for a conference in honour of Nobel Laureate Tom Schelling. This column presents a 10-point guideline for climate change policy co-authored by 26 attendees that focuses on designing policies that are credible, easily monitored, and easily enforced.
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Changes in precipitation with climate change
There is a direct influence of global warming on precipitation. Increased heating leads to greater evaporation and thus surface drying, thereby increasing the intensity and duration of drought. However, the water holding capacity of air increases by about 7% per 1°C warming, which leads to increased water vapor in the atmosphere. Hence, storms, whether individual thunderstorms, extratropical rain or snow storms, or tropical cyclones, supplied with increased moisture, produce more intense precipitation events. Such events are observed to be widely occurring, even where total precipitation is decreasing: ‘it never rains but it pours!’ This increases the risk of flooding. The atmospheric and surface energy budget plays a critical role in the hydrological cycle, and also in the slower rate of change that occurs in total precipitation than total column water vapor. With modest changes in winds, patterns of precipitation do not change much, but result in dry areas becoming drier (generally throughout the subtropics) and wet areas becoming wetter, especially in the mid- to high latitudes: the ‘rich get richer and the poor get poorer’. This pattern is simulated by climate models and is projected to continue into the future. Because, with warming, more precipitation occurs as rain instead of snow and snow melts earlier, there is increased runoff and risk of flooding in early spring, but increased risk of drought in summer, especially over continental areas. However, with more precipitation per unit of upward motion in the atmosphere, i.e. ‘more bang for the buck’, atmospheric circulation weakens, causing monsoons to falter. In the tropics and subtropics, precipitation patterns are dominated by shifts as sea surface temperatures change, with El Niño a good example. The volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 led to an unprecedented drop in land precipitation and runoff, and to widespread drought, as precipitation shifted from land to oceans and evaporation faltered, providing lessons for possible geoengineering. Most models simulate precipitation that occurs prematurely and too often, and with insufficient intensity, resulting in recycling that is too large and a lifetime of moisture in the atmosphere that is too short, which affects runoff and soil moisture.
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Extreme precipitation in Europe: statistical threshold selection based on climatological criteria
In the present study, both parametric (peak over threshold: mean residual life, dispersion index, threshold choice) and non-parametric (percentiles indices 95% and 99%) statistical techniques are employed, aiming at the identification of rainfall thresholds above which a precipitation event can be characterized as extreme. The analysis is based on 45 years (1960–2004) rain gauge daily records from 65 meteorological stations over the European region. According to two climatologically based criteria that were introduced in the study, it was found that a combined peak over threshold methodology has been shown to yield higher threshold values above which extreme precipitation events occur, in comparison to the 95th percentile indices. Overall, concerning northern Europe, it was found that in the majority of the stations, the threshold values vary from 20 to 30 mm, while the results concerning the Mediterranean region are less coherent and the selection of extreme precipitation thresholds differs from region to region. Stations over eastern Mediterranean appear to have thresholds higher than 30 mm, while stations located over the main cyclone trajectories and the cyclogenesis zone of Mediterranean are those with the higher extreme precipitation thresholds (higher than 45 mm).
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To know what we cannot know: Global mapping of minimal detectable absolute trends in annual precipitation
Fresh water resources, human societies, and ecosystems are expected to be strongly impacted by climate change, with precipitation trends being one of the most important elements that will be closely monitored. However, the natural variability of precipitation data can often mask existing trends such that the results appear as statistically insignificant. Information on the limitations of trend detection is important for risk assessment and for decision making related to adaption strategies under inherent uncertainties. This paper reports on an effort to quantify and map minimal detectable absolute trends in annual precipitation data series on a global scale. Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to generate realizations of trended precipitation data for different precipitation means and coefficients of variance, and the Mann–Kendall method was applied for detecting the trend significance. Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) VASClimO data was used to compute the mean and coefficient of variance of annual precipitation over land and to map minimal detectable absolute trends. It was found that relatively high magnitude trends (positive or negative) have a low chance of being detected as a result of high natural variance of the precipitation data. The largest undetectable trends were found for the tropics. Arid and semiarid regions also present high relative values in terms of percent change from the mean annual precipitation. Although the present analysis is based on several simplified assumptions, the goal was to point out an inherent problem of potentially undetectable high absolute trends that must be considered in analyzing precipitation data series and assessing risks in adaption strategies to climate change.
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Recent changes in precipitation, ITCZ convection and northern tropical circulation over North Africa (1979–2007)
This article focuses on some recent changes observed in the Tropics with special emphasis on the African monsoon region using high-resolution gridded precipitation from the Climatic Research Unit (period 1979–2002), outgoing longwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and atmospheric reanalyses from the Climate Prediction Center (NCEP-DOE2, period 1979–2007). The results show a rainfall increase in North Africa since the mid-90s with significant northward migrations of rainfall amounts, i.e. + 1.5° for the 400 mm July to September isohyets, whereas deep convection has significantly increased and shifted northward. The subsidence branch of the northern meridional overturning has also been reinforced and shifted by 1° latitude northward in winter. At larger scale, an unambiguous reorganisation of the circulation with increasing subsidence in high troposphere over the Mediterranean and increasing ascendance in the African Intertropical Convergence Zone in northern summer has been noticed in the meridional cell overturning. After 1993–1994, the migration of the Saharan heat low towards northwest has been more marked (+1° to + 2° in latitude; − 1° to − 2° in longitude), whereas its centre intensified at the peak of the tropical rainy season (+10 gpm thickness in the 700–925 hPa layer). These changes are associated with significant reinforcements of the southwesterly low-level winds and Tropical Easterly jet and with a northward shift of the African Easterly jet. Analyses of Global Circulation Model outputs issued from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (A1B scenario and from forced experiments on the ARPEGE-climat (Action de Recherche Petite Echelle Grande Echelle) and Atmospheric Global Circulation Model show that at least part of these changes could be due to the recent warming observed in the Mediterranean/Saharan region.
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Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change: Learning from Impact and Vulnerability Literature
In the international arena, two broad policy responses have emerged to deal with negative impact of climate change, i.e. 'mitigation' and 'adaptation'. Though adaptation is required to reduce unmitigated climatic impact, the ongoing international climate conventions and scholarly studies have given less emphasis to it in comparison to mitigation. In climate change economics literature, the notion adaptation has been used in two discourses: 'impact' and 'vulnerability', and both are different in the context of not only addressing research question but also assessing adaptive capacity. Assuming adaptation as 'static or end-point' approach, the impact studies have estimated potential impact cost, which involves both adaptation and residual or un-mitigated impact cost, based on projected emission scenarios now and forever. The vulnerability studies, in contrast, have presumed adaptation as 'starting-point' approach, and assessed risk of an entity within the broader social, economic, political and environmental context. In the context of adaptation, the former (impact) assumes clairvoyant farmer hypothesis, and hence, suggests climate specific adaptations. The later (vulnerability), on the other hand, views adaptation as the current ability of a person to cope with risk and secure livelihoods, which in particular assessing vulnerability, who adapts and his/her risk attitude behaviour, and process of occurring adaptations. Though the purpose of both is to reduce negative impact through adaptation, the present study surveys both the sets of studies based on two questions: how the notion of adaptation is being articulated and to what extent their findings are useful for implementing and facilitating adaptations.
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Market mechanisms for adaptation to climate change - lessons from mitigation and a pathway to implementation
Such instruments should be as efficient as possible, and in other policy fields market-based mechanisms have been used to maximize efficiency. So far however, there is almost no experience with adaptation taxes, tradable project-based offsets or tradable allowances, whereas climate change mitigation has been a field where such instruments have been widely applied during the last two decades. While generally, market-based instruments for mitigation can be seen as successful, several key lessons have been learned. (1) Pilot phases are important to test an instrument and to correct design flaws.(2) Distortions by lobbies can lead to adverse distributional effects. Regulatory uncertainty reduces the efficiency gains. (3) Transaction costs can form a significant barrier. (4) Monitoring and independent verification are key to prevent fraud. These lessons should be taken into account in the design of market mechanisms for adaptation, and we derive requirements for that. Finally, we discuss a concrete pathway to establishing market mechanisms for adaptation and define priorities for further research and possible pilot implementation, differentiating by types of adaptation.
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Future hydrology and climate in the River Nile basin: a review
A critical discussion of recent studies that analysed the effects of climate change on the water resources of the River Nile Basin (RNB) is presented. First, current water-related issues on the RNB showing the particular vulnerability to environmental changes of this large territory are described. Second, observed trends in hydrological data (such as temperature, precipitation, river discharge) as described in the recent literature are presented. Third, recent modelling exercises to quantify the effects of climate changes on the RNB are critically analysed. The many sources of uncertainty affecting the entire modelling chain, including climate modelling, spatial and temporal downscaling, hydrological modelling and impact assessment are also discussed. In particular, two contrasting issues are discussed: the need to better recognize and characterize the uncertainty of climate change impacts on the hydrology of the RNB, and the necessity to effectively support decision-makers and propose suitable adaptation strategies and measures. The principles of a code of good practice in climate change impact studies based on the explicit handling of various sources of uncertainty are outlined.
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The FLASH Project: using lightning data to better understand and predict flash floods
The FLASH project was implemented from 2006 to 2010 under the EU FP6 framework. The project focused on using lightning observations to better understand and predict convective storms that result in flash floods. As part of the project 23 case studies of flash floods in the Mediterranean region were examined. For the analysis of these storms lightning data from the ZEUS network were used together with satellite derived rainfall estimates in order to understand the storm development and electrification. In addition, these case studies were simulated using mesoscale meteorological models to better understand the meteorological and synoptic conditions leading up to these intense storms. As part of this project tools for short term predictions (nowcasts) of intense convection across the Mediterranean and Europe, and long term forecasts (a few days) of the likelihood of intense convection were developed. The project also focused on educational outreach through our website http://flashproject.org supplying real time lightning observations, real time experimental nowcasts, forecasts and educational materials. While flash floods and intense thunderstorms cannot be prevented as the climate changes, long-range regional lightning networks can supply valuable data, in real time, for warning end-users and stakeholders of imminent intense rainfall and possible flash floods.
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Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980
Efforts to anticipate how climate change will affect future food availability can benefit from understanding the impacts of changes to date. We found that in the cropping regions and growing seasons of most countries, with the important exception of the United States, temperature trends from 1980 to 2008 exceeded one standard deviation of historic year-to-year variability. Models that link yields of the four largest commodity crops to weather indicate that global maize and wheat production decli
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Adapting urban water systems to climate change
ICLEI, UNESCO-IHE and IWA have authored, as part of the ‘SWITCH – Managing Water for the City of the Future’ project, a handbook on adapting urban water systems to climate change. The handbook aims to fill a gap in the adaptation field: while a lot of information is available about various adaptation topics, there is a lack of guidance for decision makers at the local level working on urban water who wish to proactively prepare for and adapt to climate change. The handbook first examines some of the key areas of vulnerability to climate change within urban water systems. The handbook also proposes flexible and future-oriented urban water planning as a means to address climate change and implement adaptation actions. Finally, the handbook presents case studies of cities throughout the world that have already planned for adaptation or implemented specific actions aiming at increasing their resilience to climate change.
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The Landscape of Climate Finance: A CPI Report
Climate finance has been a key topic in recent international climate negotiations, resulting in a commitment to increase the flow of climate finance from developed to developing countries to USD 100 billion per year by 2020. Building a comprehensive picture of climate finance flows is essential to this effort. Understanding how much and what type of support is being made available to advance action on low-carbon, climate-resilient development, how these types of support correspond to countries’ needs, and whether financial resources are being spent productively is critical to building trust among countries and ensuring the effective use of the available financial resources.In this paper, CPI assesses the current status of the climate finance landscape, mapping its magnitude and nature along the life cycle of finance flows, i.e. the sources of finance, intermediaries involved in distribution, financial instruments, and final uses. After presenting estimates of current flows based on available data, describing the methodology, and discussing the sources of data, we offer recommendations to improve further data-gathering efforts.
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Climate Change, Natural Disasters and Migration: An Empirical Analysis
The aim of this paper is to assess the relationship between natural disasters caused by climate change and migration by examining migration rates and levels of education in developing countries. Many studies such as the Stern review (2007) or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) predict an intensification of climate change for future years. Thus climate change has taken an essential place in world governance. The relationship between climate change, natural disasters and migration is crucial; developed countries need to manage the increasingly complicated issues of additional incoming migratory flows caused by environmental degradation. We investigate this relationship by using panel data from developing countries in order to see the effect of natural disasters on migration rates and how that varies according to the level of education. Estimations are made with a country fixed effects estimator through an accurate econometric model. The results confirm previous studies, namely that natural disasters are positively associated with emigration rates. But beyond this result, the main contribution of this paper is to show that natural disasters due to climate change exacerbate the brain drain in developing countries characterized by the migration of highly skilled people just when those countries are at their most vulnerable and need greater support from skilled workers to deal with the damage associated with natural disasters. The paper also shows that this effect varies depending on geographical location.
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Climate Change Adaptation and Real Option Evaluation: A Case Study in Campeche, Mexico
This report illustrates the application of a (relatively) new method to guide decision making under high (and unknowable) levels of uncertainty. The approach allows for the identification of robust policy options that are economically beneficial under different scenarios and varying levels uncertainty. Option value techniques are commonly employed in the finance literature to identify investment decisions that are resilient across a spectrum of outcomes. The methods are technically advanced
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Climate Change and Migration: Rethinking Policies for Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction
Climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions is now, at some level, a fact. IPCC and other scientific bodies have modeled a number of future scenarios estimating changes in weather patterns, ocean currents, and (more recently) ecosystems. Average atmospheric temperatures are increasing and with this increase scientists expect (and in some cases may already be observing) more rapid melting of the earth’s ice sheets, sea level rise, and greater seasonal variability in rainfall. They are documenting more frequent storms and intense flooding in some areas, and severe and prolonged droughts in others, predicting further water scarcity, diminished food production, and unemployment. With the increase in natural disasters, vulnerable communities (those with weak support systems, governance, and capacity to respond) are most at risk. Many may be displaced or increase their reliance on migration as a coping strategy for survival. The rise in humanitarian crises presents enormous challenges for poorer countries and the international organizations called on for assistance. These challenges are exacerbated by the lack of consistent policies, standards, and practices in disaster planning related to human displacement and migration. As the findings of the Academy and case studies presented in this volume reveal, human mobility is not always adverse to community development but in some circumstances may help build resilience. Better understanding the opportunities and impacts of migration, and how to protect those displaced by disaster, can help governments to improve their climate adaptation strategies. So, too can improving cooperation among neighboring states with shared natural resources and among countries of migration origin and destination. To do this effectively, governments will need to rethink existing disaster planning, migration policy, and institutional frameworks. The findings and recommendations in this introductory chapter are the result of the 2010 Summer Academy on Social Vulnerability organized by UNU-EHS and MRF from July 25-31, 2010 in Hohenkammer, Germany. They provide a foundation for further consideration of how governments can better manage displacement and migration related to climate disasters. The papers that follow this introductory chapter in Sections 1 and 2 below are the selected work of Academy participants who undertook specific case studies as part of their graduate or post-graduate work and in preparation for the program. In some circumstances they refined their analysis to incorporate their learning experience. The compilation of works is not meant to represent a comprehensive study of all issues relevant to climate-related migration. Rather, the individual studies provide a unique, in-depth focus on various aspects of the issue and on multiple regions where climate change impacts may be significant. They suggest new avenues for research, policy, and law that may be relevant to decision makers in affected regions, and bring a greater depth to the issues discussed by the Academy.
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Climate change: present and future risks to health – and necessary responses
Recent observed changes in Earth's climate, to which humans have contributed substantially, are affecting various health outcomes. These include altered distributions of some infectious disease vectors (ticks at high latitudes, malaria mosquitoes at high altitudes), and an uptrend in extreme weather events and associated deaths, injuries and other health outcomes. Future climate change, if unchecked, will have increasing, mostly adverse, health impacts - both direct and indirect. Climate change will amplify health problems in vulnerable regions, influence infectious disease emergence, affect food yields and nutrition, increase risks of climate-related disasters and impair mental health. The health sector should assist society understand the risks to health and the needed responses.
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Assessing the costs and benefits of adaptation options: an overview of approaches
This paper outlines three methods for assessing the costs and benefits of different adaptation options. The paper aims to elaborate on the role and purpose of assessment and to explain the most commonly used assessment approaches. The paper is comprised of four sections: (i) the first section introduces the purpose of the assessment and the assessment criteria; (ii) the second section provides an overview of methodological issues and explains the three main methods of assessment; (iii) the third section gives examples of best practices and lists some lessons learned by previous assessment teams; and (v) the fifth section concludes the paper, emphasizing the need for continued assessments even after the climate change adaptation plan is in place. This publication has been developed under the Nairobi work programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change.
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Lessons Learned on Local Climate Adaptation from the Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative
This report summarizes the main findings of the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP)'s Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative. In partnership with government leaders from ten large counties and cities, CCAP launched the Initiative to foster local climate adaptation efforts and to develop and implement climate resilient strategies. This report provides an assessment of general lessons learned over the course of the project and thoughts about future directions for local climate adaptation.
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Financing Adaptation to Climate Change with Climate Derivatives
Natural hazard events in 2010 and 2011 such as the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull on Iceland, the heatwave in Russia, the extreme floods in northeastern Australia, and more recently the earthquake followed by a tsunami at Fukushima in Japan demonstrated the vulnerability of the networked global economy, where interruptions in supplies of important goods to industrial firms or to the food industry meant that gradually more and more sectors of the economy were affected. Further, interest in attributing the risk of damaging weather-related events to anthropogenic climate change is increasing. Hence, as climate change progresses over the coming decades, a widening range of sectors will experience both direct and indirect climate change related damages. The 2001 IPCC report stated that if greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations were stabilised, sea level would nonetheless continue to rise for hundreds of years. However, according to the latest estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2010 GHG emissions increased by a record amount, indicating that emissions are now close to being back on a business as usual path. Therefore, adaptation is inevitable and one has to build uncertainty into the planning process resulting from the effects of the emissions that have already occurred and will still occur in the coming decades. We propose to use climate derivatives to make climate investible in order to finance mitigation and adaptation to climate change. We give a detailed explanation of the mechanism used to provide higher yield than market to long-term investors, and describe as an example two structured products designed to finance adaptation via the real options approach and the context-first approach.
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Israel's Second National Communication on Climate Change
The report relates to Israel's special circumstances, its national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, national policy on mitigation and adaptation, and more. It looks at developments in the field of climate change since the submission of Israel's first national report to the United Nations exactly ten years ago, in November 2000. Israel's Second National Communication will be distributed at the Climate Change Conference which convenes in Cancun, Mexico from November 29 to December 10, 2010. The report was prepared as part of Israel's commitment under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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International environmental agreements in the presence of adaptation
We show that adaptive measures undertaken by countries in the face of climate change, apart from directly reducing the damage caused by climate change, may also indirectly mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the stable size of international agreements on emission reductions. Moreover, we show that the more effective the adaptive measure in terms of reducing the marginal damage from emissions, the larger the stable size of the international environmental agreement. In addition, we show that larger coalitions, in the presence of adaptation, may lead to lower global emission levels and higher welfare.
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Plan or React? Analysis of Adaptation Costs and Benefits Using Integrated Assessment Models
Financing for adaptation is a core element in the ongoing international negotiations on climate change. This has motivated a number of recent global estimates of adaptation costs. While important from an agenda setting perspective, many of these estimates nevertheless have a number of limitations. They are typically static (i.e. estimated for one specific year), do not differentiate between investments in various types of adaptation or quantify the resulting benefits, and are delinked from policies and investments in greenhouse gas mitigation.
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International Cooperation on Climate Change Adaptation from an Economic Perspective
This paper investigates the economic incentives of countries to cooperate on international adaptation financing. Adaptation is generally implicitly incorporated in the climate change damage functions as used in Integrated Assessment Models. We replace the implicit decision on adaptation with explicit adaptation in a multi-regional setting by using an adjusted RICE model. We show that making adaptation explicit will not affect the optimal mitigation path when adaptation is set at its optimal level. Sub-optimal adaptation will, however, change the optimal mitigation path. Furthermore this paper studies for different forms of cooperation what effects international adaptation transfers will have on (i) domestic adaptation and (ii) the optimal mitigation path. Adaptation transfers will fully crowd out domestic adaptation in a first best setting. Transfers will decrease overall mitigation in our numerical simulations. An analytical framework is used to analyse the most important mechanisms and a numerical model is used to assess the magnitude of effects.
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Preparing for a changing climate: The Chicago climate action plan's adaptation strategy
The Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP), Chicago’s roadmap for reducing climate change impacts and adapting to the changes already occurring, relied on rigorous analysis to formulate policy decisions through stakeholder coordination and public engagement. Three key pieces of analysis contributed to Chicago’s adaptation strategy: an evaluation of Chicago’s higher and lower greenhouse gas emissions scenarios; an assessment of Chicago’s economic risk under both emissions scenarios; and a prioritization of potential impacts using a scoring system that included likelihood of occurrence and local consequences of occurrence.Potential adaptation tactics were categorized according to their expected benefits and costs and led to the creation of working groups to develop action plans that will include primary actors, timelines, budgets, and performance measures that the City will monitor. While not essential for all cities, the impacts analysis was of high value to the adaptation strategy. However, a strategy for stakeholder engagement is crucial in ensuring that the implications of climate impacts are properly understood.
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Climate change, food stress, and security in Russia
Farming in higher latitudes is generally believed to benefit from a warmer climate due to extended growing season, reduced risk of frost, availability of more productive cultivars, and an opening potential of farming in northern locations. We analyzed the impact of climate change on production of cereals in Russia and found that this general perception of beneficiary effect of a warmer climate is unlikely to hold, primarily due to increasing risk of droughts in the most important agricultural areas of the country. Past impacts of droughts on food security throughout the twentieth century suggest that a number of adaptation options are available to mitigate the increasing risks of crop failure. We analyze the effectiveness of these measures in connection with a set of climate change projections, under two contrasting scenarios of interregional grain trade: “Fortress Market” and “Open Market.”
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Climate Protection Commitment Heidelberg
This is the result of cooperation. On the one hand, the city provides not only a hotline to answer any questions residents may have concerning cleanliness or garbage, but also a comprehensive and reliable garbage disposal and city cleaning service with comparatively low charges. On the other hand, the residents demonstrate the strength of their commitment in community action events, such as the spring clean and by carefully separating their garbage. This, in turn, contributes to sustainable recycling: Heidelberg's organic waste is turned into high-quality compost.
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Urban Forests: A Climate Adaptation Guide
This guide has been prepared to help communities in British Columbia (B.C.) identify and prepare for some of the impacts of climate change. It provides information on how communities can use urban forests to manage some of the impacts of changing climates and how to adapt these urban forests so that they survive and thrive in future climates. This is a high-level overview that is targeting at the staff and elected officials in B.C."s communities--small and large, rural and urban--including those who do not have professional arborists or urban foresters on staff.
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The vulnerability of beach tourism to climate change – an index approach
The attractiveness of a region for touristic activities depends strongly on the local weather and climate. This paper analyses the vulnerability of the beach tourism sector towards climate change by means of an index approach on a country level. A vulnerability framework for the tourism sector is developed and on its basis, indicators are defined for exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. A transparent index approach, including a robustness analysis with multiple transformation methods and weighting sets, yields an assessment of the overall relative vulnerability of the beach tourism sector in 51 countries. Aggregate results on an annual level are presented as a starting point for a more detailed comparison of countries based on the individual indicators. The important limitations regarding the availability of accurate indicators as well as the concept of vulnerability itself are discussed. Despite these limitations, the present study contributes to integrating the numerous direct as well as indirect effects climate change may have on beach tourism.
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Change in pan evaporation over the past 50 years in the arid region of China
Pan evaporation, as a surrogate of potential evaporation, is reported to have decreased in different regions of the world since the 1950s. There is much literature to explain the decrease in pan evaporation using the so-called evaporation complimentary relationship hypothesis and it is argued that pan evaporation can be understood as a sign of global warming and indication of an accelerating hydrologic cycle. On the other hand, some scientists insist that the pan evaporation trends may be caused by a global dimming, which effectively reduces the solar radiation to the ground surface. However, few reports are available about the changes in pan evaporation and their implications to water balance in arid regions. In the present study, we investigate the trends in pan evaporation in arid regions of China over the past 50 years and attempt to characterize the changes in water balance in these areas. It is found that pan evaporation in these areas has portrayed a statistically significant decreasing trend, which may be attributed mainly to decreases in wind speed and diurnal temperature range and increase in precipitation. The trends in some major meteorological factors such as pan evaporation, precipitation, temperature, wind speed and others imply an enhanced hydrological cycle in the study area.
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First projection of climatological mean river discharges in the Magdalena River basin, Colombia, in a changimg climate during the 21st century
This study projects the river discharge in the Magdalena River basin, Colombia, considering projected climate conditions for the 21st century, by using a 20-km-mesh atmospheric global climate model and a 0.5°-mesh global river routing model under a greenhouse gas emission scenario. The climatological annual mean river discharges along the main stream of the Magdalena River do not change significantly, however precipitation, evaporation, and total runoff into the river show statistically significantly changes over most of the Magdalena River basin. By the end of the 21st century, the projected climatological monthly mean river discharge at Puerto Berrio decreases statistically significantly in April, October, and November (P < 0.05), compared to current values, whereas it shows a distinct increase for June through August, thereby reducing the present bimodality of its seasonal variation. Minimum climatological monthly mean river discharge in February could be lower at the end of the 21st century than in the current condition. These results should help increase the awareness of the changing river discharge in the Magdalena River basin, and prepare adaptation strategies to face these challenges.
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Climate change adaptation: the pivotal role of water
The document advocates for significant investments and policy shifts to be done, guided by the following principles: (i) Mainstream adaptations within the broader development context; (ii) Strengthen governance and improve water management; (iii) Improve and share knowledge and information on climate and adaptation measures, and invest in data collection; (iv) Build long-term resilience through stronger institutions, and invest in infrastructure and in well functioning ecosystems; (v) Invest in cost-effective and adaptive water management as well as technology transfer; and (vi) Leverage additional funds through both increased national budgetary allocations and innovative funding mechanisms for adaptation in water management.
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Future changes in Central Europe heat waves expected to mostly follow summer mean warming
Daily output from the PRUDENCE ensemble of regional climate simulations for the end of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries over Europe is used to show that the increasing intensity of the most damaging summer heat waves over Central Europe is mostly due to higher base summer temperatures. In this context, base temperature is defined as the mean of the seasonal cycle component for those calendar days when regional heat waves occur and is close, albeit not identical, to the mean temperature for July–August. Although 36–47% of future Central Europe July and August days at the end of the twenty-first century are projected to be extreme according to the present day climatology, specific changes in deseasonalized heat wave anomalies are projected to be relatively small. Instead, changes in summer base temperatures appear much larger, clearly identifiable and of the same order of magnitude as changes in the whole magnitude of heat waves. Our results bear important consequences for the predictability of central European heat wave intensity under global warming conditions.
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Evolvability of between-year seed dormancy in populations along an aridity gradient
Under global climate change, adaptation to new conditions is crucial for plant species persistence. This requires the ability to evolve in traits that are correlated with changing climatic variables. We studied between-year seed dormancy, which correlates with environmental variability, and tested for clinal trends in its evolvability along an aridity gradient in Israel. We conducted a germination experiment under five irrigation levels with two dryland winter annuals (Biscutella didyma, Bromus fasciculatus) from four sites along the gradient. Species differed in means and evolvability of dormancy. Biscutella had high dormancy, which significantly increased with aridity but decreased with higher irrigation. In Bromus, dormancy was low, similar among populations, and only marginally affected by irrigation. Evolvability in Biscutella was high and varied among populations, without a clinal trend along the gradient. Conversely, in Bromus, trait evolvability was low and declined with increasing aridity. We argue that changes in evolvability along climatic gradients depend on the relative intensity of stabilizing selection. This may be high in Bromus and not only depends on environmental stress, but also on variability. Our findings point to the importance of measuring evolvability of climate-related traits across different natural and artificial environments and for many coexisting species.
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Invasive species and climate change: Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronquist as a tool for assessing the invasibility of natural plant communities along an aridity gradient
The predicted reduction in precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean due to climate change may expose the natural plant communities to invasive species. We assessed whether natural plant communities along an aridity gradient in Israel were resistant to invasion by considering differences in abiotic conditions and community characteristics in these regions. We considered Conyza canadensis as a model plant as it is a common invader in the region. We examined the mechanisms and functional traits of both the plant communities and C. canadensis that promote or discourage invasion. Study sites represented a rainfall gradient with four ecosystem types: mesic Mediterranean, Mediterranean, semiarid and arid. Our results showed that the mechanisms of community invasion resistance varied along the aridity gradient. At the arid and semiarid sites, water deficiency impaired the establishment of C. canadensis. At the mesic Mediterranean site, plant competition had a negative effect on C. canadensis performance, thus greatly reducing the likelihood of its establishment. We conclude that a decrease in regional precipitation due to climate change may not affect intrinsic resistance characteristics of natural plant communities to invasion in the area.
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Observed and projected changes in drought conditions of Turkey
Drought has become a recurring phenomenon in Turkey in the past few decades. Analyzing the historical occurrence and future projections of drought characteristics such as frequency, intensity and duration provide a better understanding of the range of climate futures for one particular country. Hence, this study aimed at analyzing the likely changes of drought characteristics in the future. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) has been used to assess the drought characteristics. Rainfall datasets for the period 1960-1990 were acquired from 52 stations throughout Turkey. The future rainfall series for the years 2070-2100 were simulated using a regional climate model (RegCM3). The validated RegCM3 was used for simulating future climatic data, and the simulated rainfall series were used for calculation of drought indices. To asses the likely changes in future drought characteristics, each simulated future rainfall series was compared with the average rainfall amount derived from the reference period in SPI calculations. The maps were drawn to determine the spatial changes of droughts. The results showed that drought conditions are diverse in the country, and also increasing trends for intensity, frequency and duration were detected. The Eastern part of Marmara, the Black Sea and north-east part of the East Anatolia Region are characterized by wetter conditions.
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Trends in CO2 emissions in Israel—an international perspective
As a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Israel conducts a periodical inventory of greenhouse gases emissions. These data allowed the generation of time series of CO2 emissions per capita and per GDP for the period 1990–2004. It was found that CO2 emissions per capita increased dramatically from 1990 to 2000, reflecting the rapid economic growth that was initiated by the massive immigration wave at the beginning of the nineties. These emissions remained stable between 2000 and 2004, reflecting the economic stagnation caused by the uprising in the Palestinian Territories, as well as stagnation in the global economy. CO2 emissions per GDP (CO2 intensity) remained stable along the whole reviewed period. This stability can be explained by a shift in electricity consumption from the industrial sector towards the commercial and the residential sectors, corresponding to an increase in the standard of living in the same period. A comparison was held with countries considered as developed for many years represented by the five largest economies (G-5) and recently developed countries (RDCs). Although Israel exhibits emission levels within the range of the G-5 countries, it does not fit the patterns demonstrated by these countries. Trends observed in Israel resemble these observed in other RDCs, such as Spain or Greece, confirming the classification of Israel in this category.
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Cross-comparison of climate change adaptation strategies across large river basins in Europe, Africa and Asia
A cross-comparison of climate change adaptation strategies across regions was performed, considering six large river basins as case study areas. Three of the basins, namely the Elbe, Guadiana, and Rhine, are located in Europe, the Nile Equatorial Lakes region and the Orange basin are in Africa, and the Amudarya basin is in Central Asia. The evaluation was based mainly on the opinions of policy makers and water management experts in the river basins. The adaptation strategies were evaluated considering the following issues: expected climate change, expected climate change impacts, drivers for development of adaptation strategy, barriers for adaptation, state of the implementation of a range of water management measures, and status of adaptation strategy implementation. The analysis of responses and cross-comparison were performed with rating the responses where possible. According to the expert opinions, there is an understanding in all six regions that climate change is happening. Different climate change impacts are expected in the basins, whereas decreasing annual water availability, and increasing frequency and intensity of droughts (and to a lesser extent floods) are expected in all of them. According to the responses, the two most important drivers for development of adaptation strategy are: climate-related disasters, and national and international policies. The following most important barriers for adaptation to climate change were identified by responders: spatial and temporal uncertainties in climate projections, lack of adequate financial resources, and lack of horizontal cooperation. The evaluated water resources management measures are on a relatively high level in the Elbe and Rhine basins, followed by the Orange and Guadiana. It is lower in the Amudarya basin, and the lowest in the NEL region, where many measures are only at the planning stage. Regarding the level of adaptation strategy implementation, it can be concluded that the adaptation to climate change has started in all basins, but progresses rather slowly.
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Europe adapts to climate change: Comparing national adaptation strategies
For the last two decades, European climate policy has focused almost exclusively on mitigation of climate change. It was only well after the turn of the century, with impacts of climate change increasingly being observed, that adaptation was added to the policy agenda and EU Member States started to develop National Adaptation Strategies (NASs). This paper reviews seven National Adaptation Strategies that were either formally adopted or under development by Member States at the end of 2008. The strategies are analysed under the following six themes. Firstly, the factors motivating and facilitating the development of a national adaptation strategy. Secondly, the scientific and technical support needed for the development and implementation of such a strategy. Thirdly, the role of the strategy in information, communication and awareness-raising of the adaptation issue. Fourthly, new or existing forms of multi-level governance to implement the proposed actions. Fifthly, how the strategy addresses integration and coordination with other policy domains. Finally, how the strategy suggests the implementation and how the strategy is evaluated. The paper notes that the role of National Adaptation Strategies in the wider governance of adaptation differs between countries but clearly benchmarks a new political commitment to adaptation at national policy levels. However, we also find that in most cases approaches for implementing and evaluating the strategies are yet to be defined. The paper concludes that even though the strategies show great resemblance in terms of topics, methods and approaches, there are many institutional challenges, including multi-level governance and policy integration issues, which can act as considerable barriers in future policy implementation.
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Recent changes in the Mediterranean water cycle: A pathway toward long-term regional hydroclimatic change?
An observational analysis of Mediterranean Sea water cycle variability based on recently available datasets provides new insights on the long-term changes that affected the region since the 1960s. Results indicate an overall increase in evaporation during 1958–2006, with a decrease up until the mid-1970s and an increase thereafter. Precipitation variability is characterized by substantial interdecadal variations and a negative long-term trend. Evaporation increase, primarily driven by SST variability, together with precipitation decrease resulted in a substantial increase in the loss of freshwater from the Mediterranean Sea toward the overlying atmosphere. An increase in the freshwater deficit is consistent with observed Mediterranean Sea salinity tendencies and has broad implications for the Mediterranean water cycle and connected systems.These observational results are in qualitative agreement with simulated Mediterranean Sea water cycle behavior from a large ensemble of models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3 (CMIP3). However, simulated anomalies are about one order of magnitude smaller than those observed. This inconsistency and the large uncertainties associated with the observational rates of change highlight the need for more research to better characterize and understand Mediterranean water cycle variations in recent decades, and to better simulate the crucial underlying processes in global models.
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Water access, water scarcity, and climate change
This article investigates the approaches of the various discourses operating in the water sector and how they address the issues of scarcity and equitable access under projected climate change impacts. Little synergy exists between the different approaches dealing with these issues. Whilst being a sustainable development and water resources management issue, a holistic view of access, scarcity and the projected impacts of climate change is not prevalent in these discourses. The climate change discourse too does not adequately bridge the gap between these issues. The projected impacts of climate change are likely to exacerbate the problems of scarcity and equitable access unless appropriate adaptation strategies are adopted and resilience is built. The successful delivery of accessible water services under projected climate change impacts therefore lies with an extension of the adaptive water management approach to include equitable access as a key driver.
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Impact of rainfall manipulations and biotic controls on soil respiration in Mediterranean and desert ecosystems along an aridity gradient
Spatially heterogeneous ecosystems form a majority of land types in the vast drylands of the globe. To evaluate climate-change effects on CO2 fluxes in such ecosystems, it is critical to understand the relative responses of each ecosystem component (microsite). We investigated soil respiration (Rs) at four sites along an aridity gradient (90–780 mm mean annual precipitation, MAP) during almost 2 years. In addition, Rs was measured in rainfall manipulations plots at the two central sites where ∼30% droughting and ∼30% water supplementation treatments were used over 5 years. Annual Rs was higher by 23% under shrub canopies compared with herbaceous gaps between shrubs, but Rs at both microsites responded similarly to rainfall reduction. Decreasing precipitation and soil water content along the aridity gradient and across rainfall manipulations resulted in a progressive decline in Rs at both microsites, i.e. the drier the conditions, the larger was the effect of reduction in water availability on Rs. Annual Rs on the ecosystem scale decreased at a slope of 256/MAP g C m−2 yr−1 mm−1 (r2=0.97). The reduction in Rs amounted to 77% along the aridity gradient and to 16% across rainfall manipulations. Soil organic carbon (SOC) decreased with declining precipitation, and variation in SOC stocks explained 77% of the variation in annual Rs across sites, rainfall manipulations and microsites. This study shows that rainfall manipulations over several years are a useful tool for experimentally predicting climate-change effects on CO2 fluxes for time scales (such as approximated by aridity gradients) that are beyond common research periods. Rainfall reduction decreases rates of Rs not only by lowering biological activity, but also by drastically reducing shrub cover. We postulate that future climate change in heterogeneous ecosystems, such as Mediterranean and deserts shrublands will have a major impact on Rs by feedbacks through changes in vegetation structure.
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Adaptation to climate change in Sweden: knowledge, policy and practice
Our research explores how science can help Swedish stakeholders to assess adaptation needs and options. In our research, meetings between scientists and stakeholders revealed a positive attitude to using scientific knowledge in adaptation decision-making. The study suggests that, to support decision-making, there is a need for scientific results (notably climate change and impact scenarios) to be presented in a more user-friendly fashion, as well as for greater informal interaction between scientists, practitioners and policymakers.In particular, there is a need for results to show shorter time horizons, provide clear graphics, and offer more locally relevant information.
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Climate change and its impacts on the coastal zone of the Nile Delta, Egypt
The main objectives of the current work are (1) to determine historic pattern of shoreline changes (erosion and accretion) along the north coast of the Nile Delta, (2) to present a future view on what to be expected regarding climate change impacts, sea-level rise (SLR) scenarios, expected land losses and alteration of some soil characteristics (3) to recognize negative impacts of SLR on the Nile Delta coast and (4) to assess and suggest protection measures. The current investigation was conducted using the advanced techniques of remote sensing and geographic information system. The investigated area with 394 measured locations is located along the northern coast of the Nile Delta between Alexandria and ElTina plain in Sinai peninsula exactly between 29°20′ and 32°40′ E and 29°54′ and 31°35′ N with the minimum erosion values of 1.11 m2, maximum of 6,044,951.64 m2 and total of 16.02 km2. On the other hand, 177 sites showed minimum accretion values of 0.05 m2, maximum of 2,876,855.86 m2 and total of 13.19 km2. SLR was determined by applying the quadrant equation for 10-year intervals using 1990 as the base year. Mediterranean SLR along the Nile Delta coast could be estimated considering three different scenarios (low 0.20 m, medium 0.50 m, and high 0.90 m). Impacts of SLR are divided into (1) primary and (2) secondary impacts. Over the coming decades, the Nile Delta will face greater threat due to SLR and land subsidence as well. Regarding climate change and its impacts on soil characteristics, rapid increase in salinity values during the former three decades were found. This increase may be due to the intrusion of salty water of the Mediterranean. On the other hand, organic matter content decreased due to higher temperature, especially during the summer season. Some protection measures were assessed and suggested to combat or tackle SLR.
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Comparative analysis of algal communities in the rivers of northern and southern Israel as bearing on ecological consequences of climate change
Climatic impact on algal communities is analyzed by comparing two unpolluted river ecosystems, the Oren River of Mediterranean zone, Northern Israel and Zin River of the Central Negev Desert, Southern Israel. Bio-indication method was used for assessment of ecologically significant variations in the composition of algal communities in both rivers. Our analysis highlighted the distinctions in taxonomic diversity and abundances of both salinity tolerant (halobic) and alkaliphilic groups of algae.
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Adapting to Climate Change: An Introduction for Canadian Municipalities
This book is an update and expansion of the document
published in 2006 by the Canadian Climate Impacts and
Adaptation Research Network (Mehdi, 2006) under the
same title. It provides municipal decision-makers and staff
with information to help them understand the need for
climate change adaptation and how to put adaptation
measures in place. The book also refers to other guides
that can help municipalities identify and address risks
and opportunities, and to case studies that illustrate how
municipalities of varying sizes from across the country
are taking action now.
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Adapting to Climate Change: A Risk-based Guide for Local Governments
Using the Canadian national standard framework for risk management, this guide is intended to assist local and regional governments (as well as health officials, emergency managers and businesses) in understanding the risks related to climate change and how to manage predicted impacts. The guide provides an overview of climate trends and projections in BC and the local government planning context. The document focuses primarily on the steps in the risk management process. Briefly summarized, the steps are: getting started; preliminary analysis; risk estimation; risk evaluation; risk controls and adaptation decisions; and implementing and monitoring. The guide stresses the importance of communication and documentation throughout all steps.
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Mainstreaming climate change adaptation in Indian cities
If climate change is perceived as a global threat, this can mean that too little attention is paid to the ways in which it affects local populations and settlements. This also means too little attention to the importance of locally driven adaptation, both to reduce risks and to be better prepared to cope with consequences. This paper reviews the many initiatives underway in India that respond to climate change, and discusses what else is needed to mainstream effective adaptation, as well as identifying what currently constrains this. It also discusses how adaptation has to be mainstreamed within urban development and urban governance. Most municipal authorities in India are already grappling with large deficits in infrastructure and services and do not see climate change adaptation as a priority or as their responsibility. However, their attention may be engaged if they can see the co-benefits between adaptation and measures to address development and environmental health concerns.
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Adapting to Climate Change Towards a European framework for action
This White Paper sets out a framework to reduce the EU’s vulnerability to the impact of
climate change. It builds on the wide-rangi
ng consultation launched in 2007 by the Green
Paper on Adapting to Climate Change in Europe
1
and further research efforts that identified
action to be taken in the short-
term. The framework is designed to evolve as further evidence
becomes available. It will complement
action by Member States and support wider
international efforts to adapt to
climate change, particularly in
developing countries. The EU
is working with other partner countries in the UNFCCC
2
towards a post-2012 climate
agreement which will address adaptation as well as mitigation. The Commission's proposals
in this context are set out in the Communicatio
n entitled “Towards a comprehensive climate
change agreement in Copenhagen
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Biodiversity and Climate Change in the European Union
If the loss of biodiversity continues – or
accelerates – it will compromise the achieve
-
ment of the climate change goals. Urgent
action now to halt the further biodiversity
loss and degradation will help to maintain
provision of ecosystem services and future
options for reducing the extent of climate
change and managing its impacts. Healthy
ecosystems are a
precondition for stabilising
the climate system. Therefore maintenance
and restoration of biodiversity and healthy
ecosystems represent our life insurance for
the future.
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Convenient Solutions to an inconvenient Truth, Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change
The World Bank's Environment Department has published a report titled “Convenient Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth: Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change,” which sets out an argument for including ecosystem-based approaches to mitigation and adaptation as a third and essential pillar in national strategies to address climate change.
Such ecosystem-based strategies can offer cost-effective, proven and sustainable solutions contributing to, and complementing, other national and regional adaptation strategies. The report notes that three of the world's greatest challenges over the coming decades will be biodiversity loss, climate change and water shortages. It underscores that promoting further integration of ecosystem-based approaches into climate change responses and national adaptation strategies will require access to greater sources of funding, including capitalizing on opportunities to protect natural ecosystems as part of major energy and infrastructure projects. The report reviews the Bank's experience in promoting market-based financing mechanisms and instruments to expand the reach of the carbon market. New initiatives and investment funds, such as the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, the Forest Investment Program and the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience, are highlighted as new opportunities to better protect natural capital, benefit communities and use cost-effective green technology to address the challenges of climate change.
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Towards a Strategy on Climate Change, Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity A discussion paper prepared by the EU Ad Hoc Expert Working Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change
Biodiversity and ecosystem services are not just
the victims of our mismanagement, but are
our ally in dealing with the problems of
global environmental change. Ecosystem-based
approaches contribute to tack
ling the causes and consequences of climate change, provide
multiple benefits across society and protect the vital natural functions on which human well-
being depends. An increasing number of recen
t reviews, policy documents and reports e.g.
"The Natural Fix? – the role of ecosystems in climate mitigation" by UNEP
7
and "Convenient
Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth: Ecosyste
m-based Approaches to Climate Change" by the
Environment Department of The World Bank
8
emphasise the two-way link between
biodiversity and climate change and demonstrat
e an increasing awareness of the important
role of ecosystems in the climate system as well
as of the value of protecting biodiversity as a
route to moderating climate change. Without
healthy and resilient ecosystems it will not be
possible to stabilise the climat
e system or to adapt to the
unavoidable impacts of climate
change. Therefore urgent action is needed
to halt the further lo
ss and degradation of
biodiversity and ecosystem services, if we are to
retain the ability to reduce the extent of
climate change and manage its impacts.
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Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) Fifth session of the UNFCCC Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA)
Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) includes a range of local and landscape scale
strategies that enable both people and nature to adapt in the face of climate change. An
ecosystem-based approach to adaptation is compatible and supportive of a wide range
of local and national development objectives, as
well as with ongoing adaptation efforts
at community level, and with existing priorities identified in many of the most vulnerable
countries.
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Spain, Water and Climate Change in COP 15 and Beyond: Aligning Mitigation and Adaptation through Innovation (WP)
The water/energy nexus opens a range of opportunities to align mitigation and adaptation framed by human security, which prioritises human development. In this context, Spain has an opportunity to play a leading role in realising this potential by pursuing a coherent multilevel strategy specifically designed for water and climate variability and change. Spain has a clear opportunity and, for practical policy reasons, a very clear self-interest in placing the water/energy nexus and the alignment of mitigation and adaptation high on the political agenda. The aim at COP-15 should be first for a global agreement and, as second best, a small multilateral group with Mediterranean and Latin American countries on the need to link water and climate change and variability. The second act will be the EU Presidency, where Spain can leave a legacy.
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Effect of extreme rainfall events on the water resources of the Jordan River
As a response to climate change, shifting rainfall trends including increased multi-year droughts and an escalation in extreme rainfall events are expected in the Middle East. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential impact of these shifting trends on stream flow in the Jordan River and its tributaries. We use a non-homogeneous hidden Markov model to generate artificial daily rainfall simulations which capture independently shifting trends of increased droughts and escalated extreme. These simulations are then used as input into a hydrological model calibrated for the upper catchments of the Jordan River to compare the impact on stream flow and water resources between the different rainfall scenarios. We compare the predicted baseflow and surface flow components of the tested watersheds, and find that while an increase in extreme rainfall events increases the intensity and frequency of surface flow, the over all flow to the Jordan River, and the characteristics of the baseflow in the Jordan River system is not largely impacted. In addition, though it has been suggested that in the case of a multi-year drought the karstic nature of the aquifer might lead to more intense, non-linear reductions in stream flow, here we quantify and show the conditions when annual stream flow reduce linearly with rainfall, and when these relations will become non-linear.
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Seattle Climate Protection Initiative: Progress Report 2009
The 2009 Climate Protection Initiative Progress Report details Seattle's numerous environmental and smart growth programs such as bicycle and pedestrian improvements, new transit options, electric car infrastructure, conservation efforts and green building programs. In addition to reducing the city's contribution to global warming, Seattle will also prepare for climate change by ensuring that its infrastructure, facilities, and services are ready to adapt to the projected impacts of climate change. The report's page on adaptation reviews efforts to conserve water in anticipation of a reduction in snow pack, and highlights the creation of sea-level rise maps for use by city officials in future planning.
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California Climate Change Adaptation
The State of California addresses adaptation to climate change through its California Climate Adaptation Strategy which summarizes climate change impacts and recommends adaptation strategies.
The State is also developing an Adaptation Planning Guide (APG) to provide a decision-making framework intended for use by local and regional stakeholders to aid in the interpretation of climate science and to develop a systematic rationale for reducing risks caused, or exacerbated, by climate change.
The State's third major assessment on climate change explores local and statewide vulnerabilities to climate change, highlighting opportunities for taking concrete actions to reduce climate-change impacts. See the Reports on the Third Assessment.
The California Natural Resources Agency and the California Energy Commission have released Cal-Adapt, a web-based tool which enables city and county planners, government agencies, and the public to identify potential climate change risks in specific areas throughout California.
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Cambridge Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan 2008-2012
The purpose of the Cambridge Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan is to establish the framework for action in Cambridge to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change. It describes the present situation, rationale, future intentions and actions for Cambridge City Council to take in order to achieve them.
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Assessing the impact of climate change on representative field crops in Israeli agriculture: a case study of wheat and cotton
Climate changes, associated with accumulation of greenhouse gases, are expected to have a profound influence on agricultural sustainability in Israel, a semi-arid area characterized by a cold wet winter and a dry warm summer. Accordingly this study explored economic aspects of agricultural production under projected climate-change scenarios by the “production function” approach, as applied to two representative crops: wheat, as the major crop grown in Israel’s dry southern region, and cotton, representing the more humid climate in the north. Adjusting outputs of the global climate model HadCM3 to the specific research locations, we generated projections for 2070–2100 temperatures and precipitations for two climate change scenarios. Results for wheat vary among climate scenarios; net revenues become negative under the severe scenario (change from −145 to −273%), but may increase under the moderate one (−43 to +35%), depending on nitrogen applied to the crop. Distribution of rain events was found to play a major role in determining yields. By contrast, under both scenarios cotton experiences a considerable decrease in yield with significant economic losses (−240 and −173% in A2 and B2 scenarios, respectively). Additional irrigation and nitrogen may reduce farming losses, unlike changes in seeding dates.
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City of Madrid Plan for the Sustainable Use of Energy and Climate Change Prevention 2008
Madrid City Council is aware that climate change prevention
and energy efficiency are among the main challenges
facing the city of Madrid. In recent years, considerable
effort has been made in this respect, through measures
designed to address both objectives, such as the Local Air
Quality Strategy, energy diversification of the City Council
fleet or participation in European projects, among others.
The combination of these actions and their continuation
over time have led to a significant abatement of emissions.
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Chicago Climate Action Plan - Strategy 5: Adaptation
Chicagoans have long prized the city’s spacious green parks and tree-shaded streets. In warmer months, when cooling breezes blow off the lake, people crowd the city’s ball fields, summer festivals and open-air concerts. Even the bracing change of seasons is a source of civic pride. Yet as many who have already dedicated themselves to climate issues know, our familiar cycle of weather my soon become a dim memory. The earth responds slowly to changes in atmospheric gases. For that reason, over the next few decades, we will continue to face the consequences of our heat-trapping gas emissions from decades past.
Aggressive action will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the future. We must also take action by adapting to changes that are already happening and preparing for the changes ahead. The previous sections have outlined mitigation strategies – key elements of the plan to reduce the likelihood of adverse conditions. Adaptation, the courses of action detailed here, will help reduce the impact of the changes that can be expected even if we greatly reduce emissions.
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Chicago Climate Action Plan
The Chicago Climate Action Plan was created to determine the challenges we face in Chicago as a result of climate change, outline achievable goals to reduce emissions and adapt to changes that currently impact the city of Chicago. The Chicago Climate Action Plan outlines five strategies: Energy Efficient Buildings; Clean and Renewable Energy Sources; Improved Transportation Options; Reduced Waste and Industrial Pollution, and Adaptation.
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Adaptation to climate change in the European Union efficiency vs. equity considerations
EU climate policy is based on GHG emissions reduction (mitigation) coupled with measures aimed at responding efficiently to the unavoidable consequences of climate change (adaptation). However, as the European Commission recently stated in its Green Paper on adaptation in Europe, there is still a need to develop an overall EU adaptation strategy. Moreover, such a strategy should take into consideration both efficiency and equity concerns. In this article we propose a framework for EU adaptation policy that addresses both concerns and which enables a transparent decision-making process. In the proposed scheme universal weightings of the individual policy objectives have to be agreed upon prior to actual decision-making.
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Assessing the robustness of adaptation decisions to climate change uncertainties: A case study on water resources management in the East of England
Projections of future climate change are plagued with uncertainties, causing difficulties for planners taking decisions on adaptation measures. This paper presents an assessment framework that allows the identification of adaptation strategies that are robust (i.e. insensitive) to climate change uncertainties. The framework is applied to a case study of water resources management in the East of England, more specifically to the Anglian Water Services’ 25 year Water Resource Plan (WRP). The paper presents a local sensitivity analysis (a ‘one-at-a-time’ experiment) of the various elements of the modelling framework (e.g., emissions of greenhouse gases, climate sensitivity and global climate models) in order to determine whether or not a decision to adapt to climate change is sensitive to uncertainty in those elements.
Water resources are found to be sensitive to uncertainties in regional climate response (from general circulation models and dynamical downscaling), in climate sensitivity and in climate impacts. Aerosol forcing and greenhouse gas emissions uncertainties are also important, whereas uncertainties from ocean mixing and the carbon cycle are not. Despite these large uncertainties, Anglian Water Services’ WRP remains robust to the climate change uncertainties sampled because of the adaptation options being considered (e.g. extension of water treatment works), because the climate model used for their planning (HadCM3) predicts drier conditions than other models, and because ‘one-at-a-time’ experiments do not sample the combination of different extremes in the uncertainty range of parameters. This research raises the question of how much certainty is required in climate change projections to justify investment in adaptation measures, and whether such certainty can be delivered.
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Challenges to manage the risk of water scarcity and climate change in the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean region is undergoing rapid local and global social and environmental changes. All indicators point to an increase in environmental and water scarcity problems with negative implications towards current and future sustainability. Water management in Mediterranean countries is challenged these pressures and needs to evolve to reach the target of increasing population with reliable access to freshwater established by the Millennium Development Goals. This paper first reviews and evaluates current and future social and environmental pressures on water resources, including climate change. The results show that pressures are not homogeneous across the region and sectors of water use. Second the paper evaluates the adaptation strategies to cope with water scarcity, including technology, use of strategic groundwater, and management. Finally, the paper proposes a framework for managing the risk of water scarcity based on preparedness rather than a crisis approach. The importance of local management at the basin level is emphasized, but the potential benefits depend on the appropriate multi-institutional and multi-stakeholder coordination.
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A Survey of Climate Change Adaptation Planning
The report is divided into two sections: (i) adaptation planning guidebooks and frameworks, and (ii) adaptation planning efforts that are currently underway. This introductory survey report is designed to provide a “road map” to some of this information. It makes no claim to be comprehensive or to represent best practices on adaptation. Rather, the goal in producing this survey is to help generate discussion and the sharing of ideas, efforts and lessons learned across the adaptation community.
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Developing a Municipal Adaptation Plan (MAP) for climate change: the city of Cape Town
Climate change increases the likelihood of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and heat waves, as well as more gradual changes in temperature and precipitation. The city of Cape Town (South Africa) is at risk from projected climate-induced warming and changes in rainfall variability. This makes resource management and infrastructure planning more challenging and increases the urgency of the need to adapt city-level operations to both current climate variability and future climate change. To date, however, the main focus of adaptation planning has been at the nationallevel, and has not adequately addressed municipal-scale adaptation. This paper presents and discusses an overarching framework that would facilitate the development of a Municipal Adaptation Plan (MAP). The example of the city of Cape Town illustrates some of the sector-level assessments and potential climate threats, as well as resource mobilization issues that need to be addressed during the development and implementation of a MAP. In conclusion, a number of barriers to developing a MAP are discussed.
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Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Water, Land-use and Economic Return in Agriculture
We develop a regional scale economic model for analyzing climate-change impacts on agriculture. Non-linear production functions describing yield responses to land allocation, water application and water salinity are integrated into a mathematical programming model. The responses to water quantity and quality are estimated by the use of scientific-based models simulating equilibrium in the root zone among plant's water uptake, soil salinity and soil's water content. Internalization of land allocation among crops is based on Howitt's PMP calibration approach (1995). The model, therefore, enables assessment of climate-change impacts on optimal agricultural management, where adaptation is considered endogenously with respect to both the extensive and intensive margins.
The model is applied to the case of Israel. We divide the country into 14 regions and estimate regional future precipitation levels by implementing a climate-change down-scaling procedure. Then the model computes optimal agricultural managements under these projected rainfall levels. The results indicate a reduction of about 20% in statewide annual agricultural net-revenues by the year 2100 in comparison to 2002. Land allocated to field crops is increased on the expense of forages and vegetables. The shares of field crops and forages in the agricultural irrigation-water allotment are increased, while that of vegetables declines.
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Finland's national strategy for adaptation to climate change
The Parliament’s reply to the National Climate Strategy submitted to the Parliament in
March 2001 identifi ed the need to draft a programme for adaptation to climate change.
The preparation of the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change was started
in the latter part of 2003. The work was coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry and representatives from the Ministry of Traffi c and Communications,
Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Ministry of the
Environment, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finnish Meteorological Institute and Finnish
Environment Institute took part in the preparation. Each Ministry was responsible for
assessing the impacts and identifying adaptation measures in its own sector.
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Buying Time: A User’s Manual for Building Resistance and Resilience to Climate Change in Natural Systems
This publication is meant for Protected Areas Managers. It gives detailed information about assessing occurring and possible damage from climate change and fending off the damage - buying time for our protected areas while the world works out the only long-term solution - reducing CO2 emissions - See more at: http://wwf.panda.org/?8678/BUYING-TIME-A-Users-Manual-for-Building-Resistance-and-Resilience-to-Climate-Change-in-Natural-Systems#sthash.YLG2orEK.dpuf
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Background Paper to the Task Force on Climate Change, Adaptation and Vulnerable Communities
The sharpest impact of our changing climate on hum
an systems will be the rise in incidence and
severity of climate-related disasters. The two main disciplines concerned with human
vulnerability to climate extremes are disaster
management and climate change. While disaster
managers develop and implemen
t hands-on tools for reducing vu
lnerability to natural hazards,
they have yet to incorporate the implications of
climate change into their work. Climate change
researchers and policymakers are increasingly fo
cusing on adapting to a changing climate, but
have not yet spelled out how to do so with groun
d-level action. Working from different point of
departure, both disciplines have come to
a common conclusion, that natural resource
mismanagement contributes to the vulnerability of
human systems to these hazards, and enhanced
management can provide a tool for vulnerability reduction.
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An Anatomy of Adaptation to Climate Change and Variability
Adaptation to climate variability and change is important both for impact assessment (to estimate adaptations which are likely to occur) and for policy development (to advise on or prescribe adaptations). This paper proposes an "anatomy of adaptation" to systematically specify and differentiate adaptations, based upon three questions: (i) adapt to what? (ii) who or what adapts? and (iii) how does adaptation occur? Climatic stimuli include changes in long-term mean conditions and variability about means, both current and future, and including extremes. Adaptation depends fundamentally on the characteristics of the system of interest, including its sensitivities and vulnerabilities. The nature of adaptation processes and forms can be distinguished by numerous attributes including timing, purposefulness, and effect. The paper notes the contribution of conceptual and numerical models and empirical studies to the understanding of adaptation, and outlines approaches to the normative evaluation of adaptation measures and strategies.
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Guide to Climate Change Adaptation in Cities
This Guide is a practical resource on responding to the challenges of climate change adaptation in cities. The principal intended audience is city officials and practitioners in developing countries, who are beginning to consider the issues of climate change adaptation, and can find in this guide an introduction and comprehensive overview of this evolving topic.The Guide offers examples of good practices and successful experiences and describes other available resource materials and tools. It outlines practical perspectives, showing ways to link climate change to community priorities and other important city issues such as disaster risk reduction, economic development, public health, sustainability, food security and other priorities. In so doing, it can contribute to the development and implementation of adaptation plans in cities, strengthening capacities and helping to catalyze dialogue on adaptation among city managers and other stakeholders.
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Recent articles and publications
Adaptation of agriculture to climate change
Agricultural adaptation is critical to understanding climate change impact and to enhancing food security in the 21st century.
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The State of the World's Children 2024 - The future of childhood in a changing world.
The report explores three megatrends that will profoundly impact children’s lives between now and 2050: demographics shifts, the climate and environmental crises and frontier technologies.
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Adaptation Gap Report 2024 - Come hell and high water
The report finds that progress in adaptation financing is not fast enough to close the enormous gap between needs and flows, which contributes to a continued lag in adaptation planning and implementation efforts.
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Urban water infrastructure: A critical review on climate change impacts and adaptation strategies
Urban water infrastructure (UWI) plays a critical role in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) by providing safe drinking water, sanitation, and wastewater management, and contributing to sustainable cities.
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Europe's state of water 2024: the need for improved water resilience
The EEA report "Europe's State of Water 2024" underscores the growing pressure on Europe’s water resources, particularly from agriculture, which is the largest consumer of water and a major source of pollution from nutrients and pesticides. Climate change is expected to exacerbate this pressure by increasing water demand for irrigation, making adaptation essential to safeguarding water supplies.
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Climate Adaptation Costing in a Changing World
The impacts of climate change are increasingly evident across Europe and are expected to worsen as global temperatures rise.
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Defining Adaptation Needs, Counting Adaptation Finance and Enabling Actions at National and European Level
The report analyzes in detail how adaptation budgets are tracked both at EU level and in national policy documents. Particular attention is paid to the European Commission's use of climate coefficients to quantify the climate-related orientation of budget items.
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Strengthening coordination in climate change adaptation policy between local, regional, and national authorities
The aim of the project was to develop recommendations for updating the Strategic Adaptation Plan for sectors and areas sensitive to climate change by 2020 with a perspective to 2030 (NAS2020), as well as to provide support for entities involved in the implementation of adaptation activities.
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A threat to progress: confronting the effects of climate change on child health and well-being
Climate change is impacting almost every aspect of child health and well-being from pregnancy to adolescence. Children are disproportionately affected by climate change because they are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards compared to adults.
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A framework for climate change adaptation of port infrastructures
Adaptation of port infrastructures to climate change and sea level rise effects is highlighted as a key field among transportation systems’ lines of action for adaptation, given their highly exposed location in coastal areas and position as critical nodes in logistic chains and local, regional and national economies.
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Heat-related mortality in Europe during 2023 and the role of adaptation in protecting health
The year of 2023 was the warmest on record globally and the second warmest in Europe. Here we applied epidemiological models to temperature and mortality records in 823 contiguous regions from 35 countries to estimate sex- and age-specific heat-related mortality in Europe during 2023 and to quantify the mortality burden avoided by societal adaptation to rising temperatures since the year 2000. We estimated 47,690 (95% confidence interval 28,853 to 66,525) heat-related deaths in 2023, the second
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Preparing society for climate risks in Europe - lessons and inspiration from Climate-ADAPT case studies
Countries in Europe have made considerable progress in developing and planning policies to adapt to climate change.
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Urban Overheating and Adaptation Measures - An Analysis at EU, National, and Local Level
This report by the World Bank on Urban Overheating & Adaptation Measures explores the adaptation strategies employed across the European Union (EU) to mitigate the impacts of urban heat.
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Measuring Progress in Adapting to a Changing Climate
this report provides insights into current OECD country practices in measuring climate adaptation
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Accounting for adaptation when projecting climate change impacts on health: A review of temperature-related health impacts
Exposure to high and low ambient temperatures can cause harm to human health. Due to global warming, heat-related health effects are likely to increase substantially in future unless populations adapt to living in a warmer world.
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WMO Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update – 2024-2028
The Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update is issued annually by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It provides a synthesis of the global annual to decadal predictions produced by the WMO-designated Global Producing Centres and other contributing centres for 2024-2028.
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Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat: Assessing and Addressing the Risks
this new report from scientists at World Weather Attribution, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and Climate Central assesses the influence of human-caused climate change on dangerous heat waves over the past 12 months (May 15, 2023 to May 15, 2024).
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Seaport adaptation and capacity investments under inter-port competition and climate-change uncertainty
Climate-related disasters are causing increasing damage to seaports, necessitating investment in climate-change adaptation to enhance resilience.
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Willingness to incur private costs for climate adaptation? Public support for undergrounding electricity transmission lines in California
Climate mitigation policies face a political challenge because they tend to impose local costs to create a global public goods benefit.
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'Responding to climate change impacts on human health in Europe: focus on floods, droughts and water quality’
The EEA report 'Responding to climate change impacts on human health in Europe: focus on floods, droughts and water quality’ draws attention to the water-related impacts of climate change on health and well-being that are already felt across Europe and include deaths, injuries, outbreaks of infectious diseases and mental health consequences.
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The 2024 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: unprecedented warming demands unprecedented action
Record-breaking temperatures were recorded across the globe in 2023. Without climate action, adverse climate-related health impacts are expected to worsen worldwide, affecting billions of people. Temperatures in Europe are warming at twice the rate of the global average, threatening the health of populations across the continent and leading to unnecessary loss of life. The Lancet Countdown in Europe was established in 2021, to assess the health profile of climate change aiming to stimulate Europ
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Urban adaptation in Europe: what works? - Implementing climate action in European cities
Average temperatures across Europe are rising faster than the global average, and
Europe's cities are feeling the impacts of climate change more regularly and more
severely. With the summer of 2023 breaking temperature records, the case for
investing in societal resilience to climate change has never been clearer.
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Europe's cities are feeling the impacts of climate change more regularly and more
severely. With the summer of 2023 breaking temperature records, the case for
investing in societal resilience to climate change has never been clearer.
Current inequality and future potential of US urban tree cover for reducing heat-related health impacts
Excessive heat is a major and growing risk for urban residents. Here, we estimate the inequality in summertime heat-related mortality, morbidity, and electricity consumption across 5723 US municipalities and other places, housing 180 million people during the 2020 census.
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Ageing population and green space dynamics for climate change adaptation in Southeast Asia
Climate change adaptation efforts are challenged by rapid population ageing and thus an increased proportion of vulnerable individuals. Despite its importance for adaptation planning, the link between ageing demographics and climate adaptation, particularly green infrastructure development, remains unexplored.
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Designing water markets for climate change adaptation
Water markets have the potential to lessen some costs of climate change.
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Designing water markets for climate change adaptation
Water markets have the potential to lessen some costs of climate change. However, they need to be designed to address the unique institutional and physical features of water.
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A Move towards Developing Usable Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Services for the Agricultural Sector
Dryland farming is at the center of increasing pressure to produce more food for the growing population in an environment that is highly variable and with high expectations for the standard of their production systems. While there is mounting pressure for increased productivity, the responsibility to protect the environment and diminish the agricultural sector’s carbon footprint is receiving growing emphasis.
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Cooling effects in urban communities: Parsing green spaces and building shadows
The thermal environment in urban communities significantly impacts the comfort and well-being of residents. Reducing the surface temperature in these areas is critical for improving the quality of life of residents and mitigating the urban heat island effect.
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Identifying constraints and limits to climate change adaptation in Austria under deep uncertainty
Although humanity has always been adapting to a changing environment, the accelerated rate of climate change in combination with continued socioeconomic development and the delay in climate action result in deep uncertainties, further challenging policy, and decision making. A main are of concern, triggered by the increasing frequency and intensity of climatic hazards are growing uncertainties regarding the effectiveness of prevailing adaptation strategies, as well as constraints and eventually
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Food security and sustainability through adaptation to climate change: Lessons learned from Nepal
Climate change adaptation strategies play a crucial role in smallholder farm households' food security and sustainability, particularly under climate change extremes.
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London Climate Resilience Review
The London Climate Resilience Review (the Review) is an independent review
commissioned by the Mayor of London to take stock of London’s preparations for
climate change and to make recommendations to advance London’s climate
resilience.
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commissioned by the Mayor of London to take stock of London’s preparations for
climate change and to make recommendations to advance London’s climate
resilience.
Innovation and Adaptation in the Climate Crisis: Technology for the New Normal
In a new report, Innovation and Adaptation in the Climate Crisis: Technology for the New Normal, the World Economic Forum looks at six data-driven and digital technologies that can play a “mission-critical” role in global climate adaptation.
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Participant perspectives on effective elements and impacts of climate change adaptation workshops in the United States
Communities in the United States are increasingly relying on place-based climate adaptation workshops to aid attempts to prepare for—and cope with—climate change, but there is limited empirical evidence about what participants believe these workshops can achieve and what elements they find most valuable.
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Urban Greening in the Process of Climate Change Adaptation of Large Cities
Cities—being places where both growth at large and human activity concentrate to the maximum extent, as well as being places of creation, innovation, and development—have been facing the challenge of adaptation to changing climate conditions. Successive greening of urban spaces is becoming an indicator of civilisational progress and one of the most important aspects of sustainable urban development and quality of life of city dwellers. It also represents a part of the sustainable management of n
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Extreme Weather Events and Climate Change: Economic Impacts and Adaptation Policies
This article reviews the literature on the economic impacts of disasters caused by extreme weather and climate events to draw lessons on how societies can better manage these risks. While evidence that richer, better governed societies suffer less and recover faster from climate extremes suggests adaptation, knowledge gaps remain, and little is known about the efficiency of specific adaptation actions.
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Climate change adaptation for biodiversity in protected areas: An overview of actions
Protected Areas (PAs) have been a cornerstone of conservation policy in the past but are generally static and thus might be less useful under climate change as species move away from reserves designated for them
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The Global Risks Report - 2024
The Global Risks Report explores some of the most severe risks we may face over the next decade, against a backdrop of rapid technological change, economic uncertainty, a warming planet and conflict.
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State and Trends in Climate Adaptation Finance 2023
The report covers global status and trends of adaptation finance.
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Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022
Heat in the 2022 summer caused more than 61,000 excess heat-related deaths among the European population, according to a study published in Nature Medicine.
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Socio-economic projections in urban climate change adaptation planning: Practices and prospects for just adaptation
Urban climate change adaptation efforts have often been criticized for exacerbating the inequitable impacts of climate change by failing to address the social, economic, and environmental impacts of adaptation. There is an urgent need to incorporate equity and justice concerns in adaptation planning as well as approaches and tools that enable such integration.
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To understand climate change adaptation, we must characterize climate variability: Here’s how
Climate change adaptation involves the management of climate-related risks, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we must prioritize adaptation immediately. However, researchers and policymakers have little systematic understanding of which adaptations are effective at reducing risks, including under different climate conditions.
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How are European forest ecosystems doing?
To sustain their multiple services, forests must be both resistant and resilient. Resistance refers to a forest's ability to resist or withstand external pressures such as pests, disease or natural disturbances. Resilience refers to a forest's ability to recover and adapt after a disturbance.
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Creating Resilient Futures
This open access report critically examines a coherence building opportunity between Climate Change Adaptation, the Sustainable Development Goals and Disaster Risk Reduction agendas through presenting best practice approaches, and supporting Irish and international case studies.
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Unpacking the theory-practice gap in climate adaptation
Climate change adaptation (CCA) is an urgent global challenge that requires transdisciplinary efforts to deliver effective, aligned, useful, and sustainable outcomes. Current approaches and tools have been slow to translate into robust action, however, leading to a widening gap between adaptation theory and actual on the ground implementation
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Understanding climate change adaptation in Ghana: The role of climate change anxiety, experience, and knowledge
This study examines the effect of climate change knowledge, anxiety, and experience on climate adaptation using survey data from 874 farmers in the Western North Region of Ghana.
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Climate adaptation: Why local governments cannot do it alone
Given the direct impacts of climate change are felt first and foremost at the local level, many have called for climate adaptation to be a local responsibility.
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Provisional State of the Global Climate in 2023
The WMO provisional State of the Global Climate report confirms that 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record.
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Socio-economic projections in urban climate change adaptation planning: Practices and prospects for just adaptation
Urban climate change adaptation efforts have often been criticized for exacerbating the inequitable impacts of climate change by failing to address the social, economic, and environmental impacts of adaptation. There is an urgent need to incorporate equity and justice concerns in adaptation planning as well as approaches and tools that enable such integration.
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The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms
The Lancet Countdown is an international research collaboration that independently monitors the evolving impacts of climate change on health, and the emerging health opportunities of climate action. In its eighth iteration, this 2023 report draws on the expertise of 114 scientists and health practitioners from 52 research institutions and UN agencies worldwide to provide its
most comprehensive assessment yet.
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most comprehensive assessment yet.
Is Europe on track towards climate resilience? Status of reported national adaptation actions in 2023
This briefing presents the current status of national adaptation actions across Europe, with an emphasis on recent developments and lessons learned since the reporting in 2021.
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Adaptation Gap Report 2023
In 2023, temperature records toppled, while storms, floods, droughts and heatwaves caused devastation. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2023: Underfinanced. Underprepared – Inadequate investment and planning on climate adaptation leaves world exposed finds that progress on climate adaptation is slowing when it should be accelerating to catch up with these rising climate change impacts.
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Effectiveness of urban tree planting for city cooling varies between European regions
This study in Global Change Biology reports differences in cooling efficiency trends of urban trees between European regions, and highlights issues that affect cooling benefits.
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Climate change adaptation: How short-term political priorities trample public well-being
Climate change looms, with many communities already suffering from worsening impacts. Despite ample research into how to adapt, attempts have been slow and often inadequate in practice.
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Participatory modeling for local and regional collaboration on climate change adaptation and health
Climate change-related flooding and sea-level rise have important direct and indirect health effects.
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The need to include wild foods in climate change adaptation strategies
Declining wild food use has been reported around the world for decades, with important implications for nutrition and well-being.
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What drives local climate change adaptation? A qualitative comparative analysis
Climate change impacts vary wildly across different geographical contexts and their effects are primarily felt on the local level, generating demand for local solutions.
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Perceptions and preferences of urban residents for green infrastructure to help cities adapt to climate change threats
Green infrastructure in cities is increasingly acknowledged as a way to contribute to tackling the challenges posed by climate change. However, studies analyzing urban inhabitants' attitudes towards green infrastructure when dealing with climate change effects are still scarce.
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Approaching Climate and Disasters in an Age of Uncertainty
Over the past years, climate science became increasingly clear on the links between climate change impacts and natural disasters, particularly water-related disasters.
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Investing in nature-based solutions. State-of-play and way forward for public and private financial measures in Europe
Nature-based solutions are cost-effective interventions that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits and build resilience. This report highlights the challenges involved in financing nature-based projects and draws on the European Investment Bank’s experience in implementing the Natural Capital Financing Facility pilot programme in Europe.
The analysis looks at nature-based solutions across six ecosystems and landscapes. The in-depth report also presents key recommendations on ho
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The analysis looks at nature-based solutions across six ecosystems and landscapes. The in-depth report also presents key recommendations on ho
Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change
This report provides a global assessment and outlook on wildfire risk in the context of climate change
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OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Israel 2023
Climate change adaptation efforts are at an early stage
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Adaptation measurement: Assessing municipal climate risks to inform adaptation policy in the Slovak Republic
Climate change presents a major social, economic and political challenge for the Slovak Republic.
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Progress in local climate change adaptation against sea level rise: A comparison of management planning between 2013 and 2022 of Swedish municipalities
This paper uses content analysis of urban planning and guiding documents to research and evaluate relative adaptation approaches by categorising and comparing relevant indicators of progress. The scope of the paper is covering the 33 coastal municipalities that experience particularly exposure to negative consequences of climate change induced sea level rise.
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WHO/Europe report on valuing urban green and blue spaces for health and well-being
Green and blue spaces, such as parks, gardens, green walls, street trees and water bodies, function among others as nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation through, for example, providing urban cooling and reducing flood risks.
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What happens after climate change adaptation projects end: A community-based approach to ex-post assessment of adaptation projects
Over the last decade, hundreds of climate change adaptation projects have been funded and implemented. Despite the importance of these first-generation adaptation projects for establishing funders and implementors’ “best practices,” very little is known about how early adaptation projects have endured, to what ends, and for whom.
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Global transportation infrastructure exposure to the change of precipitation in a warmer world
Transportation infrastructures are generally designed to have multi-decadal service lives. Transport infrastructure design, however, is largely based on historical conditions.
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Enhancing the insurance sector’s contribution to climate adaptation
Insurance coverage plays an important role in protecting households, businesses and governments from the financial impacts of climate-related disasters.
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US farmers' adaptations to climate change: a systematic review of adaptation-focused studies in the US agriculture context
Farmers in the US are adopting a range of strategies to deal with climate change impacts, from changing planting dates to using advanced technologies.
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Urban Heat Mitigation towards Climate Change Adaptation: An Eco-Sustainable Design Strategy to Improve Environmental Performance under Rapid Urbanization
Rapid urbanization has led to drastic land-use/cover changes (LUCCs) and urban heat islands (UHIs), negatively altering the urban climate and air quality.
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More frequent, persistent, and deadly heat waves in the 21st century over the Eastern Mediterranean
Heat waves are extreme events characterized by sweltering weather over an extended period. Skillful projections of heat waves and their impacts on human mortality can help develop appropriate adaptation strategies. Here, we provide nuanced projections of heat wave characteristics and their effect on human mortality over the Eastern Mediterranean based on ERA5 reanalysis and CORDEX ensemble simulations.
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State of Finance for Nature in Cities 2023
Nature-based solutions (NbS) can help cities become more resilient, healthy and equitable. But for urban nature to reach its full potential, investments need to be substantially scaled up. In 2020, NbS received just 0.3% of overall spending on urban infrastructure, and investments are unequally distributed across and within cities.
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IPCC- AR6 Synthesis Report (SYR) : Climate Change 2023
The SYR outline agreed at the 52nd Panel Session of the IPCC consists of an introduction and three main sections arranged by timeframes. The first section, ‘Current Status and Trends’, covers the historical and present period. The second section, ‘Long-term Climate and Development Futures’, addresses projected futures up to 2100 and beyond. The final section is ‘Near-term Responses in a Changing Climate’, considers current international policy timeframes, and the time interval between now and 20
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Literature Review on Incorporating Climate Change Adaptation Measures in the Design of New Ports and Other Maritime Projects
Due to their nature and location, ports and other maritime projects are particularly sensitive to climate change actions.
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Adaptation to climate change: A study on regional climate change adaptation policy and practice framework
Although planning and policy instruments are important for climate change adaptation, the implementation of these measures is critical for success. This paper studies different climate change adaptation strategies by analysing the measures adopted by stakeholders in charge of government policy development and implementation to minimise the impacts of climate change in the northern tropical region of Queensland, Australia.
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Governance of densification and climate change adaptation: How can conflicting demands for housing and greening in cities be reconciled?
Urban green spaces are important for climate change adaptation, in particular to reduce the negative impacts of heat waves on human well-being. However, in growing cities urban green spaces are under pressure due to increasing housing demand and densification. Municipalities face the challenge of addressing both the housing shortage and the need for climate change adaptation on limited space.
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Tracking the money for climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction
This issue paper zooms in on public finance for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and provides an overview of the latest international and country trends in tagging budgets and tracking public expenditures on climate and disaster resilience.
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Assessing the costs and benefits of climate change adaptation
Climate change is happening. To reduce its economic impact, adaptation and mitigation actions are urgently needed. Decision-makers need to understand their benefits and costs compared to not acting at all. This briefing summarises the main assessment concepts, key methods and related challenges and constraints, and provides practical examples of approaches relevant to the EU.
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Cooling cities through urban green infrastructure: a health impact assessment of European cities
This study, published in The Lancet, models how increasing urban tree coverage to 30% can lower temperatures by 0.4°C, which could reduce heat-related deaths by over a third.
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Provisional State of the Global Climate in 2022
The State of the Global Climate in 2022 is produced on an annual basis, complementing the most
recent long assessment cycle provided by the sixth IPCC Assessment Report.
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recent long assessment cycle provided by the sixth IPCC Assessment Report.
Special Issue: Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation: An Interdisciplinary Approach
The UN member states adopted three international agreements for the post-2015 agenda: the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Climate change is exacerbating disaster risks worldwide, forcing countries to enhance disaster reduction measures. Approaches geared toward adapting to climate change involve a wide range of measures that reduce disaster ri
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Global mapping of urban nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation
Many cities around the world are experimenting with nature-based solutions (NbS) to address the interconnected climate-, biodiversity- and society-related challenges they are facing (referred to as the climate–biodiversity–society, or CBS, nexus), by restoring, protecting and more sustainably managing urban ecosystems.
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Legal culture and climate change adaptation: An agenda for research
While climate change adaptation research has increasingly focused on aspects of culture, a systematic treatment of the role of legal culture in how communities respond to climate risk has yet to be produced. This is despite the fact that law and legal authority are implicated in most, if not all, of the ways in which actors seek to reduce the risks posed to communities by climate change.
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Climate change adaptation in agriculture: Learning from an international labour mobility programme in Australia and the Pacific Islands region
Climate change is expected to seriously affect agricultural livelihoods and food security in all Pacific Island countries. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation contends that, to adapt, both ‘modern’ and Indigenous agricultural practices and knowledge are needed.
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Climate change adaptation through agroforestry: opportunities and gaps
This review highlights the current state of knowledge about the socioeconomic and biophysical role of agroforestry for climate change adaptation, identifies three knowledge gaps, and discusses the role of agroforestry in adaptation policy processes.
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Climate Risk Analysis and Adaptation in Companies
Companies increasingly have to deal with climate risks and, if necessary, implement adaptation measures. To this end, there are clear requirements in the EU taxonomy, the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and other frameworks that are mandatory for some companies to apply. This document contains recommendations for conducting a "robust climate risk and vulnerability assessment" according to the requirements of the Climate Delegated Act as a draft - changes and addition
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Climate adaptation: Measuring performance, defining targets and ensuring sustainability
This study, published by the European Committee of the Regions, aims to support local and regional authorities with practical recommendations on how adaptation measures can be assessed, their progress measured, and targets defined. The study combines insights from academic and grey literature as well as examples of local and regional adaptation plans.
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Key Environmental Impacts along the Mediterranean Coast of Israel in the Last 100 Years
In the last 100 years, the population of the land of Israel has increased dramatically, accompanied by a very intense and accelerated economic and industrial growth. The objective of the present review is to reveal how these major changes have affected the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment. The present review analyzes the global, regional, and local factors and processes that cause substantial environmental changes affecting a variety of marine habitats and taxa.
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Policies and practices of climate change education in South Asia: towards a support framework for an impactful climate change adaptation
South Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change. While it has contributed the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, the people in the region face imminent threats to their health and well-being due to extreme weather events and a range of other climate-induced challenges, such as biodiversity loss and monsoon floods.
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Scientists' warning of threats to mountains
Mountains are an essential component of the global life-support system. They are characterized by a rugged, heterogenous landscape with rapidly changing environmental conditions providing myriad ecological niches over relatively small spatial scales. Although montane species are well adapted to life at extremes, they are highly vulnerable to human derived ecosystem threats.
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World Cities Report 2022: Envisaging the Future of Cities
Envisaging the Future of Cities seeks to provide greater clarity and insights into the future of cities based on existing trends, challenges and opportunities, as well as disruptive conditions, including the valuable lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggests ways that cities can be better prepared to address a wide range of shocks and transition to sustainable urban futures.
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Advancing towards climate resilience in Europe: status of reported national adaptation actions in 2021
This EEA report provides an overview of how all EU Member States and Türkiye are adapting to climate change and are reporting on their adaptation actions. The report summarises how these countries are progressing through the adaptation policy cycle. It gives a snapshot of the situation in 2021, but where possible, compares this with earlier information to describe progress throughout recent years.
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Forests at the heart of sustainable development - Investing in forests to meet biodiversity and climate goals
Forests, forestry and forest-based industries are moving towards a sustainable forest-based bioeconomy. The European Green Deal includes the EU Forest Strategy for 2030. This strategy, together with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, shapes the policy framework for the forestry sector in line with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
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Nature-based solutions - A tool for climate adaptation and other societal challenges
This report defines and explains nature-based solutions, while offering guidance on implementation together with a selection of real-world cases that demonstrate nature-based solutions in different landscape types including wetlands, urban areas, coastal areas, forests and agricultural landscapes.
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World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022
We are now at “code red” on planet Earth. Humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency. The scale of untold human suffering, already immense, is rapidly growing with the escalating number of climate-related disasters. Therefore, we urge scientists, citizens, and world leaders to read this Special Report and quickly take the necessary actions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
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Ocean conservation boosts climate change mitigation and adaptation
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly being promoted as an ocean-based climate solution. However, such claims remain controversial because of the diffuse and poorly synthesized literature on climate benefits of MPAs.
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Enhancing Nature-Based Solutions in Serbia : The role of ecosystems in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation
Serbia is exposed to various natural hazards, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, droughts, wildfires and storms and faces major environmental challenges and climate-related risks, calling for a stronger agenda to improve the national resilience to and mitigation of climate change.
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Adaptation Gap Report 2022 - Too Little, To Slow: Climate adaptation failure puts world at risk
The report looks at progress in planning, financing and implementing adaptation actions. At least 84 per cent of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have established adaptation plans, strategies, laws and policies – up 5 per cent from the previous year. The instruments are getting better at prioritizing disadvantaged groups, such as Indigenous peoples.
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Climate service driven adaptation may alleviate the impacts of climate change in agriculture
Building a resilient and sustainable agricultural sector requires the development and implementation of tailored climate change adaptation strategies.
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Youth Engagement with the Global Goal on Adaptation
The Paris Agreement established countries’ first collective commitment on adaptation, known as the Global Goal on Adaptation. Countries are seeking to assess progress towards the Global Goal on Adaptation and are thereby defining it. It is crucial that young people’s needs and priorities are reflected in the Global Goal on Adaptation, as young people will live with the consequences of a warming planet the longest.
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Climate change as a threat to health and well-being in Europe: focus on heat and infectious diseases
Unprecedented heatwaves — as seen earlier this year across Europe — are the greatest direct climate-related health threat to Europe’s population. Heatwaves already account for numerous deaths and illnesses. This burden is set to increase without more climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. Heat-health action plans, urban greening, better building design and adjusting working times can contribute to better protect the most vulnerable groups in society.
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Scientists' warning on climate change and insects
Climate warming is considered to be among the most serious of anthropogenic stresses to the environment, because it not only has direct effects on biodiversity, but it also exacerbates the harmful effects of other human-mediated threats.
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Scientists' warning on population - 2022
Humanity must commit to transformative change on all levels in order to address the climate emergency and biodiversity collapse.
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The Coldest Year of the Rest of their Lives: Protecting children form the escalating impacts of heatwaves
The climate crisis is rapidly accelerating and with it, heatwaves are becoming longer, stronger, more widespread and more frequent. Heat is especially damaging to children’s health and affects their education and future livelihoods. This report provides yet more evidence that children are on the front lines of the climate crisis.
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The 2022 Europe report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: towards a climate resilient future
In the past few decades, major public health advances have happened in Europe, with drastic decreases in premature mortality and a life expectancy increase of almost 9 years since 1980. European countries have some of the best health-care systems in the world.
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Harnessing the potential of nature-based solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change
Although many governments, financial institutions, and corporations are embracing nature-based solutions as part of their sustainability and net-zero carbon strategies, some nations, Indigenous peoples, local community groups, and grassroots organizations have rejected this term.
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Limited climate change mitigation potential through forestation of the vast dryland regions
Forestation of the global drylands has been suggested to be a way to decrease global warming, but how much promise does it actually have? Rohatyn et al. found that the climatic benefits are minor.
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Forest-based climate change mitigation and adaptation in Europe
Forests and forestry play a key role in policy targets to achieve climate neutrality. In a comprehensive new European Forest Institute study, a multidisciplinary team of 12 authors from 7 countries have analysed how much forests and wood use can contribute to climate change mitigation, and how that contribution can be maximised.
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Financial Innovation for Climate Adaptation in Africa - 2022
There is a pressing need to accelerate finance from all sources for climate adaptation in Africa over the coming decade. The Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of 51 African countries cumulatively show a need for an estimated $579 billion in investment for adaptation through 2030.
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Science for climate action: EU research contribution to IPCC working group II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability : providing solutions, enabling resilient development
Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity, and the window to take action and secure a liveable future is closing fast. The European Commission presented in 2021 its new EU Strategy on adaptation to climate change, setting out how the EU can adapt to the unavoidable climate impacts.
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Towards a deeper understanding of barriers to national climate change adaptation policy: A systematic review
As adaptation have received increasing attention, national adaptation policies and plans have been substantially developed. Despite the significant roles of national policy for adaptation, barriers to national adaptation policy have been overlooked and our understanding of the barriers is not sufficient as we expect.
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Public Health Aspects of Climate Change Adaptation in Three Cities: A Qualitative Study
Climate change presents an unprecedented public health challenge as it has a great impact on population health outcomes across the global population. The key to addressing these health challenges is adaptation carried out in cities through collaboration between institutions, including public health ones.
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Extreme climate events in sub-Saharan Africa: A call for improving agricultural technology transfer to enhance adaptive capacity
This study seeks to provide a critical overview of the existing evidence on extreme climate events and the adaptation options of the affected population in order to help scholars navigate the field. The study examined the recent extreme climate events that occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the climate change adaptation options mentioned in the literature, and the need for international technological transfer in SSA.
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Deploying artificial intelligence for climate change adaptation
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is believed to have a significant potential use in tackling climate change. This paper explores the connections between AI and climate change research as a whole and its usefulness in climate change adaptation efforts in particular.
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Heatwaves and vulnerable populations: Mapping their needs in The Hague
This applied research project "The Effect of heatwaves on vulnerable population groups in The Hague" aimed to generate a better understanding of the effects of heatwaves on vulnerable population groups in the municipality of The Hague, and suggest ways in which the municipality can help such groups to cope with these heatwaves.
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Quality Criteria for Health National Adaptation Plans
A Health National Adaptation Plan (HNAP) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a plan developed by a country’s Ministry of Health as part of the NAP process.
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The inequality labor loss risk from future urban warming and adaptation strategies
Heat-induced labor loss is a major economic cost related to climate change. Here, we use hourly heat stress data modeled with a regional climate model to investigate the heat-induced labor loss in 231 Chinese cities. Results indicate that future urban heat stress is projected to cause an increase in labor losses exceeding 0.20% of the total account gross domestic product (GDP) per year by the 2050s relative to the 2010s.
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Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for Coastal Transport Infrastructure: a Compilation of Policies and Practices
Ports and other coastal transport infrastructure (i.e. coastal roads, railways and airports) will be particularly affected by climate variability and change. The projected increase in sea level will cause permanent and / or recurrent flooding of seaports, coastal airports, and other transport infrastructure in many regions.
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Climate Change Risks for European Aviation
The study carried out by Egis and the UK Met Office on behalf of EUROCONTROL sets out how the aviation industry faces increasing disruption on the ground and in the air from climate change and highlights the growing danger that climate change poses to all parts of the aviation sector.
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Towards ‘just resilience’: leaving no one behind when adapting to climate change
Despite efforts to adapt to climate change in Europe, the most vulnerable groups in society are still the most affected. Projected climate change, an ageing society and persisting socio-economic inequalities mean that differences in vulnerability and exposure to climate change are likely to continue. In addition, adaptation responses may worsen existing inequalities or even create new ones. This briefing looks at how climate change affects vulnerable groups and how these impacts can be prevented
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Agriculture, irrigation and drought induced international migration: Evidence from Mexico
There is now substantial empirical evidence that climatic variability increases international migration, but relatively little is known about the mechanism driving the association and about adaptations that may reduce it. We use detailed data on migrants from Mexico to the U.S. to provide evidence in support of the hypothesis that drought induced migration from Mexico to the U.S. is mediated by agricultural income shocks.
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Small green spaces can help keep cities cool during heat waves
Many studies have shown that urban forests can reduce the urban heat island, and many policies focus their attention on large green spaces. Small green spaces, such as yards, rooftops and small parcels of undeveloped land, can make impressive contributions to lowering urban heat, but they are often overlooked when developing strategies for urban cooling.
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The triple differential vulnerability of female entrepreneurs to climate risk in sub-Saharan Africa: Gendered barriers and enablers to private sector adaptation
The ability of businesses to adapt effectively to climate change is highly influenced by the external business enabling environment. Constraints to adaptive capacity are experienced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across sub-Saharan Africa, regardless of the gender of the business owner. However, gender is a critical social cleavage through which differences in adaptive capacity manifest and in Africa most entrepreneurs are women.
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Urban planning, design and management approaches to building resilience – an evidence review
As part of WHO’s Protecting environments and health by building urban resilience project, a broad literature review of urban planning, design, management and preparedness related to disasters was carried out. Academic literature published during 2015–2021 applicable to cities in the WHO European Region was compiled, and risk-informed urban planning strategies for improved local-level resilience were extracted. A brief selection of recent international reports and guidelines was also included as
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Beating the urban heat: Situation, background, impacts and the way forward in China
This paper reviews urban heat (UrHT) challenges following the SBAR (situation, background, assessment and recommendation) framework. The results indicate that heatwaves become more frequent, lasting and intense, especially after 1990s. Above 1960s level, heatwaves across China doubled in both magnitude and frequency by 2018.
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Adaptation to climate change: A study on regional urban water management and planning practice
Advancing knowledge on how climate change impacts on water resources is considered a priority in the academic world. This paper studies the strategies adopted by urban water professionals in the tropical region of Queensland, Australia to minimise the impacts of climate change on the regional urban water supply network.
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The strengths and weaknesses of future visioning approaches for climate change adaptation: A review
Adaptation to climate change is about planning for the future while responding to current pressures and challenges. Adaptation scientists are increasingly using future visioning exercises embedded in co-production and co-development techniques to assist stakeholders in imagining futures in a changing climate. Even if these exercises are growing in popularity, surprisingly little scrutiny has been placed on understanding the fundamental assumptions and choices in scenario approaches, timeframes,
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HELP Guiding Principles for Drought Risk Management under a Changing Climate
Disaster risk reduction mainly focused on flood events in the past decades. However, one of the most impactful water-related climate risks to both nature and humanity is considered to be droughts, many regions in the world have already been hit hard by drought events in recent years. Drought impacts are far-reaching and include degraded ecosystems, limited availability of drinking water and loss of food production. To be better prepared for future drought events, the High-level Experts and Leade
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Adapt biodiversity targets to climate change
Although the climate crisis is interrelated with biodiversity loss, the decade-old targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have barely addressed climate change impacts (1). So far, the post-2020 global biodiversity framework continues to miss opportunities: The first draft, released in July 2021 (2), overlooks climate-biodiversity interactions and provides no explicit solutions to anticipate climate change—related risks. These issues persist after the latest input of scientific e
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Case Studies on Adaptation and Climate Resilience in Schools and Educational Settings
This publication documents 15 innovative ideas and actions adopted and implemented by educational institutes in Africa, and across the globe. The purpose of this knowledge product is to provide case study examples on adaptation and climate resilience in schools, to offer insights to schools based in Africa, and to amplify real life climate adaptation actions, designed and implemented in different countries across the world.
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Ghana: Roadmap for Resilient Infrastructure in a Changing Climate
Adaptation action is essential to achieving and safeguarding development outcomes in the face of more frequent and intense climate hazards.
This report is the culmination of a 21-month partnership between Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Environment (MESTI), the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), the University of Oxford, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to identify and propose solutions to addre
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This report is the culmination of a 21-month partnership between Ghana’s Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Environment (MESTI), the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), the University of Oxford, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to identify and propose solutions to addre
Climate adaptation guidance: New roles for hydroeconomic analysis
Climate water stress internationally challenges the goal of achieving food, energy, and water security. This challenge is elevated by population and income growth. Increased climate water stress levels reduce water supplies in many river basins and elevate competition for water among sectors. Organized information is needed to guide river basin managers and stakeholders who must plan for a changing climate through innovative water allocation policies, trade-off analysis, vulnerability assessment
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GAR 2022 - Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction
This sixth edition of the United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction – Our World at Risk: Transforming Governance for a Resilient Future offers valuable recommendations to reduce risk and increase resilience. It also details how innovations in systemic risk modelling offer a promising mechanism to better anticipate and respond to risk.
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Greening cities through urban planning: A literature review on the uptake of concepts and methods in Stockholm
Nature-based solutions (NBS) represent the most recent of several "greening" concepts proposed to support spatial planning and decision-making towards sustainable metropolitan regions. Despite similarities, the concepts stem from different disciplines and policy arenas and reflect various models of people-nature relations. This paper aims to analyze the uptake of greening concepts in scientific planning literature focusing on (urban) nature and landscape in the metropolitan region of S
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Biodiversity, climate change, and adaptation in the Mediterranean
Potential for, and limits to, adaptation to environmental changes are critical for resilience and risk mitigation. The Mediterranean basin is a mosaic of biodiversity-rich ecosystems long affected by human influence, whose resilience is now questioned by climate change.
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Climate-sensitive disease outbreaks in the aftermath of extreme climatic events: A scoping review
Outbreaks of climate-sensitive infectious diseases (CSID) in the aftermath of extreme climatic events, such as floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, and heatwaves, are of high public health concern. Recent advances in forecasting of extreme climatic events have prompted a growing interest in the development of prediction models to anticipate CSID risk, yet the evidence base linking extreme climate events to CSID outbreaks to date has not been collated and synthesized.
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The development process and significance of the 3rd National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (2021–2025) of the Republic of Korea
The Republic of Korea has developed its 3rd National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (2021–2025) through joint work between government departments in 2020. This follows the Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth, which was enacted in 2010. In this paper, we presented the development process, main contents, significance, and limitations of the 3rd Adaptation Plan as a helpful case for the international community to consult in formulating their national adaptation plans.
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Climate change impacts on infrastructure: Flood risk perceptions and evaluations of water systems in coastal urban areas
The importance of public perceptions and their role in climate change adaptation for infrastructure has been highlighted in previous studies. However, public perception of water infrastructure at risk of flooding has not been explicitly addressed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate flood risk perception, the factors that influence it, and evaluations of water infrastructure systems.
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Adaptive planting design and management framework for urban climate change adaptation and mitigation
Implementing measures to adapt and mitigate climate change effects in cities has been considered increasingly urgent since the quality of life, health, and well-being of urban residents is threatened by this change. Novel communities of plant species that emerge and thrive in the harsh conditions of cities may represent a promising opportunity to address climate change adaptation and mitigation through the planting design and management of urban green spaces. The objective of this study is to de
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Climate change increases risk of extreme rainfall following wildfire in the western United States
Post-wildfire extreme rainfall events can have destructive impacts in the western United States. Using two climate model large ensembles, we assess the future risk of extreme fire weather events being followed by extreme rainfall in this region. By mid-21st century, in a high warming scenario (RCP8.5), we report large increases in the number of extreme fire weather events followed within 1 year by at least one extreme rainfall event.
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Everybody should contribute, but not too much: Perceptions of local governments on citizen responsibilisation in climate change adaptation in the Netherlands
Arguments for so-called citizen responsibilisation, the transfer of responsibilities for public services to citizens, are increasingly put forward in several Western-European countries. An important domain in which citizen responsibilisation is advocated is that of urban climate change adaptation.
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GAR Special Report on Drought 2021
The GAR Special Report on Drought 2021 explores the systemic nature of drought and its impacts on achievement of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the SDGs and human and ecosystems health and wellbeing. Droughts have deep, widespread and underestimated impacts on societies, ecosystems, and economies. They incur costs that are borne disproportionately by the most vulnerable people.
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IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change
The IPCC has finalized the third part of the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, the Working Group III contribution. It was finalized on 4 April during the 14th Session of Working Group III and 56th Session of the IPCC.
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Mitigation co-benefits of climate change adaptation: A case-study analysis of eight cities
This research explores the approaches eight cities – Durban, Cape Town, London, Manchester, Surat, Indore, Montreal, and Vancouver – are taking to plan for mitigation co-benefits of adaptation strategies. The approaches set out in city adaptation plans are analysed and compared to provide insight into the uptake of mitigation co-benefits in terms of the extent to which they are strategically planned for and the types of measures utilised.
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Effective climate change adaptation means supporting community autonomy
Communities want to determine their own climate change adaptation strategies, and scientists and decision-makers should listen to them — both the equity and efficacy of climate change adaptation depend on it. We outline key lessons researchers and development actors can take to support communities and learn from them.
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Impacts of Climate Change on Water Management. Stocktaking, scope for action and strategic fields of action
In December 2020, the German Working Group on Water Issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government (LAWA) prepared a comprehensive report on the concerns, potential responses and strategic fields of action in water resources management, updating the previous work released in 2017.
The application-oriented report briefly describes how changes in climate elements (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.) affect surface water, groundwater and the ecology of water bodies.
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The application-oriented report briefly describes how changes in climate elements (temperature, precipitation, wind, etc.) affect surface water, groundwater and the ecology of water bodies.
The diffusion of climate change adaptation policy
Adapting to some level of climate change has become unavoidable. However, there is surprisingly limited systematic knowledge about whether and how adaptation policies have diffused and could diffuse in the future. Most existing adaptation studies do not explicitly examine policy diffusion, which is a form of interdependent policy-making among jurisdictions at the same or across different levels of governance.
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Policy Brief: Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction
This policy brief explores challenges faced in gender-responsive disaster risk reduction. Gender inequality, coupled with climate and environment crises, is the greatest sustainable development challenge of the present time.
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Plan of approach for exceptional low water events in the Meuse basin
The Meuse International River Basin District faced several consecutive years of the summer drought between 2017 and 2020. In order to be able to adapt to these events, which are likely to occur more often because of climate change, the International Meuse Commission has drafted a plan of approach to deal with exceptional low water events, published at the end of 2020.
The document aims to answer three questions:
What is an exceptional low-water event in the Meuse basin?
What are their con
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The document aims to answer three questions:
What is an exceptional low-water event in the Meuse basin?
What are their con
Everyday limits to adaptation
Adaptation to climate change, in terms of both academic and policy debates, has been treated predominantly as a local issue. This scalar focus points towards local agency as well as the contested responsibilization of local actors and potential disconnects with higher-level dynamics. While there are growing calls for individuals to take charge of their own lives against mounting climatic forces, little is known about the day-to-day actions people take, the many hurdles, barriers, and limits they
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A framework for climate change adaptation indicators for the natural environment
Impacts of climate change on natural and human systems will become increasingly severe as the magnitude of climate change increases. Climate change adaptation interventions to address current and projected impacts are thus paramount. Yet, evidence on their effectiveness remains limited, highlighting the need for appropriate ecological indicators to measure progress of climate change adaptation for the natural environment.
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IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
The IPCC has finalized the second part of the Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, the Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report. It was finalized on 27 February 2022 during the 12th Session of Working Group II and 55th Session of the IPCC.
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Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires
Climate change and land-use change are making wildfires worse and anticipates a global increase of extreme fires even in areas previously unaffected. Uncontrollable and extreme wildfires can be devastating to people, biodiversity and ecosystems. They also exacerbate climate change, contributing significant greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.
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Economic losses and fatalities from weather- and climate-related events in Europe
The EU adaptation strategy aims to build resilience and ensure that Europe is well prepared to manage the risks from and adapt to the impacts of climate change, including limiting economic losses and other harm. All regions of Europe face economic losses and fatalities from weather and climate extremes every year. To support policy processes on climate change adaptation, data on these losses must be collected and reported across EEA member countries and in a coherent way over decades.
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Who benefits from nature in cities? Social inequalities in access to urban green and blue spaces across Europe
Parks, urban forests, tree-lined streets and riverbanks support urban well-being by providing space for rest, relaxation and exercise, and by keeping temperatures down. However, not everyone across Europe enjoys equal access to green space in cities. This briefing reviews the evidence of socio-economic and demographic inequalities in access to the health benefits derived from urban green and blue spaces across Europe. It showcases examples of green spaces that were designed to meet the needs of
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Building a Resilient Canada
The report examines current practices and emerging actions to reduce vulnerability and exposure to natural hazards through the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Although the report mainly refers to Canada, it can provide a conceptual framework and examples relevant for governments, businesses, individuals, and other stakeholders of European countries and beyond.
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Supporting urban adaptation to climate change: What role can resilience measurement tools play?
Cities are emerging as leading forces for climate change adaptation and resilience. Many approaches and tools have been developed and used to measure climate resilience in cities. In this study, we explore if and how such tools can be or have been used to support decision-making for building urban climate resilience.
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Increasing Heat-Stress Inequality in a Warming Climate
Adaptation is key to minimizing heatwaves' societal burden; however, our understanding of adaptation capacity across the socioeconomic spectrum is incomplete. We demonstrate that observed heatwave trends in the past four decades were most pronounced in the lowest-quartile income region of the world resulting in >40% higher exposure from 2010 to 2019 compared to the highest-quartile income region. Lower-income regions have reduced adaptative capacity to warming, which compounds the impacts of
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Nature-based solutions and global climate protection: Assessment of their global mitigation potential and recommendations for international climate policy
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) build synergies between biodiversity conservation and societal challenges such as climate change. This paper derives a working definition of NbS based on an evaluation of existing definitions. It assesses the global mitigation and adaptation potential of NbS in relevant studies for forests, croplands, grasslands, terrestrial and coastal wetlands as well as settlements. Recommendations for international climate policy are derived. The study finds that it is likely tha
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UK Climate Change Risk Assessment - 2022
As required by the Climate Change Act 2008, the UK government has undertaken the third five-year assessment of the risks of climate change on the UK. This is based on the Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk, the statutory advice provided by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), commissioned by the UK government and devolved administrations.
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Assessment Frameworks of Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction
Nature-based solutions (NBS) play an important and increasing role in both adaptation and disaster risk management. This is also recognized within several global and European agreements and policies (e.g., UN’s SFDRR, EU Green Deal, the EU Adaptation Strategy) which embed NBS as a means to address climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) as well as other societal challenges (e.g., biodiversity loss, climate mitigation). This calls for fit-for-purpose assessments, which c
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Just transition in the context of adaptation to climate change
Climate change impacts affect people in different ways and some members of society will find it more demanding to adapt their living and working conditions and their livelihood to changing climate conditions. Managing climate change adaptation and transition to a climate resilient society in a just and inclusive manner requires awareness about which conditions generate injustice with burdens from climate impacts shared and costs and benefits from adaptation measures distributed in a fair and equ
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Managing extreme weather and climate change in UK agriculture: Impacts, attitudes and action among farmers and stakeholders
Although the need for agriculture to adapt to climate change is well established, there is relatively little research within a UK context that explores how the risks associated with climate change are perceived at the farm level, nor how farmers are adapting their businesses to improve resilience in the context of climate change.
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Zero regrets: scaling up action on climate change mitigation and adaptation for health in the WHO European Region.
This paper is aimed at policy-makers, particularly from the health sector, and civil society representatives – with the intent to raise awareness about the links between health and climate change, as well as the policy options that can maximize the benefits for health and the environment. It further aims to equip them with evidence and messages to support an active engagement in national preparatory consultations for and negotiations at COP26 and indicate areas for action and collaboration acros
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Urban tree canopy has greater cooling effects in socially vulnerable communities in the US
Cities are home to around half of the global population but face intensified and unevenly distributed heat stresses. Trees are utilized to adapt to urban heat; however, most tree planting is prioritized by either biophysical or social metrics, rather than an integration of the two. It therefore remains unclear how to maximize ecological and social benefits of tree planting in the context of environmental justice. Here, we analyze social vulnerability to heat and the cooling capacity of trees acr
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Global Environment Outlook For Cities - Towards Green and Just Cities
GEO for Cities aims to inform, engage and support dialogue among decision makers and other actors involved in urban issues. The GEO-6 report identified urbanization as one of five main drivers of environmental change and also looked at the impact on cities and city residents of related challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. The GEO for Cities looks at these issues but also presents the types of solutions that can lead to environmentally sustainable and just cities.
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Effective risk communication for environment and health: a strategic report on recent trends, theories and concepts
This report provides a strategic overview of effective risk communication for environment and health (EH) globally, with a focus on Europe. An overview is provided of the latest trends, theories and concepts of risk communication for EH, and key challenges and good practices are identified. T he report’s findings are complemented by three cases studies: promoting indoor air quality in schools in Hungary; water contamination in the Veneto region, Italy; and heat health action in Styria, Austria
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Adaptation Gap Report 2021: The Gathering Storm
Even as the world looks to step up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the need to adapt to the impacts of climate change already locked in are just as important. The sixth edition of the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report: The Gathering Storm looks at how the world is doing in adapting to these intensifying impacts.
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Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities
Beating the Heat: A Sustainable Cooling Handbook for Cities, states that by the end of this century, many cities could warm as much as 4 °C if GHG emissions continue at high levels. Even at 1.5°C of warming, 2.3 billion people could be vulnerable to severe heat waves. The new guide offers planners an encyclopedia of proven options to help cool cities.
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Financial Innovation for Climate Adaptation in Africa - 2021
Current adaptation finance flows to Africa are insufficient to meet growing adaptation needs on the continent. This report provides an overview of existing adaptation finance flows in Africa and identifies opportunities to increase the volume and efficacy of that finance.
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Israel’s State of Climate Tech 2021
Technological innovations play a crucial role in the global challenge to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Israel is renowned as a global leader of technological innovation and this report sets out to examine, for the first time, Israel’s state of climate tech and the potential of its “problem solving” entrepreneurs to provide solutions for the world’s greatest challenge.
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Israel is renowned as a global leader of technological innovation and this report sets out to examine, for the first time, Israel’s state of climate tech and the potential of its “problem solving” entrepreneurs to provide solutions for the world’s greatest challenge.
The way forward: Supporting climate adaptation in coastal towns and small cities
This article summarizes and reflects upon the work presented in ‘The Unusual Suspects in Climate Change Adaptation – Small Coastal Cities and Towns’ special issue. Across the special issue the challenge of adapting coastal towns and small cities to the impacts of climate change was clearly evident. In order to address some of the challenges, an initial way forward is outlined here to act as a pathway for future research. The areas requiring particular focus include: building a network of coastal
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Infrastructure for Climate Action
By providing quantitative evidence of the influence of infrastructure on sustainable development and climate mitigation and adaptation, Infrastructure for Climate Action highlights the key role that infrastructure plays in fostering climate compatible development.
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Narratives of ice loss: New approaches to shrinking glaciers and climate change adaptation
This article explores an as-yet overlooked component of glacier melt: how competing narratives of ice loss are embedded in divergent climate change adaptation debates. This analysis of regional narratives of ice loss exposes the contested role of glacial meltwater amongst local residents, framing glaciers not just as physical features but also as nodes of discourse and imagination that influence climate change adaptation. Peru's Cordillera Blanca offers an excellent case study for this new n
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Long-term sea-level rise necessitates a commitment to adaptation: A first order assessment
Without adaptation, sea-level rise (SLR) will put more people at risk of flooding. This requires a timely and adequate commitment to adaptation. In this paper, we show how adaptation needs to unfold over time to manage climate-induced SLR. We use a novel scenario-neutral approach, applied globally and subsequently combined with SLR and population scenarios, to assess when, where, and how fast to adapt up to 2150.
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Interactions between two existential threats: COVID-19 and climate change
The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change are complex existential threats, unpredictable in many ways and unprecedented in modern times. There are parallels between the scale and scope of their impacts and responses. Understanding shared drivers, coupled vulnerabilities, and criteria for effective responses will help societies worldwide prepare for the simultaneous threats of climate change and future pandemics. We summarize some shared characteristics of COVID-19 and climate change impacts and i
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Drivers of and pressures arising from selected key water management challenges — A European overview
This report aims to give a European overview of the main drivers and pressures that are at the core of key water management challenges and which put European water bodies most at risk of not achieving key environmental objectives. Identifying the pressures from and drivers of key water management challenges at the European level can help in prioritising the main issues that should be tackled with measures.
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State of the Climate in 2020
This is the 31st issuance of the annual assessment now known as State of the Climate, published in the Bulletin since 1996. As a supplement to the Bulletin, its foremost function is to document the status and trajectory of many components of the climate system. However, as a series, the report also documents the status and trajectory of our capacity and commitment to observe the climate system.
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IPCC Sixth Assessment Report - AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis
The Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.
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Satellite imaging reveals increased proportion of population exposed to floods
Flooding affects more people than any other environmental hazard and hinders sustainable development1,2. Investing in flood adaptation strategies may reduce the loss of life and livelihood caused by floods3. Where and how floods occur and who is exposed are changing as a result of rapid urbanization4, flood mitigation infrastructure5 and increasing settlements in floodplains6. Previous estimates of the global flood-exposed population have been limited by a lack of observational data, relying ins
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A Practical Guide to Climate-resilient Buildings & Communities
This practical guide demonstrates how buildings and community spaces can be constructed to increase their resilience to climate change, especially in developing countries where structures are largely self-built. The publication provides an overview of the fundamental types of interventions at the building scale, including the use of nature-based solutions.
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Health effects from heat waves in France: an economic evaluation
Scarcity of data on the health impacts and associated economic costs of heat waves may limit the will to invest in adaptation measures. We assessed the economic impact associated with mortality, morbidity, and loss of well-being during heat waves in France between 2015 and 2019.
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Climate change adaptation in fisheries
We conducted a global systematic literature review of climate change adaptation in fisheries. We addressed three specific questions: (i) What are fisheries adapting to? (ii) How are fisheries adapting? and (iii) What research gaps need to be addressed? We identified, characterized and examined case studies published between 1990 and 2019 that lie at the intersection of the domains of climate change, adaptation and fisheries.
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A Systematic Review of the health co-benefits of urban climate change adaptation
The recent and projected upward trends in the frequency and intensity of climate induced events in cities have enhanced the focus on adaptation. In addition to enhancing the capacity of cities to prepare for and absorb risk, adaptation measures provide multiple co-benefits. However, health co-benefits are among the least explored. These are now seen as increasingly important with the renewed focus on public health since the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reviews literature focused on the health
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Rethinking resilient agriculture: From Climate-Smart Agriculture to Vulnerable-Smart Agriculture
Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is seeking to overcome the food security problem and develop rural livelihoods while minimizing negative impacts on the environment. However, when such synergies exist, the situation of small-scale farmers is often overlooked, and they are unable to implement new practices and technologies. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to improve CSA by adding the neglected but very important element “small-scale farmer”, and introduce Vulnerable-Smart Agriculture (VSA
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Defining region-specific heatwave in China based on a novel concept of “avoidable mortality for each temperature unit decrease”
The distribution of temperature and temperature-health association varied largely across different regions in China, a region-specific definition for heatwave was therefore needed. We collected the data on daily mortality, meteorological factors and air pollution in 84 Chinese cities during 2013−2016, which was divided into seven regions. Based on the association between daily maximum temperature and mortality in each city in a threshold distributed lag non-linear model, where the threshold was
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Index for climate change adaptation in China and its application
With the increasing awareness of the risks and impacts of climate change, scholars tend to pay more attention to the applications of indicators, which access the effectiveness of climate change adaptation. This study aims to evaluate the overall progress of climate change adaptation in China during 2010‒2018 in a quantitative manner. The Index for Climate Change Adaptation in China (ICCAC) has been thus developed by adopting the analytic hierarchy process weighting and expert scoring method. Nam
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2019 Monitoring Report on the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change
Within the framework of the German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (DAS), the Federal Government is now presenting the second monitoring report in 2019. It informs the public and decision-makers in all areas of social life about the observed consequences of climate change. The message of the monitoring report is that the future has already reached us. Germany is in the midst of global warming, with far-reaching consequences for the environment, society and health. Urgent action must be
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The impact of climate change on mental health and emotional wellbeing: current evidence and implications for policy and practice
Climate change and mental health are two of the most significant and pressing challenges facing societies across the world. Yet, growing awareness of these global issues has not been met with sufficient action to mitigate their impacts. Mental illness – or the disabling effects of distress – already affects around a billion people globally, while the effects of climate change are increasingly apparent. Both of these issues are projected to increase and stand to affect many more people without su
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Food Systems at Risk: Transformative Adaptation for Long-Term Food Security
This report examines how climate change is impacting agriculture and threatening national and global food systems, particularly in climate hotspots, and how these trends are projected to intensify over the coming decades. The report defines and details transformative adaptation for agriculture and why such longer-term, systemic approaches are needed to protect the lives and livelihoods of millions of small-scale farmers and herders. Transformative adaptation in agriculture resilience by continua
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Council endorses new EU strategy on adaptation to climate change
The Council today approved conclusions endorsing a new strategy that outlines a long-term vision for the EU to become a climate-resilient society that is fully adapted to the unavoidable impacts of climate change by 2050.
The Council supports the strategy’s focus on better gathering and sharing data to improve access to and exchange of knowledge on climate impacts and adaptation, including by enhancing the Climate-ADAPT platform.
In its Conclusions, the Council recognises the importance of cl
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The Council supports the strategy’s focus on better gathering and sharing data to improve access to and exchange of knowledge on climate impacts and adaptation, including by enhancing the Climate-ADAPT platform.
In its Conclusions, the Council recognises the importance of cl
Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk-Advice to Government For the UK's third Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3)
The Adaptation Committee’s Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk sets out the priority climate change risks and opportunities for the UK. The report draws on an extensive programme of analysis, consultation and consideration by the Committee involving over 450 people, 130 organisations and more than 1,500 pages of evidence and analysis.
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Power-sensitive design principles’ for climate change adaptation policy-making in South Asia
Despite the proliferation of power approaches to study climate change, there is little focus on how to deal with the negative effects of power in climate change adaptation (CCA) policy-making. CCA literature provides little insight into understandings of manifestations of power that can create negative effects, especially in the context of South Asia.
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The burden of heat-related mortality attributable to recent human-induced climate change
Climate change affects human health; however, there have been no large-scale, systematic efforts to quantify the heat-related human health impacts that have already occurred due to climate change. Here, we use empirical data from 732 locations in 43 countries to estimate the mortality burdens associated with the additional heat exposure that has resulted from recent human-induced warming, during the period 1991–2018. Across all study countries, we find that 37.0% (range 20.5–76.3%) of warm-seaso
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Cities on the route to 2030
We stand at a major crossroads for city climate action. As we mark a decade of cities disclosing climate data through CDP, there are less than ten years left to halve global emissions. Our new report reveals the huge progress in disclosure and action over the last decade – and where cities must now urgently ramp up their ambition and efforts to secure a resilient, green recovery from COVID-19, and a climate-safe future.
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Evaluating the impact of nature-based solutions- A handbook for practitioners
The Handbook aims to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive NBS impact assessment framework, and a robust set of indicators and methodologies to assess impacts of nature-based solutions across 12 societal challenge areas.
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Transformative climate adaptation in the United States: Trends and prospects
Successfully responding to the impacts of climate change will be a challenge for many communities, especially cities. Considering the situation in the United States, Shi and Moser examine how stakeholders can help to build urban resilience even in the absence of federal leadership. They discuss how local and state governments, private industry, and civil society can engage to adapt to the extreme weather events and other consequences of changing climate that are expected in the future. Preparing
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Urban landscapes and climate change: the contribution of Landscape Architects to improve the quality of life
The Report, which is concerned with the practice of Landscape Architecture to improve the quality
of life in cities, outlines the context of climate change in terms of the science, the politics and
aspirations, both in Europe and globally. It discusses how cities are changing, how their resident
populations are at risk, and how Covid-19 has further complicated the situation, perhaps advancing even more urgently the need for action. It notes two major studies commissioned by the European Unio
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of life in cities, outlines the context of climate change in terms of the science, the politics and
aspirations, both in Europe and globally. It discusses how cities are changing, how their resident
populations are at risk, and how Covid-19 has further complicated the situation, perhaps advancing even more urgently the need for action. It notes two major studies commissioned by the European Unio
Nature-based solutions in Europe: Policy, knowledge and practice for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
Working with nature and enhancing the role of ecosystems can help reduce the impacts of climate change and increase resilience to climate change. Such an approach can deliver multiple benefits, including lowering pressures on biodiversity, improving human health and well-being, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building a sustainable economy. This EEA report provides up-to-date information for policymakers on how to apply nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and disaster risk
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Mapping the evolution and current trends in climate change adaptation science
Research on climate change adaptation has increased in number and significance since the 1970s. Yet, the volume of information on adaptation is now difficult to manage given its vast scope and spread across journals, institutions, disciplines and themes. While an increasing number of researchers have used systematic literature reviews to analyse particular themes within this rapidly growing field of research, there is still missing an overall analysis of the current state of climate change adapt
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Business-as-usual will lead to super and ultra-extreme heatwaves in the Middle East and North Africa
Global climate projections suggest a significant intensification of summer heat extremes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). To assess regional impacts, and underpin mitigation and adaptation measures, robust information is required from climate downscaling studies, which has been lacking for the region. Here, we project future hot spells by using the Heat Wave Magnitude Index and a comprehensive ensemble of regional climate projections for MENA. Our results, for a business-as-usual path
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Inventories of extreme weather events and impacts: Implications for loss and damage from and adaptation to climate extremes
Extreme and impactful weather events of the recent past provide a vital but under-utilised data source for understanding present and future climate risks. Extreme event attribution (EEA) enables us to quantify the influence of anthropogenic climate change (ACC) on a given event in a way that can be tailored to stakeholder needs, thereby enhancing the potential utility of studying past events. Here we set out a framework for systematically recording key details of high-impact events on a national
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The old and the climate adaptation: Climate justice, risks, and urban adaptation plan
With the transition to carbon-free economy, concerns have grown about the “green divide” – the separation of society into different social groups whose socioeconomic status determines one’s well-being from climate change impacts. Studies in environmental justice concur that the adverse effects of urban climate change are disproportionately greater for the demographically vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, the children, and the socially marginalized. Yet, little is known about how these
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Responding to the health risks of climate change in Europe
A new briefing by the Lancet Countdown and the European Environment Agency (EEA), explores the health impacts of climate change in Europe and suggests key opportunities for increased ambition with a focus on adaptation.
The briefing ’Responding to the health risks of climate change in Europe’ highlights key health impacts from climate change including wildfires, heatwaves and extreme temperatures, the spread of infectious diseases and droughts. It outlines the opportunities to reduce climate-re
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The briefing ’Responding to the health risks of climate change in Europe’ highlights key health impacts from climate change including wildfires, heatwaves and extreme temperatures, the spread of infectious diseases and droughts. It outlines the opportunities to reduce climate-re
Accelerating climate research and action in cities through advanced science-policy-practice partnerships
Cities have become increasingly recognized as key sites for climate research and action. Recently, these efforts have been significantly advanced through science-policy-practice partnerships. The objective of this paper is to assess how these partnerships are structured, the research and action agenda that underpins them, and how this agenda is being articulated and implemented. The assessment also helps to define some of the conceptual and operational gaps faced by the science-policy-practice c
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Determinants of flood adaptation: Parametric and semiparametric assessment
Flood adaptation measures are indispensable to offset agricultural losses emanating from the increasing frequency and intensity of floods. Therefore, it is necessary to identify key precursors of adaptation for the success of flood‐related adaptation programs. Using cross‐sectional household survey data from rice farmers of eastern Nepal, this study explores existing adaptation practices along with the factors influencing farmers' adaptation strategies. Both parametric and semiparametric for
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Heat and health in the WHO European Region: updated evidence for effective prevention
The WHO Regional Office for Europe published guidance on heat–health action planning in 2008, and intends to update this to include the latest evidence. An in-depth review was initiated, based on recent epidemiological and environmental research and lessons learned from implementation in practice.
This publication collates and summarizes the most relevant evidence published since 2008, focusing primarily on Member States in the WHO European Region. Findings are organized around the elements the
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This publication collates and summarizes the most relevant evidence published since 2008, focusing primarily on Member States in the WHO European Region. Findings are organized around the elements the
Changing Lengths of the Four Seasons by Global Warming
How long will the four seasons be by 2100? Increasing evidence suggests that the length of a single season or in regional scales has changed under global warming, but a hemispherical-scale response of the four seasons in the past and future remains unknown. We find that summer in the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes has lengthened, whereas winter has shortened, owing to shifts in their onsets and withdrawals, accompanied by shorter spring and autumn. Such changes in lengths and onsets can be mai
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Governing heatwaves in Europe: comparing health policy and practices to better understand roles, responsibilities and collaboration
The expectation that climate change will further exacerbate extreme weather events such as heatwaves is of primary concern to policymakers and scientists. Effective governance is fundamental to preparedness for and response to such threats. This paper explores the governance structures of European heat health action plans and provides insights into key stakeholders, roles, responsibilities and collaboration.
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Toward sustainable climate change adaptation
Industrial ecology (IE) has made great contributions to climate change mitigation research, in terms of its systems thinking and solid methodologies such as life cycle assessment, material flow analysis, and environmentally extended input–output analysis. However, its potential contribution to climate change adaptation is unclear. Adaptation has become increasingly urgent in a continuously changing climate, especially in developing countries, which are projected to bear the brunt of climate‐chan
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Co-benefits and synergies between urban climate change mitigation and adaptation measures: A literature review
Accounting for over 70% of global CO2 emissions, cities are major contributors to climate change. Acknowledging this, urban climate change adaptation and mitigation plans are increasingly developed to make progress toward enhancing climate resilience. While there is consensus that focusing on both adaptation and mitigation is necessary for addressing climate change impacts, better understanding of their interactions is needed to efficiently maximize their potentials.
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Living with water: climate adaptation in the world’s deltas
Over the centuries, deltas have given rise to some of the world’s greatest cities—and those cities have always been open to the world. They have thrived not only in the trade of goods, but also in the exchange of ideas. Today, as the world faces up to the need to adapt to climate change, it has never been more important for delta countries to learn from one another. That is the thinking behind this ‘lighthouse’ report, which brings together inspiring case studies from around the globe to galvani
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State and Trends in Adaptation Report 2020
The Global Center on Adaptation presents the first in a series of reports that will assess progress on climate adaptation and provide guidance and recommendations on best practice in adapting to the effects of a changing climate and building resilience to climate shocks.
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Understanding the Links Between Climate Change Risk Perceptions and the Action Response to Inform Climate Services Interventions
Understanding what motivates people to act on climate change provides an opportunity to design more effective interventions, in particular, climate services interventions, by aligning them with factors that strongly influence action. Climate change risk perceptions have been shown to underlie action on climate change. Therefore, this study performs exploratory research to understand how various determinants of risk perceptions contribute and interact to influence climate change risk perceptions
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The Global Risks Report - 2021
The 16th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report analyses the risks from societal fractures—manifested through persistent and emerging risks to human health, rising unemployment, widening digital divides, youth disillusionment, and geopolitical fragmentation. Businesses risk a disorderly shakeout which can exclude large cohorts of workers and companies from the markets of the future. Environmental degradation—still an existential threat to humanity—risks intersecting with socie
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Urban adaptation in Europe: how cities and towns respond to climate change
EEA assessment report presenting the status quo of adaptation to climate change at the local government level, with particular focus on cities. The assessment presents the overview of climate risks to cities, types of adaptation responses, extent of adaptation planning and actions at the loal level in Europe and opportunities to scale up and speed up implementation of adaptation to climate change at the local level.
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Adaptation Gap Report 2020 - UNEP
The UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2020 finds that while nations have advanced in planning, huge gaps remain in finance for developing countries and bringing adaptation projects to the stage where they bring real protection against climate impacts such as droughts, floods and sea-level rise.
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Healthy environment, healthy lives: how the environment influences health and well-being in Europe
Nature provides the basis for the good health and well-being of the European population. Clean air, water and food are essential for sustaining life; natural environments provide space for recreation, relaxation and social interaction; and raw materials feed into our production systems to provide the comforts of contemporary life.
At the same time, environmental pollution is unavoidable. We are exposed to pollution in our homes, in our workplaces, in the outdoor environment and when we eat, pla
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At the same time, environmental pollution is unavoidable. We are exposed to pollution in our homes, in our workplaces, in the outdoor environment and when we eat, pla
Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin Current Situation and Risks for the Future - 1st Mediterranean Assessment Report
The First Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR1) prepared by the independent network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and environmental Change (MedECC) founded in 2015 is now finished.
MedECC assesses the best available scientific knowledge on climate and environmental change and associated risks in the Mediterranean Basin in order to render it accessible to policymakers, stakeholders and citizens. The report includes a Summary for Policymakers (SPM), which comprises the key messages of the
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MedECC assesses the best available scientific knowledge on climate and environmental change and associated risks in the Mediterranean Basin in order to render it accessible to policymakers, stakeholders and citizens. The report includes a Summary for Policymakers (SPM), which comprises the key messages of the
Health System Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change
Climate change is already causing avoidable injuries, illnesses, and deaths, and is damaging healthcare and public health facilities. The magnitude and distribution of future climate-sensitive health outcomes and of risks to health systems will depend on the level and timing of investment in adaptation and on the chosen greenhouse gas emission pathway. If no additional actions are taken, then over the coming decades substantial increases in morbidity and mortality are expected, as well as breakd
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The 2020 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: responding to converging crises
The Lancet Countdown is an international collaboration established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the emerging health profile of the changing climate.
The 2020 report presents 43 indicators across five sections: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerabilities; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. This report represents the finding
Risks and Impacts of Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin - Infographic
New MedECC infographic on drivers and impacts of climate and environmental change is available
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Climate change strategic narratives in the United Kingdom: Emergency, Extinction, Effectiveness
Achieving policy, business and behaviour change necessary to mitigate climate change is one of the most formidable challenges of the twenty-first century. Increasingly, researchers have argued that communicating purposively designed stories – ‘strategic narratives’ – may be effective in building support for the policy measures necessary to limit anthropogenic warming to 2˚C above pre-industrial levels. Recently, following the release of the IPCC's 1.5˚C special report, novel dynamics have em
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Greening schoolyards - An urban resilience perspective
Greening schoolyards and redesigning them to be better playgrounds delivers multiple benefits.
Greening schoolyards is a highly distributed urban intervention that can enhance city resilience as a whole.
Integrating resilience into project design and implementation requires a practical resilience framework.
A resilience framework is described in connection to greening schoolyards.
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Greening schoolyards is a highly distributed urban intervention that can enhance city resilience as a whole.
Integrating resilience into project design and implementation requires a practical resilience framework.
A resilience framework is described in connection to greening schoolyards.
Adaptation to health effects of climate change in Europe
The main impacts on health in Europe are from heat and heat-waves, changing patterns of infectious and vector-borne diseases, and from extreme disasters like floods and fires. This opinion presents the challenges for the health sector caused by the need for adapting to the increased risks from climate change, and provides recommendations aimed to strengthen the resilience of the health sector in Europe in view of climate change impacts.
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World Cities Report 2020: The Value of Sustainable Urbanization
The World Cities Report 2020 shows that the intrinsic value of sustainable urbanization can and should be harnessed for the wellbeing of all. The Report provides evidence and policy analysis of the value of urbanization from an economic, social and environmental perspective, including the unquantifiable value that gives cities their unique character; and also explores the role of innovation and technology, local governments, targeted investments and the effective implementation of the New Urban
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Climate Change Adaptation for Transportation Systems
Climate Change Adaptation for Transportation Systems examines the international state of knowledge on climate change and weather and their potential impacts on the planning, design and serviceability of transportation networks. The book describes alternative frameworks for adapting to climate change in the planning, provision and management of transportation systems.
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Principles, drivers, and policy tools for just climate change adaptation in legacy cities
Climate change adaptation presents an opportunity for legacy cities to address growing social, racial, and economic inequality, or engage in just climate change adaptation. While the importance of just and equitable climate change adaptation is well understood, the policy and politics that underlie such efforts are less well understood. This paper focuses on the development of just climate change adaptation strategies in legacy cities, particularly those in the Great Lakes region of the U.S., wh
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Monitoring and evaluation of national adaptation policies throughout the policy cycle
The Global Goal on Adaptation aims to enhance adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change. Given the impact of climate-related hazards, the question is not whether adaptation is necessary, but what are the adaptation options to increase resilience.
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United Nations Climate Change Annual Report 2019
Greater efforts are required to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to
protect people and the planet. The UNFCCC interacts with governments and
partners in searching for ways to increase developing countries’ capacity to adapt.
This year in adaptation was marked by the secretariat’s provision of support to
countries for developing their national adaptation plans, the work of the
Adaptation Committee on climate finance, the enhancement of partnerships
under the Nairobi work programme
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protect people and the planet. The UNFCCC interacts with governments and
partners in searching for ways to increase developing countries’ capacity to adapt.
This year in adaptation was marked by the secretariat’s provision of support to
countries for developing their national adaptation plans, the work of the
Adaptation Committee on climate finance, the enhancement of partnerships
under the Nairobi work programme
Global Biodiversity Outlook 5
Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO) is the flagship publication of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It is a periodic report that summarizes the latest data on the status and trends of biodiversity and draws conclusions relevant to the further implementation of the Convention
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Accelerating Climate Action in Israel
This report analyses the actions necessary in the near and medium term to reduce Israel’s GHG emissions in three sectors– electricity, residential and transport, for which specific policy recommendations are developed.
The report will serve as input to the roadmap that will be developed to support the country’s long-term low-emission strategy (LT-LEDS). The report adopts a “well-being lens” that aims to integrate climate action and broader societal priorities, such as affordable housing, better
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The report will serve as input to the roadmap that will be developed to support the country’s long-term low-emission strategy (LT-LEDS). The report adopts a “well-being lens” that aims to integrate climate action and broader societal priorities, such as affordable housing, better
Nature-based solutions for adapting to water-related climate risks
Healthy ecosystems, and their associated services, can provide effective natural protection against water-related climate risks. Nature-based solutions (NbS) have recently gained momentum in international policy discussions due to their potential to foster synergies between ecosystem health and human wellbeing, while also offering economic benefits. This paper provides an overview of the use of NbS to date in OECD countries and finds that in most cases ambition for NbS does not match practice. F
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Breathing life into climate change adaptation
The exploration of evolutionary biology and biological adaptation can inform society's adaptation to climate change, particularly the mechanisms that bring about adaptability, such as phenotypic plasticity, epigenetics, and horizontal gene transfer. Learning from unplanned autonomous biological adaptation may be considered undesirable and incompatible with human endeavor. However, it is argued that there is no need for agency, and planned adaptation is not necessarily preferable over autonom
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Global hunger and climate change adaptation through international trade
International trade enables us to exploit regional differences in climate change impacts and is increasingly regarded as a potential adaptation mechanism. Here, we focus on hunger reduction through international trade under alternative trade scenarios for a wide range of climate futures. Under the current level of trade integration, climate change would lead to up to 55 million people who are undernourished in 2050. Without adaptation through trade, the impacts of global climate change would inc
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Collaboratively Developing Tools for Climate Change Adaptation-Lessons for Research and Policy
Climate change is causing extreme weather events to increase in frequency and intensity, putting cities, home to most of Europe’s population, at rapidly increasing risk
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Green climate change adaptation and the politics of designing ecological infrastructures
There is a distinctive ecological turn within contemporary urban infrastructure design linked to the embrace of green approaches to climate adaptation and new ‘ecological’ and ‘landscape infrastructures’ which combine green and grey features. These promise a wide range of ecological, social and cultural benefits and have been accompanied by distinctive new design visions and imaginaries.
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Standardisation in local climate change adaptation: benefits, myths and recommendations
This policy brief provides an outline of the urban standardisation landscape in Europe, covering the benefits of (and barriers to) using standards for local climate change adaptation, outlining existing relevant standards for local governments, busting persistent myths about using them, and concluding with a set of recommendations for local governments and creators of standards.
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Care-full and just: Making a difference through climate change adaptation
In the small city of Dunedin, on the south-east coast of Aotearoa New Zealand, sea-level rise and increased flood events are affecting communities. The potential for climate change impacts in South Dunedin to exacerbate existing inequalities is high. Floods in 2015 became a catalyst for a different way of ‘doing’ climate change adaptation suggesting more care-full and just intentions and practices.
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A diagnostic tool for supporting policymaking on urban resilience
Urban resilience has become a popular notion among urban policymakers and scientists, as a way to deal with the many complex issues that cities face. While it has positive connotations and resonates with local urban agendas, it is not always clear what it means and what factors contribute to resilience. Additionally, critical literature observes that people's views on what resilience means can differ strongly and the many choices that are made in planning and implementing resilience are ofte
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Shifting to climate change aware cities to facilitate the city resilience implementation
Climate change (CC) is one of the most urgent threats to modern societies, having direct and indirect consequences on the rapid growth of urban areas. Cities are attempting to both reduce their impact on the environment and build resilience to be able to face the irreversible effects of CC through plans and strategies. However, barriers, such as the fact that cities are complex systems and the uncertainty posed by CC have led to less engaged and committed city stakeholders, which have hampered t
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How does private adaptation motivation to climate change vary across cultures? Evidence from a meta-analysis
Natural hazards, exacerbated by climate change, increasingly affect societies worldwide. The accelerating risks entail that private adaptation complement more traditional public climate change adaptation measures. Culture plays an important role in framing how individuals experience hazards and behave toward them. Yet, empirical research explicitly measuring whether and how climate change adaptation varies across cultures is lacking. To address this gap, we collect meta-analytic data on factors
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What is ecosystem-based adaptation?
Healthy ecosystems can reduce the negative impacts of climate change. For instance, coastal habitats like mangroves provide natural flood defences, well-protected lakes retain water sources during droughts, and healthy forests reduce the risk of devastating wildfires. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is an approach that uses these ecosystem services as part of a holistic adaptation strategy. Often through win-win outcomes, EbA protects vulnerable communities from extreme weather while simultaneo
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Financing Water Supply, Sanitation and Flood Protection
The OECD and the Directorate-General for Environment, the European Commission department responsible for EU policy on the environment, joined forces to examine current and future water-related financing challenges faced by EU member states. These include investments needed to comply with EU regulation for water supply, wastewater collection and treatment, and flood protection. As part of the research, new data was produced on current levels of expenditure for water supply, sanitation and flood p
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Three steps to integrate climate change adaptation and development: Addressing resilience in Danish development policy
The world needs resilient societies. In order to achieve this, adaptation to climate change is key. Denmark’s development cooperation should take a leading role in the integration of climate change adaptation and development.
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A Method for Enhancing Capacity of Local Governance for Climate Change Adaptation
The lack of capacity for climate change adaptation at the subnational level has been highlighted as a key barrier to implementing the UNFCCC National Adaptation Plans. At the same time, the adaptive capacity of local governance is highly context sensitive, making a “one-size fits all” approach inappropriate. Thus, a versatile methodological approach for application in various local contexts is required. There are several indicator-based local governance assessment methods for evaluating the effe
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What makes climate change adaptation effective? A systematic review of the literature
Increased understanding of global warming and documentation of its observable impacts have led to the development of adaptation responses to climate change around the world. A necessary, but often missing, component of adaptation involves the assessment of outcomes and impact.
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Exploring potential adaptation options for policy and decision-makers: The Climate-ADAPT Catalogue
Adaptation options are measures and actions that can be implemented to manage climate risks to an acceptable level, taking advantage of any positive opportunities that may arise from climate change. Climate-ADAPT provides a catalogue of potential adaptation options that can be explored by climate impacts and adaptation sectors of interest. The catalogue aims at supporting policy and decision-makers, in particular at the local and regional scale, in their efforts to cope with the effects of clima
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Accelerating invasion potential of disease vector Aedes aegypti under climate change
Vector-borne diseases remain a major contributor to the global burden of disease, while climatechange is expected to exacerbate their risk. Characterising vector development rate and its spatio-temporal variation under climate change is central to assessing the changing basis of human disease risk. We develop a mechanistic phenology model and apply it to Aedes aegypti, an invasive mosquito vector for arboviruses (e.g. dengue, zika and yellow fever)
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The Dasgupta Review – Independent Review on the Economics of Biodiversity- Interim Report
he Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta (Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge). The Review was commissioned last year by HM Treasury and is supported by an Advisory Panel drawn from public policy, science, economics, finance and business.
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Multi-Dimensional Data Preparation: A Process to Support Vulnerability Analysis and Climate Change Adaptation
Agriculture is the backbone of a country’s economic system, considering that it not only provides food and raw materials but also employment opportunities for a large percentage of the population. In this way, determining the degree of agricultural vulnerability represents a guide for sustainability and adaptability focused on changing future conditions. In many cases, vulnerability analysis data is restricted to use by authorized personnel only, leaving open data policies aside
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A Snapshot of Global Adaptation Investment and Tracking Methods
The intensity and frequency of extreme weather events and chronic climate-related changes are increasing, globally. With these changes, there is a pressing and clear need for communities worldwide to invest in adapting to climate change. According to the UN Environment Programme, in developing countries alone, adapting to climate change will require USD 280 billion to USD 500 billion per year by 2050 (UNEP 2016). The 46 countries that included adaptation cost estimates in their Nationally Determ
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UNDRR Annual Report 2019
Annual report for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019
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Building resilience against biological hazards and pandemics: COVID-19 and its implications for the Sendai Framework
Year 2020 has become the year of coping with Covid-19
This year was to be the “super year” for sustainability, a year of strengthening global actions to accelerate the transformations required for achieving the 2030 agenda. We argue that 2020 can and must be a year of both. Thus we call for more utilisation of the health-emergency disaster risk management (Health-EDRM) framework to complement current responses to COVID-19 and the patent risk of similar phenomena in the future
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This year was to be the “super year” for sustainability, a year of strengthening global actions to accelerate the transformations required for achieving the 2030 agenda. We argue that 2020 can and must be a year of both. Thus we call for more utilisation of the health-emergency disaster risk management (Health-EDRM) framework to complement current responses to COVID-19 and the patent risk of similar phenomena in the future
Exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States
United States government scientists estimate that COVID-19 may kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans. The majority of the pre-existing conditions that increase the risk of death for COVID-19 are the same diseases that are affected by long-term exposure to air pollution. We investigate whether long-term average exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) increases the risk of COVID-19 deaths in the United States
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How our responses to climate change and the coronavirus are linked
The coronavirus pandemic may lead to a deeper understanding of the ties that bind us on a global scale Well-resourced healthcare systems are essential to protect us from health security threats, including climate change The support to resuscitate the economy after the pandemic should promote health, equity, and environmental protection
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The projected timing of abrupt ecological disruption from climate change
As anthropogenic climate change continues the risks to biodiversity will increase over time, with future projections indicating that a potentially catastrophic loss of global biodiversity is on the horizon1,2,3. However, our understanding of when and how abruptly this climate-driven disruption of biodiversity will occur is limited because biodiversity forecasts typically focus on individual snapshots of the future.
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UN World Water Development Report 2020 - Water and Climate Change
The 2020 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report (UN WWDR 2020) entitled ‘Water and Climate Change’ aims at helping the water community to tackle the challenges of climate change and informing the climate change community about the opportunities that improved water management offers in terms of adaptation and mitigation.
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Migration, environment and climate change: Responding via climate change adaptation policy
With the advance of climate change and environmental changes threatening livelihoods, their impacts on migration and displacement are receiving increasing attention in research, politics, and civil society. The issue is complex and multi-dimensional, with environmental changes affecting human mobility in diverse ways. The three reports in this series thus evaluate the evidence base for policymaking, and provide entry points for responses in the field of climate change adaptation.
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Global warming to increase violent crime in the United States
Recent studies have revealed large and robust correlations between seasonal climate and violent crime rates at regional scales within the continental United States, begging the question of how future climate change will influence violent crime rates. Here, we combine empirical models from previous studies with 42 state-of-the-art global climate models to make such projections, while accounting for key factors like regionality and seasonality, and appropriately combining multiple of sources of un
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Floodplains: a natural system to preserve and restore
Floodplains are part of Europe’s natural capital, covering 7 % of the continent's area and up to 30 % of its terrestrial Natura 2000 site area. Studies have shown that 70-90 % of floodplains have been environmentally degraded. The objective of this work is to showcase that natural floodplains support achieving multiple EU policy objectives.
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From incremental to transformative adaptation in individual responses to climate-exacerbated hazards
In this Review of scholarship on behavioural adaptation, we find that most empirical studies focus on the affective and cognitive drivers of behaviours with largely private benefits. Few examine behaviours with collective benefits or explore the moderating role of social factors on affective and cognitive cues.
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The Global Risks Report 2020
The Global Risks Report 2020 presents the major risks the world will be facing in the coming year. The global economy is facing an increased risk of stagnation, climate change is striking harder and more rapidly than expected.
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Economy-wide effects of coastal flooding due to sea level rise: a multi-model simultaneous treatment of mitigation, adaptation, and residual impacts
The article presents a multi-model assessment of the macroeconomic impacts of coastal flooding due to sea level rise and the respective economy-wide implications of adaptation measures for two greenhouse gas (GHG) concentration targets, namely the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP)2.6 and RCP4.5, and subsequent temperature increases.
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Adaptation’s Thirst: Accelerating the Convergence of Water and Climate Action
Water has long been recognized as a central component of climate change impacts as well as a tool to ensure effective adaptation. In the words of Carter Roberts, CEO, WWF-US, at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in 2009, “The language of water is the language of climate change.” Nevertheless, miscommunication and misunderstanding remain an issue between the water and climate change commun
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The Role of Domestic Budgets in Financing Climate Change Adaptation
With climate-induced shocks and stresses threatening fiscal stability and undermining the achievement of broader development goals, governments across the world are recognising the need to mobilise more and smarter investment in climate adaptation. This paper considers the role of domestic budgets as an under-examined but vitally important and sustainable source of adaptation finance at scale. It does so based on the premise that in many developing countries, domestic budgets are already the lar
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Climate Finance and Sustainable Cities
The theme of the 2019 SCF Forum was “Climate finance and sustainable cities”. The objective of the Forum was toenhance understanding of how to accelerate the mobilization and delivery of climate finance for the development of sustainable cities
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Yearbook of global climate Action 2019
The Yearbook identifies opportunities and challenges for mitigation and resilience in the seven thematic areas of the Marrakech Partnership (land use, oceans and coastal zones, water, human settlements, transport, energy and industry) and the cross-cutting area of finance.
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2019 National Preparedness Report
The National Preparedness Report evaluates annual preparedness progress and challenges facing the whole community. The 2019 National Preparedness Report highlights the diverse range of preparedness challenges the Nation faces—from terrorism and active shooter incidents, to cyber attacks, to natural disasters, as well as how stakeholders across the Nation are using preparedness grant funding to invest in preparedness improvements
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Meeting the looming policy challenge of sea-level change and human migration
Minimizing the adverse consequences of sea-level change presents a key societal challenge. New modelling is necessary to examine the implications of global policy decisions that determine future greenhouse gas emissions and local policies around coastal risk that influence where and how we live
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Global Climate Report - October 2019
Last October was Earth’s second-hottest October in recorded history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency announced that average global land and ocean surface temperatures in October were 1.76 degrees above the 20th century average.
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How England’s broken planning system has created (not reduced) the risk of floods
Recent floods in England have been described as unprecedented or even “biblical” events, often with the misguided assumption that they were unavoidable or unpredictable. That is not the case.
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Tracking the progress of climate change adaptation: An Australian case study
The last decade has seen strong global growth in the number of climate change adaptation projects. To understand whether adaptation is progressing and is successful, some form of longitudinal tracking is required. The six adaptation conferences organised by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility between 2010 and 2018 provide a unique and novel opportunity to track adaptation progress in Australia.
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Transformative adaptation to climate change for sustainable social-ecological systems
In the face of major shifts in temperature and precipitation, some conventional strategies that help people to cope or incrementally adapt to climate change may become inappropriate in the long-term. Transformative adaptation, i.e. fundamental systems’ changes that address root causes of vulnerability may be needed. However, we have a limited understanding of what transformative adaptation looks like in social-ecological systems and when it can be implemented.
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The 2019 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: ensuring that the health of a child born today is not defined by a changing climate
The 2019 report presents an annual update of 41 indicators across five key domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement.
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World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency-2019
Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to “tell it like it is.” On the basis of this obligation and the graphical indicators presented below, we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.
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Gender-Transformative Climate Change Adaptation: Advancing Social Equity
Power and gender inequalities can constrain and undermine climate change adaptation. Those who are vulnerable and marginalized, with limited access to resources and assets, are already facing formidable barriers in adapting to climate change. Ignoring this challenge is maladaptive, as it adds to the vulnerabilities of those already burdened disproportionately and encourages new types of exclusions.
Meeting the challenge requires that we transform our societies into fairer and more just organiza
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Meeting the challenge requires that we transform our societies into fairer and more just organiza
Quantifying the impact of changing the threshold of New York City heat emergency plan in reducing heat-related illnesses
The adverse health impact of high heat is widely documented and can lead to a substantial public health burden. Although heat-related illness in western countries is largely preventable, extreme heat remains the main weather contributor to the burden of disease in the United States.
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IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate - 2019
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report
highlights the urgency of prioritizing timely, ambitious and coordinated action to address
unprecedented and enduring changes in the ocean and cryosphere.
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highlights the urgency of prioritizing timely, ambitious and coordinated action to address
unprecedented and enduring changes in the ocean and cryosphere.
Building and Measuring Community Resilience: Actions for Communities and the Gulf Research Program
The frequency and severity of disasters over the last few decades have presented unprecedented challenges for communities across the United States. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina exposed the complexity and breadth of a deadly combination of existing community stressors, aging infrastructure, and a powerful natural hazard. In many ways, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was a turning point for understanding and managing disasters, as well as related plan making and policy formulation. It brought t
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Business Climate Resilience: Thriving Through the Transformation
WBCSD’s report brings together important global developments and latest thinking on climate adaptation and resilience, with particular focus on private sector climate resilience. It builds on the need for businesses to prepare for both the physical risks that are associated with climate change, as well as the associated transitional risks on the path towards a net-zero economy.
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The Global Climate in 2015–2019
Compared to the previous five-year assessment period 2011–2015, the current five-year period 2015–2019 has seen a continued increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
and an accelerated increase in the atmospheric concentration of major greenhouse
gases (GHGs), with growth rates nearly 20% higher.
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and an accelerated increase in the atmospheric concentration of major greenhouse
gases (GHGs), with growth rates nearly 20% higher.
Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience - 2019
This report focuses on making the case for climate adaptation, providing specific insights
and recommendations in key sectors: food security, the natural environment, water, cities and
urban areas, infrastructure, disaster risk management, and finance. It is designed to inspire
action among decision-makers, including heads of state and government officials, mayors,
business executives, investors, and community leaders.
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and recommendations in key sectors: food security, the natural environment, water, cities and
urban areas, infrastructure, disaster risk management, and finance. It is designed to inspire
action among decision-makers, including heads of state and government officials, mayors,
business executives, investors, and community leaders.
A Land Without Water
Climate change, waves of refugees and poor planning are draining water supplies
in Jordan.
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in Jordan.
Climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector in Europe
Climate change affects agriculture in a number of ways. Changes in temperature and precipitation as well as weather and climate extremes are already influencing crop yields and livestock productivity in Europe. Weather and climate conditions also affect the availability of water needed for irrigation, livestock watering practices, processing of agricultural products, and transport and storage conditions.
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Impacts of climate change on transport: A focus on airports, seaports and inland waterways
The report assesses the impacts of climate change on transport for Europe using projections of climate data, coastal inundation, river flooding and river discharge data. Impacts considered include those of sea level rise, storm surges, extreme weather events and floods on airports and seaports, as well as floods and droughts on inland waterways. Main outputs include the identification of transport infrastructure at risk in future time periods and the estimation of economic impacts.
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Agrivoltaics provide mutual benefits across the food–energy–water nexus in drylands
The vulnerabilities of our food, energy and water systems to projected climatic change make building resilience in renewable energy and food production a fundamental challenge. We investigate a novel approach to solve this problem by creating a hybrid of colocated agriculture and solar photovoltaic (PV) infrastructure.
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Changing climate both increases and decreases European river floods
Climate change has led to concerns about increasing river floods resulting from the greater water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere1. These concerns are reinforced by evidence of increasing economic losses associated with flooding in many parts of the world, including Europe2. Any changes in river floods would have lasting implications for the design of flood protection measures and flood risk zoning.
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The case for strategic and managed climate retreat
Faced with global warming, rising sea levels, and the climate-related extremes they intensify, the question is no longer whether some communities will retreat—moving people and assets out of harm's way—but why, where, when, and how they will retreat.
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Peak Energy, Peak Oil, and the Rise of Renewables: An Executive’s Guide to the Global Energy System - McKinsey & Company
Hello, and welcome to this episode of the McKinsey Podcast, with me, Simon London. Today we'll be talking about energy—the world's appetite for energy and the sources that feed it, from oil and gas to wind and solar from hydroelectric to hydrogen. It's a big topic. The numbers involved are, of course, enormous, and so are the implications, not only for economics and industry structure but also for carbon emissions and climate. To talk through the facts and forecasts.
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Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Adaptation Activities: A Reference Guide for City Managers
Cities are leading the way in committing to ambitious climate adaptation goals and implementing strategies to reduce climate risks. However, these commitments to adaptation action often face challenges in documenting changes in resilience of urban systems and populations. To capture these adaptation results, cities will need to develop robust monitoring and reporting frameworks to measure achievement, document outcomes and learn from their adaptation activities.
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Perspectives of climate change adaptation of building areas against heat waves
This paper makes a contribution to the 11th SDG "Sustainable Cities and Communities" with the target to improve the adaptation to climate change and resilience to disasters in terms of summer heat
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2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
The 2019 Refinement to the 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories was adopted and accepted during the 49th Session of the IPCC in May 2019. It was prepared by the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI) in accordance with the decision taken at the 44th Session of IPCC in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2016.
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Climate Change and Land - Special Report - IPCC - 2019
An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.
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How does gendered vulnerability shape the adoption and impact of sustainable livelihood interventions in an era of global climate change?
Though many studies have long considered the broad social implications of climate change, researchers have only recently started to consider the gendered unevenness of the global landscape of vulnerability, exposure, and adaptive capacity to environmental stressors and shocks.
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GAR19 - Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction
This fifth edition of the United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is being issued four years after the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (Sendai Framework).
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Socioeconomic and data challenges: Disaster risk reduction in Europe
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) involves complex processes with different stakeholders at all administrative levels. Two elements in particular play a major role: the need to ensure stakeholders' interoperability through an efficient exchange of data, and the inclusion of socioeconomic factors which may influence DRR processes. This report aims at contributing to increase the global knowledge on these two elements, focusing on the related issues affecting DRR throughout the European continent.
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WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018
This publication marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate, which was first issued in 1994.
The 2019 edition treating data for 2018 marks sustained international efforts dedicated to reporting on, analysing and understanding the year-to-year variations and long-term trends of a changing climate.
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The 2019 edition treating data for 2018 marks sustained international efforts dedicated to reporting on, analysing and understanding the year-to-year variations and long-term trends of a changing climate.
Increased frequency of and population exposure to extreme heat index days in the United States during the 21st century
The National Weather Service of the United States uses the heat index—a combined measure of temperature and relative humidity—to define risk thresholds warranting the issuance of public heat alerts.
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UN 2019 sixth Global Environment Outlook: GEO-6 - Summary for Policymakers
UN Environment’s sixth Global Environment Outlook (2019) calls on decision makers to take immediate action to address pressing environmental issues to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as other Internationally Agreed Environment Goals, such as the Paris Agreement.
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דו"ח עתודות בנייה ירוקה בישראל 2018
דוח זה מוצגות מגמות התכנון המאושרות של חמש השנים האחרונות בדגש על השנה האחרונה (2018), ומהן נגזרו הערכות המשרד על מגמות הבנייה החזויות בישראל לפי התקן לבנייה ירוקה (ת”י 5281). תכניות הבניה שאושרו עתידות להתממש בשנים הבאות.
ממצאי הדוח נאספו על ידי המשרד להגנת הסביבה מאתר תכנון זמין (ומגורמי המקצוע במנהל התכנון) ונעשה ניתוח מפורט של כלל תכניות בניין העיר המפורטות (תב”עות) שקיבלו תוקף ב- 39 רשויות מקומיות ובהן כל ערי פורום ה 415. כמו כן נבדקו כל תוכניות הותמ”ל (הועדה הארצית לתכנון ובנייה של מתחמים
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ממצאי הדוח נאספו על ידי המשרד להגנת הסביבה מאתר תכנון זמין (ומגורמי המקצוע במנהל התכנון) ונעשה ניתוח מפורט של כלל תכניות בניין העיר המפורטות (תב”עות) שקיבלו תוקף ב- 39 רשויות מקומיות ובהן כל ערי פורום ה 415. כמו כן נבדקו כל תוכניות הותמ”ל (הועדה הארצית לתכנון ובנייה של מתחמים
Long-Term Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Change: A Cross-Country Analysis
We study the long-term impact of climate change on economic activity across countries,
using a stochastic growth model where labour productivity is affected by country-specific
climate variables—defined as deviations of temperature and precipitation from their
historical norms. Using a panel data set of 174 countries over the years 1960 to 2014, we
find that per-capita real output growth is adversely affected by persistent changes in the
temperature above or below its historical norm, but w
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using a stochastic growth model where labour productivity is affected by country-specific
climate variables—defined as deviations of temperature and precipitation from their
historical norms. Using a panel data set of 174 countries over the years 1960 to 2014, we
find that per-capita real output growth is adversely affected by persistent changes in the
temperature above or below its historical norm, but w
Working on a Warmer Planet: The Effect of Heat Stress on Productivity and Decent Work - ILO
The phenomenon of heat stress refers to heat received in excess of that which the body can tolerate without physiological impairment. It is one of the major consequences of global warming. By 2030, the equivalent of more than 2 per cent of total working hours worldwide is projected to be lost every year, either because it is too hot to work or because workers have to work at a slower pace. This report shows the impact of heat stress on productivity and decent work for virtually all countries in
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ניתוח עלות תועלת של הצללה בישראל
הדגש בדוח הנוכחי הוא בניסיון לבצע הערכה כלכלית של תועלות ועלויות של הצללה, בדגש על שלושה פתרונות עיקריים: קונסטרוקציה מלאכותית, קולונדות והצללה טבעית (עצים). בחינת התועלת התמקדה בשלושה תחומים הקשורים לבריאות הציבור וכוללים: הפחתת מזהמים (באמצעות ההצללה הטבעית), הפחתת הסיכון לסרטן העור, והגברת היקפי הפעילות הספורטיבית כתוצאה מהגדלת האזורים המוצלים במרחב.
תועלות אלו כומתו בצורה מוניטארית. כך למשל שיעור התשואה הפנימי על שדרת עצים של 1,000 מטר רץ הינו 27.64% וערך נוכחי נקי של פרויקט שכזה הוא 9.
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תועלות אלו כומתו בצורה מוניטארית. כך למשל שיעור התשואה הפנימי על שדרת עצים של 1,000 מטר רץ הינו 27.64% וערך נוכחי נקי של פרויקט שכזה הוא 9.
The imperative of climate action to protect human health in Europe
The report focuses on the consequences of climate change for human health in Europe and the benefits of acting now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to stabilise the climate.
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Adaptation challenges and opportunities for the European energy system
This report analyses the needs for climate change adaptation and climate resilience in Europe’s energy system now and in the future. This assessment supports the clean energy transition, which involves a massive expansion of renewable energy sources, many of which are sensitive to climate factors.
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Scientists’ warning to humanity: microorganisms and climate change
In the Anthropocene, in which we now live, climate change is impacting most life on Earth. Microorganisms support the existence of all higher trophic life forms. To understand how humans and other life forms on Earth (including those we are yet to discover) can withstand anthropogenic climate change, it is vital to incorporate knowledge of the microbial ‘unseen majority’. We must learn not just how microorganisms affect climate change (including production and consumption of greenhouse gases) bu
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The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions
Studies of climate change at specific intervals of future warming have primarily been addressed through top-down approaches using climate projections and modelled impacts. In contrast, bottom-up approaches focus on the recent past and present vulnerability. Here, we examine climate signals at different increments of warming and consider the need to reconcile top-down and bottom-up approaches. We synthesise insights from recent studies in three climate-sensitive systems where change is a defining
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Ice sheet contributions to future sea-level rise from structured expert judgment
Future sea level rise (SLR) poses serious threats to the viability of coastal communities, but continues to be challenging to project using deterministic modeling approaches. Nonetheless, adaptation strategies urgently require quantification of future SLR uncertainties, particularly upper-end estimates. Structured expert judgement (SEJ) has proved a valuable approach for similar problems. Our findings, using SEJ, produce probability distributions with long upper tails that are influenced by inte
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Tracking global climate change adaptation among governments
The Paris Agreement and Katowice Climate Package articulate a clear mandate for all parties to undertake and document adaptation progress. Yet persistent challenges have prevented substantive developments in tracking adaptation and the assessment of adaptation actions and their outcomes. Here, we provide an overview of the challenges of adaptation tracking and propose a comprehensive conceptual framework for assessing adaptation progress by governments that is scalable over time and across conte
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Deep-ocean climate change impacts on habitat, fish and fisheries
This report focuses on the impacts of climatic changes on demersal fisheries, and the interactions of these fisheries with other species and vulnerable marine ecosystems. The principal cause of climate change is rising greenhouse gases and other compounds in the atmosphere that trap heat causing global warming, leading to deoxygenation and acidification in the oceans.
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Nature-Based Designs to Mitigate Urban Heat: The Efficacy of Green Infrastructure Treatments in Portland, Oregon
Urban heat is a growing environmental concern in cities around the world. The urban heat island effect, combined with warming effects of climate change, is likely to cause an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events. Alterations to the physical, built environment are a viable option for mitigating urban heat, yet few studies provide systematic guidance to practitioners for adapting diverse land uses. In this study, we examine the use of green infrastructure treatments to ev
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Why, and How, Utilities Should Start to Manage Climate-Change Risk - McKinsey & Company
The Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in late 2018, stated that climate change was already having noticeable effects in the United States and predicted “more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events,” such as floods and hurricanes. For utilities, the assessment concluded, the possibilities were grave: lower efficiency, higher expenses, and more power outages—even as demand for energy rises. And many utilities are not ready. As the assessment noted, “Infrastructu
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Gender in conservation and climate policy
Men and women differ in their perceptions of environmental risk, vulnerability to climate change impacts and adaptation behaviour. Effective policies must address the diversity of gender roles and identities, and the underlying drivers of inequality.
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Responding to Rising Seas - OECD Country Approaches to Tackling Coastal Risks
There is an urgent need to ensure that coastal areas are adapting to the impacts of climate change. Risks in these areas are projected to increase because of rising sea levels and development pressures. This report reviews how OECD countries can use their national adaptation planning processes to respond to this challenge. Specifically, the report examines how countries approach shared costs and responsibilities for coastal risk management and how this encourages or hinders risk-reduction behavi
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תועלות הבנייה הירוקה בבתי ספר
מטרת המסמך היא לשקף את המאפיינים והתועלות של בתי ספר ירוקים. המסמך מתבסס על מקורות שונים: מאמרים אקדמיים, מחקרים ומקרי בוחן מהימנים ממדינות שונות בעולם כגון ארה"ב, קנדה ואוסטרליה. כמו כן, המסמך מציג נתונים מספריים רלוונטיים המדגישים את יתרונותיהם של בתי ספר ירוקים.
מסמך זה מדגים כיצד הטמעה של עקרונות בנייה ירוקה בבתי ספר משפיעה על ארבעה מדדים קריטיים לתפקוד המבנה ופעילות משתמשיו: בריאות התלמידים והמורים, התייעלות וחיסכון במשאבים, שיפור בציונים ובתפוקות והשפעה על תרבות בית הספר.
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מסמך זה מדגים כיצד הטמעה של עקרונות בנייה ירוקה בבתי ספר משפיעה על ארבעה מדדים קריטיים לתפקוד המבנה ופעילות משתמשיו: בריאות התלמידים והמורים, התייעלות וחיסכון במשאבים, שיפור בציונים ובתפוקות והשפעה על תרבות בית הספר.
Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience
The accelerating impacts of climate change, and the need to avoid much larger impacts in the future, bring urgency to scaling up action on adaptation and resilience. The World Bank Group (WBG) is making adaptation and resilience a key priority of its 2025 Climate Change Targets that will elevate adaptation to an equal footing with climate mitigation actions.
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The Global Risks Report 2019
The Global Risks Report 2019 is published against a backdrop of worrying geopolitical and geo-economic tensions. If unresolved, these tensions will hinder the world’s ability to deal with a growing range of collective challenges, from the mounting evidence of environmental degradation to the increasing disruptions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
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Integrating Satellite and Ground Measurements for Predicting Locations of Extreme Urban Heat
he emergence of urban heat as a climate-induced health stressor is receiving increasing attention among researchers, practitioners, and climate educators. However, the measurement of urban heat poses several challenges with current methods leveraging either ground based, in situ observations, or satellite-derived surface temperatures estimated from land use emissivity. While both techniques contain inherent advantages and biases to predicting temperatures, their integration may offer an opportun
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Climate Change Adaptation - Research, Science and Innovation
The historic Paris Agreement set out the challenging long-term goal of keeping global warming to “well below” 2°C above pre-industrial levels while pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. At the same time, it called on societies to build up their resilience and ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.
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Scientists Warn and Call for the Protection of our Planet
We have never been in the history of mankind as a species in such
a moment and place. We have never faced such a challenge during our
stay on this planet. Such a great mobilization of scientists from around
the world has never happened before.
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a moment and place. We have never faced such a challenge during our
stay on this planet. Such a great mobilization of scientists from around
the world has never happened before.
WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate 2017
The global mean temperature in 2017 was approximately 1.1 °C above the preindustrial
era, more than half way towards the maximum limit of temperature increase
of 2 °C sought through the Paris Agreement, which further strives to limit the increase to
1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
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era, more than half way towards the maximum limit of temperature increase
of 2 °C sought through the Paris Agreement, which further strives to limit the increase to
1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.
The Adaptation Gap Health Report - 2018
The 2018 Adaptation Gap Report has two parts. First, it provides an overview of the status and trends of the adaptation gap in terms of vulnerability to climate change, adaptation costs and finance, and countries’ adaptation commitments and actions. Second, the report undertakes an
in-depth assessment of the adaptation gap in health.
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in-depth assessment of the adaptation gap in health.
National climate change vulnerability and risk assessments in Europe
This report provides the first systematic review of national climate change impact, vulnerability and risk assessments across Europe. It is based on information about relevant multi-sectoral assessments reported from EEA member countries. The purpose of the report is to share experiences and knowledge and to highlight approaches and practical solutions that countries have used to produce and present their assessments.
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A roadmap to effective urban climate change adaptation
This paper outlines a roadmap to effective urban climate change adaptation built from our practical understanding of the evidence and effects of climate change and the preparation of climate change adaptation strategies and plans. This roadmap aims to drive research in achieving fruitful knowledge and solution-based achievable recommendations in adapting to climate change in urban areas with effective and systematic manner.
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World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice - 2017
Twenty-five years ago, the Union of Concerned Scientists and more than 1700 independent scientists, including the majority of living Nobel laureates in the sciences, penned the 1992 “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity". These concerned professionals called on humankind to curtail environmental destruction and cautioned that “a great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided.” In their manifesto, they showed that humans we
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Port industry survey on climate change impacts and adaptation
Ports are critical infrastructure assets that serve as catalysts of economic growth and development. At the same time, they are also exposed to the risk of the impacts of climate variability and change, particularly in view of their location in coastal zones, low-lying areas and deltas.
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Climate Change, Impacts and Vulnerability in Europe 2016 - An Indicator-based Report
This report is an indicator-based assessment of past and projected climate change and its impacts on ecosystems and society. It also looks at society’s vulnerability to these impacts and at the development of adaptation policies and the underlying knowledge base.
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Making the Case for Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems as a Nature-Based Solution to Urban Flooding
European cities continue to experience a steady increase in the intensity and frequency of floods, largely due to high urban densities and resultant soil sealing. In the last decade, flooding as a natural hazard has produced the highest economic losses in Europe and storm water management has become a serious urban challenge.
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The Adaptation Gap Report
The 2017 Adaptation Gap Report, which is the third global Adaptation Gap Report by UN Environment – prepared in collaboration with the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation – focuses on one of the key questions arising in the wake
of the global goal: What are the ways forward to assess progress towards the global goal on adaptation?
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of the global goal: What are the ways forward to assess progress towards the global goal on adaptation?
Master ADAPT Project - Climate Change Adaptation Practices Across the EU Countries
Within the EU, southern Europe, and the Mediterranean basin in particular, will be most affected by global climate change. Strategies and plans for adaption to climate change are developed at national and regional level in the EU
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Advancing climate adaptation practices and solutions: Emerging research priorities
This paper builds on insights from Adaptation Futures 2016: Practices and Solutions – the largest
gathering of adaptation experts to date – to identify research priorities at a time when adaptation
is scaling up and moving from planning to implementation around the world. It traces the
evolution of adaptation research over time, reflects on how it has evolved, maps what it looks
like today, anticipates research directions and gaps, and articulates new research priorities
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gathering of adaptation experts to date – to identify research priorities at a time when adaptation
is scaling up and moving from planning to implementation around the world. It traces the
evolution of adaptation research over time, reflects on how it has evolved, maps what it looks
like today, anticipates research directions and gaps, and articulates new research priorities
Adaptation Strategies for European Cities: Final Report
DG Climate Action commissioned a consortium led by Ricardo-AEA and ICLEI to undertake the Adaptation Strategies for European Cities project. The aims of this project were to provide capacity building and assistance for cities in developing and implementing an adaptation strategy, and technical support to DG CLIMA on the state of play of urban adaptation. The project also intended to raise awareness throughout Europe of the importance of preparing for climate change in cities and encourage the ex
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Periodic Report Summary 1 - DYNAMIC (DYNamic feedbacks of climate impacts on current Adaptation and Mitigation Investment Choice)
The DYNAMIC (DYNamic feedbacks of climate impacts on current Adaptation and Mitigation Investment Choice) project proposes a novel framework to evaluate the economic consequences of climate change impacts and related policy responses.
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בחינת תרומת קבוצות סוציו אקונומיות בישראל לפליטות גזי חממה מצריכת מזון ביתי
לייצור המזון, במיוחד בחקלאות התעשייתית, נודעת השפעה ממשית על היקף פליטות גזי חממה באופן ישיר או עקיף. גזי חממה אלו נוצרים בכל שלבי מחזור החיים של המזון, החל משלב החקלאות ותשומותיו, דרך הייצור, הפצה, קירור, קמעונאות, הכנת המזון בבית וכלה בסילוק הפסולת.למעשה, בעוד שבמחקרים השונים קיימת הסכמה על כך שפליטות גזי חממה מייצור המזון וצריכתו מהוות חלק משמעותי מפליטות גזי החממה בעולם, המחלוקת המחקרית נסובה סביב הערכת היקף הפליטות. לדוגמא, לפי דוח של האו"ם מ- 2014 14.5% מפליטות גזי החממה כתוצאה מפעילו
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Explaining Extreme Weather Events of 2013 from a Climate Perspective
The annual Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) special issue on the attribution of last year’s extreme weather events is published today. This year’s issue “explaining extreme events of 2013 – from a climate perspective” includes two papers led by researchers from our climateprediction. This is a highly-cited and influential annual publication coined in 2012 asking whether and to what extent anthropogenic climate change altered the risk of major extreme weather events of the p
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Lima call for climate action- Decision
Climate Action & UNEP delivered their fifth annual Sustainable Innovation Forum on December 9 in Lima. This year’s event brought together close to 500 leaders from key United Nations bodies, governments, international & regional companies and leading non-governmental organisations (NGO's).
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Urban Forest Strategy - City of Sydney
In 2012 the City of Sydney (the City) adopted the Greening Sydney Plan. One of the key elements of that Plan is to develop and protect the City’s urban forest. This Urban Forest Strategy outlines the way the City will work to improve the environment, using trees, while managing the associated risks and costs.
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Climate Change Adaptation in Israel
In accordance with a June 2009 decision by the Israel Government, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is preparing a national climate change adaptation program aimed at reducing the adverse effects of global changes on water scarcity, drought and increased frequency of extreme events, among others.
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Climate Prediction for Adaptation: Who needs what?
The role of short- and long-term climate predictions in determining the success of adaptation to climate change is investigated. A simple theoretical model that captures the relationship between adaptive performance, decision structure, and prediction accuracy at different temporal scales is developed, and its implications deduced. It is shown that users who face high adjustment costs (i.e. are inflexible) depend more heavily on accurate long-term predictions than those who are able to adjust
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UK climate change risk assessment: government report
The Government published the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) on 25 January 2012, the first assessment of its kind for the UK and the first in a 5 year cycle. It sets out the main priorities for adaptation in the UK under 5 key themes identified in the CCRA 2012 Evidence Report - Agriculture and Forestry; Business, industries and Services; Health and Wellbeing; Natural Environment and Buildings and Infrastructure - and describes the policy context, and action already in place to tackle
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Urban Forest Strategy: Making a great city greener 2012-2032
This is the City of Melbourne’s first Urban Forest Strategy. It is the product of a collaborative
process, developed over two years with a large number of stakeholders including local and
the broader community in Melbourne
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process, developed over two years with a large number of stakeholders including local and
the broader community in Melbourne
2011 Bonn Declaration of Mayors
This declaration is the outcome document of the Mayors Adaptation Forum, which forms the Mayors segment of the Resilient Cities 2011 congress. It highlights the need to build resilience to disasters as a critical issue. It also signals the need to take appropriate action to build local capacities in reducing risk to disasters including those exacerbated by climate change.
The declaration advocates for the implementation of the following: (i) mainstreaming new adaptation and resilience standard
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The declaration advocates for the implementation of the following: (i) mainstreaming new adaptation and resilience standard
A double-resolution transient RCM climate change
A double-resolution regional experiment on hydrodynamic simulation of climate over the eastern Mediterranean (EM) region was performed using an International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste RegCM3 model. The RegCM3 was driven from the lateral boundaries by the data from the ECHAM5/MPI-OM global climate simulation performed at the MPI-M, Hamburg and based on the A1B IPCC scenario of greenhouse gases emission. Two simulation runs for the time period 1960-2060, employing spatial resolutions
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Climate Change Adaptation and Real Option Evaluation: A Case Study in Campeche, Mexico
This report illustrates the application of a (relatively) new method to guide decision making under high (and unknowable) levels of uncertainty. The approach allows for the identification of robust policy options that are economically beneficial under different scenarios and varying levels uncertainty. Option value techniques are commonly employed in the finance literature to identify investment decisions that are resilient across a spectrum of outcomes. The methods are technically advanced
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Climate change- vulnerability and adaptation indicators
The purpose of this Technical Paper is to rehearse some fundamental concepts surrounding the
development and delineation of adaptation indicators. It builds upon the outputs of an Expert meeting
on climate change vulnerability and adaptation indicators (Budapest, September 2008) and on the
contents of a Background Paper that was prepared for the meeting.
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development and delineation of adaptation indicators. It builds upon the outputs of an Expert meeting
on climate change vulnerability and adaptation indicators (Budapest, September 2008) and on the
contents of a Background Paper that was prepared for the meeting.
