Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation

Risks from extreme weather events are mediated through state, civil society and individual action 1 , 2 . We propose evolving social contracts as a primary mechanism by which adaptation to climate change proceeds. We use a natural experiment of policy and social contexts of the UK and Ireland affected by the same meteorological event and resultant flooding in November 2009. We analyse data from policy documents and from household surveys of 356 residents in western Ireland and northwest England. We find significant differences between perceptions of individual responsibility for protection across the jurisdictions and between perceptions of future risk from populations directly affected by flooding events. These explain differences in stated willingness to take individual adaptive actions when state support retrenches. We therefore show that expectations for state protection are critical in mediating impacts and promoting longer-term adaptation. We argue that making social contracts explicit may smooth pathways to effective and legitimate adaptation

Development of a management tool for the equal evaluation of economic, social and ecological effects of adaptation scenarios for attenuating the effects of climate change induced flooding

Climate change is expected to influence river flooding which may have important implications for socio-economic and ecological systems. Changed flood risks require a proper policy. Water managers need to develop and select those adaptation scenarios that maximise welfare. Doing so requires addressing various challenges; integrating climate change effects in flood modelling, development of assessment methods for flood risk to social and ecological systems, development of methodologies for the assessment of non-flood related impacts from adaptation scenarios and, finally, integrating all effects, both positive and negative, related to an adaptation scenario in a comprehensive decision framework. The ADAPT project, which is financed by the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO), aims to tackle these challenges by the development of a practical methodology, for assisting decision making about adaptation scenarios for attenuating the effects of climate change induced flooding, that builds on the integrated evaluation of economic, social as well as ecological effects. The study builds on two case studies, located in the two major Belgian river basins, for both the development and the illustration of the methodology.status: publishe

National perspectives on climate change adaptation: A panel discussion of climate change adaptation efforts in diverse coastal regions of the United States

Climate change has rapidly emerged as a significant threat to coastal areas around the world. While uncertainty regarding distribution, intensity, and timescale inhibits our ability to accurately forecast potential impacts, it is widely accepted that changes in global climate will result in a variety of significant environmental, social, and economic impacts. Coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and the implications of sea-level rise, and coastal communities must develop the capacity to adapt to climate change in order to protect people, property, and the environment along our nation’s coasts. The U.S. coastal zone is highly complex and variable, consisting of several regions that are characterized by unique geographic, economic, social and environmental factors. The degree of risk and vulnerability associated with climate change can vary greatly depending on the exposure and sensitivity of coastal resources within a given area. The ability of coastal communities to effectively adapt to climate change will depend greatly on their ability to develop and implement feasible strategies that address unique local and regional factors. A wide variety of resources are available to assist coastal states in developing their approach to climate change adaptation. However, given the complex and variable nature of the U.S. coastline, it is unlikely that a single set of guidelines can adequately address the full range of adaptation needs at the local and regional levels. This panel seeks to address some of the unique local and regional issues facing coastal communities throughout the U.S. including anticipated physical, social, economic and environmental impacts, existing resources and guidelines for climate change adaptation, current approaches to climate change adaptation planning, and challenges and opportunities for developing adaptation strategies. (PDF contains 4 pages

Women and water management in times of climate change: participatory and inclusive processes

This paper focuses on community engagement, and particularly the inclusion of women, in water management as a response to climate change. Addressing water-related problems is central to climate change adaptation, and civil society, marginalized populations and women, in particular, must be involved. This is for both moral and pragmatic reasons: not only are the marginalized the first and worst affected by extreme weather events, but they also possess local ecological, social and political knowledge which can inform and contribute significantly to climate change adaptation strategies. Because of their social roles and position worldwide, women are greatly affected by water scarcity and flooding, and tend to be gravely impacted by poor water management, yet they face great difficulties in participating effectively in governance bodies. Sustainable long-term management of water resources in the face of climate change requires the participation of women, who possess knowledge of effective social tech- nologies for coping with and adapting to climate change. Community-based environmental education is therefore required in order to expand the equitable involvement of women in water-related climate change adaptation activities and policy development. Environmental non-governmental organizations worldwide, working on shoestring budgets at the local level, are developing a range of methods to organize, raise consciousness and confidence, and help local activists create successful climate defense programs. This paper discusses SoutheNorth initiatives and models for community-based environmental and climate change education which are using the democratic opening provided by watershed-based governance structures to broaden grassroots participation, especially of women, in political processes. We outline the activities and results of two international projects: the Sister Watersheds project, with Brazilian and Canadian partners (2002e2008); and a Climate Change Adaptation in Africa project with partners in Canada, Kenya, Mozambique, and South Africa (2010e2012).This research was supported by the International Development Research Centre, grant number IDRC GRANT NO. 106002-00

Pathways to climate adapted and healthy low income housing

AbstractThis report presents the findings from the “Pathways to Climate Adapted and Healthy Low Income Housing” project undertaken by the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship in partnership with two organisations responsible for providing social housing in Australia.The project was based on the premise that interactions between people, housing, and neighbourhood are dynamic and best viewed as a complex, dynamic social-ecological system. Using social housing as a case study, the objectives of the project were to:Model vulnerability of housing and tenants to selected climate change impacts;Identify/evaluate engineering, behavioural and institutional adaptation options;Scope co-benefits of climate adaptation for human health and well-being; andDevelop house typologies and climate analogues for national generalisations.This project was developed with the rationale that a multi-level focus on the cross-scale interactions between housing, residents, neighbourhood, and regional climate was vital for understanding the nature of climate change vulnerability and options for adaptation. The climate change hazards that were explored were increasing temperatures and more frequent and severe heatwaves in the context of heat-related health risks to housing occupants, and changes in radiation, humidity, and wind, in relation to material durability and service life of housing components and the implications for maintenance.Please cite as:Barnett G, Beaty RM, Chen D, McFallan S, Meyers J, Nguyen M, Ren Z, Spinks A, and Wang, X 2013 Pathways to climate adapted and healthy low income housing, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, pp. 110.This report presents the findings from the \u27Pathways to Climate Adapted and Healthy Low Income Housing\u27 project undertaken by the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship in partnership with two organisations responsible for providing social housing in Australia.The project was based on the premise that interactions between people, housing, and neighbourhood are dynamic and best viewed as a complex, dynamic social-ecological system. Using social housing as a case study, the objectives of the project were to:Model vulnerability of housing and tenants to selected climate change impacts;Identify/evaluate engineering, behavioural and institutional adaptation options;Scope co-benefits of climate adaptation for human health and well-being; andDevelop house typologies and climate analogues for national generalisations.This project was developed with the rationale that a multi-level focus on the cross-scale interactions between housing, residents, neighbourhood, and regional climate was vital for understanding the nature of climate change vulnerability and options for adaptation. The climate change hazards that were explored were increasing temperatures and more frequent and severe heatwaves in the context of heat-related health risks to housing occupants, and changes in radiation, humidity, and wind, in relation to material durability and service life of housing components and the implications for maintenance

Contemporary Women’s Adaptation to Motherhood: The First 3 to 6 Weeks Postpartum

A better understanding of the process of adaptation to motherhood should enhance nurses’ ability to prepare women for the transition to motherhood and to provide care following childbirth. Knowledge about women’s adaptation to motherhood was developed primarily from the 1960s to the 1990s. Cesarean birthing was a special focus of research throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, followed by functional status, and more recently, depression and stress associated with birth and postpartum. Adaptation to motherhood in the context of the early 21st century has received limited attention in nursing research, creating an assumption that the process of adaptation is universal and context-free rather than evolving within the life and societal context of women across generations. Although becoming and being a mother has been described as a normative transition rather than a stressor by some, knowledge development about adaptation to motherhood also has been constrained by the limited use of a unified perspective of transition as a process of adaptation. Therefore, the purposes of this exploratory study were to describe contemporary women’s physical, emotional, functional, and social adaptation to motherhood and to examine the relations of selected demographic and perinatal variables to adaptation to motherhood in the first 3 to 6 weeks of the postpartum

The role of social interaction in farmers' climate adaptation choice

Adaptation to climate change might not always occur, with potentially\ud catastrophic results. Success depends on coordinated actions at both\ud governmental and individual levels (public and private adaptation). Even for a “wet” country like the Netherlands, climate change projections show that the frequency and severity of droughts are likely to increase. Freshwater is an important factor for agricultural production. A deficit causes damage to crop production and consequently to a loss of income. Adaptation is the key to decrease farmers’ vulnerability at the micro level and the sector’s vulnerability at the macro level. Individual adaptation decision-making is determined by the behavior of economic agents and social interaction among them. This can be best studied with agentbased modelling. Given the uncertainty about future weather conditions and the costs and effectiveness of adaptation strategies, a farmer in the model uses a cognitive process (or heuristic) to make adaptation decisions. In this process, he can rely on his experiences and on information from interactions within his social network. Interaction leads to the spread of information and knowledge that causes learning. Learning changes the conditions for individual adaptation decisionmaking. All these interactions cause emergent phenomena: the diffusion of adaptation strategies and a change of drought vulnerability of the agricultural sector. In this paper, we present a conceptual model and the first implementation of an agent-based model. The aim is to study the role of interaction in a farmer’s social network on adaptation decisions and on the diffusion of adaptation strategies\ud and vulnerability of the agricultural sector. Micro-level survey data will be used to parameterize agents’ behavioral and interaction rules at a later stage. This knowledge is necessary for the successful design of public adaptation strategies, since governmental adaptation actions need to be fine-tuned to private adaptation behavior

Economic Evaluation of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Italy

The paper deals with the social and economic dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation in Italy. The ultimate aim of the paper is to provide policy makers and experts with a conceptual framework, as well as methodological and operational tools for dealing with climate change impacts and adaptation from an economic perspective. In order to do so, first a conceptual and theoretical framework of the economic assessment of climate change impacts is presented and the state of the art about impact assessment studies is briefly analysed. Then, the Italian case is taken into account, by underlying the main impacts and adaptation challenges that are likely to be implied by climate change in the next decades. The analysis of the Italian case is particularly addressed through the description of the methodology and results of two case studies. The first one, dealing mainly with impact assessment, is carried out at the national level and is part of a EC funded project on Weather Impacts on Natural, Social and Economic Systems (WISE). The second one is carried out at the local level and focuses on sea level rise impacts and adaptation in a plane south of Rome. The two case studies allow to propose simple and flexible methodologies for the economic impact assessment and the economic valuation of adaptation strategies.Climate change, Economic impact assessment, Adaptation, Cost benefit analysis

Sentiment Lexicon Adaptation with Context and Semantics for the Social Web

Sentiment analysis over social streams offers governments and organisations a fast and effective way to monitor the publics' feelings towards policies, brands, business, etc. General purpose sentiment lexicons have been used to compute sentiment from social streams, since they are simple and effective. They calculate the overall sentiment of texts by using a general collection of words, with predetermined sentiment orientation and strength. However, words' sentiment often vary with the contexts in which they appear, and new words might be encountered that are not covered by the lexicon, particularly in social media environments where content emerges and changes rapidly and constantly. In this paper, we propose a lexicon adaptation approach that uses contextual as well as semantic information extracted from DBPedia to update the words' weighted sentiment orientations and to add new words to the lexicon. We evaluate our approach on three different Twitter datasets, and show that enriching the lexicon with contextual and semantic information improves sentiment computation by 3.4% in average accuracy, and by 2.8% in average F1 measure