Climate Change and Coastal Megacities: Adapting through mobility

Climate change poses threats to individuals, communities, and cities globally. Global conversations and scholarly debates have explored ways people adapt to the impacts of climate change including through migration and relocation. This study uses Lagos, Nigeria as a case study to examine the relationship between flooding events, migration intentions as a preferred adaptation, and the destination choices for affected residents. The study draws on a mixed-methods approach which involved a survey of 352 residents and semi-structured interviews with 21 residents. We use a capability approach to analyze mobility decisions following major or repetitive flood events. We found that the majority of affected residents are willing to migrate but the ability to do so is constrained by economic, social, and political factors leading to involuntary immobility. Furthermore, intra-city relocation is preferred to migration to other states in Nigeria or internationally. These findings challenge popular Global South-North migration narratives. Indeed, some residents welcome government-supported relocation plans but others remain skeptical due to lack of trust. Community-based relocation may therefore be preferred by some Lagosians. Overall, this study contributes a nuanced understanding of mobility intentions in response to climate-induced flooding in one of the world’s largest coastal cities

Flood Risk Perceptions and Future Migration Intentions of Lagos Residents

Coastal communities across the world face intense and frequent flooding due to the rise in extreme rainfall and storm surges associated with climate change. Adaptation is therefore crucial to manage the growing threat to coastal communities and cities. This case study focuses on Lagos, Nigeria, one of the world’s largest urban centers where rapid urbanization, poor urban planning, degrading infrastructure, and inadequate preparedness compounds flood vulnerability. We situate flood risk perceptions within the context of climate-induced mobilities in Lagos, which no study has done, filling a necessary knowledge gap. Furthermore, we apply a unique approach to flood risk perception and its linkage to migration, by using three measures of risk – affect, probability, and consequence, as opposed to a singular measure. Results show that the affect measure of flood risk perception is significantly higher than probability and consequence measures. Furthermore, flood risk perception is shaped by prior experiences with flooding and proximity to hazard. The effect of proximity on risk perception differs across the three measures. We also found that flood risk perceptions and future migration intentions are positively correlated. These results demonstrate the usefulness of using multiple measures to assess flood risk perceptions, offering multiple pathways for targeted interventions and flood risk communication

Economic effects of oil and gas development on child health in Colorado

2015 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.The oil and gas industry is a huge contributor to the economy of many countries and states worldwide. Even though the industry creates jobs and income, debates continue surrounding the environmental and human costs of the industry. There are many health concerns in particular because studies have shown that there is the potential for water and air pollution from emissions that are generated through oil and gas production processes. This study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on this issue by exploring the potential economic effects of oil and gas development on child respiratory health. Using state in-patient data from the Agency for Research and Health Quality (ARHQ)-Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), I estimate difference-in-difference results to measure the potential effects of oil and gas production in Colorado over time, between the years 2004 and 2013 and for children between ages 0 and 19. Results reveal that over time from 2004 until 2013, oil and gas had no significant effect on child respiratory health. For individual years, results for 2013 show significant effects. The overall lack of effect of oil and gas development on child respiratory health from this study could be that the respiratory cases reported were as a result of factors other than air pollution from oil and gas activities

Energy Democracy and the City: Evaluating the Practice and Potential of Municipal Sustainability Planning

While calls for, and work toward, energy democracy have been entrenched in social movements, and the concept has a burgeoning posture in academic discourse, perhaps the most significant implication for its development is the potential for its implementation at the local governance scale. In order for municipal efforts to be wholly democratic, energy policy must be accessible and responsive to the needs of all communities. This necessitates the convergence of an energy democracy paradigm with principles and practices of both energy justice and just sustainabilities that encourage communities and households’ entrée to the energy planning arena, as participants in policy making and with access to renewable innovations. By using a case study as its means of analysis, this paper will evaluate municipal-scale energy programming by considering the prospects of energy democracy on a sub-state scale. In our analysis of Washington, DC’s sustainable energy utility, we highlight challenges that limit the potential for energy democracy in the nation’s capital, along with practices that lead DC toward energy justice and democracy. We conclude by offering indicators for democratized urban energy planning