Grenzen der Anpassung in Österreich? TransLoss Policy Brief

Es gibt immer mehr wissenschaftliche Belege dafür, dass besonders exponierte und vulnerable natürliche und sozioökonomische Systeme durch den menschengemachten Klimawandel an Grenzen der Anpassung stoßen werden. Dadurch wird es weltweit zu gravierenden Schäden und bleibenden Verlusten kommen, die von monetärer, aber auch ideeller Natur sein können. Während im globalen Süden bereits heute Anpassungsgrenzen erreicht werden und Menschen daher mit intolerablen Risiken konfrontiert sind, stellt sich die Frage, inwiefern Anpassungsgrenzen in Europa – insbesondere in Österreich – erreicht und/oder heute bzw. zukünftig überschritten werden. There is increasing scientific evidence that particularly exposed and vulnerable natural and socio-economic systems will be pushed to the limits of adaptation by man-made climate change. This will result in serious damage and permanent losses worldwide, which can be of monetary, but also non-material nature. While in the Global South adaptation limits are already being reached and people are therefore confronted with intolerable risks, the question arises to what extent adaptation limits in Europe - especially in Austria - will be reached and/or exceeded today or in the future

What's at stake? A human well-being based proposal for assessing risk of loss and damage from climate change

Current scientific discourse on the assessment of loss and damage from climate change focuses primarily on what is straightforwardly quantifiable, such as monetary value, numbers of casualties, or destroyed homes. However, the range of possible harms induced by climate change is much broader, particularly as regards residual risks that occur beyond limits to adaptation. In international climate policy, this has been institutionalized within the Loss and Damage discourse, which emphasizes the importance of non-economic loss and damage (NELD). Nevertheless, NELDs are often neglected in loss and damage assessments, being intangible and difficult to quantify. As a consequence, to date, no systematic concept or indicator framework exists that integrates market-based and non-market-based loss and damage. In this perspective, we suggest assessing risk of loss and damage using a climate change risk and vulnerability assessment (CRVA) framework: the Impact Chain method. This highly adaptable method has proven successful in unraveling complex risks in socio-ecological systems through a combination of engaging (political) stakeholders and performing quantitative data analysis. We suggest expanding the framework's logic to include not only the sources but also the consequences of risk by conceptualizing loss and damage as harm to nine domains of human well-being. Our approach is consistent with the risk conceptualization by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Conceptualization and systematic assessment of the full spectrum of imminent loss and damage allows a more comprehensive anticipation of potential impacts on human well-being, identifying vulnerable groups and providing essential evidence for transformative and comprehensive climate risk management

Kapitel 27. Theorien des Wandels und der Gestaltung von Strukturen: Bereitstellungsperspektive

Die Bereitstellungsperspektive untersucht geeignete Strukturen klimafreundlichen Lebens ausgehend von Bereitstellungssystemen, die suffiziente und resiliente Praktiken und Lebensformen erleichtern und damit selbstverständlich machen. Sie ermöglicht eine ganzheitliche Sichtweise, um langfristige Klimawandelmitigation und -anpassung mit der kurzfristigen Sicherung der Grundversorgung und dem Schutz vor Naturgefahren zu verbinden

WaterStressAT - Climate change induced water stress - participatory modeling to identify risks and opportunities in Austrian regions

In Austria, increase in demand as well as climate change might create local and seasonal hot-spots of water stress. It is thus important to understand the status quo and future development of these phenomena to identify potential areas of tension. WaterStressAT assesses water availability and demand in two Austrian case studies under a set of regional development and climate change scenarios

A reality check for the applicability of comprehensive climate risk assessment and management: Experiences from Peru, India and Austria

Climate-related risks are a major threat to humanity, affecting the lives and livelihoods of communities globally. Even with adaptation, climate change is projected to increase the severity of risks, leading to impacts and residual risks, also termed losses and damages. Frameworks and approaches using Climate Risk Management (CRM), an integration of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation, and sustainable development, are being devised to support the comprehensive management of increasing climate-related risks. Here we discuss to what extent comprehensive CRM has been implemented in three specific cases – in Peru, India and Austria. The approach is conceptually represented and evaluated using a CRM framework. The cases deal with risks associated with glacial lake outburst floods, sea level rise, tropical cyclones, salinization, riverine floods and agricultural droughts. Ultimately, we synthesise policy and research recommendations to help understand what is feasible for CRM approaches applied in practice. We find that successful CRM implementation in practice benefits from being flexible, and participatory from beginning to end, whilst considering compounding risks, and the spectrum of (just and equitable) incremental to transformational adaptation measures necessary for attending to current and projected future increases in climate-related risks