Coastal cities at risk : building adaptive capacity for managing climate change in coastal megacities : assessing the vulnerability of coastal cities in a changing climate

The research program integrates climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction approaches towards building disaster resilient cities. This Coastal Cities at Risk (CCaR) presentation shows how the CCaR teams work to assess vulnerability. For assessment of economic impacts of extreme flooding, CCaR has developed a novel dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The “Unifying Resilience” model provides a framework for social, health, economics and physical hazard teams to work from. Workshops were held with local practitioners in all four cities: Lagos (Nigeria); Bangkok (Thailand), Metro Manila (Philippines), Vancouver/Surrey (British Colombia)

Use of an Integrated System Dynamics Model for Analyzing Behaviour of the Social-economic-climatic System in Policy Development

Climate change remains one of the most critical issues that humans and the natural world face today. Yet while a strong body of scientific research has identified the risks if mitigation and adaptation measures are not taken, there still remains a policy lag. This leads researchers to pose several questions: is there an identified need by the policy domain for more or different science? Is the science that is conducted made policyrelevant? If not, are there tools to better link science to policy? This report will explain the process of science-policy communication related to the development of an integrated system dynamics model of the social-economic-climatic system at the University of Western Ontario under NSERC strategic grant program funding. It will describe the science-policy interface and outline the main challenge to developing science tools for policy, and will then explain how the UWO research team overcame such challenges. Finally, it explains (a) briefly the proposed model and (b) the process of policy scenarios development. The main objective of the research presented in this report is to bring the model closer to policy makers and emphasize how useful this tool is specifically for the Canadian federal government. The science policy communication process has been established through the set of interviews and workshops. Interviews were used (a) to identify the issues of importance to be incorporated in the model development and (b) to formalize a set of policy scenarios that will provide input for policy making. Workshops were used to communicate science to policy developers and discuss the issues of importance for policy development. The research was fundamentally based on a multi-disciplinary approach that assisted in bridging the research domain to the policy domain. Ultimately, the feedback from the interviews and workshops was embedded in the development of the model and its scenarios, and made it possible to transform policy questions into model scenarios. In other words, by linking science and policy domains, the research team was able to produce a science-based and policy-relevant tool. Limitations to the work mainly reflect the current stage of research and model development. As the strategic research continues on the integrated system dynamics model of the social-economic-climatic system, these limitations are likely to be overcome. The other key limitation is in the selection of the government partners. While the current group of partners has provided valuable insight, further research will aim to expand the group of partners across different departments. This will not only reflect a broader range of interests, but will also more accurately represent a systems view of government. Furthermore, a broader range of disciplinary biases will be consulted, including government policymakers who work more intimately with science and policy research.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrrr/1029/thumbnail.jp

Building Climate Resilient Communities: Living Within the Earth’s Carrying Capacity

This Knowledge Synthesis examines how Canadian communities can proactively advance climate resilience to effectively reduce the risk from climate change impacts. Our synthesis reveals that some communities have prepared high level adaptation plans, but very few have a detailed implementation strategy with established funding frameworks. Most actions to build community resilience in Canada are unplanned and take place in recovery following an extreme loss event. Indigenous communities are at the forefront of climate change adaptation in Canada. Self-determination and adaptive capacity building through community-led risk assessments, planning, and disaster recovery organizations, while addressing the broader context of reconciliation gaps and opportunities for integration, are important for climate resiliency. Combining Western and Indigenous ways of knowing for effective knowledge translation is necessary for adaptation. Indigenous collaborations that promote nature-based solutions and conservation are critical to global GHG sequestration and resilience. Local scale urban warming experienced by Canadian communities adds to the heat burden in the warm season and further exacerbates social, health and economic impacts. More research is needed to document and predict the occurrence of heatwaves and to develop heat adaptation strategies for Canadian cities. There are physical and mental health impacts of heatwaves and climate change. To address the climate crisis, a more ambitious, strategic and collaborative approach to adaptation is required. Proven tools exist to proactively improve climate resilience. A major issue is lack of funding and direction for governments and indigenous communities to address climate resilience. The executive summary of the full report provides key messages

Coastal cities at risk (CCaR) : building adaptive capacity for managing climate change in coastal megacities

The CCaR project has contributed significantly to the development of strategies and methodologies for climate change adaptation (CCA). In cities, assistance in the development of disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies based on knowledge generated from the project has been provided. In Vancouver region, information for adaptation planning in municipalities was provided; contributing to the flagship Adaptation Strategy formulated by the City of Vancouver and passed by Council. Working groups have been established in Vancouver and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. In Metro Manila, systems thinking about climate change adaptation have been mainstreamed in national and local government processes through specific policy instruments in collaboration with the all-levels of government, the military, regional scientific groups like UNISDR-ASTAAG and private sector partners such as the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and Partnerships for Climate and Disaster Resilience. The development of the City Resilience Systems Dynamic Model (CRS) over the course of the project is providing a new methodology for quantifying the relationships between climate impacts, socio-economic implications, and the development of adaptation strategies that will be applied to all case study cities, now and in future

Disaster Risks Research and Assessment to Promote Risk Reduction and Management

Natural hazard events lead to disasters when the events interact with exposed and vulnerable physical and social systems. Despite significant progress in scientific understanding of physical phenomena leading to natural hazards as well as of vulnerability and exposure, disaster losses due to natural events do not show a tendency to decrease. This tendency is associated with many factors including increase in populations and assets at risk as well as in frequency and/or magnitude of natural events, especially those related to hydro-meteorological and climatic hazards. But essentially disaster losses increase because some of the elements of the multidimensional dynamic disaster risk system are not accounted for risk assessments. A comprehensive integrated system analysis and periodic assessment of disaster risks at any scale, from local to global, based on knowledge and data/information accumulated so far, are essential scientific tools that can assist in recognition and reduction of disaster risks. This paper reviews and synthesizes the knowledge of natural hazards, vulnerabilities, and disaster risks and aims to highlight potential contributions of science to disaster risk reduction (DRR) in order to provide policy-makers with the knowledge necessary to assist disaster risk mitigation and disaster risk management (DRM)

Th17 Cytokines and the Gut Mucosal Barrier

Local immune responses serve to contain infections by pathogens to the gut while preventing pathogen dissemination to systemic sites. Several subsets of T cells in the gut (T-helper 17 cells, γδ T cells, natural killer (NK), and NK-T cells) contribute to the mucosal response to pathogens by secreting a subset of cytokines including interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-17F, IL-22, and IL-26. These cytokines induce the secretion of chemokines and antimicrobial proteins, thereby orchestrating the mucosal barrier against gastrointestinal pathogens. While the mucosal barrier prevents bacterial dissemination from the gut, it also promotes colonization by pathogens that are resistant to some of the inducible antimicrobial responses. In this review, we describe the contribution of Th17 cytokines to the gut mucosal barrier during bacterial infections

Adapting to climate change: The challenges and opportunities in an uncertain policy environment

With climate change, there will be stresses on agricultural production in some regions and opportunities in others. Will there be financial and regulatory support for diversification into other crops and for possibly relocating agriculture production to other areas? Will there be investments in public infrastructure, such as transportation and water supply, to support the new regions where conflicting demands for available water leads to conflict.It is important to recognize that choices made now will have continuing economic and social impacts for a long time

Building resilience

Professor Gordon McBean, current Board Chair of SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START) talks candidly of the Coastal Cities at Risk (CCaR) project and how resilience can be forged for vulnerable regions. The CCaR project will develop the knowledge base and enhance capacity of mega-cities to successfully adapt to and cope with risks posed by the effects of climate change, including sea level rise. “One of the outcomes will be a cadre of new scientists who through their own research and teaching will extend the research to other areas,” McBean concludes