Tracking Climate Change Vulnerability at Municipal Level in Rural Haiti Using Open Data

In least developed tropical countries, vulnerability to climate change (CC) at local scale follows an indicator-based approach and uses information gathered mainly through household surveys or focus groups. Conceived in this way, the vulnerability assessment is rarely repeatable in time, cannot be compared with those carried out in other contexts and usually has low spatial coverage. The growing availability of open source information at municipal level, routinely col-lected, now allows us to switch to vulnerability tracking (continuous, low cost, consistent with global monitoring systems). The aim of this chapter is to propose and verify the applicability of a VICC-Vulnerability Index to Climate Change on a municipal scale for Haiti. The chapter identifies open source information on na-tional, departmental and municipal scale, selects the information on a municipal scale on the basis of quality, identifies the indicators, evaluates the robustness of the index and measures it. The index consists of 10 indicators created using infor-mation relating to monthly precipitations, population density, flood prone areas, crop deficit, farmers for self-consumption, rural accessibility, local plans for CC adaptation, irrigated agriculture and cholera incidence. This information is gath-ered for the 125 mainly rural municipalities of Haiti. The description and discus-sion of the results in followed by suggestions to improve the index aimed at do-nors, local authorities and users

The analytical framework of water and armed conflict: a focus on the 2006 Summer War between Israel and Lebanon

This paper develops an analytical framework to investigate the relationship between water and armed conflict, and applies it to the ‘Summer War’ of 2006 between Israel and Lebanon (Hezbollah). The framework broadens and deepens existing classifications by assessing the impact of acts of war as indiscriminate or targeted, and evaluating them in terms of international norms and law, in particular International Humanitarian Law (IHL). In the case at hand, the relationship is characterised by extensive damage in Lebanon to drinking water infrastructure and resources. This is seen as a clear violation of the letter and the spirit of IHL, while the partial destruction of more than 50 public water towers compromises water rights and national development goals. The absence of pre-war environmental baselines makes it difficult to gauge the impact on water resources, suggesting a role for those with first-hand knowledge of the hostilities to develop a more effective response before, during, and after armed conflict

Field site selection: getting it right first time around

The selection of suitable field sites for integrated control of Anopheles mosquitoes using the sterile insect technique (SIT) requires consideration of the full gamut of factors facing most proposed control strategies, but four criteria identify an ideal site: 1) a single malaria vector, 2) an unstructured, relatively low density target population, 3) isolation of the target population and 4) actual or potential malaria incidence. Such a site can exist in a diverse range of situations or can be created. Two contrasting SIT field sites are examined here: the desert-flanked Dongola Reach of the Nile River in Northern State, Sudan, where malaria is endemic, and the island of La Reunion, where autochthonous malaria is rare but risk is persistent. The single malaria-transmitting vector at both sites is Anopheles arabiensis. In Sudan, the target area is a narrow 500 km corridor stretching from the rocky terrain at the Fourth Cataract - just above the new Merowe Dam, to the northernmost edge of the species range, close to Egypt. Vector distribution and temporal changes in density depend on the Nile level, ambient temperature and human activities. On La Reunion, the An. arabiensis population is coastal, limited and divided into three areas by altitude and exposure to the trade winds on the east coast. Mosquito vectors for other diseases are an issue at both sites, but of primary importance on La Reunion due to the recent chikungunya epidemic. The similarities and differences between these two sites in terms of suitability are discussed in the context of area-wide integrated vector management incorporating the SIT