Improving the chances for developing coastal country success in adapting to climate change

There is an unequivocal scientific consensus that increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere drive warming temperatures of air and sea, and acidification of the world’s oceans from carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans. These changes in turn can induce shifts in precipitation patterns, sea level rise, and more frequent and severe extreme weather events (e.g. storms and sea surge). All of these impacts are already being witnessed in the world’s coastal regions and are projected to intensify in years to come. Taken together, these impacts are likely to result in significant alteration of natural habitats and coastal ecosystems, and increased coastal hazards in low-lying areas. They can affect fishers, coastal communities and resource users, recreation and tourism, and coastal infrastructure. Approaches to planned adaptation to these impacts can be drawn from the lessons and good practices from global experience in Integrated Coastal Management (ICM). The recently published USAID Guidebook on Adapting to Coastal Climate Change (USAID 2009) is directed at practitioners, development planners, and coastal management professionals in developing countries. It offers approaches for assessing vulnerability to climate change and climate variability in communities and outlines how to develop and implement adaptation measures at the local and national levels. Six best practices for coastal adaptation are featured in the USAID Guidebook on Adapting to Coastal Climate Change and summarized in the following sections. (PDF contains 3 pages

Conservation organizations need to consider adaptive capacity: why local input matters

Conservation organizations are increasingly applying adaptive capacity assessments in response to escalating climate change impacts. These assessments are essential to identify climate risks to ecosystems, prioritize management interventions, maximize the effectiveness of conservation actions, and ensure conservation resources are allocated appropriately. Despite an extensive literature on the topic, there is little agreement on the most relevant factors needed to support local scale initiatives, and additional guidance is needed to clarify how adaptive capacity should be assessed. This article discusses why adaptive capacity assessment represents a critical tool supporting conservation planning and management. It also evaluates key factors guiding conservation NGOs conducting these assessments in tropical island communities, and explores alternative priorities based on input from academic experts and key local stakeholders. Our results demonstrate that important differences exist between local stakeholders and nonlocal academic experts on key factors affecting adaptation and coping mechanisms. The exclusion of local community input affects the validity of adaptive capacity assessment findings, and has significant implications for the prioritization and effectiveness of conservation strategies and funding allocation

The hazard consequence prediction system: A Participatory Action Research approach to enhance emergency management

Emergency managers (EMs) need nuanced data that contextualize the local-scale risks and impacts posed by major storm events (e.g. hurricanes and nor\u27easters). Traditional tools available to EMs, such as weather forecasts or storm surge predictions, do not provide actionable data regarding specific local concerns, such as access by emergency vehicles and potential communication disruptions. However, new storm models now have sufficient resolution to make informed emergency management at the local scale. This paper presents a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to capture critical infrastructure managers concerns about hurricanes and nor\u27easters in Providence, Rhode Island (USA). Using these data collection approach, concerns can be integrated into numerical storm models and used in emergency management to flag potential consequences in real time during the advance of a storm. This paper presents the methodology and results from a pilot project conducted for emergency managers and highlights implications for practice and future academic research

Resilience and thriving in spite of disasters: A stages of change approach

This chapter discusses individual, social, and organizational readiness for change in the context of resilience and sustainability; research focuses on measuring and improving population preparedness for catastrophic events, especially events exacerbated by extreme weather and sea-level rise. Resilience needs to be addressed directly through physical and financial measures, redistribution of control mechanisms, stress and conflict management pre- and post-disaster. Also, populations will benefit from adapting their attitudes and everyday habits that will be affected by projected disruptions in resource availability, infrastructure, and environmental conditions. This chapter demonstrates the potential of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to improve preparedness to respond to extreme weather and sea-level rise. One key strength of this model is its ability to reach even those who are not yet ready to take action and perhaps even unaware. TTM interventions have proven effective in changing numerous health behaviors—not only for individuals, but also at the organizational and policy level. TTM shows promise to promote sustainability and resilience behavior changes on a large scale. Current work has produced promising results at the local level, and a federally funded collaborative of multiple agencies is currently preparing to evaluate this model nationally

Conservation in the Context of Climate Change: Practical Guidelines for Land Protection at Local Scales

<div><p>Climate change will affect the composition of plant and animal communities in many habitats and geographic settings. This presents a dilemma for conservation programs – will the portfolio of protected lands we now have achieve a goal of conserving biodiversity in the future when the ecological communities occurring within them change? Climate change will significantly alter many plant communities, but the geophysical underpinnings of these landscapes, such as landform, elevation, soil, and geological properties, will largely remain the same. Studies show that extant landscapes with a diversity of geophysical characteristics support diverse plant and animal communities. Therefore, geophysically diverse landscapes will likely support diverse species assemblages in the future, although which species and communities will be present is not altogether clear. Following protocols advanced in studies spanning large regions, we developed a down-scaled, high spatial resolution measure of geophysical complexity based on Ecological Land Units (ELUs) and examined the relationship between plant species richness, ecological community richness, and ELU richness (number of different ELU types). We found that extant landscapes with high ELU richness had a greater variety of ecological community types and high species richness of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. We developed a spatial representation of diverse ELU landscapes to inform local conservation practitioners, such as land trusts, of potential conservation targets that will likely support diverse faunas and floras despite the impact of climate change.</p></div

Total plant species and ecological community density versus ELU richness.

<p>(A) Total plant species density versus total number of different ELU types on ASRI refuges (standardized by refuge area in hectare). (B) Number of ecological communities on ASRI refuges versus ELU type density.</p

Soil drainage, soil texture, and landform classes used to identify ELUs.

<p>The code values in parentheses are the class codes to identify each condition. ELUs are formed by merging these three GIS layers resulting in unique combinations of landform and soil conditions (see Table 3)</p

Audubon Society of Rhode Island Refuges.

<p>Locations of refuges where vascular plant inventories were conducted.</p

An example of land acquisition criteria used by a municipal land trust in Rhode Island showing how ELU richness is incorporated into a larger land protection context.

<p>Different conditions for each criterion are assigned a weighted point value (0–3). The sum of the weights is totaled for a candidate property. Criteria provided by the Richmond (RI) Rural Preservation Land Trust.</p>1<p>As defined by the RI Natural History Survey.</p>2<p>As defined on ELU website.</p>3<p>As defined by the RI Natural Heritage Program.</p>4<p>Containing features defined by the RI Historical Society and/or Richmond Historical Society.</p

Most common ELU categories accounting for 85% land area of Rhode Island.

<p>Most common ELU categories accounting for 85% land area of Rhode Island.</p