An integrated approach for assessing flood impacts due to future climate and socio-economic conditions and the scope of adaptation in Europe

European Commission Seventh Framework Programm

Explaining the human resource management preferences of employees: A study of Chinese workers

The forces of globalization, technology and the differences or similarities in institutional systems place substantial pressure on convergence and divergence in HRM practices. Moreover, local customs and the responses from employees also pose serious constraints on the degree of convergence or divergence (Rowley and Benson 2002). In other words, there is what might be termed an upward influence coming from the employees. Although companies may benchmark HRM ‘best practices’, the actual adoption and success of these practices depends, to a large extent, on perceptions and acceptance from employees. However, the opinions of non-managerial employees have been largely neglected in the studies of HRM (Cooke 2009; Legge 1995; Guest 2002; Edgar and Geare 2005; Qiao, Khilji and Wang 2009). Cooke (2009), after reviewing studies on HRM in China published between 1998 and 2007 in major business and management journals, reported that two-thirds of the studies had collected data from managers and most of them relied on managers as the sole source for information. Since the information has mainly been provided by managers, there is the potential for bias because feedback from the managers probably reflects the ideal or ‘best practices’ of HRM that those managers want to implement, rather than the actual HR policies or practices being used in the organization. Thus Cooke (2009, p.19) argued that ‘unless we can broaden our research catchment to include views from the widest range of stakeholders, particularly the employees, our understanding of HRM in China remains partial, from management’s lens’. This study explores the HR preferences of Chinese employees, both non-managerial and managerial ones, based on a sample of 2852 questionnaires from companies in China. A number of questions are explored. For example, what do they think of a ‘promotion-from-within’ policy? Do they prefer an individual-based bonus or a group-based bonus? Do they prefer a ‘downward performance appraisal method’ or a ‘multi-source performance appraisal method’? The research findings shows a strong ‘group orientation’ and a great emphasis on ‘soft factors’ such as seniority, loyalty and connections in many HRM areas. The debate on whether Chinese HRM will converge or diverge towards the Western models is still ongoing. Many argue that there could be further convergence towards the Western practices because globalization may place substantial pressure on firms to standardize practices and policies (see Chen, Lawler and Bae 2005). Others argue that HRM is highly context specific in which institutional and cultural forces have enduring influences (see Rowley and Cooke 2010), which indicates a divergent perspective. The third group supports a ‘cross-vergence’ view which argues that there will be signs of convergence in certain areas but Chinese HRM will keep its ‘Chinese characteristics’ (Cooke 2005, 2010; Yeung, Warner and Rowley 2008; Warner 2009a, b). This study supports the ‘cross-vergence’ perspective. It is argued that certain areas of Chinese HRM are converging to the Western model, but the influence of traditional Chinese personnel practices remains strong. A ‘group orientation’, a major emphasis on ‘soft factors’ and a trade union presence is likely to remain as the three main features of Chinese HRM in the long-term

Combining qualitative and quantitative understanding for exploring cross-sectoral climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in Europe

Climate change will affect all sectors of society and the environment at all scales, ranging from the continental to the national and local. Decision-makers and other interested citizens need to be able to access reliable science-based information to help them respond to the risks of climate change impacts and assess opportunities for adaptation. Participatory integrated assessment (IA) tools combine knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines, take account of the value and importance of stakeholder ‘lay insight’ and facilitate a two-way iterative process of exploration of ‘what if’s’ to enable decision-makers to test ideas and improve their understanding of the complex issues surrounding adaptation to climate change. This paper describes the conceptual design of a participatory IA tool, the CLIMSAVE IA Platform, based on a professionally facilitated stakeholder engagement process. The CLIMSAVE (climate change integrated methodology for cross-sectoral adaptation and vulnerability in Europe) Platform is a user-friendly, interactive web-based tool that allows stakeholders to assess climate change impacts and vulnerabilities for a range of sectors, including agriculture, forests, biodiversity, coasts, water resources and urban development. The linking of models for the different sectors enables stakeholders to see how their interactions could affect European landscape change. The relationship between choice, uncertainty and constraints is a key cross-cutting theme in the conduct of past participatory IA. Integrating scenario development processes with an interactive modelling platform is shown to allow the exploration of future uncertainty as a structural feature of such complex problems, encouraging stakeholders to explore adaptation choices within real-world constraints of future resource availability and environmental and institutional capacities, rather than seeking the ‘right’ answers

Climate change impact modelling needs to include cross-sectoral interactions

Climate change impact assessments often apply models of individual sectors such as agriculture, forestry and water use without considering interactions between these sectors. This is likely to lead to misrepresentation of impacts, and consequently to poor decisions about climate adaptation. However, no published research assesses the differences between impacts simulated by single-sector and integrated models. Here we compare 14 indicators derived from a set of impact models run within single-sector and integrated frameworks across a range of climate and socio-economic scenarios in Europe. We show that single-sector studies misrepresent the spatial pattern, direction and magnitude of most impacts because they omit the complex interdependencies within human and environmental systems. The discrepancies are particularly pronounced for indicators such as food production and water exploitation, which are highly influenced by other sectors through changes in demand, land suitability and resource competition. Furthermore, the discrepancies are greater under different socio-economic scenarios than different climate scenarios, and at the sub-regional rather than Europe-wide scale

The management of uncertainty in geographic information systems A case study using a soil-erosion model

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN047889 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

A GIS tool for analysis and interpretation of coastal erosion model outputs (SCAPEGIS)

The SCAPE (Soft Cliff and Platform Erosion) model of cliff toe retreat, and a cliff-top recession model, have been linked with a new flexible GIS tool (SCAPEGIS) to provide visualisation and analytical capability for the model results. 45 model runs exploring different sealevel rise and wave climate scenarios and protection choices are available. Outputs are available in the form of maps, dynamic visualisation, and descriptive statistics of key parameters such as cliff toe and cliff top position. It also allows analysis with other datasets such as land use and building location for impact evaluation, and hence supports shoreline management and cliff-top land use planning. Some preliminary results and ideas for further development are presented

Assessing coastal flood risk at specific sites and regional scales: Regional assessment of coastal flood risk

Climate change will increase the risk of flooding in coastal areas, compounding other adverse trends such as increased flood risk due to falling beach levels. Existing assessment methods either focus on the present climatic situation, or only consider a limited number of change scenarios. To fully assess changing flood risk due to climate change a range of consistent 'tiered' methods which can assess a range of change factors and collectively operate at a range of scales are required. The proposed research project will develop this 'tiered' approach from broad-brush regional assessments to detailed process-based local assessments and demonstrate it on the East Anglian coast. The work will contribute to the Tyndall Centre's flagship regional coastal simulator. The specific objectives are as follows:1. To establish a tiered framework for coastal flood risk assessment that can be integrated with the regional coastal simulator.2. To develop consistent scenarios of long-term change that will influence coastal flooding, including climate, morphology, societal values, and coastal policy.3. To apply the tiered risk assessment methodology to generate (i) a regional assessment of the risk of coastal flooding, (ii) selective more detailed local case studies and (iii) analysis of uncertainty under different scenarios of change.4. To evaluate the impacts and resulting vulnerability given the range of flood risk defined in objective 3.5. To use these new results to engage relevant stakeholders and identify methods of promoting dialogue about long-term sustainable management of coastal flood risk.The resulting methods will be widely applicable

Towards an integrated coastal sediment dynamics and shoreline response simulator

This report describes a regional scale assessment of coastal erosion undertaken during the period2000-2100 for a 30-km length of soft-rock coast between Weybourne and Happisburgh, northeastNorfolk. This coastline comprises large lengths of soft, erodible, cliffs, which will be vulnerable toincreases in sea level and storminess under future changes in climate. The magnitude of erosionduring the next century is of concern to scientists, policymakers and the general public, especiallywith the expectation of acceleration in sea-level rise. The regional-scale assessment considerscombined scenarios of sea-level rise, changing wave climate and coastal management, bysuccessfully integrating a number of modelled elements for the first time:1. Broad scale modelling of shoreline erosion and profile evolution using the process-basedSCAPE (Soft Cliff and Platform Erosion) model;2. A probabilistic model of cliff-top position derived from SCAPE outputs;3. Nearshore wave climate modelling.SCAPE describes the functioning and emergent behaviour of the coastal system at a regional scale,and provides a detailed dataset for analysis of risk and responses to future coastal erosion. TheSCAPE model outputs have been linked with a flexible GIS tool (SCAPEGIS), developed toprovide visualisation and interpretation of the model results. Outputs are available in the form ofmaps, dynamic visualisation, and descriptive statistics of key parameters such as cliff toe and clifftop position. It also allows analysis with other datasets such as land use and building location forimpact evaluation, and hence could be used in shoreline management and cliff-top land useplanning.This research seeks to address a shortfall in coastal erosion research in the UK, whereby analysis ofrisks and responses to erosion at the coast is hindered by limited knowledge of the size and locationof erosion hazard zones. Through the process of considering potential impacts of sea level rise andchanging wave climates on rates of soft shore recession a number of questions have been raisedconcerning the relative importance of shore platform lowering; the extent to which relative sea levelrise is controlling continuous cliff retreat; and the nature of the relationship between offshoreseabed morphology and coastal evolution. The modelling philosophy adopted by SCAPE offersconsiderable scope for addressing questions such as these, and thereby provides an important step inimproving our understanding of coastal risk from climatic change. Using the approach developedhere, planners are provided with a method for examining broad-level system response withcombined management and climate-change scenarios