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Great changes are underway in how climate and agricultural risks are managed in Vietnam. Uncertainties are emerging regarding the role of the state in managing these risks and what this implies for assumptions regarding hoped-for climate change transformations. Local government control is waning in relation to the expanding roles of the private sector and the growing autonomy of farmers themselves. This article presents cases that illustrate the ways that farmers, private investors, and local authorities are responding to climate risk within roles relating to the other risks involving markets, food security, and pressures on common property resources.ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper approaches the impact of natural catastrophes on budget balance and also the principal methods of disaster risk management. Taking into account Romania's exposure to flood risk and earthquake risk we'll pay a special attention to these two categories. We'll analyze how public sector is involved in managing catastrophic risk both in our country but also in other Member States of European Union. After identifying public institutions responsible for an appropriate management of catastrophes consequences three types of actions will be presented: preventive, operational and recovery actions. Also, the steps taken by our country in order to align to European regulation will be discussed. Given the impact of extreme events in most cases local financial capacity is exceeded. The Member States can access European Solidarity Fund, the conditions of applying for intervention being presented. A numerical illustration will be provided for a better image on the budget that management of catastrophic risk involves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has a great deal at stake in the Paris Agreement. As a large and poor developing country, India stands to gain or lose from both obligations under the Agreement and its effectiveness in addressing climate change. This comment describes India as a premature power in climate politics, locates Indian climate negotiating positions in global context, and develops a balance sheet of India's gains and losses in the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement has received a lukewarm reaction in India because it runs against some key principles of Indian climate politics. However, the Paris Agreement requires assessment by a different set of metrics. Instead of principle-driven changes in national actions, the Paris Agreement architecture relies on inducing changes through procedural commitments and supportive mechanisms. Viewed from this perspective, the Paris Agreement brings some signs of hope for India. The bottom-up contributions should allow India to safeguard development and explore more linkages between development and climate objectives. Even while inadequate, the existing pledges do collectively set an upper bound on catastrophic climate change, although the introduction of a 1.5° goal induces cynicism among Indian stakeholders. The transparency, expert review, and stocktake processes, when combined with regular updates of nationally determined contributions, are designed to ramp up contributions over time. Whether this trajectory is feasible or wishful thinking depends a great deal on future country actions. The Paris Agreement provides a framework within which India could productively engage its interests, even while it by no means guarantees their realization. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e444. doi: 10.1002/wcc.444 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When developing computational models to analyze the tradeoffs between climate risk management strategies (i.e., mitigation, adaptation, or geoengineering), scientists make explicit and implicit decisions that are influenced by their beliefs, values and preferences. Model descriptions typically include only the explicit decisions and are silent on value judgments that may explain these decisions. Eliciting scientists’ mental models, a systematic approach to determining how they think about climate risk management, can help to gain a clearer understanding of their modeling decisions. In order to identify and represent the role of values, beliefs and preferences on decisions, we used an augmented mental models research approach, namely values-informed mental models (ViMM). We conducted and qualitatively analyzed interviews with eleven climate risk management scientists. Our results suggest that these scientists use a similar decision framework to each other to think about modeling climate risk management tradeoffs, including eight specific decisions ranging from defining the model objectives to evaluating the model’s results. The influence of values on these decisions varied between our scientists and between the specific decisions. For instance, scientists invoked ethical values (e.g., concerns about human welfare) when defining objectives, but epistemic values (e.g., concerns about model consistency) were more influential when evaluating model results. ViMM can (i) enable insights that can inform the design of new computational models and (ii) make value judgments explicit and more inclusive of relevant values. This transparency can help model users to better discern the relevance of model results to their own decision framing and concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the unilateral emission policies planned by the policymakers to address the problem of climate change. Particular focus is given to the emission of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses and the impact of the policies on the domestic economy. Other topics discussed are the definition of the concept of competitiveness and the various public policy debates on factors of production.

The article discusses the need for proper guidance on climate change adaptation and mitigation in coastal cities. It states the barriers in implementing climate change risk management strategies into action. It mentions measures to address the coastal settlements adaptation needs including creating estimates of cities to be affected by climate change, evaluate the cost of adaptation, and policies for environmental protection funding agencies.

Three recent global agreements have been established to facilitate the implementation of global-level responsibilities to deal with disaster risk reduction (DRR), human development, and climate change adaptation (CCA) respectively. While these agreements have a common goal of reducing social, economic, and environmental vulnerability, they have been developed by largely independent communities of practice. This has limited cross-fertilization despite the inherent multidimensional nature of global challenges and the considerable thematic overlap. We argue that developing a transdisciplinary strategy that effectively integrates disciplines, approaches, and knowledge systems will lead to greater and more sustainable impacts, together with a more efficient use of financial resources. Hybrid approaches should be encouraged during planning of future development efforts so that risk reduction is conducted simultaneously with CCA. Transdisciplinary processes are central to generating contextsensitive knowledge to support decisions on CCA and DRR options that minimize trade-offs and maximize synergies and complementarities required to guide sustainable development trajectories. Finally, building codes together with climate and risk-smart research, education, and awareness raising, are identified as priority entry points to materialize the blending of DRR and CCA approaches and effectively reduce risk while mitigating and adapting to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. The current vulnerability assessments through traditional fragmented sectoral methods are insufficient to capture the effects on complex agricultural systems. Therefore, the traditional methods need to be replaced by integrated approaches. The objective of this study is to propose a holistic vulnerability assessment method for agricultural systems. By aggregating both agro-ecological and socio-economic information, we develop an agricultural systems vulnerability index (ASVI) which allows for (i) a classification of geographical units according to their vulnerability level, (ii) an identification of key determinants of vulnerability for each unit and (iii) an assessment of adaptation policy scenarios considering their effects on the sustainability of the analysed systems. The proposed method is applied in the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan-a representative irrigated agricultural region in the lower Amu Darya river basin. A decision support tool is used to facilitate multi-criteria decision analysis, including the computation of the index and performing sensitivity analysis of the results. The assessment for Khorezm reveals significant spatial differences of vulnerability levels due to a variation of contributing factors, e.g. natural resources, water productivity, rural-urban ratio. It reveals also that feasible land and water management policies could reduce the vulnerability in Khorezm, particularly in the districts with the poorest agro-ecological conditions. Overall, the proposed method could support national and local authorities in the identification of sustainable adaptation policies for the agriculture sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a bio-mitigation strategy of aquafarming pollutants, the integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) system has been proposed and developed to mitigate the waste produced during co-cultivation. Although there have been considerable implementations of IMTA worldwide, its optimal design needs a further study. Through a numerical modeling approach, this study aims to facilitate decision-making when designing IMTA to more efficiently mitigate the negative change caused by aquaculture. An improved three-dimensional numerical model is adopted to simulate the dynamics of water current and organic waste in Gokasho Bay, Japan. Results show that (1) the maximum main surface water current velocity in Hazama-ura area is less than 10 cm s, where nutrient absorbers and/or suspended feeders can easily attach to a substratum; (2) southern-eastern direction water flow is dominant through the year suggesting that seaweeds (e.g., Laminaria japonica, Ulva ohnoi) or mussels (e.g., Mytilus edulis) are better arranged in the same direction; (3) horizontal distribution of organic waste on sea bottom indicates that when releasing sea cucumbers (e.g., Apostichopus japonicus), priority is given to the areas where the accumulated amount of particulate organic waste is high. Our case study provides a general idea on the optimal design of IMTA and can be scaled to the globe, especially regarding decision-making on locations for the extractive organisms. In conclusion, to improve the bio-mitigation efficiency of IMTA, location for nutrient absorbers and/or suspended feeders can be selected based on local water flow, and sea cucumbers need to be placed with a careful consideration of the waste distribution in local area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime archaeology has a tremendous capacity to engage with climate change science. The field is uniquely positioned to support climate change research and the understanding of past human adaptations to climate change. Maritime archaeological data can inform on environmental shifts and submerged sites can serve as an important avenue for public outreach by mobilizing public interest and action towards understanding the impacts of climate change. Despite these opportunities, maritime archaeologists have not fully developed a role within climate change science and policy. Moreover, submerged site vulnerabilities stemming from climate change impacts are not yet well understood. This article discusses potential climate change threats to maritime archaeological resources, the challenges confronting cultural resource managers, and the contributions maritime archaeology can offer to climate change science. Maritime archaeology's ability to both support and benefit from climate change science argues its relevant and valuable place in the global climate change dialogue, but also reveals the necessity for our heightened engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from a study of Czech Local Action Groups (LAGs), focusing on gaining knowledge about their internally perceived legitimacy and their potential role in local adaptation to climate change. Former studies on the role of governance networks in climate change adaptation have suggested that these networks' legitimacy are crucial for their success. In this article we provide an analytical framework that can be used to address different aspects of local governance networks which are important for their legitimacy and the way they are apt as instruments for climate change adaptation actions. We also present a survey among LAG members that provide empirical data that we discuss in the article. The framework and the data are discussed with reference to existing contributions in the intersection of legitimacy, governance networks and climate change adaptation. A specific aim is to provide research based recommendations for further improving LAGs as an adaptation instrument. In addition, knowledge is generated that will be interesting for further studies of similar local governance initiatives in the climate change adaptation context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time this millennium, growth in carbon emissions has slowed. Indeed, the year 2014 was the first time in 40 years that the planet saw zero growth in emissions. We examine whether this message of progress can be effective in motivating people to engage in mitigation efforts. This question dovetails with commentary suggesting that gloomy messages about climate change risk fatiguing the population, and that alternative approaches are necessary. It is also informed by work suggesting that hope is a motivating force in terms of engaging in collective action and social change. Study 1 ( N = 574) showed that negative emotions were strongly related to mitigation motivation and feelings of efficacy, but hope-related emotions had a much weaker relationship with these constructs. In the main experiment (Study 2: N = 431) participants read an optimistic, pessimistic, or neutral message about the rate of progress in reducing global carbon emissions. Relative to the pessimistic message, the optimistic message reduced participants’ sense that climate change represented a risk to them, and the associated feelings of distress. Consequently, the optimistic message was less successful in increasing mitigation motivation than the pessimistic message. In sum, predictions that the optimistic message would increase efficacy did not transpire; concerns that the optimistic message would increase complacency did transpire. Recent progress in curbing global carbon emissions is welcome, but we found no evidence that messages focusing on this progress constitute an effective communication strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economics of Agriculture / Ekonomika Poljoprivrede is the property of Institute of Agricultural Economics (IAE) / Belgrade and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Climate change is exacerbating the frequency and severity of catastrophic weather events around the world. The economic impact of these events on developing countries can be severe, and roll back years of development gains. To help face this growing challenge, the governments of developing countries need improved access to insurance and alternative risk transfer mechanisms to manage their exposure to climate risk. Multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank, can help. For example, they can catalyze the creation of sovereign risk pools and facilitate access for developing country governments to the substantial reinsurance capacity of the capital markets. The World Bank's role in creating the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, and the World Bank catastrophe bond issue in 2014 for that Facility, serve as models for this kind of assistance. In order to maximize the developmental impact of these kinds of interventions, donor governments, acting through multilateral development banks, should encourage beneficiary countries to invest in ex ante climate risk preparedness and resilience as a condition of receiving this kind of development assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Understanding how hydrological extremes would respond to global warming and its associated uncertainties is important for better designing mitigation and adaption strategies to cope with global change. Very few works have investigated the changes in future hydrological extremes and, especially, the more devastating joint hydrological extremes over China. In this article, two combinations of joint extremes [i.e. high runoff/high soil moisture ( HRHS) and low runoff/low soil moisture ( LRLS)] are designed for analysis. To derive the scenarios of hydrological conditions, the bias-corrected daily climate projections from five global circulation models ( GCMs) under the historical and Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 ( RCP8.5) emission scenarios are used to drive the calibrated Variable Infiltration Capacity ( VIC) model from 1951 to 2099 over China. Results show notable increase of occurrence of HRHS in Northeast China, LRLS in Northwest and South of China under 2 °C global warming. The spatial pattern of changes in joint extremes tends to remain stable with global temperature increase up to 3 °C. Compared with the individual extreme risk, joint extreme are much more concentrated in Northwest and South China and the magnitude of changes is several times larger. Larger areas experiencing changes are found when using lower standards of extreme definition. Because hydrological regime may change gradually in response to climate change, the threshold derived from present regime may lead to misrepresentation of extreme risk analysis. This was demonstrated by the ten times smaller magnitude of changes when adopting the updated transient threshold representing the changing hydrological regime, thus providing a low-boundary of potential changes in extremes. Our results highlight the importance of considering the changing hydrological regime in addition to choosing various levels of threshold for extreme definition in order to cover the full range of possible extreme changes in a warming climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When managing urban flood risk, traditional flood risk management which prioritizes infrastructural and technical solutions is important but is not sufficient to reduce the risk to acceptable levels, particularly in informal settlements. Understanding how flood risk is governed needs to complement flood risk interventions in order to be able to move towards a more collaborative response to managing flood risk. Drawing on the case of Cape Town, South Africa, where annual flood events impact on many informal settlements, we identify barriers to collaborative governance that could be addressed to help to build a more holistic flood management approach that proactively reduces flood risk. Our focus is on local government as a key arena of flood risk management. Using a nodal governance framework, we assess the mentalities, technologies, resources and institutional structures of four different local government departments in the City of Cape Town and the extent to which they collaborate on flood risk management. Four key constraints to collaborative urban flood risk management are identified: the domination of a technocratic approach, lack of particular capacities, the challenge of how to share risk, and political contestation and short-termism. Unpacking the nature of nodal governance is a key step in identifying possibilities for collaboration and thus strengthening processes of urban flood management. This is particularly important for urban environmental risk management in the global South, which needs to engage with a development agenda that includes the politics of informality and the complexities of social, as well as environmental, change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the implications for the US National Climate Assessment (NCA) of diversifying information needs to support climate change risk management. It describes how the Third US National Climate Assessment (NCA3) evolved to begin to narrow the gap between information from climate and impact scientists and 'intermediaries' (individuals who have expertise in climate science, communication, and decision-support processes)-who are sometimes collectively described as 'producers' in this article-and the decision-making needs of a wide range of 'users' (individuals involved in advising or making a wide range of policy and management decisions). One step in the evolution of the NCA3 included adding a chapter to assess decision-support tools and systems being used in climate-related decisions. Another involved efforts to improve characterization of the level of confidence of NCA3 authors in their findings to help decision-makers and their advisors differentiate well-established and more preliminary conclusions. This paper lays out an argument for increasing the role of the NCA in assessing decision-support systems in the Fourth Assessment (NCA4) and the Sustained Assessment. It also briefly reviews approaches and potential next steps related to characterizing uncertainty and communicating confidence intended to improve application of assessment findings by decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategies for managing climate-change risks impact diverse stakeholder groups that possess potentially conflicting preferences. Basic physics and economics suggest that reconciling all of these preference conflicts may not be possible. Moreover, different climate risk management strategies can yield diverse and potentially severe impacts across different global stakeholders. These preference conflicts and their uncertain impacts require an explicit understanding of the trade-offs that emerge across different risk management strategies. Traditionally, integrated assessment models (IAMs) typically aggregate the stakeholders' preferences across the entire globe into a single, a priori defined utility function. This framing hides climate risk management trade-offs as well as the inherent stakeholder compromises implicit to the resulting single 'optimal' expected utility solution. Here, we analyze a simple IAM to quantify and visualize the multidimensional trade-offs among four objectives representing global concerns: (i) global economic productivity, (ii) reliable temperature stabilization, (iii) climate damages, and (iv) abatement costs. We quantify and visualize the trade-offs across these objectives and demonstrate how a traditional optimal expected utility policy implicitly eliminates many relevant policy pathways. Explicit trade-off analysis provides a richer context for exploring conflicting global policy preferences and clarifies the implications of alternative climate risk mitigation policies to better inform negotiated compromises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change risks to the coast and coastal developments have been well-documented. In spite of these warnings, new coastal developments are still proposed and built. Australian research has demonstrated how State-level planning documents fail to incorporate recent sea-level rise projections, with researchers demanding more responsiveness to coastal science from planners, policy-makers and developers. This paper takes an alternative approach to the science, planning and coastal development nexus by developing a relational understanding of the barriers to the uptake of science into coastal development decisions. Drawing on qualitative interview material from two recent and non-routine South Australian cases where sea-level rise (SLR) science was contested, and inspiration from actor-network theory's concepts of obligatory passage points, translation, intermediaries and mediators, this research foregrounds the malleability of scientific knowledge and planning protocols. We find that skilful social actors negotiate and re-frame science and planning; clear scientific recommendations can be subsumed to planning process, while clear planning process creates internecine disputes between nomothetic and idiographic science. An implication of this analysis is that the broad narrative of a lack of scientific uptake into coastal development needs to be sensitized to how science and planning interact in practice to legitimate decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Understanding the importance of cross-sectoral implications of climate and socio-economic change in Scotland is essential for adaptation policy. This study explored the direct and indirect sectoral impacts of future change using the CLIMSAVE Integrated Assessment Platform. There is great spatial diversity in projected impacts across Scotland, and increasing uncertainty in the direction of change of impacts from the national to regional scale associated with climate uncertainty. Further uncertainty associated with socio-economic change results in 6 out of 13 indicators (artificial surfaces, biodiversity vulnerability, forest area, land-use intensity, irrigation usage and land-use diversity) with robust directions of change at the national scale and only three (artificial surfaces, forest area and irrigation usage) that are robust across all regions of Scotland. Complex interactions between socio-economic scenario assumptions (e.g. food imports, population and GDP), climatic suitability and agricultural productivity and profitability lead to significant national and regional changes in the distribution and extent of land cover types, with resultant cross-sectoral interactions with water, forestry and biodiversity. Consequently, stakeholders characterised robust adaptation policy options, within the CLIMSAVE participatory process, as those beneficial to society (and the country) in all scenarios, irrespective of the direction of change of the impacts. The integration in CLIMSAVE of a participatory scenario development process and an integrated participatory modelling framework has allowed the exploration of future uncertainty in a structured approach and better represented the importance of qualitative information and the social and institutional contexts within adaptation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate studies show high likelihood of changing hydrological regimes in European rivers. Concerned authorities increasingly question the sustainability of current river management strategies. The aim of this paper is to apply the adaptation turning point (ATP) approach and demonstrates its potential for analysing turning points in river management strategies as a method to support authorities in decisions on adaptation to climate change. Two management strategies in the Rhine River basin were selected as case studies: (1) reintroduction of a sustainable population of Atlantic salmon and (2) inland shipping in relation to water depth variability. By applying the turning point approach, we search for answers to the following questions: when will these management strategies fail due to climate change impacts on the river's hydrology? What adaptation measures exist to delay or avoid failure? The identification of adaption turning points is not easy, due to large scenario and model uncertainties in transient future projections of low-flow discharges and water temperatures. But the case studies demonstrate that the ATP approach is salient from a decision-maker's perspective, because it addresses the timing of possible failure of current management strategies. Analysis of results allows policy makers to assess risks and the urgency for action and provides them with a time horizon for adaptation planning. It is also a valuable first step in the application of methods of formal appraisal of adaptation options when flexibility in planning is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the globe, the impacts of climate change are increasing the risk of catastrophic events and the resulting loss of human life and communities. Until now, responses to these events and planning for future occurrences have focused on ecological and social impacts, to the almost total exclusion of the impacts on heritage. Cultural heritage includes archaeological sites, historic buildings, and artifacts, but--more importantly--it also includes the meanings, values, and contemporary social behavior associated with these tangible forms of heritage. Thus, place attachment, sense of place, and associated forms of intangible heritage are major societal factors that must be integrated into climate change adaptation and risk management models. Communities, towns, and governments typically disassociate cultural/historical resources from natural resources in issues of planning and development. A transdisciplinary approach to cultural heritage is necessary in times of risk. There is critical need for this approach, since climate change will result in accelerated changes for human communities--from dislocation to a change in the physical manifestations of place. In this paper, we explore approaches to disaster, adaptation, and resilience through the lens of cultural heritage using two case studies: the Gullah Communities of South Carolina and the diverse communities of Eleuthera, Bahamas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the problems of climatic changes in the U.S. and the need for protecting the coastal areas for same; and mentions adaptation of a local government tax for the planning and payment of sand dunes; U.S. Coastal Zone Management Act; and effect of climate change on storm surges.

Climate risk management has emerged over the last decade as a distinct area of activity within the wider field of climatology. Its focus is on integrating climate and non-climate information in order to enhance the decision-making process in a wide range of climate-sensitive sectors of society, the economy and the environment. Given the burgeoning pure and applied climate science literature that addresses a range of climate risks, the purpose of this progress report is to provide an overview of recent developments in the field of climatology that may contribute to the risk assessment component of climate risk management. Data rescue and climate database construction, hurricanes and droughts as examples of extreme climate events and seasonal climate forecasting are focused on in this report and are privileged over other topics because of either their fundamental importance for establishing event probability or scale of societal impact. The review of the literature finds that historical data rescue, climate reconstruction and the compilation of climate data bases has assisted immensely in understanding past climate events and increasing the information base for managing climate risk. Advances in the scientific understanding of the causes and the characterization of hurricanes and droughts stand to benefit the management of these two extreme events while work focused on unravelling the nature of ocean–atmosphere interactions and associated climate anomalies at the seasonal timescale has provided the basis for the possible seasonal forecasting of a range of climate events. The report also acknowledges that despite the potential of climate information to assist with managing climate risk, its uptake by decision makers should not be automatically assumed by the climatological community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops and applies methods to quantify and monetize projected impacts on terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage and areas burned by wildfires in the contiguous United States under scenarios with and without global greenhouse gas mitigation. The MC1 dynamic global vegetation model is used to develop physical impact projections using three climate models that project a range of future conditions. We also investigate the sensitivity of future climates to different initial conditions of the climate model. Our analysis reveals that mitigation, where global radiative forcing is stabilized at 3.7 W/m in 2100, would consistently reduce areas burned from 2001 to 2100 by tens of millions of hectares. Monetized, these impacts are equivalent to potentially avoiding billions of dollars (discounted) in wildfire response costs. Impacts to terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage are less uniform, but changes are on the order of billions of tons over this time period. The equivalent social value of these changes in carbon storage ranges from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars (discounted). The magnitude of these results highlights their importance when evaluating climate policy options. However, our results also show national outcomes are driven by a few regions and results are not uniform across regions, time periods, or models. Differences in the results based on the modeling approach and across initializing conditions also raise important questions about how variability in projected climates is accounted for, especially when considering impacts where extreme or threshold conditions are important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for policy-relevant information on climate change has never been higher, but there remains a gap between the type of information climate projections provide and an understanding of the consequences for human well-being. This review explores the knowledge available to support assessments of climate change and security for a wide range of policy stakeholders. Both the climate science and social science communities undertake valuable research toward understanding climate change and the interaction of environment and security, but address different aspects of the problem. Differences in the types of knowledge produced include analytical methods, language, and scale issues. This makes research conclusions difficult to reconcile and provides a barrier to knowledge sharing. It is largely left to policy and security analysts to bring these two very different types of information together in accessible, policy-relevant assessments. Often this is done by considering the potential implications of existing climate change projections, with little or no input from social scientists on the complexities of the relationship between environment and security. An alternative approach to climate change and security assessments is to consider the problem from a systems perspective. This approach has the potential to offer new insight across disciplines and improve the utility of research outcomes to inform action on climate change and security. WIREs Clim Change 2015, 6:383-399. doi: 10.1002/wcc.346 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate policy-making requires a balancing, however rudimentary, of the costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions against the benefits of reduced risks of climate change. Since those creating and those facing the risks of climate change belong to different generations, striking the balance is preeminently a matter of ethics. In climate policy-making, this issue of intergenerational ethics is hidden behind the choice of the discount rate, a parameter used in economic analysis to compare changes in consumption occurring in different years. There is a long-standing debate in ethics and economics as to whether discounting the future is morally justifiable. Some economists have argued that the future should always be discounted against the marginal rate of return on alternative investments, whether for reasons of efficiency, or for reasons of consumer sovereignty and democracy. Other authors, however, have argued against this position, instead proposing discount rates based on a variety of moral principles. Although these counterarguments may be convincing, the debate between the two positions is far from settled. Neither has the debate been settled as to which moral theory the discount rate should be based on. This is hardly surprising, though, given the fact that within ethics itself, the debate over the various moral principles is still ongoing. WIREs Clim Change 2015, 6:401-412. doi: 10.1002/wcc.347 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . Conflict of interest: The author has declared no conflicts of interest for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kilometres of high-value residential real estate have been created through the development of canal estates in low-lying coastal areas of Southeast Queensland, Australia, since the 1970s. Many of these are predicted to be affected by the combined effects of climate change: sea level rise, storm surge and severe weather events. This research identifies perceptions and understanding of vulnerability to climate change of residents of one canal estate. It compares the effectiveness of four participatory visual methods for information exchange and dialogue about climate change risk:risk maps(flood hazard),participatory planning(digital mapping of vulnerable areas),Photovoice(resident-derived photos) and3D climate change scenarios. Participants favoured the 3D visualisation for its realistic representation of flood heights in a streetview and ability to focus in on particular sites. This interactive engagement approach will benefit State and local governments, the property market and communities in communicating about climate change in coastal areas in general and in considering responses to the long-term impacts of climate change in canal estates in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Climate change may make extreme droughts more frequent with heavy economic losses in China. Thus, this study aims to evaluate China's regional vulnerability to drought and propose proper mitigation strategies for drought vulnerable areas. In this paper, an integrated index containing exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity is developed to measure regional vulnerability to drought, and it is calculated by the integrated approach which combines slacks-based measure (SBM) model in data envelopment analysis (DEA) with genetic algorithm-based analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Accordingly, 65 cities in Anhui, Henan, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces of China are chosen as the study area. The results show that Anhui and Henan are more vulnerable to drought, and the proportions of cities with inefficient resilience to drought in the two provinces are 64.7 % and 55.6 % respectively. Compared with coastal areas, the inland regions have more drought vulnerable cities. In addition, the cities in the south are less vulnerable to drought than those in the central and north regions. Meanwhile, we conclude that the integrated index can measure the efficiency of resilience to drought and reveal the causes of drought vulnerability. It also indicates that adequate investments in drought preparedness and promotion of water efficiency are the crucial ways for drought vulnerability reduction. Finally, this study proposes some policy recommendations to alleviate the impacts of drought under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal tourism destinations are highly vulnerable to climate change risks, including sea-level rise, inundation, and extreme weather events. While such risks pose major challenges to the sustainability of these destinations, they have been insufficiently examined in tourism research. This study uses the social amplification of risk framework as a basis for understanding how climate change risks are perceived and what processes lead to an amplification or attenuation of risk perceptions at management and governance levels. In the context of the extremely low-lying Maldives, 12 leading tourism stakeholders, including representatives of government, industry, and NGOs, were interviewed to gather empirical data on risk perceptions. Results indicate that, while climate change risks are amplified for international audiences, several factors lead to an attenuation of risks for domestic audiences. As a result, local tourism stakeholders are not immediately concerned, and adaptation measures are woefully inadequate to cope with future climate risks. Detailed reference is made to the policy inertia found, the conflicts inherent in playing down risk in order to attract jobs, profitable tourism investment and tourists, and the equally pressing need to stress risks in order to attract expertise and funds to enable adaptation policies to be designed and funded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Food security will be a critical factor in avoiding human deprivation in 2030 in the Caribbean region. A rising world population will generate increased food demand by approximately 50 percent. At the same time, supply constraints are emerging that threaten to dampen productivity and increase real food prices. Climate change is likely to increase agricultural yield variability, while changing dietary preferences due to rising income will shift demand patterns for certain commodities that are particularly energy and water intensive. Rising food safety concerns creates the need for better grading, certification, and inspection services, all of which add to costs and increase the complexity of the supply chain. The Caribbean states with few exceptions are mostly net food importers and face a host of challenges to maintain or improve food security over the coming years. This article highlights how new transformative technologies will likely impact agriculture and argues the need for Caribbean states to adapt so as to improve food security in the next fifteen years. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management / Revista de Gestão Costeira Integrada is the property of Associacao Portuguesa dos Recursos Hidricos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: There is overwhelming evidence the impacts of climate change present a probable threat to personal health and safety. However, traditional risk management approaches have not been applied to ameliorate the crises. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact on personal motivation for action of a communication intervention that framed climate change as a safety issue that can be mitigated through a safety and health risk management framework. Participants' perception of climate change in terms of its anthropogenicity, context and importance, perception as a personal threat, belief in the efficacy of human action, motivating drivers for action, knowledge of climate change impacts, perceived personal barriers to climate action, and short- and long-term preferences for mitigating actions were evaluated. In addition, this study assessed the role of personal worldview on motivation for climate action., Methods: Through an online survey instrument embedded with a communication/education intervention, data were collected from N = 273 participants. Pre and post-intervention responses were assessed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and descriptive statistics. A path analysis assessed the influence of anthropogenicity, personal impact, and human efficacy beliefs on participant motivation for action. Multi-regression analyses and descriptive statics were used to evaluate the role of worldview on participant motivation for climate action., Results: Personal motivation for action significantly increased post-intervention. Anthropogenicity, personal impact, and human efficacy beliefs were predictive of personal motivation. Those who prioritized climate change as a safety issue and those driven by a desire to protect current and future generations had higher levels of personal motivation, post-intervention. Knowledge of climate change increased, psychosocial factors as barriers to climate action decreased, and preferences for personal mitigating actions shifted towards more impactful choices post-intervention. Holding Egalitarian worldviews significantly predicted climate action motivation., Conclusion: Presenting climate change and climate action strategies via a traditional health and safety risk management context was effective in increasing personal motivation for climate action. This study contributes to the literature on climate change communication and climate action motivation.

The article discusses risk management options for dealing with climate change. Topics discussed include mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, the possibility of increasing the society's adaptation to climate change, and the use of geoengineering or climate engineering to counter the effects of increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Also discussed is the expansion of knowledge-base to better understand the climate system.

This paper is a report on one of three related case studies in Latin America and shows the progress in the city of Chetumal, and the larger state of which it is the capital (Quintana Roo), in disaster response, especially with regard to cyclones. It also shows the progress in land use and ecological planning through the development of certain tools, which have changed the approach from one of prohibiting action to suggesting alternatives. Rather than stopping development, the focus has been on taking full account of its impacts and trying to make development compatible with environmental protection. There has also been progress in ecosystem conservation and water management, coordinated between different levels of government and different stakeholders. While much of this has taken place within the formal framework set by government, participatory processes have increased civil society awareness and commitment to environmental issues, and its capacity to participate and take a position, especially during the planning stages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In studies of climate change vulnerability, an important constraint relates to the uncertainty of the climate projections that local governments need to estimate precisely the risks and impacts climate events have on different parts of a city. In addition, the lack of “downscaled”, or local, climate information makes it very difficult to compare how individual communities and households adapt to severe and extreme weather events and, more importantly, what actions local governments can carry out to increase resilience in poor urban areas. Based on a conceptual and operational framework developed in recent years by the authors in collaboration with partners in the global South, this paper illustrates how “bottom-up” community asset planning for climate change adaptation can help to address this gap and be mainstreamed into “top-down” citywide strategic and operational planning. The paper describes the process by which community members and representatives of local government, the private sector and NGOs working in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, set up a dialogue space that enables them to identify, negotiate and agree climate change adaptation solutions that are legally, financially, socially and technically feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Highlights: [•] The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is applied for shipping route risk assessment. [•] Shipping routes in the South China Sea (SCS) are extracted for safety evaluation. [•] The safety environment in the north SCS is more dangerous than that in the south. [•] The most dangerous areas of SCS move southwards from summer to winter. [•] The risk of routes in the SCS decreases from autumn, summer, winter, and spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the use of retreat as a strategy of hazard-risk reduction in the U.S with reference to the developments in the practices and policies of the U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Topics discussed include the U.S National Flood Insurance Program, the U.S Biggert-Waters Insurance Reform Act of 2012, and the challenges of adapting to flood-related disasters resulted by global warming in the U.S.

The article focuses on the role of transactional attorneys responding to the needs of clients related to climate change adaption. Topics discussed include the expansion of the role of transactional attorneys in managing risks of clients and non-clients related to the climate change impact, the identified risks that transactional attorneys must take into account and the role of the transactional real estate lawyer. It mentions the U.S National Flood Insurance Program.

The article offers information on the challenges and opportunities related to the development of effective flood control strategies under the effects of global climate change and reduced federal and state flood control budget. It promotes the innovation of local or regional flood damage prevention programs by the local and state government under developing approaches to flood management in the U.S. coastal regions.

The potential impacts of climate change are varied and highly uncertain, and pose a significant challenge to agencies charged with managing environmental risks. This paper presents a comprehensive and structured Mental Modeling approach to elicit, organize and present relevant information from experts and stakeholders about the factors influencing environmental risk management in the face of climate change. We present and review an initiative undertaken by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to characterize climate change challenges to USACE environmental risk management activities, and to identify gaps with respect to science, engineering, and organizational processes for addressing these challenges. By employing Mental Modeling, the research has characterized the influences of climate change on USACE environmental risk management, and aggregating recommendations from 28 experts. In addition, the study identifies the most important opportunities to improve organizational response to climate change, ranging from focused research and development of technical capabilities to broad paradigm shifts and systemic organizational improvements within the USACE environmental risk management programs. This study demonstrates that Mental Modeling is a useful tool for understanding complex problems, identifying gaps, and formulating strategies, and can be used by a multitude of organizations and agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, I use Foucault’s concept of governmentality to investigate changes in the risk management of climate change. In an exploratory analysis of primary and secondary sources, I demonstrate that the risk construction of climate change has shifted significantly from 1988 to 2010. Risk construction has broadened, and related policies now include mitigation, adaptation and disaster preparedness. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the meaning of ‘security’ and the related modes of risk management have shifted over time. I show that traditional science-based risk management has been dominant in mitigation and adaptation policy. The articulation of climate change as a security issue since 2003 indicates risk management through contingency. I argue that what the Copenhagen School has studied as the ‘failed securitization’ of climate change and a lack of extraordinary measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions are better understood as the ‘climatization’ of security. The governmental rationale since 2007 has been to prepare for and manage the ‘inevitable’ primary and secondary impacts of unmitigated climate change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Across Europe, national governments have started to strategically plan adaptation to climate change. Making adaptation decisions is difficult in the light of uncertainties and the complexity of adaptation problems. Already large amounts of research results on climate impacts and adaptive measures are available, and more are produced and need to be mediated across the boundary between science and policy. Both researchers and policy-makers have started to intensify efforts to coproduce knowledge that is valuable to both communities, particularly in the context of climate change adaptation. In this paper, we present results from a study of adaptation governance and information needs, comparing eight European countries. We identify sources and means for the retrieval of information as well as gaps and problems with the knowledge provided by scientists and analyzed whether these appear to be contingent on the point in the policy-making cycle where countries are. We find that in this early phase of adaptation planning, the quality of the definition of needs, the way uncertainty is dealt with, and the quality of science-policy interaction are indeed contingent on the stage of adaptation planning, while information needs and sources are not. We conclude that a well-developed science-policy interface is of key importance for effective decision-making for adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of effective communication about climate risk has contributed to improper interpretation of scientific findings pertaining to climate change and to poor mobilization of vulnerable groups for developing appropriate response actions. This article describes communication efforts undertaken in Ghana, India, Malawi, and Mongolia to develop and implement climate risk communication strategies that emphasize collective knowledge generation between researchers and stakeholders. The studies underscored the critical importance of presenting complex information in locally relevant terms to facilitate shared understanding of climate risk issues and that knowledge co-generation and social learning between researchers and communities are key to developing context-appropriate risk communication approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]