Climate Change Adaptation Challenges Research Articles

Evaluating the effectiveness of hazard mapping as climate change adaptation for community planning in degrading permafrost terrain

Permafrost in northern Canada is susceptible to degradation due to rapid climate change, with hazard mapping promoted as an important activity to guide sustainable community adaptation and planning. This paper presents a framework for evaluating permafrost mapping exercises designed to inform climate change adaptation actions. We apply the framework using a case study of the Incorporating Climate Change into Land Development—Terrain Analysis project (ICCiLD). ICCiLD is a hazard mapping project utilizing interferometric synthetic aperture radar to monitor ground disturbance and categorize land development suitability in seven communities in the territory of Nunavut, Canada. We looked at one of the communities, Arviat, as our case study. We examined technical data and drew upon semi-structured interviews (n = 19) with map creators and users. We found ICCiLD added new and relevant information for community planning, increased awareness of the risks posed by permafrost thaw and built stakeholder relations. Strong coordination and high public consciousness of local climate impacts emerged as key factors underpinning project success. Nevertheless, in the case of Arviat, the effectiveness of the hazard maps in influencing land-use planning was constrained by communication challenges between project creators and end-users. These challenges included limited community access to the data and uncertainty surrounding how to operationalize the map suitability classifications. Broader climate change adaptation challenges included the presence of other more immediate community planning priorities and a limited ability to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing into a technical mapping project. The lessons from this evaluation provide insight for the development of mapping-based adaptations across Arctic regions.

Climate change adaptation challenges confronting small-scale farmers

Climate change adaptation issues have recently gained attention for the past few years in Zimbabwe. However, little has been done to explore the challenges, associated with climate change in the country. Therefore, this article explores the challenges affecting small-scale farmers in the Zvishavane District of Zimbabwe in coping with climate change vulnerability. The qualitative research methodology encompassing semi-structured interviews was used to collect data from small-scale farmers and other key informants in the study area. The study portrays that small-scale farmers are struggling to cope with climate change due to resource constraints, lack of access to credit and inputs, aid bottlenecks coupled with contradiction of programs among other critical issues.

Challenges of Climate Change Adaptation

Practical and Methodological Challenges of Climate Change Adaptation; Oslo, Norway, 25–26 April 2016

Climate change is advancing spring onset across the U.S. national park system

AbstractMany U.S. national parks are already at the extreme warm end of their historical temperature distributions. With rapidly warming conditions, park resource management will be enhanced by information on seasonality of climate that supports adjustments in the timing of activities such as treating invasive species, operating visitor facilities, and scheduling climate‐related events (e.g., flower festivals and fall leaf‐viewing). Seasonal changes in vegetation, such as pollen, seed, and fruit production, are important drivers of ecological processes in parks, and phenology has thus been identified as a key indicator for park monitoring. Phenology is also one of the most proximate biological responses to climate change. Here, we use estimates of start of spring based on climatically modeled dates of first leaf and first bloom derived from indicator plant species to evaluate the recent timing of spring onset (past 10–30 yr) in each U.S. natural resource park relative to its historical range of variability across the past 112 yr (1901–2012). Of the 276 high latitude to subtropical parks examined, spring is advancing in approximately three‐quarters of parks (76%), and 53% of parks are experiencing “extreme” early springs that exceed 95% of historical conditions. Our results demonstrate how changes in climate seasonality are important for understanding ecological responses to climate change, and further how spatial variability in effects of climate change necessitates different approaches to management. We discuss how our results inform climate change adaptation challenges and opportunities facing parks, with implications for other protected areas, by exploring consequences for resource management and planning.

Evaluating capacity for climate change adaptation in the health and water sectors in Vietnam: constraints and opportunities

The capacity to anticipate and respond to climate change can critically shape vulnerability, influencing whether a country experiences harm from exposure to stresses or is able to cope, adapt and realize sustainable outcomes. This paper presents the results of a study that evaluates capacity in relation to the health and water sectors in Vietnam. The study presents informants’ views on the adequacy of financial resources, understanding of vulnerability and adaptation, training needs, information requirements and levels of cooperation as well as their priorities to address adaptation. The perceptions of respondents on challenges and obstacles faced in developing adaptation strategies are also examined. Training on vulnerability and increasing funds for adaptation were reported as the top priorities, indicating that the inadequacy of human and financial resources is the most significant challenge to effective adaptation in the study context. Difficult and weak cooperation was also widely considered to be a barrier. The paper concludes that there are significant interconnected constraints on adaptive capacity in Vietnam that are further exacerbated by governance issues, such as inadequate cooperation and transparency in sharing information and data. This paper identifies priorities for action to address the challenge of climate change adaptation.

Place influences in framing and understanding climate change adaptation challenges

The climate change literature emphasises the importance of geographical understanding for guiding adaptation, in which “place” perspectives are particularly significant. After “scale”, the term “place” within the climate change adaptation literature is most often implicitly used in reference to a delineated and localised region, such as place-based risk assessment or place-based adaptation planning. Here, we use a case study of the Australian island-state of Tasmania to demonstrate the importance and particularity of place in the formation of climate change adaptation issues, problem definition and framing, and the dynamics of knowledge and praxis development across a range of research and industry sectors. We describe the significance of the place Tasmania with regard to its geographical location; its portrayal as an island place; and its cultural meaning and relations. Through a synthesis of climate change adaptation research, policy literature and engagement with researchers and stakeholders, we identify three emergent thematic place characterisations of Tasmania. We find that these characterisations have contributed directly or indirectly to the: initiation and extent of research and practical activities; the framing of adaptation issues and perspectives on potential adaptation responses in different sectors including the marine biodiversity and resources sector, small business and human health sectors. Exposing these influences is essential for focusing future adaptation activities, including research, planning, investment and practice, in Tasmania and other locations where place is a central issue.

Challenges in Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Local Land Use Planning: Evidence from Albay, Philippines

The of climate change adaptation (CCA) is increasingly popular because it integrates both adaptation and sustainable development goals. Although research interest in CCA is growing, there is limited information on its practical application at the local level, particularly in relation to the barriers to the effective operationalization of the approach. Consequently, this paper examines the challenges in CCA into local land use plans in Albay, Philippines. Using a modified version of Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development framework, the conditions surrounding the challenges were identified and assessed. These challenges are characterized as the factors that depict the information, institutional, and resource capacities of systems; hence, they are the factors that affect the effective operationalization of CCA. These challenges were then converted into quantitative mainstreaming indicators. Data were collected from a survey conducted among the key players in local land use planning and experts in CCA. A scorecard approach was applied to quantify the respondents’ answers. The results highlighted the institutional issues indicator as the primary barrier in operationalizing the approach, while availability and “access to information” were assessed as second-level barriers. Conversely, the leadership indicator was evaluated as an opportunity for local due to the existence of a climate change champion in Albay. This paper suggests that the: (1) challenges exist in a certain spectrum, in which they can be either barriers or opportunities for mainstreaming; (2) barriers can be classified according to varying degrees of severity; (3) challenges themselves are inter-linked; and (4) barriers can be overcome and transcend into opportunities for CCA.

Development, water and energy in the context of climate change in North Africa

This article adopts a holistic approach to explore and quantify interactions between water and energy in the context of climate change in North Africa. We bring together results from different research areas to describe the physical interactions and to shortly discuss governance issues in the sectors of water and energy. We highlight the fact that water demand management options combined with a sustainable energy model is a priority action to answer the challenge of climate change adaptation in North African countries. We use the IPAT formula approach to compute scenarios for quantifying the magnitudes of advantages to expect from water demand side management actions coupled with energy efficiency options. According to our results, water demand management is a very appropriate adaptation option with significant benefits in terms of water saving, energy use and energy bill. Overall, in 2050, the water saved thanks to demand management actions could be around 68 billion of cubic meters, which is the magnitude of the total water demand of Egypt in 2005. Depending on the scenario and assumptions, the expected cumulated benefit in terms of energy bill over the period 2005–2025 could range between 30 and 48 billion US Dollar, which is comparable to the GDP of Tunisia in 2011 (46 billion US Dollar). Nevertheless, up to 2050, regardless the scenario, additional options will be needed to cover the water deficit of the region. This leads us to consider virtual water as an additional option to reduce the local water demand. Finally, we discuss the political implications and the reforms to be implemented for integrating water and energy demand side policies in North Africa.

Projected changes in precipitation intensity and frequency in Switzerland: a multi‐model perspective

ABSTRACTFundamental changes in the hydrological cycle are to be expected in a future warmer climate. For Switzerland, recent climate change assessments based on the ENSEMBLES regional climate models project for the A1B emission scenario summer mean precipitation to significantly decrease by the end of this century, whereas winter mean precipitation tend to rise in Southern Switzerland. From an end‐user perspective, projected changes in seasonal means are often insufficient to adequately address the multifaceted challenges of climate change adaptation. In this study, we investigate the projected changes in seasonal precipitation by considering changes in frequency and intensity, precipitation type (convective vs stratiform) and temporal structure (wet and dry spells) over Switzerland. As proxies for rain‐type changes, we rely on the parameterized convective and large‐scale precipitation components simulated by the models. The study reveals that the projected summer drying over Switzerland at the end of the century is mainly driven by a widespread reduction in the number of precipitation days. Thereby, the drying evolves altitude‐specific: over low‐land regions it is associated with a decrease in both convective and large‐scale precipitation. Over elevated regions it is primarily associated with a decline in large‐scale precipitation only, whereas convective precipitation remains at current levels. As a consequence, almost all the models project an increase in convective fraction at elevated altitudes. The decrease in the number of wet days during summer is accompanied by decreases (increases) in the number of multi‐day wet (dry) spells. This future shift in multi‐day episodes also lowers down the likelihood of short dry spell occurrence in all of the models. The models further project a higher mean precipitation intensity in spring and autumn north of the Alps, whereas a similar tendency is expected for the winter season over most of Switzerland.

Minimization of cost, sediment load, and sensitivity to climate change in a watershed management application

One challenge of climate change adaptation is to design watershed-based stormwater management plans that meet current total maximum daily load targets and also take into consideration anticipated changes in future precipitation patterns. We present a multi-scale, multiobjective framework for generating a diverse family of stormwater best management practice (BMP) plans for entire watersheds. Each of these alternative BMP configurations are non-dominated by any other identified solution with respect to cost of the implementation of the management plan and sediment loading predicted at the outflow of the watershed; those solutions are then pruned with respect to dominance in sensitivity to predicted changes in precipitation patterns. We first use GIS data to automatically precompute a set of cost-optimal BMP configurations for each subwatershed, over its entire range of possible treatment levels. We then formulate each solution as a real-valued vector of treatment levels for the subwatersheds and employ a staged multiobjective optimization approach using differential evolution to generate sets of non-dominated solutions. Finally, selected solutions are mapped back to the corresponding preoptimized BMP configurations for each subwatershed. The integrated method is demonstrated on the Bartlett Brook mixed-used impaired watershed in South Burlington, VT, and patterns in BMP configurations along the non-dominated front are investigated. Watershed managers and other stakeholders could use this approach to assess the relative trade-offs of alternative stormwater BMP configurations.

Marine nitrous oxide emissions: An unknown liability for the international water sector

Reliable estimates of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are essential for setting effective climate policy at both the sector and national level. Current IPCC Guidelines for calculating nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from sewage management are both highly uncertain and incomplete; a major methodological gap relates to the calculation of indirect N2O emissions from sewage disposed to marine environments. Here we apply a novel approach to estimate past and future global sewage-nitrogen emissions to coastal oceans and the potential marine N2O emissions linked to this nitrogen source. Then, by estimating the future cost associated with this largely uncharacterized emission source, we demonstrate the industry significance of developing a methodology for estimating N2O emissions from marine receiving environments. The capacity to accurately estimate, monitor and report GHG emissions has important consequences for informing future policy decisions regarding both mitigation and adaptation. A robust N2O emissions estimation methodology for sewage-nitrogen disposed to coastal oceans will allow the international water sector to more accurately and comprehensively inventory its N2O emissions. This will in turn allow for proper accounting of related future emissions liabilities while also enabling the sector to capitalize on any future economic returns linked to this source – providing much-needed capital to support the sector’s future infrastructure and climate change adaptation challenges.

Can Adaptive Comanagement Help to Address the Challenges of Climate Change Adaptation?

A shift is taking place within environmental governance that draws attention to modes and instruments that respond to system dynamics, uncertainty, and contested values. Adaptive comanagement is one process being advanced to make governance operational as it emphasizes collaboration among diverse actors, functions across scales and levels, and fosters learning though iterative feedback. Although extensive experience with adaptive comanagement has been gained in relation to other environmental and resource issues, its potential contribution to the governance of adaption is largely unexplored. This paper probes how adaptive comanagement might offer support to climate change adaptation and identifies gaps in knowledge requiring attention. In drawing upon existing literature and applied experiences, it is argued that adaptive comanagement may contribute to climate change adaptation by building generalized adaptive capacity as well as providing a novel institutional arrangement to generate adaptive responses. At the same time, several questions emerge about adaptive comanagement in this context. Considerations are thus discussed for adaptive comanagement scholarship and application in addressing the challenge of climate change adaptation.

Dispersed Capacity and Weak Coordination: The Challenge of Climate Change Adaptation inCanada's Forest Policy Sector

AbstractConstitutional and institutional legacies were combined to create a very decentralized forest policy sector inCanada. Where coherent policy requires a national response—as is the case with adaptation to climate change—the critical challenge is to locate the relevant decentralized policy capacity and steer it toward meeting national objectives. While there is some evidence that significant policy capacity exists in provincial forest and resource management departments, climate change adaptation has led to an expansion of departmental mandates that is not being addressed by better coordination of the available policy capacity. The relevant federal agencies are not well represented in information networks and forest policy workers report lower levels of internal and external networking than workers in related policy subsectors.

Assessing Policy Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation: Governance Arrangements, Resource Deployments, and Analytical Skills inCanadian Infrastructure Policy Making

AbstractThis article examines the infrastructure policy sector's capacity to respond to climate change adaptation through an analysis of theCanadian case. It includes a three‐level examination of capacity: at the macro level through a virtual policy network analysis; at the meso level through examination of the lead department's evolving mandate and resources; and at the micro level through analysis of survey data related to departmental workers policy tasks and attitudes. Four hypotheses across these three levels are set out and tested at the national and subnational levels. Together, the findings suggest that the policy capacity in theCanadian infrastructure sector will be unable to meet the demands placed upon the sector to respond to the increasing challenges of climate change adaptation.

Framing the challenge of climate change adaptation for Victorian local governments

Climate change adaptation, although dependent on our understanding of current and future climatic trends, is predominantly a social and institutional process. This becomes evident when studying how organisations actually respond to and prepare for climate change impacts. This paper explores the notion of framing climate change adaptation as a process of organisational development and change in the local government sector. Local governments, as the tier of government closest to the community, provide a raft of services to residents and businesses, many of which may be affected by the impacts of a changing climate. Local governments in Victoria and elsewhere have been at the forefront of assessing climatic risks and opportunities, as well as devising strategies and response measures to address these risks. The growing evidence of adaptation planning in the local government sector suggests that adaptation can be framed in many different ways, although a risk management perspective is frequently applied. Increasingly, adaptation to climate change is conceptualised as an ongoing, flexible process that needs to be fully embedded in the local and organisational context. This paper discusses the conceptual and organisational framing of climate change adaptation, illustrated by examples of the diversity of adaptation approaches taken by local governments in Victoria.

Regional challenges of climate change adaptation in Finland: examining the ability to adapt in the absence of national level steering

Climate change adaptation presents a challenge for all levels of governance. As impacts of climate change are most acutely felt at the regional and local level, there is a need to understand the limits and barriers of the design and implementation of adaptation measures on these levels. The aim of this paper is to focus on the regional level in Finland in order to identify the limits and barriers to regional implementation of climate change adaptation in the absence of steering from the national level. In order to do this, the paper draws on two empirical studies on adaptation within the regions of Uusimaa and Pirkanmaa in Finland. The paper describes the manner in which voluntary initiatives at the regional and local level have emerged, and regions have acted on adaptation in the absence of clear steering from the national level.

Managing Adaptation of Urban Water Systems in a Changing Climate

Current evidence is that climate change is occurring, it is largely manmade and it will have significant implications for human civilisation. Australia is particularly vulnerable to the anticipated effects of climate change, creating major challenges for water resource management and water supply security. Climate change adaptation offers a means by which we can reduce our exposure to future climate change risks, whilst at the same time exploiting any potential benefits that may arise from climatic changes. This review outlines the current major climate change adaptation challenges facing the water supply industry at large, with a particular focus on these challenges in an Australian context. It also aims to highlight the critical knowledge gaps and strategies required to assist in the formulation of adaptation responses to the range of potential impacts on water infrastructure and future water security. A diverse range of management and assessment techniques are used by relevant professions in industry. Here, an adaptive management approach is presented highlighting the important information required for robust assessment.

The challenge of climate change adaptation in Guyana

Climate change threatens to bring enormous infrastructural challenges for low-lying regions, and the capacity for adaptation is highly uneven on a global scale. Guyana, a developing country in South America, is highly susceptible to sea-level rise and flooding, because much of the population lives at or below sea level and depends upon old and decaying coastal infrastructure. This article examines the efforts of the Guyanese state to prioritize climate change adaptation, drawing from budgetary and documentary analyses and in-depth interviews with key informants in pertinent government ministries and non-governmental organizations. The Guyana government clearly recognizes the country's acute vulnerability to climate change – which has been accentuated by multiple recent flood events – and focuses on the need for vast infrastructural rehabilitation and enhancement as the main adaptation priority. However, while Guyana has emerged as a champion of climate change mitigation through averted deforestation, government investment in adaptation remains relatively small, and although a limited budget is one of the reasons for this, a number of other impediments complicate the issue. These include limited technical skills, low public awareness and the longer time-scale of threats relative to other national priorities. Ultimately, this case highlights some of the formidable challenges which poor countries face in prioritizing investments in adaptation.

The Challenge of Climate Change Adaptation: Learning from National Planning Efforts in Britain, China, and the USA

This article examines projected climate impacts and national planning efforts in three major countries: the USA, UK and China. The three countries are in varying stages of planning for climate adaptation. Planning frameworks in all three countries suffer from a lack of spe- cificity and urgency. To address this situation, the article recommends two measures. The first is the use of scenario planning, including consideration of high-impact scenarios, to address the downside risks of climate change. Planning in the UK has begun to make use of scenario analysis, although in a less comprehensive manner, while the USA had an earlier experiment in the use of the worst-case scen- ario as a planning tool. The second recommendation is to identify and prioritise impacts on vulnerable populations such as the elderly, the poor and coastal communities. This recommendation has roots in the US planning proposals, but also resonates with international human rights law.

Accommodating the Challenges of Climate Change Adaptation and Governance in Conventional Risk Management: Adaptive Collaborative Risk Management (ACRM)

May, B., and R. Plummer 2011. Accommodating the challenges of climate change adaptation and governance in conventional risk management: adaptive collaborative risk management (ACRM). Ecology and Society 16(1): 47. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03924-160147