Climate Change-related Hazards Research Articles

Generative AI tools can enhance climate literacy but must be checked for biases and inaccuracies

In the face of climate change, climate literacy is becoming increasingly important. With wide access to generative AI tools, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, we explore the potential of AI platforms for ordinary citizens asking climate literacy questions. Here, we focus on a global scale and collect responses from ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 and GPT-4) on climate change-related hazard prompts over multiple iterations by utilizing the OpenAI’s API and comparing the results with credible hazard risk indices. We find a general sense of agreement in comparisons and consistency in ChatGPT over the iterations. GPT-4 displayed fewer errors than GPT-3.5. Generative AI tools may be used in climate literacy, a timely topic of importance, but must be scrutinized for potential biases and inaccuracies moving forward and considered in a social context. Future work should identify and disseminate best practices for optimal use across various generative AI tools.

Sensor Technologies for Safety Monitoring in Mine Tailings Storage Facilities: Solutions in the Industry 4.0 Era

The recent tailings storage facility (TSF) dam failures recorded around the world have concerned society in general, forcing the mining industry to improve its operating standards, invest greater economic resources, and implement the best available technologies (BATs) to control TSFs for safety purposes and avoid spills, accidents, and collapses. In this context, and as the era of digitalization and Industry 4.0 continues, monitoring technologies based on sensors have become increasingly common in the mining industry. This article studies the state of the art of implementing sensor technologies to monitor structural health and safety management issues in TSFs, highlighting advances and experiences through a review of the scientific literature on the topic. The methodology applied in this article adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and utilizes scientific maps for data visualization. To do so, three steps were implemented: (i) a quantitative bibliometric analysis, (ii) a qualitative systematic review of the literature, and (iii) a mixed review to integrate the findings from (i) and (ii). As a result, this article presents the main advances, gaps, and future trends regarding the main characteristics of the sensor technologies applied to monitor TSF structural health and safety management in the era of digitalization. According to the results, the existing research predominantly investigates certain TSF sensor technologies, such as wireless real-time monitoring, remote sensors (RS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned survey vessels (USVs), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing (CC), and Internet of Things (IoT) approaches, among others. These technologies stand out for their potential to improve the safety management monitoring of mine tailings, which is particularly significant in the context of climate change-related hazards, and to reduce the risk of TSF failures. They are recognized as emerging smart mining solutions with reliable, simple, scalable, secure, and competitive characteristics.

Controlling the water: citizens’ place–related adaptation to landslides in mid-Norway

In light of an increasing frequency of climate change–related hazards such as landslides, climate adaptation is increasingly on the agenda of Norwegian municipalities. Nevertheless, municipalities face constraints in addressing these challenges, with smaller, remote municipalities being particularly susceptible. They often cover expansive geographical areas with high landslide risk, yet have limited financial resources, expertise, and personnel for climate adaptation. Consequently, the active involvement of citizens in adaptation plays an important role in these remote places. This paper investigates how citizens of three small remote communities deal with landslides, emphasizing the role of people–place relations in shaping adaptive practices. Grounded in assemblage theory, our analysis reveals that most citizens maintained a pragmatic relation to landslides, while only a few expressed concern. Regardless of the degree of concern, all citizens constructed landslides as integral element within their socio-material place assemblages, as part of their lives in the respective places. Furthermore, citizens developed various adaptive practices, including nature observation, reporting to authorities, and implementing practical preventive measures to control water that could trigger landslides. These practices are manifestations of socio-material assemblages that have evolved through citizens’ relations to their specific places. Importantly, irrespective of the level of concern regarding landslides, these practices were carried out as part of everyday life. Through these practices, enabled by experience-based, embodied, and often tacit local knowledge, citizens acted as community guardians. Thus, comprehensive people–place relations emerge as a pivotal factor for a community’s adaptative capacity in the face of climate change-induced hazards.

“You talk of threat, but we think of comfort”: the role of place attachment in small remote communities in Iceland that experience avalanche threat

According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, climate change may increase the likelihood, intensity, and frequency of some natural hazards in the country, such as avalanches. It is therefore essential to increase preparedness for climate change–related effects. Until recently, social and community aspects of climate change–related hazards have not received much attention in Iceland. The aim of this study was to explore the role of place attachment in small remote communities in Iceland and how residents experience the threat of avalanches. Through a narrative approach, we conducted interviews with residents and focus groups in two communities in the Westfjords. Our findings suggest that both communities show a high level of place attachment, in particular with regard to the natural and social dimension. A positive impact of place attachment translates into willingness for volunteering and local engagement, which can increase preparedness and enhance capacity building. While we found negative tendencies of place attachment in both places, for example in that residents do not consider their communities vulnerable despite the risk, they seem to be less prominent than the positive aspects. Residents exhibit traditional local knowledge, but there is a need to better integrate newcomers and foreigners in the communities into emergency planning.

Assessment of social factors that promote the vulnerability of communities to coastal hazards in the Volta estuary in Ghana

Although vulnerability assessments have been widely conducted along the coast of Ghana, they have not focused on the factors contributing to social vulnerability of households and communities to disaster risks. Using an indicator-based approach, this study examines the social factors that affect the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of households and communities in the Volta estuary, Ghana. Results indicate that all the communities within the study area were exposed to climate change related hazards. However, two communities, Azizanya in Ada East District and Fuveme in Anloga District, were highly exposed with unweighted indexes of 0.50 and 0.76, respectively. Sensitivity among communities was generally high ranging from 0.00 to 0.87 due to several social factors including low household income, high number of children and aged at home, and lack of social amenities such as roads, health facilities, markets, and schools. The communities recorded high adaptive capacity and were able to withstand the ravages of the ocean and the river system. Households and communities developed various adaptation measures such as relocation to nearby communities or higher grounds, open spaces and packing of their belongings on higher objects such as tables, whiles government actions included occasional dredging and constructions of sea defense structures. An integrated, multi-stakeholder approach involving government, non-governmental community-based organisations, communities, households, and other stakeholders is proposed to design and implement a comprehensive disaster management plan to combat climate change related coastal disasters.

A transdisciplinary and collaborative urban water security framework: Developed through an interdisciplinary study in Kolkata, India

AbstractUrban water security (UWS) is and will remain a crucial issue over the next decades, especially as it is exacerbated by climate change effects and related hazards. Despite the growing number of studies focusing on more diverse dimensions, including social dimensions, of water security and urban dynamics, there is still an absence of comprehensive, interdisciplinary UWS measurement index that takes into account the complexity and multidimensional aspects of water security. This article discusses a new, transdisciplinary community‐focused approach to analyzing and responding to water insecurity. It draws on findings from a large study carried out over 4 years with a focus on creating a new and comprehensive way of measuring water security, incorporating biophysical and social factors. The project collected data in Kolkata, India. Kolkata is an important megacity in a developing country, facing rising pressures on water‐environmental provision due to rapid population growth and urbanization combined with governance and infrastructural issues. The project team worked collaboratively with affected communities to create a comprehensive framework for measuring and evaluating water security for cities. A water justice approach to water security we argue is particularly important in emerging countries, and one that can be effectively applied to environments where urban growth and resultant shrinking resources have created complicated and fragile systems. This approach adds to existing knowledge and research that focuses on collaborative interdisciplinary methods that aim to create solutions that can help create a sustainable water secure future “leaving no one behind.”

Coping Capacity, Adaptive Capacity, and Transformative Capacity Preliminary Characterization in a “Multi-Hazard” Resilience Perspective: The Soccavo District Case Study (City of Naples, Italy)

An innovative methodology for characterizing Coping Capacity (CC), Adaptive Capacity (AC), and Transformative Capacity (TC) resilience determinants in a multi-hazard territorial context is applied to the Soccavo district (Naples, Italy), located in the Campi Flegrei caldera and exposed to volcanic eruptions, ground deformations (bradyseism), earthquakes, geomorphological processes (landslides, rock falls, erosion), and climate change-related hazards (heat waves, pluvial floods). The method allowed for the identification of the CC, AC, and TC parameters that can be easily converted into qualitative–quantitative variables. Among all parameters, the method focused on multi-stakeholder and civil society engagement, which is representative of TC and variable relating to the risk perception and awareness, the urban space perception, or the people’s ability to activate bottom-up urban transformation processes within resilient development pathways. Therefore, qualitative tools such as collaborative mapping and co-design processes, pertaining to the urban planning and design fields, and quantitative tools such as surveys, from the social science field, were harmonized and combined to collect and analyze data on these site-specific topics. Considering people’s priorities and needs, the study was useful to define shared sustainable and resilient solutions in order to holistically integrate Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation urban planning and design approaches and simultaneously deliver social, environmental, and economic co-benefits.

A sixfold urban design framework to assess climate resilience: Generative transformation in Negril, Jamaica.

The uncertainty of climate change's impacts hinders adaptation actions, particularly micro-scale urban design interventions. This paper proposes a sixfold urban design framework to assess and enhance the resilience of urban form to climate change, where urban form refers to the patterns of streets, buildings, and land uses. The framework is then applied to Long Bay in Negril, Jamaica-a coastal area that incorporates the complex interactions between urbanization and a highly vulnerable socio-ecological system to climate change-related hazards, primarily sea-level rise. Empirical evidence from 19 in-depth interviews with planning and design professionals and development actors, in situ observations, and morphological analyses reveal that Long Bay's current adaptation strategies heavily rely on bounce-back resilience measures that predominantly consider the impacts of extreme climatic events rather than slow-onset ones. Such strategies abet current tourism-driven development patterns while overlooking Long Bay's inherent abilities for generative transformation and incremental changes to meet climatic uncertainty. Instead, this study's findings highlight how generative urban form transformation would better equip Long Bay to cope with future uncertainty-climatic or other.

Adopting Resilience Thinking through Nature-Based Solutions within Urban Planning: A Case Study in the City of València

The paper exposes the experience of València in applying climate-resilient thinking to the current revision of the city’s General Urban Development Plan. A semi-quantitative, indicator-based risk assessment of heat stress was carried out on the 23 functional areas of the city sectorized by the Plan, including modeling and spatial analysis exercises. A data model of 18 indicators was built to characterize vulnerability. A thermal stress map was developed using the URbCLim model and a heat index was then calculated using Copernicus hourly data (air temperature, humidity, and wind speed) for the period of January 2008–December 2017 at a spatial resolution of 100 m × 100 m. General recommendations at the city level as well as guidelines for development planning in the functional areas at risk are provided, with specifications for the deployment of nature-based solutions as adaptation measures. From a planning perspective, the study positively informs the General Urban Development Plan, the City Green and Biodiversity Plan, and contributes to City Urban Strategy 2030 and City Missions 2030 for climate adaptation and neutrality. Applying the same approach to other climate change-related hazards (i.e., water scarcity, pluvial flooding, sea level rise) will allow better informed decisions towards resilient urban planning.

100 years of international cooperation in hydrography

Peter Ehlers was to give a speech at the 2nd Session of the Assembly (2020) in Monaco, which was to mark the 100th anniversary of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). Sadly, the speech was cancelled due to the exceptional circumstances posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. His words were left unspoken. Nevertheless, as Peter Ehlers still had something of significance to say, we are now publishing the manuscript of his intended speech.greatest risk of climate change-related hazards.

The future is CLEAR: Community-Led Engagement for Adaptability and Resilience

Climate change poses an existential threat to communities living on the water’s edge. It is possible to design climate adaptation and climate resilience policies that safeguard communities and support sustainable living, but implementing such policies is difficult without understanding the needs and cultural practices of the people living there. Community-Led Engagement for Adaptation and Resilience is a way to bring community members into policy and planning stages of adaptation and resilience efforts. This Keynote discusses different types of community-led engagement that the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) practices to support its member states, how it can improve its own policies, and how the IHO and member states can collaborate to support their needs and those of people who are at greatest risk of climate change-related hazards.

Analyzing the preferences of flood victims on post flood public houses (PFPH): Application of a hybrid choice model to the floodplains of southern Pakistan

Climate change related natural hazards cause significant suffering and economic damage. The aftermath of losing one's home leaves people facing difficult decisions. Resettling those affected by flood disasters remains a complex and uncertain process. This study aims to shed light on the factors influencing the decision to choose post-flood public houses (PFPH) in flood-prone areas. Using a stated preference (SP) survey conducted in the floodplains of Southern Pakistan, this research analyzes the impact of policy variables in conjunction with latent psychometric factors on people's choices. A hybrid choice model (HCM) is developed to assess the influence of two latent variables: risk perception and place attachment. The findings indicate that individuals with higher risk perception are more inclined to choose PFPH, whereas those with stronger place attachment tend to opt for rebuilding their houses at the same location. Compensation for PFPH was observed to have a positive impact on the choice of PFPH, while the distance from the village center, reflecting how far they would be relocated from their current village center, had a negative impact on choosing PFPH. The calculation of willingness-to-accept measures confirmed that for every 1 KM increase in the distance from the village center, respondents would require additional compensation of PKR 24,558.45 (approximately $87.28). Furthermore, multiple policy scenario tests were conducted to economically evaluate the impact of latent variables and SP attributes on the predicted share of PFPH. The results underscore the significant influence of place attachment attitudes and the distance to the village center attribute on the share of PFPH.

Relational epistemologies for sustainability and resilience towards disasters

Crises of the anthropocene begin with the radical alienation of subject from the other. Healing this separation requires a fundamental reconceptualization of the relationship. In this article, we juxtapose against the rational-modernist frame the concept of relationality, which conceives of the subject as constituted by its relationship with the other. This leads to new pedagogies that seek to undo rigid separation and underscore the agency of the hitherto subaltern. Given this, we describe a novel attempt to introduce a relational approach to learning about climate change related hazards, wherein elementary school students train to become expert risk communicators and to be agents of change in their community. The case study speaks on how to demonstrate this new approach and different strategies that are relevant in enhancing awareness, sustainability and resilience towards different crises. Comparisons of post- and pre-surveys from the workshop show promising results and the research concludes with further discussion and synthesis of relational approach into formal education on disasters.

Perceived differential vulnerability and climate change-related hazards in informal settlements in Accra, Ghana: re-thinking vulnerability to climate change in urban areas

ABSTRACT Urbanisation in developing countries has co-evolved with exposure to hazards among the urban poor. Yet, current understandings of hazard vulnerability are context-specific and limiting for shedding light on perceived vulnerability to climate change in the context of informal urbanisation. The overall perception of informal dwellers on the causative and local factors that underly the processes of informal urbanisation and their hazard exposure and consequent vulnerability tends to receive less attention. Using Accra as a case and applying mixed methods, this paper analyses informal residents’ perceived vulnerability to hazards. A total of 582 households’ surveys and 3 institutional key informant interviews were conducted. The paper argues that hazard vulnerability in informal settlements is spatially differentiated and differentially perceived. The main factor associated with respondents’ perceived vulnerability was “threats of eviction”. Examination of informal dwellers’ hazard responses will improve our understanding of the influence of their perceptions on hazard responses in the context of informal urbanisation.

Climate Change-Related Hazards and Livestock Industry Performance in (Peri-)Urban Areas: A Case of the City of Masvingo, Zimbabwe

In an effort to improve their quality of life and battle poverty, many urban residents are turning to agriculture as an alternative source of income, employment, and food security. However, climate-related hazards such as heatwaves, floods, and droughts have had an effect on urban agriculture. The purpose of this study was to determine how climate change-related hazards affected the urban livestock industry in Masvingo City. These researchers administered a structured questionnaire on urban livestock farmers, the results of which were triangulated with in-depth interviews with livestock stakeholders. The results show that the urban livestock industry is significantly impacted by climate-related hazards. Farmers lose livestock to diseases, poor pastures, and extreme weather conditions. Furthermore, the hazards badly affect the storage and distribution of livestock products, the labour supply and productivity, and the profitability of livestock enterprises. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the urban livestock industry and climate change-related hazards. The results are significant to policy makers and livestock stakeholders to understand climate change effects on the urban livestock sector so as to formulate mitigation, adaptation, and coping strategies against any adverse effects. This paper is a foundation for future studies and these researchers suggest that future studies be on location-specific adaptation strategies.

Climate change vulnerability and smallholder farmers’ adaptive responses in the semi-arid Far North Region of Cameroon

Climate change and variability contribute to exacerbating poverty and social unrest in poor countries. Therefore, it becomes important to assess vulnerability and adaptation measures to raise awareness and monitoring of climate change adaptation policy for better decision-making. This research examines how farmers perceive their vulnerability and how they respond to climate change in the semi-arid Far North Region of Cameroon. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, data on perceptions with regards to vulnerability and adaptation responses to climate change related hazards were collected based on expert opinions, individual farmers’ interviews, and focus group discussion. The qualitative data were triangulated with direct observations in the field. The results reveal that farmers are mostly concerned about drought and decrease in rainfall. Thus, they have mainly implemented behavioral and locally-made options such as short-cycle varieties, terrace farming, half-moon, and bunds, among others, to overcome water shortages. Nevertheless, these measures were not solely driven by vulnerability; the socioeconomic context might play a role. Moreover, farmers perceive a limited capacity to adapt to climate change, which suggests that the government and policy-makers should focus, not only on implementing planned adaptation strategies, but also on the improvement and promotion of farmers’ autonomous adaptation strategies.

Integrating blue-green infrastructure in urban planning for climate adaptation: Lessons from Chennai and Kochi, India

Nature-based solutions, such as reviving blue-green infrastructure (BGI), for climate adaptation in cities have been gaining global attention. In the case of India, the rapid urbanization since the end of the twentieth century has exacerbated the impact of climate change at significant environmental, social, and economic costs. Coastal cities in India commonly face climate change related hazards of flooding, rise in sea level, and urban heat islands. This article has assessed the usefulness of scientific information and community knowledge in planning, reviving, and maintaining BGI to make it a successful climate adaptation practice in coastal cities. The existing waterways and water bodies in India's coastal cities are a network linked to the green infrastructure that has been altered by sprawling urbanization. In response to Sustainable Development Goals 11 and 13, the cities of Kochi and Chennai have begun a process of recovering their BGI for greater resilience. This research has detected a shift in the social and administrative perception of BGI as a valuable resource for climate adaptation in recent times. Actions in backwaters and canals, promoted by Chennai and Kochi municipal corporations, present new steps toward mainstreaming adaptation of BGI into the local regulatory framework.

Access to Early Warning for Climate Change-Related Hazards in Informal Settlements of Accra, Ghana

Climate change-related hazards will aggravate and impact differently on urban societies. Although early warning systems will be important for reducing the hazard risks in cities, the nature of early warning systems that are available to residents of informal settlements remains less understood. This paper aimed to assess the early warning systems through which informal dwellers reduce their hazard risks in an African city. Using Accra as the case, data were collected from 582 households using a structured questionnaire along with 25 institutional key informant interviews and 14 focus discussions with state and settlement actors in this study. Findings of the paper show that a mix of formal and informal early warning systems are utilized by residents of informal settlements, but the majority of them perceived state disaster management institutions as not performing optimally in their resident settlements. The nature of land ownership in the informal settlements influenced their political exclusion and state institutions’ decisions not to locate weather monitoring equipment in their settlements. Respondents without the security of land tenure perceived state disaster management institutions as not performing optimally, which negatively affects their capacity to respond to climate change-related hazards. The paper thus recommends the incorporation of informal early warning systems into city-wide hazard early warning systems through participatory planning in Accra and similar contexts. Future scholars may extend this discourse by examining the effect of the use of informal early warning systems on the uptake of formal hazard early warning sources in informal settlements.

Small islands and climate change: analysis of adaptation policy in the Cayman Islands

Small, low-lying islands are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and development of effective adaptation strategies is regarded as an urgent need. Through an analysis of existing and emerging climate adaptation policies, this paper assesses the climate adaptation response in the Cayman Islands. Despite its strong economic status and several developments in the areas of Planning, Environment and Tourism, alongside a draft Climate Change Policy, the study reveals a focus on symbolic policies and a lack of adopted “concrete” climate change adaptation policies. Although the draft National Climate Change Policy (2011) contains a comprehensive range of substantial policies, none has been formally adopted by the Cayman Islands Government. The practical implications of this situation in the face of climate change-related hazards are assessed in the context of Seven Mile Beach, the most heavily developed stretch of the Cayman Islands coast. Here, the prevailing response to shoreline change is stabilisation and, despite several opportunities to change the situation, recent policy developments have not stimulated changes in practice.

Hurricane adaptation behaviors in Texas and Florida: exploring the roles of negative personal experience and subjective attribution to climate change

Understanding the motivation to adopt personal household adaptation behaviors in the face of climate change-related hazards is essential for developing and implementing behaviorally realistic interventions that promote well-being and health. Escalating extreme weather events increase the number of those directly exposed and adversely impacted by climate change. But do people attribute these negative events to climate change? Such subjective attribution may be a cognitive process whereby the experience of negative climate-change-related events may increase risk perceptions and motivate people to act. Here we surveyed a representative sample of 1846 residents of Florida and Texas, many of whom had been repeatedly exposed to hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, facing the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. We assessed prior hurricane negative personal experiences, climate-change-related subjective attribution (for hurricanes), risk appraisal (perceived probability and severity of a hurricane threat), hurricane adaptation appraisal (perceived efficacy of adaptation measures and self-efficacy to address the threat of hurricanes), and self-reported hurricane personal household adaptation. Our findings suggest that prior hurricane negative personal experiences and subjective attribution are associated with greater hurricane risk appraisal. Hurricane subjective attribution moderated the relationship between hurricane negative personal experiences and risk appraisal; in turn, negative hurricane personal experiences, hurricane risk appraisal, and adaptation appraisal were positively associated with self-reported hurricane personal adaptation behaviors. Subjective attribution may be associated with elevated perceived risk for specific climate hazards. Communications that help people understand the link between their negative personal experiences (e.g. hurricanes) and climate change may help guide risk perceptions and motivate protective actions, particularly in areas with repeated exposure to threats.