Integrating Climate Change Adaptation Research Articles

Agricultural Land Use Allocation under Current and Projected Scenarios

A model-based systems approach in optimizing agricultural land use spatial allocation integrating climate change adaptation was developed in this study. A land use planning and analysis system framework was modified and adopted under current conditions and anticipated scenarios for 2035. Climatic scenarios were reflected in land suitability ratings by conducting a land evaluation. All agricultural inputs and outputs were estimated and analyzed by

Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation into Land Use Optimization: A Case Study in Huailai County, China

Land use plays a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigation, as the reasonable design of land use distribution can positively impact these things. Therefore, research interest in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in land use and management has been growing. However, the adaptation and mitigation strategies have been handled separately at different dimensions and spatial levels. In this study, we presented a modeling framework for land use optimization that integrates climate change adaptation and mitigation, developed the model, and then applied it to Huailai County, wherein environmental and socioeconomic conditions are sensitive to climate change. The regional land use optimization model was combined with a linear programming model and a modified cellular automata model. Subsequently, the climate change adaptation and mitigation constraints, including ecological water demand, spatial suitability, and carbon sequestration, were incorporated into the model. The results indicate that most regions in the study area could adapt to and mitigate climate change with a constant land use pattern, and the land use conversion region under different climate change scenarios was primarily located in the topography transition region. The optimization results also reveal trade-offs between climate change adaptation and mitigation that were manifested with an increase in carbon sequestration and ecological water demand accompanied by decreases in the net income of agricultural production. Thus, it is necessary to simultaneously incorporate climate change adaptation and mitigation into land use optimization and management, and the proposed model provides a feasible method to incorporate them and balance their trade-offs in land use pattern optimization at a regional scale.

Assessing the integration of climate change adaptation and mitigation into national development planning of Ethiopia

PurposePolicy framework has significant roles in minimizing the impact of climate change in agrarian societies like Ethiopia. The purpose of this paper is to assess the integration of issues related to climate change adaptation into the national development planning of Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research design, which depended on secondary and primary data sources, was used in this study. Data were collected from relevant documents. These were substantiated with field data gathered through key informant interviews and focus group discussions from participants identified using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis of the collected data was done by first considering the relevant documents and then comparing with the field data. During the analysis and interpretation, the results were combined to explain, confirm, refute and/or enrich the data obtained through document reviews and interviews.FindingsThe result of the study revealed that the general issues of environmental management have been included in the relevant documents (national plans). However, the documents do not explicitly identify climate change adaptation strategies and options that can alleviate the current impacts and the projected negative impacts associated with climate change. In fact, some documents were found to be characterized by numerous gaps. For example, the environmental policy of Ethiopia does not address climate trading, climate resilient green economy and recent development. The result from interviews shows that the constitution of the country lacks sufficiently addressing climate change adaptation. The result obtained from focus group discussion with informants indicated that the environmental policy of the country is shallow and suffers from showing clear direction regarding integration. The informants indicate that though there is an office that works on climate change at zonal level, there is no well-defined structure for climate change at zonal, district and Kebele levels and there appears to be weak integration among the different institutions working on climate change.Originality/valueThis study would speed up the revision of environmental policy of Ethiopia and the development of a separate policy document that focuses on adaptation to climate change.

Rainfall Variability and its Impact on Crop Production in Niger State, Nigeria

The net potential effect of severe changes in rainfall pattern disrupts crop production leading to food insecurity, loss of jobs, and poverty. Crop production in Niger State is predominantly rain-fed, thus, exposing this major livelihood activity to the variability of rainfall. The study examined the impact of rainfall variability and its consequences on crop production. This is to integrate climate change adaptation options into agricultural activities. Strategies for climate change adaptation options in the study area have often been made without experimental foundations placed on the level of rainfall variability and its implications on crop production. To achieve this, a climatic index (CI) analysis of rainfall was employed to ascertain the level of rainfall extremes occurrences resulting from rainfall variability using standard deviation as a tool for rationalization. The study also used crop yield to test the relationship between the yield and rainfall characteristics for thirty years (1990-2019). Rainfall data and crop yield (soybean, maize, and sorghum) were collected. The data were analysed using statistical and climatic index analyses. The results show that there were various degrees of rainfall extremes that occurred (from mild to severe dry spell and mild to severe wet spell). Moreover, the regression analysis shows that F-values > p-values. Consequently, the occurrences of severe wet spells and mild to severe dry spells impacted negatively on crop production, which undermines food security. Based on the findings, recommendations were made to mainstream the adaptation options.

Integrating climate change adaptation in coastal governance of the Barcelona metropolitan area

Coastal cities are exposed to high risks due to climate change, as they are potentially affected by both rising sea levels and increasingly intense and frequent coastal storms. Socio-economic drivers also increase exposure to natural hazards, accelerate environmental degradation, and require adaptive governance structures to moderate negative impacts. Here, we use a social network analysis (SNA) combined with further qualitative information to identify barriers and enablers of adaptive governance in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By analyzing how climate change adaptation is mainstreamed between different administrative scales as well as different societal actors, we can determine the governance structures and external conditions that hamper or foster strategical adaptation plans from being used as operational adaptation tools. We identify a diverse set of stakeholders acting at different administrative levels (local to national), in public administration, science, civil society, and the tourism economy. The metropolitan administration acts as an important bridging organization by promoting climate change adaptation to different interest groups and by passing knowledge between actors. Nonetheless, national adaptation planning fails to take into account local experiences in coastal protection, which leads to an ineffective science policy interaction and limits adaptive management and learning opportunities. Overcoming this is difficult, however, as the effectiveness of local adaptation strategies in the Barcelona metropolitan area is very limited due to a strong centralization of power at the national level and a lack of polycentricity. Due to the high touristic pressure, the legal framework is currently oriented to primarily meet the demands of recreational use and tourism, prioritizing these aspects in daily management practice. Therefore, touristic and economic activities need to be aligned to adaptation efforts, to convert them from barriers into drivers for adaptation action. Our work strongly suggests that more effectively embedding adaptation planning and action into existing legal structures of coastal management would allow strategic adaptation plans to be an effective operational tool for local coastal governance.

Sea level rise exposure assessment of U.S. East Coast cargo container terminals

ABSTRACT Continuity of marine port operations and recovery in the event of disaster and flooding are dependent upon planning for acute or chronic disruptions. Ports are developing the capacity to integrate climate change adaptation with strategic planning and making capital investments in infrastructure. Geospatial risk assessments have demonstrated utility for planning marine port terminal facilities. Such assessments have tended to be coarse and comprehensive (whole port cities) or narrow, site-specific and single-hazard approaches (single terminal or site scale). This study develops a methodology for major container port terminals on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States to advance a screening approach to sea level rise, identify exposure to terminals and associated surface transportation, and enable comparative assessment. The study leverages geospatial data, elevation, imagery, transportation databases, tide gauges, and sea level rise projections. The approach extends prior methods to quantify exposure across multiple ports and terminals. Hypsographs and modelled future tidal flooding are derived for each port. Results highlight the need for port planning to develop GIS, monitor sea level rise trends, engage in integrative assessments, and optimize mitigation and adaptation actions. Results show similarities across yet also differentially increasing threats of relative sea level rise and tidal flooding at individual terminals.

Framing the application of Adaptation Pathways for agroforestry in Mediterranean drylands

Adaptation Pathways is a decision support tool designed to create adaptation policies under different climate change scenarios. This tool has been used successfully in several sectors and contexts such as coastal and river adaptation, urban heat waves, floods and rural livelihoods but its use in natural resource management, has faced several challenges and limitations. In the sector of agroforestry its use has seldom been done or documented and one of the reasons for this may due to some of its specific challenges. In this study, these challenges were addressed when using the Adaptation Pathways for the adaptation planning of three case studies in the semi-arid Alentejo region, a Mediterranean dryland of southern Portugal. This tool was integrated in a participatory approach combined with the Scenario Workshop method, to plan the adaptation of the agriculture and forestry sector of one municipality (Mértola) and two agroforestry farms (221 ha and 1000 ha). The methodology included, for each case study, 20 interviews, two workshops, literature review, expert analysis and the use of indicators of efficacy of adaptation measures, to define tipping points. The adaptation process and the resulting adaptation plans were evaluated by questionnaire and expert review. This combination of methods has supported the choice of effective adaptation measures for the case studies and when combined with several adaptation pathways and a landscape approach it supported the creation of integrated climate change adaptation plans that are now in implementation. We discuss how this combination of methods deals with limitation to Adaptation Pathways identified in the literature, conclude that the method was able to create adaptation plans that are now under implementation and present avenues for future research.

Applying the DRCA Risk Template on the Flood-Prone Disaster Prevention Community Due to Climate Change

Climate change is apparent, and the impacts are becoming increasingly fierce. The community’s adaptation is more important than before. Community-based adaptation (CBA) is now gaining worldwide attention. Taiwan has promoted disaster prevention communities (DPC) for many years. Although the communities’ promotion can increase their capacity to promote efficiency, the top-down job designation may not adequately meet the community’s needs. This research aims to establish a community adaptation model and focus on building community adaptation capabilities from the bottom-up due to climate change. We design a community adaptation model that integrated climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). A disaster reduction and climate adaptation (DRCA) risk template was illustrated and adopted in the study. The 2D flooding model using future rainfall simulates the flooding depth for the hazard for it. This information is offered for discussing possible countermeasures with residents during the participatory risk analysis process. An urban laboratory concept is also adopted in this study. The Zutian community, Tucheng District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, a flood-prone community, served as a case study area to illustrate those concepts and tools. The proposed adaptation model could then strengthen the community’s resilience to cope with future impacts due to climate change.

Progressing the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management in Vanuatu and beyond

The first framework to specifically integrate climate change adaption and disaster risk management was the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific. Despite the intense interest in integration and a very large literature on the topic, this Framework and its implementation has largely escaped the attention of commentators. This paper focuses on the experience of Vanuatu as a start in addressing this gap in the literature. Vanuatu is one of the countries most at risk from natural hazards. We show how Vanuatu is progressing the ideals of integration in practice, in its policy and legislation, its institutional arrangements, and the resourcing it is allocating to integrating disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. We conclude that, at the national and formal level, Vanuatu is progressing well in pragmatically implementing the ideals of integration and the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific. It stands as a practical example for others.

Urban planning policy must do more to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation actions

Well-designed urban planning policy can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to anticipated climate change impacts. However, there has been limited analysis of the extent to which urban planning policy documents addresses climate change adaptation and or mitigation. There is a need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, and to be well adapted to this change (in line with the Paris Agreement). Achieving this goal will assist in limiting damage and loss to humans and the natural environment. This paper presents a detailed qualitative and quantitative evaluation of urban planning documents (policy, regulation and law) in the state of Victoria, Australia, and the degree to which climate change mitigation and adaptation (with a focus on sea level rise) are addressed and integrated. Two scales of government (state and local) were analysed across three policy disciplines (urban planning, climate change and flood management). The evaluation framework contributes to the few tools for analyzing legislation, regulation and strategic policies for climate change adequacy. The findings reveal limited climate change adaptation and mitigation actions in urban planning documents. Additionally, there is limited integration of adaptation and mitigation actions. Important opportunities for better alignment of policies across disciplines and government levels in line Paris Agreement goals are identified, to ensure implementation in decisions made about land use and development. The analysis finds that urban planning policy must do more to include and integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation actions.

Recommendations for linking climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in urban coastal zones: Lessons from East London, South Africa

Climate-related disasters in coastal urban areas are intensifying with significant impacts on populaces, environments, and ecosystems. Hence, climate-related disaster preparedness is now acknowledged by climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction experts. However, there is limited knowledge of communities and policy-makers on the integration of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). This paper through the lens of resilience theory presents goals towards linking coastal climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction from the case study of East London, coastal city in South Africa. This study gathered data through a semi-structured survey, aimed at defining salient public issues to improve CCA and DRR policies, public participation inclusion, and programmes. This study shows that the knowledge of CCA and DRR is relatively low in the study area, also the provision of disaster information by the local authority is quite low. Conversely, most of the respondents affirm that available disaster information is always in locally understood languages, this is important in understanding disaster early warning by local dwellers. Accordingly, in disaster information dissemination, the government should be proactive and responsive in spreading information that covers every people. Further work that respects the importance of indigenous knowledge for CCA and DRR integration is needed i.e. local participation in the framework of development endeavours, through the inclusion of indigenous people in policymaking at the sub-national, national and international levels, this would help them to participate in administrative processes that affect them; providing a resilient community, improved adaptive capacity and sustainable living. Effective flexibility, adaptability, interoperability among stakeholders at various levels are key ingredients to reaching these goals.

Evolving disaster governance paradigms in Nepal

This article aims to explain various disaster governance paradigms that have emerged and currently exists in Nepal. A disaster governance paradigm is a comprehensive set of prevailing and institutionalized ideas that shape disaster plans and policies that eventually are implemented on-the-ground. Nepal has prepared various disaster plans and policies at the national, provincial and local level, but there are major gaps in disaster risk preparedness, with annual floods and landslides continuing to be responsible for the loss of lives and heavy infrastructure damages. In this article, we show how disaster governance paradigms have evolved between 1982 and 2019, using policy document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key policy actors. The study found that four major disaster governance paradigms exist in Nepal – (1) response and recovery; (2) disaster risk reduction and management; (3) integrated climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction; and (4) federalized disaster risk reduction. The results of this study show that multiple state and non-state actors such as key government ministries, NGOs, INGOs and other civil society actors are competing over resources and there is an ongoing administrative struggle for promoting different disaster governance paradigms. There has been a push from various civil society actors to prioritize disaster risk reduction in Nepal. Finally, we conclude that it is too early to assert that the decentralization process will be able to reduce disaster risk for vulnerable communities, especially with the federalization of Nepal's disaster governance.

From Dichotomy to an Integrated Approach: Cities’ Benefits of Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

Cities are facing impacts of climate change and encountering risks such as extreme weather events, while cities are also aiming to contribute to their mitigation goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the differences in characteristics of climate change mitigation and adaptation have shown the possible reasons for a dichotomy in climate policy. This has motivated us to further look into whether cities could integrate their actions in climate change mitigation and adaptation in their planning and how they achieve benefits to overcome the dichotomy. To answer our research question, we have developed an analysis framework built on the endogenous risk theory to analyse how cities overcome the different characteristics to integrate their climate strategies and obtain benefits. The theory of endogenous risk involves seeing both climate change mitigation and adaptation as risk reduction strategies because both of them aim to reduce climate risks and can be carried out by actors who perceive such risks. Therefore, the actors will be more willing to integrate and implement both mitigation and adaptation policy. Our results show that mitigation and adaptation in cities are interlinked and that benefits of an integrated climate change policy exist. A list of entry points how cities overcome the dichotomy are also identified. Our research outcomes also provide a list of benefits identified by the cities in their integrated climate strategies and we call for more public disclosed data for future research and policy assessments.

Navigating Climate Adaptation on Public Lands: How Views on Ecosystem Change and Scale Interact with Management Approaches

Managers are increasingly being asked to integrate climate change adaptation into public land management. The literature discusses a range of adaptation approaches, including managing for resistance, resilience, and transformation; but many strategies have not yet been widely tested. This study employed in-depth interviews and scenario-based focus groups in the Upper Gunnison Basin in Colorado to learn how public land managers envision future ecosystem change, and how they plan to utilize different management approaches in the context of climate adaptation. While many managers evoked the past in thinking about projected climate impacts and potential responses, most managers in this study acknowledged and even embraced (if reluctantly) that many ecosystems will experience regime shifts in the face of climate change. However, accepting that future ecosystems will be different from past ecosystems led managers in different directions regarding how to respond and the appropriate role of management intervention. Some felt management actions should assist and even guide ecosystems toward future conditions. Others were less confident in projections and argued against transformation. Finally, some suggested that resilience could provide a middle path, allowing managers to help ecosystems adapt to change without predicting future ecosystem states. Scalar challenges and institutional constraints also influenced how managers thought about adaptation. Lack of institutional capacity was believed to constrain adaptation at larger scales. Resistance, in particular, was considered impractical at almost any scale due to institutional constraints. Managers negotiated scalar challenges and institutional constraints by nesting different approaches both spatially and temporally.

Assessing the workforce adaptive capacity of seaports to climate change: an Australian perspective

ABSTRACT This paper explores the adaptive capacity of the Australian port workforce and its preparedness to manage the likely impact of climatic shifts and extreme weather events. Qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted across three case-ports in which a wide range of adaptive capacity elements, including systems and processes, skills and knowledge and organizational culture and norms, were explored. In total, 15 interviews and three focus groups were organized, totaling 69 participant-hours of rich qualitative data. Findings suggest that the ports seem to have established a variety of systems and processes to cope with and manage the impacts of extreme weather events. Although acknowledging the need for continuous improvement, the management staff were confident about the effectiveness of current systems and processes to tackle the potential threats from extreme weather events. The general view was that additional adaption measures are not required to specifically deal with the impacts of extreme weather. However, it was also acknowledged that strengthening of adaptive capacity could be enhanced by mainstreaming climate considerations into existing risk evaluation, workforce management, and operational systems. Whilst sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important to port businesses, it is argued that ports should integrate climate change adaptation as part of their wider risk management strategies, as well as their sustainable development agenda to update and guide the actions, behaviours, and practices of the port workforce.

A micro scale study of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in coastal urban strategic planning for the Jakarta

PurposeThis paper aims to describe an in-depth study that aimed to assess and develop a strategic disaster risk reduction plan to integrate climate change adaptation countermeasures in Cilincing, a North Jakarta City sub-district.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a back-casting approach to cover hazard assessment induced by increased susceptibility, as well as vulnerability, both as a baseline study and projected up to 2045 at the micro level. The urban village (Kelurahan) level is the unit of analysis. The capacity analysis is used as baseline data, which is reviewed against the trend of the hazard and vulnerability.FindingsThe results of the study identify short-, medium- and long-term recommendations to integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change adaption. These include capacity building, especially emergency response capabilities, an increase of drainage capacity, improvements to transboundary management and minimising driving forces.Practical implicationsThese findings at the micro level are very important to present a more holistic and realistic strategy that can be implemented until 2045, but also provides a basis for up scaling into metropolitan region planning.Originality/valueThis is a unique, micro-scale case study in the Cilincing sub-district of Jakarta that assesses and develops strategic disaster risk countermeasures and a reduction plan that integrates the effects of climate change, thereby addressing future disaster risk in Jakarta.

Climate change adaptation in the management of public buildings: an Indonesian context

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a strategy to integrate climate change adaptation (CCA) in public asset management (PAM) in Indonesia. This paper focusses on public buildings as part of a public asset.Design/methodology/approachAs an archipelagic country, Indonesia is very vulnerable to sea-level rise as a result of climate change. The outcomes of a qualitative analysis of interviews with relevant stakeholders were used for the development of the CCA framework in an Indonesian context.FindingsThe study identified that the integration of CCA in PAM in Indonesia requires the incorporation of nine key elements. These are as follows: recognition of climate change; risk management and insurance schemes for assets; integrated asset management and planning; asset use and knowledge; reliable, accessible and understandable data set on climate change; leadership, government commitment and incentives; involvement of research and private entities; community engagement; and coordination of relevant agencies.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper informed only the key elements required on the development of framework which integrate CCA in PAM.Practical implicationsThe integration of CCA to a PAM framework will support the development of policies and procedures for better-informed decisions.Social implicationsThe framework increases opportunities for stakeholders and community engagement in policy development and decision making in relation to CCA for public assets.Originality/valueThis paper synthesises CCA and PAM using knowledge from the three levels of governments in Australia and Indonesia. CCA and PAM groups work separately in Indonesia and integration will reduce climate change risks and improve decision making in PAM.

Creating a Novel Multi-Layered Integrative Climate Change Adaptation Planning Approach Using a Systematic Literature Review

Climate change adaptation planning requires the integration of disciplines, stakeholders, different modelling approaches, treatment options, and scales of analysis. An integrated stepwise planning approach is a critical requirement for effective climate change adaptation in the context of small island developing states and coastal communities. To address this need, this paper reports on a systematic review of 116 research papers from an initial set of around 650 academic peer-reviewed papers. These papers were assessed and categorised based on their planning framework or the approach utilised, measured climate change impacts, employed methods and tools, and recommended adaptation strategies or options. This study identified three important dimensions of a fully integrated climate change adaptation planning process, namely, integration in assessment, integration in modelling, and integration in adaptive responses. Moreover, it resulted in the formulation of a novel multi-layered integrative climate change adaptation planning approach. Adopting this holistic and integrative approach is more likely to yield better climate change adaptation in planning outcomes over the long term.

Comment on “Barriers to enhanced and integrated climate change adaptation and mitigation in Canadian forest management”

We comment on the recent comprehensive review “Barriers to enhanced and integrated climate change adaptation and mitigation in Canadian forest management” by Williamson and Nelson (2017, Can. J. For. Res. 47: 1567–1576, doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0252 ). They employ the popular barriers analysis approach and present a synthesis highlighting the numerous barriers facing Canadian forest managers. The underlying functionalist assumptions of such an approach are highly problematic from both a scholarly and a practical policy perspective. We argue that social scientists engaged in climate change research who want to influence policy-making should understand and then empirically apply causal mechanisms. Methods such as process tracing and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) are promising tools that can be employed in national- or local-level assessments.

Reply to the comment by Wellstead et al. on “Barriers to enhanced and integrated climate change adaptation and mitigation in Canadian forest management”

In commenting on our review about barriers to climate change adaptation and mitigation (Williamson and Nelson 2017, Can. J. For Res. 47(12): 1567–1576, doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0252 ), Wellstead et al. (2018, Can. J. For. Res. 48(10), doi: 10.1139/cjfr-2017-0465 ) argue that the “functionalist assumptions” underlying barriers analysis in general and our paper in particular are problematic. They also argue that barriers analysis — a method widely employed both in scholarly climate change adaptation research and in national and international climate change assessments — should be replaced by approaches that remain untested in the context of climate change adaptation research, particularly in forestry adaptation and mitigation research. We believe that neither the scholarly research on adaptation and mitigation barriers nor our review have characteristics of functionalism or imply functionalist assumptions. Moreover, we disagree that barriers analysis can be replaced by the methodologies that they propose because these latter approaches address different aspects and features of processes supporting movement toward comprehensive and integrated adaptation and mitigation in forest management. We do agree that there are knowledge gaps relative to examinations and explanations of causal mechanisms to explain decision-making and policy process outcomes that have already occurred, and we encourage research to address these gaps. Ultimately, this aspect of social science research is complementary to, not a substitute for, barriers research.