Local Adaptive Capacity Research Articles

Socio-ecological adaptation to Early-Holocene sea-level rise in the western Mediterranean

Consecutively to the global sea-level rise, coastal landscapes significantly changed during the Early Holocene. We explored how coastal mutations have affected ancient human systems in the western Mediterranean. The Pego-Oliva basin (Spain) provides a thick sediment sequence located in proximity to two well-studied Mesolithic and Neolithic archaeological sites. Based on 16 sediment cores, sedimentological analyses, 14C dates, and integration of previous works, we reconstructed the architecture of the sedimentary facies and the chronology of deposition for the last 9500 years. From 9500 to 8200 cal. BP, the stepwise inland migration of the coastline is characterised by the deposition of peat layers at distinct depths indicating four phases of barrier-lagoon systems development. The marine transgression caused the disappearance of the lagoon at 8200 cal. BP, and reached a maximum inland position at 7300 cal. BP. Since 5800 cal. BP, sea-level stabilisation induced coastal progradation and barrier-lagoon system construction. Five marine flooding phases dated at 9500, 9100–9000, 8750–8650, 8450–8200, and 8100–7300 cal. BP match Atlantic meltwater pulses. Comparison to archaeology shows that the long-lasting Mesolithic occupation corresponds to the presence of coastal offering easily exploitable local intertidal resources. In contrast, during the Late Mesolithic, we observe a lagoon contraction and the reduction of lagoon bivalves size arguing for a decrease in resource productivity. This changes in the lagoon ecosystems negatively impacted to Late Mesolithic populations leading to a less intense occupation of this area. Therefore, the 700 years' temporal hiatus between the last hunter-gatherers and the first farmers occupying this area is explained by the disappearance of the formerly exploited biotopes because of sea-level rise, a situation that may have been aggravated by coincidence of the 8200 cal. BP climate event. The maximal sea transgression corresponded to a shift from intertidal to infralittoral species between the Impressa/Precardial and the Postcardial Neolithic, indicating a good adaptation to changing environments at that time. However, comparison between Late Mesolithic to Early Neolithic suggests that communities with different cultural baggage have had a different perception of the same environment. By the past perspective, it emphasises that perception of the ecosystem value as a benefit or constraint, and of the risks associated with sea-level rise, relies first on the local and regional scales adaptive capacity of society to global changes.

Local institutions and adaptive capacity of rural households in the Niger Delta

The study examined the role local institutionsplay in promoting adaptive capacity of households to environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.The survey was conducted amongst 610 households across Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states. The questionnaire instrument was employed ineliciting data from the respondents. The study shows that respondents belonged to about 106 formal and informal local institutions spreadacross the study communities. Findings revealed that local institutions serves as safety nets and sources of local insurance as they provide households opportunities for resources and materials exchange as well as galvanizing collective action that promotes livelihoods and adaptive capacity. The hypothesis test result indicated that membership to local institutions has a significant effect on adaptive capacity. The study hence concluded that membership to local institutions significantly promote the capacity of households to adapt to environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. The study hence recommends that the institutional capacities of these institutions should be enhanced through knowledge and resource sharing by means ofincreasingly engaging with external actors like the government and civil society who can provide external support to the communities.Keywords: LocalInstitutions, Adaptive Capacity, Rural Households, Niger Delta.

Local adaptive capacity as an alternative approach in dealing with hydrometeorological risk at Depok Peri-Urban City

Located in a tropical area, cities in Indonesia are vulnerable to hydrometeorological risks such as flood and landslide and thus become prone to the climate change effects. Moreover, peri-urban cities had double burden as the consequences of main city spill over and also lack of urban facilities in overcoming the disaster. In another perspective, the city has many alternative resources to recover, so its create urban resiliency. Depok city becomes a case study of this research regarding with its development following the impact of Jakarta growth. This research purposes to capture how the local city dwellers could anticipate and adaptive with flood and landslide with their own mitigation version. Through mix method and spatial analysis using GIS techniques, it derives the two comparison approach, the normative and alternative that had been done by the city dwellers. It uses a spatial analysis to have a big picture of Depok and its environmental changing. It also divided into 4 local group of communities as a representative of city dwellers regarding the characteristic of a settlement with their level of risk. The result found type or characteristic of settlement which influenced the local adaptive capacity, from the establishment of infrastructure, health fulfillment and social livelihood with different kind of methods.

The “Third Sector” and Climate Change Adaptation Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Experience from Ghana

In spite of growing evidence of non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) active participation in both bottom-up and top-down climate change policy negotiations and implementation, a research effort that focuses on the former barely exists. Grounded within the qualitative research approach, this paper contributes to the emerging climate policy literature by drawing on experiences from three purposefully selected non-state actors’ adaptation program in Ghana. The paper observes that through tripartite mechanisms—climate advocacy, direct climate service provision and local empowerment, NGOs significantly play a complementary role in building local adaptive capacities, especially among people who are already living at or close to the margins of survival. The paper again found that NGOs tacitly explore four interrelated “social tactics” (rulemaking, alliance brokerage, resource brokerage, and framing) to gain the cooperation of local actors for the implementation of adaptation interventions. In order to improve the performance and sustainability of adaptation interventions, the paper puts forward that NGOs should, among other things, harmonize their interventions to resonate with local interest and identity and also nurture capable project caretakers before community exit.

Beyond Vulnerability Assessment: Impact of Developments toward Local Adaptive Capacity in Kemijen City Village, Semarang City

Vulnerability Assessment is usually used for assessing the ability of an area on facing disaster. In previous studies, the study of Vulnerability Assessment applied only quantitative method to show the vulnerability level. Therefore, this study attempts to add information reviews using qualitative method. Kemijen City Village is one of the administrative areas in the northern part of Semarang City affected by climate change. The residents have to adapt it by renovating and elevating their houses and other infrastructures to avoid floods. There are some development programs held by government, NGOs, and corporations such as Banger Polder Development, PLPBK, etc. It is interesting to know how big the vulnerability level of Kemijen on facing flood disasters, then how the projects can affect local adaptive capacity. To answer it, this research uses mixed-method approach. Vulnerability Assessment uses quantitative method by scoring indicators of Exposure, Sensitivity, and Adaptive Capacity, while the development impact uses qualitative method. The data were collected through interviews and FGD conducted in Joint Studio Course between Diponegoro University and University of Hawaii in October 2016. Non-physical programs such as community empowerment have more positive impacts on local adaptive capacity in Kemijen. Community participation is important for environmental sustainability that can not be done in a short time to educate the people.

Green and socioeconomic infrastructures in the Brazilian Amazon: implications for a changing climate

Amazonia is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change but few studies pinpointing priority areas for local adaptation programmes exist. This paper aims to identify socio-climatic hotspots among the 515 municipalities that compose the Brazilian Amazon by using a three-step process. First, we identified the regional social hotspots, that is, municipalities that have currently low adaptive capacity, by calculating a composite infrastructure index based on the assessment of both current green and socioeconomic infrastructures. Second, we used a Regional Climate Change Index to identify the climate change hotspots, that is, those municipalities that have a high likelihood to experience future climate change risks. Third, we evaluated the geographic coincidence of social and climate change hotspots to identify the socio-climatic hotspots. We found that 117 municipalities are regional social hotspots and that 60 municipalities are regional climate change hotspots. Forty-six municipalities are considered as socio-climatic hotspots because they have very low to low composite infrastructure indices and very high climate risk indices. Local institutional capacity to integrate and execute national-level policies that enhance local adaptive capacity is a major constraint across the region. To face the challenges associated with climate change, municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon should embrace a more sustainable development model. Sustainable development, in the context of the Brazilian Amazon, implies conservation of the existing green infrastructure through the expansion of protected areas and indigenous lands, restoration of green infrastructure in areas of deficit, and substantial investments in urban socioeconomic infrastructures to foster a knowledge-based economy. Although local sustainable development and adaptation plans are essential across the entire region, the 46 municipalities identified in this study as regional socio-climatic hotspots could be prioritized for action.

Is participatory watershed development building local adaptive capacity? Findings from a case study in Rajasthan, India

Watershed development has emerged as a crucial intervention to strengthen natural resource-based livelihoods in semi-arid areas in India. It has evolved from an infrastructure-heavy, top-down approach, into an increasingly participatory process aimed at building rural adaptive capacity to deal with climate change and other risks such as water scarcity and natural resource degradation. However, the efficacy of watershed development initiatives in building local adaptive capacity has not matched intention, and farmers remain exposed to unpredictable water supply. Against this backdrop of inadequate alignment between policy intention and outcomes, this paper examines whether participatory watershed development, as it is currently implemented, contributes to building farmer adaptive capacity. A case study of a watershed project in southern Rajasthan is used as an illustrative example. The findings demonstrate that watershed interventions focussed on hard adaptation options such as building check dams without a matching emphasis on soft adaptation approaches such as building inclusive institutions or incentivising sustainable resource use. In practice, community participation often reinforced existing power and gender- and caste-based hierarchies, raising questions of who benefits from participatory watershed projects and to what degree. Several non-project, macro-scale factors such as corruption and continued policy focus on water supply augmentation were found to undermine positive impacts of the watershed project. These findings suggest that without adequate empowerment, expectations that community participation will augment rural livelihoods, restore water-stressed ecosystems, and build adaptive capacity to climatic risks were found to be rhetorical. Thus, the study calls for a restructuring of watershed implementation that includes both hard and soft adaptation approaches, and allows for strategies that first empower and then engage communities in livelihood strengthening and resource stewardship.

The influence of community-based resource management institutions on adaptation capacity: A large-n study of farmer responses to climate and global market disturbances

Abstract An underlying understanding among adaptation and community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) scholars is the existence of important feedbacks between local resource management institutions and individual adaptive capacity. The relationship between CBNRM and individual adaptive capacity is of global concern given the ubiquity of CBNRM worldwide, the patent impacts of global changes at local levels, and the recent calls for the integration of climate and rural development policies. So far, however, there have not been formal, large-n studies of that relationship. This study aims to fill that gap by testing whether the performance of community-based water management institutions and communal land regimes have an impact on the effectiveness of farmers’ adaptation responses to climatic and global market disturbances. For this purpose, the study relies on a unique dataset of individual and collective features obtained from water user associations (WUAs) and ejidos in Mexico. According to the regression results, well-functioning community-based water management institutions have a positive and significant impact on individual farmers’ self-reported response effectiveness. The impact of communal land property is also significant but negative. These effects, which hold only in the context of climate disturbances but not market disturbances, can be explained by looking at the support given by the associations to farmers, and issues of communal land marginalization, respectively. Policies that strengthen the autonomy and capacity for cooperation of WUAs and ameliorate structural deficits in communal land regimes shall not only guarantee a long-advocated path for rural development but also help farmers deal with some of the climatic uncertainties that increasingly threaten agriculture.

Revisiting the Local Adaptive Capacity framework: learning from the implementation of a research and programming framework in Africa

While adaptation to climate change has emerged as a key area of development research, little is known about the enablers and constraints to implementing adaptation-oriented frameworks for research and development programming. This paper documents lessons learned from the Africa Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) programme – a multi-stakeholder consortium comprised of four large international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and a research organization. It revisits the development and implementation of the conceptual framework that guided ACCRA’s work: the Local Adaptive Capacity (LAC) framework. Between 2009 and 2013, ACCRA’s research used the LAC to understand the impact of development interventions on levels of adaptive capacity at community and household levels. This in turn informed targeting of NGO and government programming. Challenges such as definitional overlaps between resilience and adaptation, difficulties in articulating the intangible elements of LAC’s five characteristics of adaptive capacity and differing interpretations of commonly used terms between academic and practitioner partners each had to be grappled with. Experiences from ACCRA’s research highlight the LAC’s utility as a unifying framework. However, they also point to the need to ensure that certain elements of the LAC are not under-represented (such as gender, power and politics). In addition, the need for improved guidance in describing how the conceptual elements of the LAC can be operationalized, and ensuring greater levels of collaboration between all stakeholders were identified. It is hoped that the lessons from ACCRA not only help to shape future applications of the LAC but the large number of other adaptation and resilience-oriented frameworks that guide development research and practice.

The roles of community assets in mitigating the impact of drought on grain yields in Northwest China

As an arid and semiarid region in that is frequently hit by drought, Northwest China is ecologically vulnerable. Faced with drought and other extreme events, policy makers have given top priority to the formulation and implementation of adaptation policies. This paper investigates the roles of community assets, including community social capital and access to public services, in mitigating the impact of drought in Northwest China. Based on a micro-level dataset of individual households and villages from two provinces, we find a major effect of community assets on grain yields, after controlling for other influences. Our econometric analyses show that the severity of drought in the study areas significantly reduces grain yields. The negative impact of drought, however, can be significantly mitigated in villages with better community assets. Several policies, including enhancing investments in communities’ infrastructure and providing public services related to drought, are recommended to both improve local adaptive capacity to drought and reduce poverty in the drought-prone areas.

The Role of Traditional Knowledge in Building Adaptive Capacity for Climate Change: Perspectives from Vanuatu

Abstract There is increasing recognition of traditional knowledge as an important store of information and practices for building adaptive capacity for climate change in the Pacific. However, empirical research and documentation of how Pacific Islanders experience climate change, identify relevant adaptation options, and mobilize their adaptive capacity, including traditional knowledge, remains limited. Given this context, indigenous islander perspectives on traditional knowledge and its role in building their adaptive capacity are examined in this article. The author draws on research with the Nakanamanga-speaking peoples of Tongoa Island, Vanuatu. This research documents traditional knowledge relating to weather and climate observations; resource use and management; social networks; local leadership; and values and beliefs in these indigenous communities and reveals differing perspectives about its potential to enhance local adaptive capacity. It highlights indigenous concerns about self-reliance, cultural continuity, and how the transition to a cash economy, the valorization of Western education and lifestyles, and rural–urban migration have had adverse implications for traditional knowledge and its retention. It further reveals potential trade-offs for indigenous communities on Tongoa Island, where traditional governance, tenure systems, and values enable flexibility and collective action that build adaptive capacity but can also promote conservative attitudes and limit uptake of new information and practices.

Ties that bind: Local networks, communities and adaptive capacity in rural Ghana

Current models of adaptation to climate change focus on common causes of vulnerability among individuals and communities in an attempt to improve their capacity to adapt. These models tend to neglect the impact on vulnerability of local relationships that include political and economic power structures. We use social network analysis to examine the connectivity and positions of vulnerable rural households and their capacity to adapt. We collected empirical data from a community of 58 smallholders in upper west Ghana on external relations with 'local actors' that are independent, operate beyond the community yet have direct relations with the community. These connections provide important resources and knowledge to build adaptive capacity that would not be generated from within the community. Our results highlight that certain external relations expose households to knowledge and other forms of capital, which in turn strengthen their ability to access and mobilise resources to respond to environmental change. However, not all external relations offer equal opportunities, which results in a stratified community and variation in the households’ capacity to adapt. The network approach also identifies points where local actors can link communities and households to remote agencies crucial for planning and implementing effective adaptation. Keywords: Adaptation; Adaptive capacity; Rural agriculture; Climate change; Rural community, Social network analysis; Vulnerability

Testing the scoping phase of a bottom-up planning guide designed to support Australian Indigenous rangers manage the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage sites

ABSTRACTSince the early 1990s archaeologists have suggested archaeological and cultural heritage sites (cultural sites) will face major challenges from anthropogenic climate change. While techniques to manage such impacts are emerging, no planning tools exist for bottom-up, community-based management of the issue. This paper forms part of an overarching research project that aims to fill this gap by developing a bottom-up planning guide (the Guide). The paper tests the first of the proposed Guide’s five phases: the scoping phase. It presents the results of workshops conducted with two Australian Indigenous rangers groups. While existing studies document Indigenous peoples’ perceptions of climate change in general, none have focussed on their perceptions of impacts on cultural heritage sites. Here, Indigenous rangers related strong perceptions of particular climate change impacts on specific cultural sites in particular bio-regions. While the rangers were actively engaged with sites, they felt site management should be extended in the face of additional threats from climate change. Rangers were able to nominate a preferred methodological approach, based on a risk analysis of biophysical hazards, as well as local adaptive capacity building in the face of governance challenges. Various barriers to adaptation planning and resource limitations were identified but these were not regarded as insurmountable in terms of the current project. Testing of the scoping phase of the Guide suggested rangers had a strong organisational capacity to achieve practical adaptation results.

Participatory vulnerability assessment of climate vulnerabilities and impacts in Madi Valley of Chitwan district, Nepal

AbstractThe severity of climate change impacts is observable and devastating at the local level, especially among the poor and ethnic people settled in the marginal and ecologically fragile areas, because of their least adaptive capacities and resilience. Thus, it is crucial to understand the local climatic risks, vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities to develop appropriate coping and adaptation strategies. However, the reliable climate data and information are not available at local level because of few meteorological stations. Therefore, this study has concentrated on participatory approaches to assess and analyze the climate vulnerabilities and impacts, needs and priorities of the community in Madi valley of Chitwan district. The study has applied participatory tools in the focus group discussions in the valley with a total of 112 participants. The communities in the study site observed flood, drought and riverbank erosion are the most severe climatic threats to them with different intensities based ...

Social exchange and structuralist-constructivism approaches for enhanced ecotourism and food security in wildlife-agrarian mosaic landscapes: insights from eastern Zambia

Adaptive capacities of local communities and other stakeholders such as wildlife managers and tour operators to counteract environmental stressors such as poaching and over-hunting that affect the quality of ecotourism in the African protected area systems are rarely studied. We investigated local structures such as informal and formal rules, norms, challenges and institutional organs that govern community operations in the context of social-ecological systems, and how strategies rooting from the theoretical constructs would help confront conflicts associated with contemporary ecotourism. Systemic appraisals by use of semi-structured questionnaires were employed and administered to 131 respondents, with the help of trained field assistants. The study revealed that poverty and weak institutional governance in ever-growing human-population landscapes underlie escalation of the conflicting multiple land uses and degrade the ecotourism potential. Low levels of social capital networking and cohesions, reflecting fallible local social exchange, constrained local adaptive capacities for ecotourism.

Social exchange and structuralist-constructivism approaches for enhanced ecotourism and food security in wildlife-agrarian mosaic landscapes: insights from eastern Zambia

Adaptive capacities of local communities and other stakeholders such as wildlife managers and tour operators to counteract environmental stressors such as poaching and over-hunting that affect the quality of ecotourism in the African protected area systems are rarely studied. We investigated local structures such as informal and formal rules, norms, challenges and institutional organs that govern community operations in the context of social-ecological systems, and how strategies rooting from the theoretical constructs would help confront conflicts associated with contemporary ecotourism. Systemic appraisals by use of semi-structured questionnaires were employed and administered to 131 respondents, with the help of trained field assistants. The study revealed that poverty and weak institutional governance in ever-growing human-population landscapes underlie escalation of the conflicting multiple land uses and degrade the ecotourism potential. Low levels of social capital networking and cohesions, reflecting fallible local social exchange, constrained local adaptive capacities for ecotourism.

Assessment of adaptive capacity to saltwater intrusion in the context of climate change in Dong Nai province to 2030

This study aimed to evaluate the adaptive capacity (AC) to saltwater intrusion (SI) in Dong Nai province up to 2030 via 20 indicators. The research scope included 57 wards in Bien Hoa city, Long Thanh, and Nhon Trach districts where have been facing the SI. Results showed that in 2014, nearly 90 % of investigated wards have AC indices in the range of medium-low level, distributed in Bien Hoa (30), Long Thanh (15), and Nhon Trach (6). Forecasts to 2020 and 2030, the local AC indices to saltwater intrusion are increased: the mentioned number of 90 % is gone down to about 88 % and 60 % in 2020 and 2030, respectively. Indicators need taken into concern to improve the local AC include: financial (budget, GDP), policy (support for people to cope with SI and climate change), agriculture (salt-tolerant seeds), aquaculture (brackish and saline water aquaculture), irrigation work (irrigation, SI prevention system), water storage, health, and education. Overall, in the period of 2014–2030, the AC of the investigated area has increased over the years, but most at the medium – low level. This is the challenge for governments and communities in responding to SI in the context of climate change.

Place-based or sector-based adaptation? A case study of municipal and fishery policy integration

ABSTRACTPlace-based adaptation planning is an approach to address cross-sectoral and multi-level governance concerns as well as to build local adaptive capacity in vulnerable resource-dependent communities facing the adverse impacts of climate change. In contrast, sector-based adaptation planning focuses on addressing climate change impacts on individual economic sectors (e.g. fisheries or forestry) or sub-sectors (such as lobsters or timber). Yet, linking sectoral approaches with local adaptation policies is challenging. More effort is needed to identify opportunities for complementary adaptation strategies and policy integration to foster multiple benefits. In this article, we use a case study of fishery sector resources and municipal adaptation planning in Nova Scotia to demonstrate how meaningful entry points could catalyse policy integration and lead to co-benefits across multiple levels and stakeholder groups. Drawing on a fisheries systems and fish chain framework, we identify and assess several entry points for policy integration across sector- and place-based adaptation domains within coastal habitats, as well as harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors. The analysis highlights the multiple benefits of integrating local municipal adaptation plans with multi-scale resource sectors especially towards monitoring ecosystem changes, protecting essential infrastructure, and securing local livelihoods.POLICY RELEVANCEClimate change is having a growing impact on coastal communities around the world, with consequences for sea-level rise, critical habitats, essential infrastructure, and multiple economic sectors and industries. This Canadian case study demonstrates how municipal adaptation initiatives can be complementary to sector-based adaptation at both local and regional levels through various entry points across commodity production chains. Policy integration across place-based and sector-based adaptation processes should lead to multiple benefits such as conserving marine biodiversity, protecting essential infrastructure, and securing livelihoods. Our analysis, which focuses specifically on the fishery sector and coastal communities, shows that these co-benefits may arise particularly in such coastal-marine systems and provide policy lessons to terrestrial systems and other sectors.

Unravelling local adaptive capacity to climate change in the Bolivian Amazon: the interlinkages between assets, conservation and markets

This paper examines household adaptive capacity to deal with climatic change among the Tsimane’, an indigenous society of the Bolivian Amazon, and explores how exposure to conservation policies and access to markets shape such capacity. We surveyed Tsimane’ adults (77 men and 34 women) living in four communities with different accessibility to the regional markets. The four communities were located in indigenous territories, but two of them overlapped with a co-managed biosphere reserve. We compared households’ capacity for adaptation through indicators of access to social, financial and natural assets, entrepreneurial skills and human resources. We also assessed how conservation and markets condition such capacity. Our results show that, across communities, households clustered in four groups with differentiated adaptive capacity profiles: commoners typically participating in community meetings, vulnerable characterized by low shares of adaptive capacity indicators, leaders typically holding community positions, and subsidized mostly relying in government remittances. Overlap with the biosphere reserve was significantly associated with the adaptive capacity profile of vulnerable households. In contrast, access to markets does not seem to be related to household adaptive capacity. We discuss relevant behavioral and structural factors for current adaptation to climatic changes and priority measures to foster local adaptive capacity in indigenous territories overlapping with protected areas.

Extreme weather events (EWE): the impact on health in Italy.

Background: Italy and the Mediterranean region are particularly vulnerable to climate change and extreme weather events (EWEs). Changes in vulnerability are related to meteorological exposures but also to socio-demographic and economic conditions and to local adaptive capacity. Recent results from the PHASE EU project (http://www.phaseclimatehealth.eu/) and Italian studies will guide the discussion on climate change health effects and the role of public health. Results: In Italy, the fraction of heat-attributable deaths ranges between 1.4%-8.1%. Despite a reduction in heat-related effects in recent years observed in EU and Italian cities (from +36.7% pre-2003 to +13.3% post-2003 in Italy) the 2015 heat wave had a significant impact across Europe. In Italy an excess in mortality of +23% was observed in July 2015 (range: from +14% to 44%). Cold also had a higher impact in Italy and Mediterranean countries (2% increase in mortality for a 1°C decline in temperature) suggesting they are unprepared to cope with cold weather. Furthermore, the cold spell of 2012 had a strong impact on CVD and respiratory deaths among those aged 75+ (+20% and +64% respectively) in Italy. Flooding is another major threat in Italy, but health effect studies are lacking. Intense rainfall events have been associated to road traffic injuries and ER visits (increase trauma ER visits during rainfall events in Rome: +7.5% in men to +19.3% in women, 25-34 age group). Conclusions: Best practice prevention and response measures defined within the PHASE project can help develop intervention measures for these EWEs. Specific actions should be targeted to at risk areas and emerging vulnerable subgroups to each EWE (elderly, subjects with chronic diseases, outdoor workers, pregnant women, children and deprived groups). Research evidence confirms climate change as a priority on the public health agenda. Abstract part of the accepted symposia "Climate Change – Beyond the ..." (Menne B.)