Local Climate Change Adaptation Research Articles

Climate migration management? Contrasting international policy approaches with evidence from Ghana

ABSTRACT Donors and international organizations are seeking to manage migration out of climate-affected areas through local climate change adaptation and resilience-building. This article assesses the prominence of such approaches, considers their possible efficacy through an empirical case, identifies weaknesses, and offers alternatives. First, we identify and discuss international policy approaches seeking to shape climate-related mobility, drawing on document review of bilateral donor and international organizations’ policy and strategy documents regarding adaptation and climate-related migration. Then, we consider the efficacy of in place, or ‘in situ’, approaches that emphasize adaptation to limit mobility in practice. This is through a case-based analysis of dams and irrigation in the dry savannah zone of Northern Ghana, where poverty and outmigration are the highest in the country, and climate change severely undermines rural livelihoods. Donor-supported national efforts in this region explicitly link in situ adaptation and resilience-building with aims to limit outmigration. In addition to extensive background research including historical analysis, satellite and climate data analysis and a household survey (n = 403), this particular case analysis is based on individual and key informant interviews (n = 16 and 8, respectively), focus group discussions (n = 6) and document and policy review from Ghana, with focus on the Upper West Region. We document significant limitations broadly relevant to in situ approaches: they are unlikely to address diverse climate impacts as well as non-climatic factors shaping migration, and they will likely struggle to accommodate highly differentiated needs, preferences and mobility patterns within populations. Conversely, we find that in situ approaches seeking to reduce climate-related outmigration dominate among donor policies – often over focus on poverty reduction or development outcomes. These findings call for rethinking of donor and domestic policies that seek to limit outmigration through adaptation and resilience building. Rather, there is a need for development – and choice-oriented approaches that constructively integrate local adaptation and migration options for improved development outcomes.

NATECH POTENTIAL DUE TO EMERGING CLIMATE HAZARDS AND AWARENESS OF THE LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE COASTAL INDUSTRIAL SITE OF KUALA SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Climate change may put more industrial sites at risk of Natech incidents, particularly in coastal areas due to the compounding effects of climate hazards. This study investigates industrial facilities with potential for Natech due to emerging floods and delineates awareness of the exposed stakeholders, using the best available information, to strengthen local level climate change adaptation and disaster resilience in IKS Kuala Selangor, Malaysia. Two major methods were employed, conceptual site modelling using the source-pathway-receptor-consequence approach and semi-structured interviews to get insights from the local stakeholders. Findings reveal that in the worst-case scenario, manufacturing industries are exposed to floods, have limited flood protection and unknown containment and storage measures of hazardous materials within their facilities. While the high concentration of total metals in the surrounding topsoil has not been linked directly to the manufacturing industries, they have potential for Natech in future flood events. An area with environmentally available lead and arsenic accumulation linked to agricultural activities is also a potential point source for pollution during flood events in the worst-case scenario. Although most of the exposed local stakeholders are aware of climate hazards, they are not prepared for the risks of Natech. The local adaptation plan should include awareness building on Natech targeting the exposed local stakeholders as well as adequate flood protection and updated guidance on managing the safety of hazardous materials at manufacturing industry facilities.

Local Climate Change Adaptation under the Lenses of Public Health: A Case Study from Porto, Portugal

Introduction: Climate change is a pressing public health issue. Urban populations, especially in coastal areas, are highly vulnerable. As climate change progresses, local adaptation becomes increasingly important. We present a case study about the inclusion of public health concerns in local climate change adaptation in Porto (Portugal). Methods: We analysed two local adaptation plans using qualitative content analysis and conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of 6 key stakeholders with different profiles. We did a qualitative content analysis of the respective transcripts. Results: Porto is undergoing health-relevant consequences of climate change, which are expected to worsen further in the future. Porto’s geographical and demographic characteristics and urban environment make its population highly vulnerable to climate change-related health risks. Public health is recognized as a central element in local adaptation efforts. Drivers for integrating health concerns include growing climate change awareness, a sense of urgency, social capital, institutional networks, access to resources, and political commitment. Nevertheless, challenges like data limitations, resource constraints, climate knowledge gaps, communication issues, and political cycles hinder both local adaptation and the integration of health considerations. Discussion/Conclusion: In Porto, health seems both a powerful mobilizing issue and a central topic concerning local adaptation. However, the complex and long-term nature of climate change and the associated uncertainty hinder adaptation efforts. High-quality data about both the local climate and population health are thus essential. The transversal nature of risk is recognized and multi-sectorial approaches, public participation, mainstreaming, and policy integration are necessary to prevent imbalances. Local adaptation efforts, including health-related efforts, are shaped by the international (belonging to the European Union), national, and local contexts. Successful local adaptation and inclusion of health aspects require mainstreaming and policy integration across different areas and involvement of multiple stakeholders, including the population, in order to maximize resources and avoid undesired trade-offs.

The soft channels of policy diffusion: Insights from local climate change adaptation policy

AbstractDiffusion has become both an important concept for studying policy spread and a popular governance approach, particularly where direct coercion is unavailable or undesirable. However, the prevailing mechanism‐centered concept is difficult to measure and poorly captures the governance potential of policy diffusion. To address these issues, this article presents a new channel‐centered framework that distinguishes between six soft policy diffusion channels: autonomous, collaborative, exemplary, persuasive, organized, and funded diffusion. The framework is probed by studying local climate change adaptation policy using original survey data collected from the administrations of 190 municipalities located in the central German state of Hessen. The regression results indicate that the local institutionalization of adaptation in Hessen is associated with several interventions by higher levels of government, including the provision of a policy model, a municipal climate network, and grant programs. However, the density of concrete adaptation measures is associated with noninstitutionalized exchanges between municipalities. External grants are also found to be more effective in institutionalizing adaptation in larger municipalities. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the framework for distinguishing and comparing different diffusion channels and suggest that different types of interventions may be required to effectively support adaptation policy development at the local level.

Quantifying and communicating uncertain climate change hazards in participatory climate change adaptation processes

Abstract. Participatory processes for identifying local climate change adaptation measures have to be performed worldwide. As these processes require information about context-specific climate change hazards, we show in this study how to quantify climate change hazards with their uncertainties in regions all around the globe and how to best communicate the potential hazards with their uncertainties in order to identify local climate change adaptation strategies. In a participatory process on water-related adaptation in a biosphere reserve in Germany, we used the freely available output of a multi-model ensemble provided by the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP) initiative, which provides global coverage, to quantify the wide range of potential future changes in (ground)water resources. Our approach for quantifying the range of potential climate change hazards can be applied worldwide for local to regional study areas and also for adaptations in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and biodiversity. We evaluated our approach to communicating uncertain local climate change hazards by means of questionnaires that the stakeholders in the participatory process and the audiences from the general public of two project result presentations answered. To support the stakeholders in participatory climate change adaptation processes, we propose the use of percentile boxes rather than boxplots for visualizing the range of potential future changes. This helps the stakeholders identify the future changes they wish to adapt to, depending on the problem (e.g., resource scarcity vs. resource excess) and their risk aversion. The general public is best informed by simple ensemble averages of potential future changes together with the model agreement on the sign of change. Using or adapting our quantification and communication approach, flexible climate change adaptation strategies can and should be developed worldwide in a participatory and transdisciplinary manner, involving stakeholders and scientists.

Land abandonment after land grabbing: exploring the implications for local climate change adaptation and ecological restoration in Ghana

Land abandonment after land grabbing: exploring the implications for local climate change adaptation and ecological restoration in Ghana

Place-Based Adaptation through Network Governance

Following the inception of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) within the UNFCCC in 1992, national CCA plans began to emerge around 2008. However, identifying successful cases of adaptation remains challenging. This is because CCA policies often stop at planning, with selective reporting of relevant projects. Recognizing that planning is not the same as actual delivery, substantial gaps persist in connecting these plans to concrete actions, hindering successful adaptation. This paper explores this implementation deficit through the examination of three different governance modes (hierarchies, markets, and networks). Drawing on a policy review (desk study), a qualitative online survey, and semi-structured interviews with professionals engaged in local CCA policies, we identified enablers of effective adaptation policy progress by comparing the Edinburgh and Glasgow city regions. Despite their close spatial and relational proximity, these two city regions have distinct administrative geographies, political leadership, and adaptation-related networks, which identify unique local contexts sufficient to drive different CCA progress. We noted more CCA progress when specific resources included coordinators (dedicated staff) and fiscal supplements, along with regional networks connecting local communities and strengthening partnerships while sharing common values such as reputational opportunities in the Glasgow city region. These findings shed light on effective adaptation governance modes that require not only a deep understanding of place-based contexts but also the presence or nurturing of broader and reinforced networks.

Evaluation of atmospheric indicators in the Adriatic coastal areas: a multi-hazards approach for a better awareness of the current and future climate

Increasing climate resilience to global warming is one of the main challenges of the last few decades. Effective local measures have to be adopted to provide concrete solutions to the current and expected impacts of climate change. This is the goal of the AdriaClim Italia-Croatia Interreg Project (https://www.italy-croatia.eu/web/adriaclim), aimed at supporting the development of regional and local climate change adaptation plans for the Adriatic coastal regions. For this purpose, an exhaustive number of atmospheric climate indicators have been identified and evaluated across nine pilot areas to assess the current and expected main climate hazards affecting these regions, considering the worst-case emissions scenario (Representative Concentration Pathway RCP 8.5). The proposed analyses are provided by the results of the regional climate atmospheric model developed within the AdriaClim Project. The selected climate indicators are used to assess the possible evolution of the climate hazard across the pilot areas, covering different hazards, such as thermal discomfort, drought, and hydrological instability. A site-dependent investigation of the atmospheric climate indicators is proposed to emphasize which regions are more affected than others by the investigated climate hazards, thus warranting more attention in defining and proposing new adaptation strategies. The results highlight increasing temperatures (up to +3°C) across the Adriatic coastal regions, with more emphasis on the Northern Adriatic, where the combined effect with the relevant decrease in precipitation (down to −2 mm/day) may lead to severe drought conditions in the coming decades. In contrast, precipitation-related diseases may hit more Central and South Italy than the Northern Adriatic, except for the Emilia-Romagna region, which is found to be highly sensitive to both hazard categories. Finally, it is relevant to emphasize that these analyses have to be carefully considered in supporting adaptation strategies due to the lack of uncertainty estimates representing a fundamental element for decision-makers.

지자체 기후위기 적응대책의 현황 및 특성 분석

지자체 기후위기 적응대책의 현황 및 특성 분석

Climate Change and Health: Challenges to the Local Government Environmental Health Workforce in South Australia.

Climate change is the most urgent and significant public health risk facing the globe. In Australia, it has been identified that Environmental Health Officers/Practitioners (EHOs/EHPs, hereafter EHOs) are a currently underutilized source of knowledge and skills that can contribute to climate change adaptation planning at the local government level. The ability of local government EHOs to utilize their local knowledge and skills in human health risk assessment during a public health emergency was demonstrated through their role in the response to COVID-19. This study used a survey and follow up interviews to examine the roles and responsibilities of EHOs during the COVID-19 pandemic and used the results to examine the potential of the workforce to tackle climate change and health related issues. What worked well, what regulatory tools were helpful, how interagency collaboration worked and what barriers or hindering factors existed were also explored. A workforce review of EHOs in South Australia was also undertaken to identify current and future challenges facing EHOs and their capacity to assist in climate change preparedness. The findings demonstrated that the workforce was used in the response to COVID-19 for varying roles by councils, including in education and communication (both internally and externally) as well as monitoring and reporting compliance with directions. Notably, half the workforce believed they could have been better utilized, and the other half thought they were well utilized. The South Australian Local Government Functional Support Group (LGFSG) was praised by the workforce for a successful approach in coordinating multiagency responses and communicating directions in a timely fashion. These lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic should be incorporated into climate change adaptation planning. To ensure consistent messaging and a consolidated information repository, a centralized group should be used to coordinate local government climate change adaptation plans in relation to environmental health and be included in all future emergency management response plans. The surveyed EHOs identified environmental health issues associated with climate change as the most significant future challenge; however, concerningly, participants believe that a lack of adequate resourcing, leading to workforce shortages, increasing workloads and a lack of support, is negatively impacting the workforce's preparedness to deal with these emerging issues. It was suggested that the misperception of environmental health and a failure to recognize its value has resulted in a unique dilemma where EHOs and their councils find themselves caught between managing current workload demands and issues, and endeavouring to prepare, as a priority, for emerging environmental health issues associated with climate change and insufficient resources.

Local drying climate magnified by urbanization in West Africa

AbstractUrbanization often increases surface runoff and land surface temperature due to loss of land cover. However, the effect of urbanization on local atmospheric humidity remains understudied despite the disastrous effects it can have on human health and water‐food‐energy‐ecosystem nexus. Here, we examined changes in atmospheric humidity in the West Africa (WA) region between 1985 and 2018. There was an increase in vapour pressure and decrease in atmospheric humidity in urban areas suggesting intensified urban drying island (UDI) effects. Rapid urban expansion has aggravated UDI effect in recent years, particularly during the hot, wet summer but mild during the cold, and dry winter. In future climate, the impacts of the UDI effect in the region may be enormous considering the increasing rate of urbanization in the region. To achieve a sustainable future, city planners and policymakers should consider the UDI effect by promoting developments that increase green land cover. Overall, this study provides a detailed understanding of the urban ecosystem's environmental change, which is helpful for local climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Progress in local climate change adaptation against sea level rise: A comparison of management planning between 2013 and 2022 of Swedish municipalities

This paper uses content analysis of urban planning and guiding documents to research and evaluate relative adaptation approaches by categorising and comparing relevant indicators of progress. The scope of the paper is covering the 33 coastal municipalities that experience particularly exposure to negative consequences of climate change induced sea level rise. The findings indicate that the number of municipalities that address sea level rise has increased notably (∼43%) based on planning documents during the past ten years (2013−2022), which supports international trends of increased attention to urban climate change adaptation. Furthermore, the content analysis qualitatively shows based on a newly developed categorization the large variation in planning documents used by municipalities in terms of purpose and approach. Lastly, a comparison of the municipalities indicates that, while there are notable differences in approach and progress, municipalities with established adaptation plans are similarly structured in terms of ambition and level of detail, and could be considered frontrunners in sea level rise adaptation work. Thus, paper provides - based on a replicable and innovative method - current comparative results about progress in latest practices of planning management, relevant as a potential benchmark and/or blueprint for similar adaptation measures of urban coastal communities worldwide.

What drives local climate change adaptation? A qualitative comparative analysis

Climate change impacts vary wildly across different geographical contexts and their effects are primarily felt on the local level, generating demand for local solutions. The local level plays a key role in the adaptation to climate change. Nevertheless, in most European countries adaptation has yet to be integrated comprehensively into local policy agendas. To further our understanding of this slow pace of local adaptation progress, we study 21 Swiss Alpine municipalities exposed to a variety of natural hazards and issues exacerbated by local climate change impacts. Building on established research on local natural hazard management and climate change adaptation, we expect four factors to play decisive roles, either on their own or in combination with each other: Past extreme events, risk exposure, perceived climate risk and existing adaptation policies at superordinate levels. We test these expectations using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). We find that significant past extreme events and high perceived climate risk come close to being necessary conditions for local adaptation measures. High perceived climate risk on its own is also a sufficient condition for local adaptation measures to be taken while its absence is sufficient for no local adaptation measures to be taken. Thus, the importance of climate risk perception exceeds our expectation as it has clearly been revealed to be the most important factor. Future research should focus on disentangling different levels of public risk perception further and investigate the role different levels of perception or acceptance among different actor groups play in climate policy decisions.

The Potentials of Beekeeping Activities in Enhancing Local Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in Semi-arid Areas of Tanzania

Beekeeping also referred to as apiculture activities in semi-arid areas of Tanzania has been playing a significant role in enhancing rural livelihoods and climate change adaptation. Beekeeping groups have been established to mobilize resources and ensure high quality bee products and reliable markets. However, information on the enhancement of rural livelihoods and climate change adaptation in arid areas is scarce. Thus, this study was undertaken to assess the potential of bee keeping activities and climate change adaptation issues in semi-arid areas. A stratified sampling design was employed to select 90 respondents from beekeeping groups. Data were collected using questionnaires. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Gross Margin Return on Investment (GMROI), Capacity Performance Index (CPI) and Livelihood Index (LI). The study revealed that there is a high return to capital invested due to capacity performance of the smallholder beekeeper’s groups. The groups’ capacity resulted in strengthened climate change adaptation strategies and enhanced livelihoods. The study concludes that the beekeeping activities are perceived to have high return to capital invested. This also facilitates adaptation to climate change in the area through environmental conservation and local livelihoods support. Therefore, government and other stakeholders should continue capacitating beekeeping groups.

Assessment of total and extreme precipitation over central Asia via statistical downscaling: Added value and multi-model ensemble projection

Central Asia (CA) is highly sensitive and vulnerable to changes in precipitation due to global warming, so the projection of precipitation extremes is essential for local climate risk assessment. However, global and regional climate models often fail to reproduce the observed daily precipitation distribution and hence extremes, especially in areas with complex terrain. In this study, we proposed a statistical downscaling (SD) model based on quantile delta mapping to assess and project eight precipitation indices at 73 meteorological stations across CA driven by ERA5 reanalysis data and simulations of 10 global climate models (GCMs) for present and future (2081–2100) periods under two shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP245 and SSP585). The reanalysis data and raw GCM outputs clearly underestimate mean precipitation intensity (SDII) and maximum 1-day precipitation (RX1DAY) and overestimate the number of wet days (R1MM) and maximum consecutive wet days (CWD) at stations across CA. However, the SD model effectively reduces the biases and RMSEs of the modeled precipitation indices compared to the observations. Also it effectively adjusts the distributional biases in the downscaled daily precipitation and indices at the stations across CA. In addition, it is skilled in capturing the spatial patterns of the observed precipitation indices. Obviously, SDII and RX1DAY are improved by the SD model, especially in the southeastern mountainous area. Under the intermediate scenario (SSP245), our SD multi-model ensemble projections project significant and robust increases in SDII and total extreme precipitation (R95PTOT) of 0.5 mm d−1 and 19.7 mm, respectively, over CA at the end of the 21st century (2081–2100) compared to the present values (1995–2014). More pronounced increases in indices R95PTOT, SDII, number of very wet days (R10MM), and RX1DAY are projected under the higher emission scenario (SSP585), particularly in the mountainous southeastern region. The SD model suggested that SDII and RX1DAY will likely rise more rapidly than those projected by previous model simulations over CA during the period 2081–2100. The SD projection of the possible future changes in precipitation and extremes improves the knowledge base for local risk management and climate change adaptation in CA.

Unraveling the challenges of Japanese local climate change adaptation centers: A discussion and analysis

Under the Climate Change Adaptation Act, Local Climate Change Adaptation Centers (LCCACs) enhance climate change adaptation at the local level in Japan by gathering, analyzing, and disseminating essential information on climate change and its impacts on their communities. Although no literature has yet investigated the obstacles encountered by LCCACs, it is plausible that LCCACs may have encountered several difficulties, such as a scarcity of resources, in its operations. We aimed to examine these challenges through a mixed-method research design. We first conducted a structured interview survey with 25 LCCACs in Japan to assess their adaptive capacity. We found that LCCACs can be classified into three groups based on their capacity. Then a questionnaire survey was implemented to determine the challenges limiting their success. For example, all three groups agreed that a lack of human and financial resources and insufficient cooperation with business sector are significant challenges. On the other hand, the results showed that the LCCACs with low adaptive capacity showed specific difficulties, such as the lack of experience and expertise in climate change adaptation. These results revealed that the LCCACs in Japan showed diverse levels of adaptive capacity, and they have different challenges derived from their various experience and resources. Our findings indicated that support from national and local governments and relevant institutions should be tailored to meet the specific needs and challenges of each LCCACs. Our analytical framework can be extended to other countries in order to comprehend the challenges that local actions of adaptation to climate change encompass, as the indicators and difficulties targeted in this study possess a high degree of versatility.

Integrating the Local and Indigenous Knowledge (LiNK) of Barangays Dolo and Manzana in Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Planning

Integrating the Local and Indigenous Knowledge (LiNK) of Barangays Dolo and Manzana in Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Planning

Efforts of Local Climate Change Adaptation Center in Tokyo for Climate Change Adaptation

Efforts of Local Climate Change Adaptation Center in Tokyo for Climate Change Adaptation

Climate change and the Western Himalayan community: Exploring the local perspective through food choices

The local belief systems are crucial for climate change adaptation. Even climate experts are unanimous about the fundamental association between local beliefs and climate change adaptation strategies. However, the local perspective is missing from the significant policy dialog platforms. The local beliefs can potentially serve as both objective and psychological refuge for local societies during climate-related emergencies. Similarly, only limited studies have acknowledged the significance of local food choices, providing a model for global responses to climate change. The objective of the study is (i) to explore the local community's insights and awareness of climate change and (ii) to assess the impact on local food choices affecting their food security in the face of climate change in the Western Himalayan Region, India. The study is based on 210 in-depth household interviews and surveys in 10 villages of Uttarakhand, India. The exploratory factor and thematic analysis results highlight the significance of local perception of climatic variabilities, food choices, and beliefs in climate change adaptation policies. Hence, the current study's outcomes emphasize on the integration and promotion of both scientific methods and local knowledge for inclusive climate change adaptation and food security policies in the Himalayan Region.

Implementing Local Climate Change Adaptation Actions: The Role of Various Policy Instruments in Mopane (Colophospermum mopane) Woodlands, Northern Namibia

The impacts of climate change are severe in rural communities because of their proximity to forest ecosystems. Colophospermum mopane woodlands are vital in supporting the livelihood of the rural communities in the mopane woodlands while contributing to biodiversity conservation. There is limited research regarding implementing policy instruments for climate change adaptation in rural areas of the mopane woodlands in northern Namibia. This study aims to investigate this subject from the mopane woodlands’ point of view to understand the implementation of policy instruments for climate change adaptation in the mopane woodlands. We conducted an online survey focusing on multiple stakeholders, experts in different sectors, and local communities. Major challenges such as a limited general understanding of climate change, its impacts, dry conditions of Namibia, and lack of funds for adaptation measures hamper the implementation of policy instruments for climate change adaptation in mopane woodlands. Policymakers and relevant stakeholders should emphasize altering rural communities’ reliance on forest resources for their livelihood by improving their awareness of the impacts of climate change. Future research should evaluate climate change policy instruments’ framework and strategies in the context of forest ecosystems at the rural area level of Namibia.