The impact of methodological choices on the outcome of national-level climate change vulnerability assessments: An example from the global fisheries sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Monnereau ◽  
Robin Mahon ◽  
Patrick McConney ◽  
Leonard Nurse ◽  
Rachel Turner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Level ◽  
Climate Change Vulnerability ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Spatial-Explicit Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments Based on Impact Chains. Findings from a Case Study in Burundi

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6354
Author(s):  
Stefan Schneiderbauer ◽  
Daniel Baunach ◽  
Lydia Pedoth ◽  
Kathrin Renner ◽  
Kerstin Fritzsche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
National Level ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Climate Change Vulnerability ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Main Components ◽  
Selection Of

Climate change vulnerability assessments are an essential instrument to identify regions most vulnerable to adverse impacts of climate change and to determine appropriate adaptation measures. Vulnerability assessments directly support countries in developing adaptation plans and in identifying possible measures to reduce adverse consequences of changing climate conditions. Against this background, this paper describes a vulnerability assessment using an integrated and participatory approach that builds on standardized working steps of previously developed ‘Vulnerability Sourcebook’ guidelines. The backbone of this approach is impact chains as a conceptual model of cause–effect relationships as well as a structured selection of indicators according to the three main components of vulnerability, namely exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. We illustrate our approach by reporting the results of a vulnerability assessment conducted in Burundi focusing on climate change impacts on water and soil resources. Our work covers two analysis scales: a national assessment with the aim to identify climate change ‘hotspot regions’ through vulnerability mapping; and a local assessment aiming at identifying local-specific drivers of vulnerability and appropriate adaptation measures. Referring to this vulnerability assessment in Burundi, we discuss the potentials and constraints of the approach. We stress the need to involve stakeholders in every step of the assessment and to communicate limitations and uncertainties of the applied methods, indicators and maps in order to increase the comprehension of the approach and the acceptance of the results by different stakeholders. The study proved the practical usability of the approach at the national level by the selection of three particularly vulnerable areas. The results at a local scale supported the identification of adaption measures through intensive engagement of local rural populations.

scholarly journals Production Characteristics and Strategies for Adapting to the Impact of Climate Change on Cassava Whiteflies and Viruses in Tanzania

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 921-935
Author(s):  
Oluwatosin Zacheus Aregbesola ◽  
Veronica N Uzokwe ◽  
Kolawole A Adeloye ◽  
Carmelo Rapisarda ◽  
Ole Søgaard Lund ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Level ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Adaptation Planning ◽  
Monitoring Networks ◽  
Survey Interviews ◽  
Planting Materials ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Extension Support ◽  
Production Characteristics

Cassava is Africa’s most important food security crop and sustains about 700 million people globally. Survey interviews of 320 farmers in three regions of Tanzania to identify their production characteristics, and interviews with 20 international whitefly/virus experts were conductedto identify adaptation strategies to lessen the impacts of cassava whiteflies and viruses due to climate change in Tanzania. Structured and pre-tested interview schedules were conducted using a multistage sampling technique. Most of the farmers (66.8%) produced cassava primarily for food, and relied mainly on their friends (43.8%) and their farms (41.9%) for cassava planting materials. Farmers significantly differed in their socio-economic and production characteristics except for gender and access to extension support (P < 0.01). A significant association was found between extension support, sources of planting materials, and reasons for growing cassava with both the control of cassava viruses and the control of whiteflies by the farmers. A significantly higher number of farmers controlled cassava viruses (38.1%) than cassava whiteflies (19.7%). The adaptation strategies most recommended by experts were: integrating pest and disease management programs, phytosanitation, and applying novel vector management techniques.The experts also recommended capacity building through the training of stakeholders, establishing monitoring networks to get updates on cassava pests and disease statuses, incorporating pest and disease adaptation planning into the general agricultural management plans, and developing climate change-pest/disease models for accessing the local and national level impacts that can facilitate more specific adaptation planning in order to enhance the farmers’ adaptive capacities.

scholarly journals Progress in Climate–Agricultural Vulnerability Assessment in Nigeria

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke ◽  
Chukwuemeka Chinonso Emenekwe ◽  
Jane Onuabuchi Munonye ◽  
Chinyere Augusta Nwajiuba ◽  
Uwazie Iyke Uwazie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
The Impact

An in-depth understanding of the impact of vulnerability on livelihoods and food security is important in deploying effective adaptation actions. The Nigerian agricultural sector is dominated by rainfed and non-homogenous smallholder farming systems. A number of climate change risk studies have emerged in the last decade. However, little attention has been given to vulnerability assessments and the operationalization of vulnerability. To highlight this shortcoming, this study systematically reviewed climate-change-focused vulnerability assessments in the agricultural sector by evaluating (1) variation in climate variables in Nigeria over time; (2) the state of climate change vulnerability assessment in Nigerian agriculture; (3) the theoretical foundations, operationalization approaches, and frameworks of vulnerability assessments in Nigeria; (4) the methods currently used in vulnerability assessments; and (5) lessons learned from the vulnerability studies. We used a linear trend of climatic data spanning over a period of 56 years (1961–2016) obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, along with a systematic review of literature to achieve the objectives. The analysis indicates a significant and positive correlation between temperature and time in all major agro-ecological zones. For precipitation, we found a non-significant correlation between precipitation in the Sahel, Sudan, and Guinea Savanna zones with time, while the other zones recorded positive but significant associations between precipitation and time. The systematic review findings indicate no clear progress in publications focused specifically on vulnerability assessments in the Nigerian agricultural sector. There has been progress recently in applying frameworks and methods. However, there are important issues that require addressing in vulnerability assessments, including low consideration for indigenous knowledge and experience, unclear operationalization of vulnerability, non-standardization of vulnerability measures, and inadequacy of current assessments supporting decision making.

scholarly journals A Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment among Small Farmers: A Case Study in Western Honduras

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Claudia Caceres
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Spatial Data Analysis ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Small Farmers ◽  
Climate Change Vulnerability ◽  
Rural Farmers ◽  
Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
The Impact

Climate change is now affecting every known society. Small farmers in Low Income Countries (LICs) are especially vulnerable to climate change patterns because they depend heavily on rain, seasonality patterns, and known temperature ranges. To help build climate change resilient communities among rural farmers, the first step is to understand the impact of climate change on the population. This dissertation aims to use information and communication technology (ICT) to assess climate change vulnerabilities among rural farmers. To achieve this overall goal, this dissertation first proposes a comprehensive Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Framework (CCVAF) that integrates both community level and individual household level indicators. The CCVAF was instantiated into a GIS-based web application named THRIVE for different decision makers to better assess how climate change is affecting rural farmers in Western Honduras. Qualitative evaluation of the THRIVE showed that it is an innovative and useful tool. The CCVAF and its instantiation provides an important initial step towards building climate change resilience among rural farmers. It is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive set of the indicators with related measurements and data sources for climate change vulnerability assessment. The framework thus contributes to the knowledge base of the climate change vulnerability assessment. It also contributes to the design science literature by providing guidelines to design a class of climate change vulnerability assessment solutions. To the best of our knowledge, the CCVAF is the first generalizable artifact that can be used to build a group of ICT-based climate change vulnerability assessment solutions. Another knowledge contribution of this dissertation is its reproducibility by making the input and output data available to the research and practitioner community through a GeoHub. For practical contributions, the framework can be easily used by researchers and practitioners to consistently design a vulnerability assessment tool, starting with the set of indicators organized by the three-level determinants, and following specific spatial data analysis and models. Such an ICT-based tool adds practical values to tackle climate change challenges.

scholarly journals Role of water infrastructure programs for family farmers in strengthening adaptive capacities to climate change: lessons from the Cisterns Program in Semi-arid Brazil

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-152
Author(s):  
Patrícia dos Santos Mesquita ◽  
Louise Cavalcante
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
National Level ◽  
Specific Capacity ◽  
Water Infrastructure ◽  
Family Farmers ◽  
Institutional Actors ◽  
Water And Food Security ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Semi Arid

The semi-arid region of Brazil, marked by low human development indicators, has historically suffered from water scarcity, being the focus of public policies to reduce socioeconomic, water, and climatic vulnerabilities for more than a century. Among the recent initiatives, the Cisterns Program stands out as an attempt to guarantee water and food security for family farmers through the construction of social technologies for water storage, such as cisterns production. Thus, the research objective was to analyse the perception of farmers and institutional actors involved with the Program about the impact of the 2011-2018 drought on the functioning of cisterns and to discuss how water infrastructure programs can improve the adaptive capacity of farmers affected by climate change. Through semi-structured interviews with institutional actors at the regional/national level and with farmers in semi-arid Brazil in the years of 2017/2018, the results indicate that access to the social technology seems to strengthen the relationship between water and food security, and the specific capacity of farmers in dealing with climatic risks. We conclude with lessons and recommendations from the Brazilian experience that can be useful for actors from other semi-arid regions involved in water infrastructure programs.

scholarly journals Impact of Climate Change on Electricity Demand: A Case Study of Pakistan

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafat Mahmood ◽  
Sundus Saleemi ◽  
Sajid Amin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
National Level ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Electricity Demand ◽  
Degree Days ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
Heating And Cooling ◽  
Cooling Degree Days ◽  
The Impact

The energy sector is sensitive to changing weather patterns and Pakistan is one of those countries where temperature rise induced by climate change is expected to be above the world average. In this backdrop the present study aims at finding the impact of climate change on electricity demand in Pakistan at the regional and national level. Using monthly data on temperatures to find heating and cooling degree days, the relationship between monthly electricity demand and temperature is explored which is then used to find the impact of projected climate change on electricity demand. The results suggest surging peak loads in summer season due to climatic effect which calls for capacity instalments over and above that needed to cater to rise in electricity demand attributable to economic growth. JEL Classification: Q47, Q54 Keywords: Energy, Climate Change, Electricity Demand, Degree Days, Pakistan

'Paris rules' will drive global climate progress

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
National Level ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Peer Pressure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Growth Prospects ◽  
The Impact

Significance COP22 has been dubbed "the COP of action, adaptation and Africa". It is a key opportunity to build confidence in the system of global cooperation adopted at the Paris Climate Conference. The Paris meeting ushered in a new framework for cooperation on climate change based on voluntary emissions reductions targets that will be jointly reviewed every five years. Negotiators gathering in Marrakech for COP22 face the task of making the Paris Agreement work -- and delivering results on a sufficiently large scale. Impacts Cooperation under the Paris framework will help reduce climate change effects, though overshooting of the 2 degree target is inevitable. The Paris deal's reliance on peer pressure and self-policing will risk national-level backsliding during the implementation process. Actions taken in the next ten years will determine the impact of climate change on global growth prospects for the whole of this century.

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