Climate change can reasonably be expected to increase the frequency and intensity of a variety of potentially disruptive environmental events-slowly at first, but then more quickly. It is prudent to expect to be surprised by the way in which these events may cascade, or have far-reaching effects. During the coming decade, certain climate-related events will produce consequences that exceed the capacity of the affected societies or global systems to manage; these may have global security implications. Although focused on events outside the United States, Climate and Social Stress: Implications for Security Analysis recommends a range of research and policy actions to create a whole-of-government approach to increasing understanding of complex and contingent connections between climate and security, and to inform choices about adapting to and reducing vulnerability to climate change.
This book highlights how climate change has affected migration in the Indian subcontinent. Drawing on field research, it argues that extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, cyclones, cloudbursts as well as sea-level rise, desertification and declining crop productivity have shown higher frequency in recent times and have depleted bio-physical diversity and the capacity of the ecosystem to provide food and livelihood security. The volume shows how the socio-economically poor are worst affected in these circumstances and resort to migration to survive. The essays in the volume study the role of remittances sent by migrants to their families in environmentally fragile zones in providing an important cushion and adaptation capabilities to cope with extreme weather events. The book looks at the socio-economic and political drivers of migration, different forms of mobility, mortality and morbidity levels in the affected population, and discusses mitigation and adaption strategies. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of environment and ecology, migration and diaspora studies, development studies, sociology and social anthropology, governance and public policy, and politics.
While major strides have been made in the scientific understanding of climate change, much less understood is how these dynamics in the physical enviornment interact with socioeconomic systems. This book brings together the latest knowledge on the consequences of climate change for society and how best to address them.
This book compares how the social consequences of climate change are similarly unevenly distributed within China and the United States, despite different political systems. Focusing on the cases of Atlanta, USA, and Jinhua, China, Julia Teebken explores a set of path-dependent factors (lock-ins), which hamper the pursuit of climate adaptation by local governments to adequately address the root causes of vulnerability. Lock-ins help to explain why adaptation efforts in both locations are incremental and commonly focus on greening the environment. In both these political systems, vulnerability appears as a core component along with the reconstitution of a class-based society. This manifests in the way knowledge and political institutions operate. For this reason, Teebken challenges the argument that China’s environmental authoritarian structures are better equipped in dealing with matters related to climate change. She also interrogates the proposition that certain aspects of the liberal democratic tradition of the United States are better suited in dealing with social justice issues in the context of adaptation. Overall, the book’s findings contradict the widespread assumption that developed countries necessarily have higher adaptive capacity than developing or emerging economies. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate justice and vulnerability, climate adaptation and environmental policy and governance.
Climate change poses many challenges that affect society and the natural world. With these challenges, however, come opportunities to respond. By taking steps to adapt to and mitigate climate change, the risks to society and the impacts of continued climate change can be lessened. The National Climate Assessment, coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is a mandated report intended to inform response decisions. Required to be developed every four years, these reports provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date evaluation of climate change impacts available for the United States, making them a unique and important climate change document. The draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) report reviewed here addresses a wide range of topics of high importance to the United States and society more broadly, extending from human health and community well-being, to the built environment, to businesses and economies, to ecosystems and natural resources. This report evaluates the draft NCA4 to determine if it meets the requirements of the federal mandate, whether it provides accurate information grounded in the scientific literature, and whether it effectively communicates climate science, impacts, and responses for general audiences including the public, decision makers, and other stakeholders.
Climate change is the most difficult threat facing humanity this century and negotiations to reach international agreement have so far foundered on deep issues of justice. Providing provocative and imaginative answers to key questions of justice, informed by political insight and scientific understanding, this book offers a new way forward.
Global climate change disproportionately affects rural people and indigenous groups, but their rights, knowledge, and interests concerning it are generally unacknowledged. Shifts in precipitation, cloud cover, temperature, and other climatic patterns alter their livelihood pursuits and cultural landscapes, accentuating their existing social and economic marginalization. This book argues that planners and researchers of climate change mitigation and adaptation must take into account the knowledge and capacity of rural people, and engage them as active participants in the design and governance of interventions, not as a matter of courtesy, but because it is their right. Furthermore, inclusion of local communities in genuine partnership will likely make climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts more effective. Climate Change and Threatened Communities presents 15 case studies and a variety of approaches to document the capacities and constraints to be encountered among communities facing changing climates in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Peru, South Africa, Sudan, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. It explores human interactions in environments ranging from subarctic tundra to equatorial rain forest, from oceanic lagoons to inland mountains. Chapters investigate issues such as social vulnerability to climatic uncertainty, shifts in livelihood practices, local perceptions of climatic change, and the potential and limitations of the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. Authors consider the potential of archaeology, phenomenology, controlled comparisons, historical analysis, gender analysis and other analytical approaches to shed light on the experiences of communities and their members. This book is important reading for policy makers, academics, and students in the fields of climate change adaptation, anthropology and development studies, as well as more general readers.
There is now strong evidence that the earth's climate is changing rapidly, due mainly to human activities. Increasing temperatures, sea-level rises, changes in precipitation patterns and extreme events are expected to increase a range of health risks, from the direct effects of heat-waves, floods and storms, to more suitable conditions for the transmission of important infectious diseases, to impacts on the natural systems and socioeconomic sectors that ultimately underpin human health. Much of the potential health impact of climate change can, however, be avoided through a combination of strengthening key health system functions and improved management of the risks presented by a changing climate. The critical first step in this process is to carry out a vulnerability and adaptation assessment. This allows countries to assess which populations are most vulnerable to different kinds of health effects, to identify weaknesses in the systems that should protect them, and to specify interventions to respond. Assessments can also improve evidence and understanding of the linkages between climate and health within the assessment area, serve as a baseline analysis against which changes in disease risk and protective measures can be monitored, provide the opportunity for building capacity, and strengthen the case for investment in health protection. WHO has responded to this global demand by building on past guidance and technical tools to outline a flexible process for vulnerability and adaptation assessment. In 2009, the WHO Regional Office for the Americas and WHO prepared draft guidance for this process, which was pilot-tested in studies across all WHO Regions. In July 2010, representatives of ministries of health from 15 countries came together in Costa Rica with WHO and subject area experts to share their experiences and provide feedback on how to improve the guidance for the conduct of vulnerability assessments. This document is the result of this process. It is intended not as a final, definitive guide but as an important part of an evolving set of resources that will support effective and evidence-based action to protect health from climate change.
