Climate change adaptation in Australian mining communities: comparing mining company and local government views and activities

Effective climate change adaptation in mining communities is reliant on action by both local authorities and mining operations. This article reports the findings of two surveys conducted in late 2010, with Australian mining companies and local government authorities respectively, investigating their perceptions and activities related to climate change adaptation. The research identified the main types of weather and climate-related impacts experienced in the past and expected under future climate conditions for the two groups. There were significantly differing levels of concern about weather and climate-related impacts between the two types of organisations. Mining company respondents reported lower levels of severity of impact from both past and (expected) future weather events, as well as lower levels of belief in climate change and of adaptation activities to prepare for it. Interestingly, mining companies generally reported less concern about future impacts than those experienced in the past, suggesting discounting of risks due to climate change scepticism. The article reports on a range of factors relevant to adaptation in mining communities, including perceived barriers, collaboration and further information needs. The research findings are discussed in the context of other recent research on climate change adaptation by Australian organisations and studies of mining industry adaptation in other countries.     

Assessing impacts of climate change on forests: The state of biological modeling

Models that address the impacts of climate change on forests are reviewed at four levels of biological organization: global, regional or landscape, community, and tree. The models are compared for their ability to assess changes in fluxes of biogenic greenhouse gases, land use, patterns of forest type or species composition, forest resource productivity, forest health, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat. No one model can address all of these impacts, but landscape transition models and regional vegetation and land-use models have been used to consider more impacts than the other models. The development of landscape vegetation dynamics models of functional groups is suggested as a means to integrate the theory of both landscape ecology and individual tree responses to climate change. Risk assessment methodologies can be adapted to deal with the impacts of climate change at various spatial and temporal scales. Four areas of research needing additional effort are identified: (1) linking socioeconomic and ecologic models; (2) interfacing forest models at different scales; (3) obtaining data on susceptibility of trees and forest to changes in climate and disturbance regimes; and (4) relating information from different scales.The U.S. Government right to retain a non-exclusive, royalty-free license in and to any copyright is acknowledged.Managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-84OR21400.     

A necessary voice: Climate change and lived experiences of youth in Rigolet,Nunatsiavut, Canada

Globally, youth voices and their experiences, observations, and perceptions about climatic and environmental change and variability are relatively absent in the published literature to date. To address this gap, the goal of this research was to explore the observations and perceptions of climate change held by youth (12–25 years old) in the Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with youth in Rigolet to gather data about climatic and environmental changes young people have observed, and the subsequent impacts of these changes on their lives, culture, and community. Youth reported observing and experiencing climatic and environmental changes throughout their lives, with reported impacts falling within five main themes: changing travel conditions and access to hunting; challenges to Inuit culture; a concern for Elder and senior well-being; strong climate-related emotional responses; and youth-identified potential adaptation strategies. More broadly, this research demonstrated that young people have valuable knowledge and perspectives to offer. In particular, researchers, community leaders, and policy makers are encouraged to meaningfully engage youth as crucial stakeholders in future climate change work, research, dialogue, and policy.     

Possible impacts of climate change on extreme weather events at local scale in south–central Canada

Synoptic weather typing and regression-based downscaling approaches have become popular in evaluating the impacts of climate change on a variety of environmental problems, particularly those involving extreme impacts. One of the reasons for the popularity of these approaches is their ability to categorize a complex set of meteorological variables into a coherent index, facilitating the projection of changes in frequency and intensity of future daily extreme weather events and/or their impacts. This paper illustrated the capability of the synoptic weather typing and regression methods to analyze climatic change impacts on a number of extreme weather events and environmental problems for south–central Canada, such as freezing rain, heavy rainfall, high-/low-streamflow events, air pollution, and human health. These statistical approaches are helpful in analyzing extreme events and projecting their impacts into the future through three major steps or analysis procedures: (1) historical simulation modeling to identify extreme weather events or their impacts, (2) statistical downscaling to provide station-scale future hourly/daily climate data, and (3) projecting changes in the frequency and intensity of future extreme weather events and their impacts under a changing climate. To realize these steps, it is first necessary to conceptualize the modeling of the meteorology, hydrology and impacts model variables of significance and to apply a number of linear/nonlinear regression techniques. Because the climate/weather validation process is critical, a formal model result verification process has been built into each of these three steps. With carefully chosen physically consistent and relevant variables, the results of the verification, based on historical observations of the outcome variables simulated by the models, show a very good agreement in all applications and extremes tested to date. Overall, the modeled results from climate change studies indicate that the frequency and intensity of future extreme weather events and their impacts are generally projected to significantly increase late this century over south–central Canada under a changing climate. The implications of these increases need be taken into consideration and integrated into policies and planning for adaptation strategies, including measures to incorporate climate change into engineering infrastructure design standards and disaster risk reduction measures. This paper briefly summarized these climate change research projects, focusing on the modeling methodologies and results, and attempted to use plain language to make the results more accessible and interesting to the broader informed audience. These research projects have been used to support decision-makers in south–central Canada when dealing with future extreme weather events under climate change.     

Canadian International Polar Year (2007–2008): an introduction

Canadian contributions to International Polar Year (IPY) 2007?C2008 were designed to improve the understanding of climate change impacts and adaptation and to gain insight into issues surrounding community health and well-being in Canada??s arctic. Fifty-two research projects, involving scientists, northern partners and communities, focused on the arctic atmosphere and climate, cryosphere, oceans, sea ice, marine ecosystems, terrestrial ecosystems, wildlife as well as human health and community well-being. Key research findings on these topics are presented in this special issue of Climatic Change. This introductory paper presents an overview of the international and Canadian IPY programs and a summary of Canadian IPY results, including progress made in data management and capacity building. The legacy of IPY in Canada includes expanded international scientific cooperation, meaningful partnerships with northern communities, and more northern residents with research training.     

The resilience paradox: flooding experience,coping and climate change mitigation intentions

Climate change is projected to increase the frequency, intensity and unpredictability of extreme weather events across the globe and these events are likely to have significant mental health implications. The mental health literature broadly characterises negative emotional reactions to extreme weather experiences as undesirable impacts on wellbeing. Yet, other research in psychology suggests that negative emotional responses to extreme weather are an important motivation for personal action on climate change. This article addresses the intersection of mental health and functional perspectives on negative emotions, with a specific focus on the potential that reduced negative emotional responses to extreme weather may also translate to diminished motivation to undertake climate change mitigation actions – which we term the ‘resilience paradox’. Using survey data gathered in the aftermath of severe flooding across the UK in winter 2013/2014, we present new evidence indicating that self-appraised coping ability moderates the link between flooding experience and negative emotions and thereby attenuates the indirect link between flooding experience and climate change mitigation intentions. We conclude that support for flood victims should extend beyond addressing emotional, physical and financial stresses to include acknowledgement of the involvement of climate change and communication of the need for action to combat future climate risks.

Key policy insights

• Psychological resilience to flooding and other extreme weather events can translate to diminished motivation to mitigate climate change

• Negative emotional reactions need to occur at an optimal level to enable people to respond appropriately to climate risks.

• Flood victims’ subjective appraisal of their ability to cope does not necessarily encompass consideration of the role played by climate change. Therefore, support for victims of extreme weather should include explicit acknowledgement of the involvement of climate change and the need for action to mitigate future climate risks.

     

重庆岩溶地区气候变化对植被的影响

岩溶生态系统是一种脆弱的生态系统,植被类型与盖度成为岩溶环境中最重要、最敏感的自然要素。介绍了以重庆岩溶地区为对象,利用气象和NDVI数据,采用相关分析等方法探讨了植被对气候变化的响应。结果表明:(1)在多年平均水平上,气候对重庆岩溶植被生态系统起着比降水大的作用;在植被生长的年际变化方面,气温和降水对植被生长起着大致相反的趋势。(2)年际变化方面,气温和降水对植被生态系统的生长起着大致相反的作用。一般来说,气温与NDVI之间的关系为正相关。(3)植被指数的动态变化受气候波动的影响较大,近20 a来,总体呈增加的趋势。可为岩溶生态系统恢复和重建提供科学依据。     

关于气象与人体健康研究的几个问题

关于气象、环境与健康问题的研究可总结为如下几个问题:1)气候变化及其影响,2)天气、气候变化与人类健康,3)大气污染与人类健康,4)关于气象条件与疾病的机理研究,5)环境与健康危险度评价。作者认为以下几个问题值得我国学者予以关注:1)气象与健康问题的检测,2)气侯变化与人类健康,3)气象与人类健康关系的机理研究,4)应用数值模式研究气象与健康问题,5)环境与健康危险度评价,6)疾病预测和预警研究,7)多学科交叉研究和更多部门对气象与健康问题的介入。     

Examining barriers and opportunities for sustainable adaptation to climate change in Interior Alaska

Human adaptation to climate change is comprised of “adjustments” in response to (or anticipation of) climatic impacts. Adaptation does not necessarily imply favorable or equitable change, nor does it automatically imply sustainable use of ecosystems. “Sustainable adaptation” in this case implies strategic, collective action to respond to or anticipate harmful climate change to reduce disruption to key resource flows and adverse effects on general well-being. This research examined social-ecological system responses to recent warming trends in the remote northwest region of Interior Alaska using a unique vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessment (VA) approach that integrated indigenous observations and understanding of climate (IC) with western social and natural sciences. The study found that Alaska Native communities that were historically highly mobile and flexible across the landscape for subsistence hunting are increasingly restricted by the institutional rigidity of the regulatory system for wildlife and subsistence management. This has resulted in negative impacts to game harvest access and success threatening food security and community well-being. This suggests that policies limiting the ability of natural resource-dependent societies to be flexible, diversify, or innovate can threaten livelihoods and exacerbate vulnerability. Nevertheless, opportunities for sustainable adaptation exist where wildlife management is adaptive and includes an understanding of and response to climate variability and slow-onset climate change with the human dimensions of subsistence hunting for more effective “in-season” management.     

On the relation between weather-related disaster impacts,vulnerability and climate change

Disasters such as floods, storms, heatwaves and droughts can have enormous implications for health, the environment and economic development. In this article, we address the question of how climate change might have influenced the impact of weather-related disasters. This relation is not straightforward, since disaster burden is not influenced by weather and climate events alone—other drivers are growth in population and wealth, and changes in vulnerability. We normalized disaster impacts, analyzed trends in the data and compared them with trends in extreme weather and climate events and vulnerability, following a 3 by 4 by 3 set-up, with three disaster burden categories, four regions and three extreme weather event categories. The trends in normalized disaster impacts show large differences between regions and weather event categories. Despite these variations, our overall conclusion is that the increasing exposure of people and economic assets is the major cause of increasing trends in disaster impacts. This holds for long-term trends in economic losses as well as the number of people affected. We also found similar, though more qualitative, results for the number of people killed; in all three cases, the role played by climate change cannot be excluded. Furthermore, we found that trends in historic vulnerability tend to be stable over time, despite adaptation measures taken by countries. Based on these findings, we derived disaster impact projections for the coming decades. We argue that projections beyond 2030 are too uncertain, not only due to unknown changes in vulnerability, but also due to increasing non-stationarities in normalization relations.     

A Summary of Climate Change Impact Assessments from the U.S. Country Studies Program

Forty-nine countries participating in the U.S. Country Studies Program (USCSP) assessed climate change impacts in one or more of eight sectors: coastal resources, agriculture, grasslands/livestock, water resources, forests, fisheries, wildlife, and health. The studies were generally limited to analysis of first order biophysical effects, e.g., coastal inundation, crop yield, and runoff changes. There were some limited studies of adaptation. We review and synthesize the results of the impact assessments conducted under the USCSP. The studies found that sea level rise could cause substantial inundation and erosion of valuable lands, but, protecting developed areas would be economically sound. The studies showed mixed results for changes in crop yields, with a tendency toward decreased yields in African and Asian countries, particularly southern Asian countries, and mixed results in European and Latin American countries. Adaptation could significantly affect yields, but it is not clear whether the adaptations are affordable or feasible. The studies tend to show a high sensitivity of runoff to climate change, which could result in increases in droughts or floods. The impacts on grasslands and livestock are mixed, but there appears to be a large capacity for adaptation. Human health problems could increase, particularly for populations in low-latitude countries with inadequate access to health care. The USCSP assessments found that the composition of forests is likely to change, while biomass could be reduced. Some wildlife species were estimated to have reduced populations. The major contribution of the USCSP was in building capacity in developing countries to assess potential climate impacts. However, many of the studies did not analyze the implications of biophysical impacts of climate change on socioeconomic conditions, cross-sectoral integration of impacts, autonomous adaptation, or proactive adaptation. Follow-on work should attempt to develop capacity in developing and transition countries to conduct more integrated studies of climate change impacts.     

Editorial

Despite the increasing interest in climate change policy in the US, little systematic research has been conducted on the willingness of individuals to change their behaviour to mitigate the problem. Understanding behavioural change is critical if federal and local governments intend to implement programmes requiring actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This understudied aspect of climate change policy is addressed by quantitatively examining the degree to which residents living in the US are willing to alter their behaviour to mitigate climate change impacts, and by identifying the major factors contributing to this willingness. Based on a national survey, the reported willingness of individuals to alter behaviours is explained, using the components of risk, individual stress, capacity and ecological values. The findings indicate that specific personal traits and contextual characteristics trigger a significantly greater willingness to change longstanding behavioural patterns. These insights into the factors motivating behavioural change can provide guidance to decision makers at both federal and local levels on how best to implement climate change policies.     

Public perceptions of rainfall change in India

People’s perceptions of changes in local weather patterns are an important precursor to proactive adaptation to climate change. In this paper, we consider public perceptions of changes in average rainfall in India, analyzing the relationship between perceptions and the instrumental record. Using data from a national sample survey, we find that local instrumental records of precipitation are a strong predictor of perceived declines in rainfall. Perceptions of decreasing rainfall were also associated with perceptions of changes in extreme weather events, such as decreasing frequency of floods and severe storms, increasing frequency of droughts, and decreasing predictability of the monsoon. Higher social vulnerability—including low perceived adaptive capacity and greater food and livelihood dependence on local weather—was also associated with perceptions of decreasing rainfall. While both urban and rural respondents were likely to perceive local changes in precipitation, we show that rural respondents in general were more sensitive to actual changes in precipitation. Individual perceptions of changes in local climate may play an important role in shaping vulnerability to global climate change, adaptive behavior, and support for adaptation and mitigation policies. Awareness of local climate change is therefore particularly important in regions where much of the population is highly exposed and sensitive to the impacts of climate change.     

近10年我国医疗气象学研究现状及其展望

综述了近10年来国内有关医疗气象的研究,特别是介绍了前人在常见病（循环系统、消化系统和呼吸系统疾病）、传染病以及各种生物性病原（疾病媒介物、寄生虫、真菌、细菌等）与气象条件关系研究,未来气候变化对人体健康的可能影响以及气象部门在医疗气象方面的预报和服务,并对今后医疗气象的研究方向进行了展望。指出应进一步加强医疗与气象两个学科的全国性协作研究。研究各种气象因素对人体生理、病理及精神状态的影响和气候变化对人类健康的影响,加强气象灾害与疾病的关系及灾后防御措施的研究。     

An essay on the impact of climate change on US agriculture: weather fluctuations, climatic shifts, and adaptation strategies

The impact of climate change on US agriculture has been debated for more than two decades, but the estimates ranged from no damage at the lower end to 80 % losses of grain yields at the higher end. This essay aims to help understand such divergent predictions by clarifying the concepts of weather and climate. First, the widely-read panel fixed effects models capture only the impacts of weather fluctuations but not of climate normals. Random weather fluctuations and climatic shifts are two different meteorological events and they have distinct implications on farming decisions. The former is perceived as random while the latter is perceived as non-random by the farmers. Using the historical corn yield data in the US, I explain the differences between the impact of random weather and that of climate change. Second, adaptation strategies to climatic changes and increased climate risks cannot be accounted for by the panel fixed effects models. Using the farm household data collected in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, I discuss quantitative significance of modeling adaptation strategies in the estimates of climate damage. Distinction between random weather fluctuations and climatic shifts is critical in modeling farming decisions, as they are fundamental to climate science, but is poorly understood by the impact researchers.     

Assessing the site-specific impacts of climate change on hydrology, soil erosion and crop yields in the Loess Plateau of China

Climate changes may have great impacts on the fragile agro-ecosystems of the Loess Plateau of China, which is one of the most severely eroded regions in the world. We assessed the site-specific impacts of climate change during 2010?C2039 on hydrology, soil loss and crop yields in Changwu tableland region in the Loess Plateau of China. Projections of four climate models (CCSR/NIES, CGCM2, CSIRO-Mk2 and HadCM3) under three emission scenarios (A2, B2 and GGa) were used. A simple spatiotemporal statistical method was used to downscale GCMs monthly grid outputs to station daily weather series. The WEPP (Water and Erosion Prediction Project) model was employed to simulate the responses of agro-ecosystems. Compared with the present climate, GCMs projected a ?2.6 to 17.4% change for precipitation, 0.6 to 2.6°C and 0.6 to 1.7°C rises for maximum and minimum temperature, respectively. Under conventional tillage, WEPP predicted a change of 10 to 130% for runoff, ?5 to 195% for soil loss, ?17 to 25% for wheat yield, ?2 to 39% for maize yield, ?14 to 18% for plant transpiration, ?8 to 13% for soil evaporation, and ?6 to 9% for soil water reserve at two slopes during 2010?C2039. However, compared with conventional tillage under the present climate, conservation tillage would change runoff by ?34 to 71%, and decrease soil loss by 26 to 77% during 2010?C2039, with other output variables being affected slightly. Overall, climate change would have significant impacts on agro-ecosystems, and adoption of conservation tillage has great potential to reduce the adverse effects of future climate changes on runoff and soil loss in this region.     

Indigenous perception of changes in climate variability and its relationship with agriculture in a Zoque community of Chiapas, Mexico

This study analyses the perceptions of Zoque indigenous men and women of changes in climate variability, indicated by rainfall and temperature records from the region. Peasant farmers perceive decreases in rainfall and increases in temperature as these factors are related to modifications in the corn planting season and the introduction of crops which were usually only found in hot regions. The climate changes in the zone are attributed to vegetation loss and the eruption of the Chichón volcano in 1982. The Zoque perception is structured according to cultural and individual experience, tied to agriculture and the annual weather calendar. The volcanic eruption offers a significant chronological reference point in order to explain different environmental transformations, such as climate, within Zoque territory. Perception is the mental picture of local climate variability changes and the responses in seasonal agriculture modifications, utilizing individual and cultural experiences which are vulnerable to economic and environmental change.     

极端天气气候事件变化对荒漠化、土地退化和粮食安全的影响

土地是人类赖以生存的重要资源,在受气候变化影响的同时其状况变化也在气候系统中起着关键作用。IPCC最新发布的气候变化与土地特别报告（SRCCL）系统反映了关于荒漠化、土地退化、可持续土地管理、粮食安全和陆地生态系统碳通量方面的最新科学认知,并探讨了如何进行更加可持续性的土地利用和管理以应对与土地相关的气候变化问题。文中从极端事件变化及其影响的角度,结合SRCCL与其他相关文献,予以分析和总结。结果表明,在全球变暖的背景下,极端天气气候事件的变化已经并将继续影响荒漠化和土地退化进程并对粮食安全造成冲击;而土地对气候系统的反馈作用,又会加剧气候变化并提高极端事件发生的概率和严重程度。面对气候变化尤其是极端事件给土地带来的巨大压力,必须坚持可持续的土地管理,通过减少包括土地和粮食系统在内的所有行业的排放,才有可能实现到21世纪末将全球平均升温控制在相对工业化前水平2℃以内的目标,以减轻气候变化对土地和粮食系统的负面影响。     

1881—2010年哈尔滨市气候变化及其影响

利用哈尔滨站1881—2010年的月平均气温、1909—2010年的月总降水量和1961—2010年哈尔滨所辖区、县（市）月平均气温、月总降水量资料,采用线性趋势分析方法,计算了哈尔滨市气温、降水变化速率,分析了哈尔滨市气候变化特征;阐述了气候变化对哈尔滨市的影响。结果表明：近50 a,除巴彦7月气温略呈下降趋势外,哈尔滨市各区、县（市）各月、季、年平均气温均呈升高趋势。哈尔滨各区、县（市）各月、季、年总降水量变化趋势不一致。近130 a,哈尔滨市年、季平均气温均呈明显的上升趋势,20世纪80年代开始明显增温,21世纪开始增温尤为显著。近百年来,哈尔滨市年、季总降水量均呈减少趋势。气候变化对哈尔滨市农业、能源等方面的影响有利有弊,但对于水资源、人体健康和交通等有较大的负面影响。     

Learning with practitioners: climate change adaptation priorities in a Canadian community

Adaptation is already a necessary response to climate change for northern communities. The City of Prince George, in British Columbia, Canada, has been adjusting to impacts for years and there is a high level of local awareness of climate change. The purpose of this study was to collaborate with City staff and other organizations to undertake action-oriented research with the goal of creating a local adaptation strategy. Steps taken toward this goal included: producing downscaled climate scenarios; facilitating a workshop with local practitioners to prioritize impacts; gathering public feedback regarding impacts; and triangulating sources of information to determine community adaptation priorities. Changes to forests and increased flooding are the top local adaptation priorities, and impacts related to transportation, severe weather and water supply are high priorities. Other impacts, such as health effects and agricultural changes, are also important but did not rank highly using a risk framework focused on negative physical effects. Local impacts, actions the City is undertaking to address them and suggestions for implementing adaptation measures are summarized. The process of creating an adaptation strategy has proven highly valuable in Prince George and has precipitated further engagement and action. Due to the low profile of adaptation and limited resources in many communities, researchers and practitioners must capitalize on opportunities to incorporate adaptation into existing plans and processes. Lessons from the Prince George experience can be applied to other communities as they strive to effectively adapt to climate change.