Equity and efficiency in adaptation finance: initial experiences of the Adaptation Fund

The Adaptation Fund, established under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has now been approving funding for adaptation projects for more than two years. Given its particular institutional status and specific focus on concrete adaptation, it is particularly relevant to study the initial experiences of it for any future upscaling of international adaptation finance, despite the fact that its own resources are getting scarce. Alternative rationales for allocating funds, based on equity and efficiency concerns at both international and subnational levels, are here tested against the criteria and priorities of the Fund and decisions made on project approval. It is concluded that equity concerns appear to be the primary motivation and that allocation is de facto made between states rather than by considering inequity between subnational communities. However, the currency of vulnerability for determining equitable outcomes in allocation decisions has not been formalized, despite its central importance to the Fund. Instead, uniform national caps have been introduced. Such an equality approach can be considered inequitable. Finally, it is noted that although the Adaptation Fund Board has continuously developed its proposal review practices and adopted a learning-by-doing approach, it should provide both a further specification of the evaluation criteria and a compilation of best practices from approved proposals, and moreover enhance the transparency of the review process, all of which would clarify its core priorities for current and future project proponents.     

Improving the methodology for assessing natural hazard impacts

The impacts of natural hazards such as cyclones have been conventionally measured through changes in human, social and economic capital, typically represented by stock variables such as population, built property and public infrastructure, livestock, agricultural land, etc. This paper develops an alternative approach that seeks to detect and quantify impacts as changes in flow variables. In particular, we explore whether changes in annual agricultural output, when measured at an appropriate spatial level, could be used to measure impacts associated with tropical cyclones in coastal regions of India. We believe that such an approach may have a number of benefits from a policy perspective, particularly with regard to the debate between relief versus recovery as disaster management strategies. A focus on flow variables is also likely to be more relevant and useful in developing countries; the maintenance of economic activity directly affects livelihood and is perhaps of greater importance than loss of built property or other physical capital.     

哀牢山云南松林冬季鸟类群落与地理环境的关系

本文运用了群落相似系数、种间相遇机率指数、生态位分布型和食性研究,观测分析了同一山体两侧山坡八块样地冬季鸟类群落状况。在哀牢山西坡观测到鸟类44种,东坡观测到28种,其中13种为两坡共有。西坡除种多样性较高外,鸟类生态类型也与东坡有别。所有这些差别与哀牢山地理位置,西南季风影响所形成的东西坡植被和气候等环境因素有关。文章还分析了人类活动对森林演替和鸟类群落的影响。     

Vulnerability,Partnerships and the Pursuit of Survival: Urban Livelihoods and Apprenticeship Contracts in a West African City

This paper analyses local level apprenticeship contracts and networks to highlight informal urban livelihoods within the context of socio-economic vulnerability and wider contemporary changes taking place in Koforidua, Ghana. It does so by specifically examining the complex entanglements of interpersonal relationships that characterize apprenticeship contracts within which home-based entrepreneurs and artisans in Koforidua engage in to sustain both current livelihoods, as well as to shore themselves against socio-economic vulnerability triggered in part by adjustment. As a result of the changing geography of the city, network entanglements, comprising resilient ties and egalitarian relations, have become vital to urban livelihoods in this community. However, apprenticeship contracts and the networks they engender can be a double-edged sword. For instance, demands of reciprocity or support from co-network members, neighbours and family, can be so taxing that some individuals opt out of the network. This tension notwithstanding, this paper contends that apprenticeship contracts and the network spaces they create have created a new social cohesion and community that transcend the traditionally known spaces of social support, i.e. ethnic ties, family ties or even institutional support.     

Studies of a contaminated brackish marsh in the Hackensack Meadowlands of Northeastern New Jersey: benthic communities and metal contamination

Cores taken from 16 stations within Eight Day Swamp, a highly contaminated marsh in the Hackensack Meadowlands, were analyzed for metal concentrations and for benthic community structure. Metal levels were compared with the benchmark ERM values, and expressed in terms of toxic units. Mercury was the most important metal in all the samples in terms of its contribution to the total toxic units. The overall abundance and taxa richness in the benthic community were associated with the height of the location relative to the tidal cycle, but were generally not significantly correlated with metal concentrations at the sites. Ordination of the communities showed that the communities that were low-lying (on the mudflat) were most similar to one another, and those that were higher up on the marsh were most similar to one another. However, diversity indices (Shannon-Wiener H' and Simpson's) were significantly associated with concentrations of the metals (except As) and with the sum of the toxic units at a station.     

利用DRASTIC指标体系评价安徽省淮北平原浅层地下水脆弱性

依据美国DRASTIC指标体系的基本框架,充分吸收欧洲及国内有关地区的研究成果,结合安徽省淮北平原的实际情况,以MAPGIS和ACCESS为平台,评价了浅层地下水的脆弱性。在评价指标选择、指标等级评分和指数分级等方面进行了探索,使之更符合淮北平原的实际情况,更具操作性,为今后开展全省地下水脆弱性评价积累了经验。     

Assessing physical vulnerability for multi-hazards using an indicator-based methodology

Globally, many built-up areas are threatened by multiple hazards which pose significant threat to humans, buildings and infrastructure. However, the analysis of the physical vulnerability towards multiple hazards is a field that still receives little attention although vulnerability analysis and assessment can contribute significantly to risk reduction efforts. Indicator-based vulnerability approaches are flexible and can be adjusted to the different hazards as well as to specific user needs. In this paper, an indicator-based vulnerability approach, the PTVA (Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment), was further developed to be applicable in a multi-hazard context. The resulting multi-hazard version of the PTVA consists of four steps: the identification of the study area and relevant hazards as well as the acquisition of hazard information, the determination of vulnerability indicators and collection of data, the weighting of factors and vulnerability assessment and finally, the consideration of hazard interactions. After the introduction of the newly developed methodology a pilot application is carried out in the Faucon municipality located in the Barcelonnette basin, Southern French Alps. In this case study the vulnerability of buildings to debris flows, shallow landslides and river flooding for emergency planning and for general risk reduction purposes is assessed. The implementation of the methodology leads to reasonable results indicating the vulnerable buildings and supporting the priority setting of different end-users according to their objectives. The constraints of the presented methodology are: a) the fact that the method is not hazard-intensity specific, thus, vulnerability is measured in a rather qualitative and relative way and b) the high amount of data required for its performance. However, the advantage is that it is a flexible method which can be applied for the vulnerability analysis in a multi-hazard context but also it can be adjusted to the user-specific needs to support decision-making.     

INTEX-B NO2排放源在中国地区的应用与检验

将INTEX-B排放源应用到空气质量模型Model3-CMAQ中,对中国地区对流层NO₂的浓度分布进行了数值模拟,并与OMI卫星对流层NO₂资料进行了对比和验证。结果表明：将INTEX-B排放源应用到Model3-CMAQ模式,模拟的NO₂浓度在中国地区的分布、季节变化规律与卫星资料所得结果一致。敏感性试验表明,工业及电厂排放对NO₂的浓度贡献最大,而交通排放的贡献相对较小,两种排放均主要集中在京津、长江三角洲等经济发达地区。     

新乡驻军某部流动哨雷击易损性分析

根据中国人民解放军某部新乡市驻地地貌特征和近5a的空间雷暴特征,对该部流动哨的雷击易损性进行分析,结果表明,目标区雷电引发的人身伤害风险较大。除避免或减少雷电高发时段外出巡逻及巡逻中雷电发生时采取远离树木、电力线等防御措施外,在巡逻道路两侧适当位置增设接闪杆及移除横穿巡逻道路的电力线路或按有关规定在线杆增设电涌保护器,可降低雷电造成的人身伤害风险。