Climate Change Adaptation
Climate change presents major risks and adaptation challenges. Much of the climate debate to-date has been around mitigation policy and carbon management. However, it is becoming clear that the impacts of climate change have been underestimated, and could be very severe. Climate change impacts are also combining with other shocks such as peak oil and economic contraction.
Critical debates on adaptation
Climate change adaptation forum: The Dealer's Group held seminars in November 2009 around climate adaptation and how it relates to mitigation. The range pf presentations sought to introduce ways to assess vulnerability, including compound risks with other emerging conditions such as economic contraction and peak oil; outline approaches to building adaptive capacity and key capabilities around innovation and learning; identify implications for strategy and business models, and provide participants with a new strategic frame to address climate impacts, as well as practical approaches they can apply.
Shaping Climate-resilient development: All societies need to understand how and where they must adapt to climate change. The 'Shaping Climate Resilient Development' report, authored by the Economics of Climate Adaptation working group, examines 8 case studies and identifies significant potential for cost-effective adaptation measures. Annualised losses of 1-12% of GDP will result from existing climate patterns in locations studied.
Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change: Although the consequences of global climate change may seem to be the stuff of Hollywood— some imagined, dystopian future—the melting ice of the Arctic, the spreading deserts of Africa, and the swamping of low lying lands are all too real. We already live in an “age of consequences,” one that will increasingly be defined by the intersection of climate change and the security of nations. For the past year a diverse group of experts, under the direction and leadership of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), met regularly to start a new conversation to consider the potential future foreign policy and national security implications of climate change.
Realities vs. Misconceptions about the Science of Climate Change Science: The issue of climate change has received so much attention in recent years that it has become difficult for interested citizens and policymakers to separate facts from fiction. Climate change is one of the most cutting edge research fields in modern science, but the field has existed for more than a century and much knowledge has been established with high certainty and confidence. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change clears up some of the most common misconceptions about the science of climate change in this article.
Useful resources
Managing our coastal zone in a changing climate: The time to act is now: New governance arrangements are needed for Australia’s coastal zone, according to this report, which makes recommendations to improve management of climate change and environmental impacts on the coast. Around 80 per cent of the Australian population live in the coastal zone, and the concentration of Australia’s population and infrastructure along the coast makes us particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including sea level rise. A parliamentary inquiry generated a high level of interest from the Australian community. The report’s 47 recommendations include: a COAG Intergovernmental Agreement on the Coastal Zone, which defines the roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government involved in coastal zone management, urgent inquiries into legal and insurance issues relating to climate change impacts on the coastal zone, improved emergency management arrangements in the event of a climate change related coastal disaster, a study into the vulnerability of the Torres Strait to the impacts of climate change, and a comprehensive national assessment of coastal infrastructure vulnerability to sea level rise.
The Global Carbon Project (GCP) was established in 2001 in recognition of the enormous scientific challenge and fundamentally critical nature of the carbon cycle for Earth sustainability. The scientific goal of the project is to develop a complete picture of the global carbon cycle, including both its biophysical and human dimensions together with the interactions and feedbacks between them. The Global Carbon Budget provides an update of global carbon trends and budget.
