Adaptation & Vulnerability
Adaptation & Vulnerability at SEI-US |
Publications
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Role of policy and institutions in local adaptation to climate change: Case studies on responses to too much and too little water in the Hindu Kush HimalayasInternational Centre for Integrated Mountain Development report Author(s): Pradhan, N.S. ; Schipper, L. ; Khadgi, V.; Kaur, N; Geoghegan, T. (eds.)Date: March 2012 Research Area(s): Adaptation & Vulnerability Climate change heralds both opportunities and threats to the livelihoods of 1.3 billion people in the nine large river basins of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region and downstream. Climate impacts here are particularly severe owing to the large amount of the population depending on climate-sensitive livelihoods such as agriculture. This report, a follow-up to a 2009 ICIMOD report, focuses on the role of policies and institutions in strengthening or weakening community adaptation strategies. It examines four key themes that emerged from the findings of the earlier study: local water governance, flood mitigation measures, agricultural diversification, and alternative livelihood options.More information Download PDF External Link |
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Adaptation to climate change in Africa: Challenges and opportunities identified from EthiopiaGlobal Environmental Change 21:1, 227-237 Author(s): Conway, D. ; Schipper, L.Date: February 2011 Research Area(s): Adaptation & Vulnerability Africa is widely held to be highly vulnerable to future climate change, and Ethiopia is often cited as one of the most extreme examples. With this in mind, the authors seek to identify entry points to integrate short- to medium-term climate risk reduction within development activities in Africa, drawing from experiences in Ethiopia. They examine the changing nature of climate risks, assess the effects of climate variability on agricultural production and national GDP, and identify entry points and knowledge gaps in relation to mainstreaming climate risks in Ethiopia are identified using the government plan for poverty reduction. They end with a case study incorporating climate risks through drought insurance within the current social protection program in Ethiopia, which provides support to 8.3 million people.More information External Link |
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Innovation and diffusion of sustainable agricultural water resource management in a changing climate: A case study in Northeast ThailandSEI Project Report Author(s): Mikhail, M. ; Fencl, A. ; Kemp-Benedict, E. ; Naruchaikusol, S.Date: December 2010 Research Area(s): Adaptation & Vulnerability ; Water Resources Climate change is expected to take a major toll on Thailand's water resources and agricultural sectors. Thus, agricultural water management is incredibly important to smallholder resilience. This project examined the influence and character of social networks and individual innovators in the context of water resources management for climate adaptation. The authors compared two villages in Yasothon Province in Northeast Thailand: one that had participated in an Oxfam/Earth Net Foundation pilot project intended to assist farmers in financing and sharing their innovations, and another where smallholders had autonomously innovated, then created their own local training centers to share their practices. The study offers insights into how adaptation strategies could be more widely disseminated, for use by adaptation planners and practitioners across Thailand.More information Download PDF |
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Religion as an integral part of determining and reducing climate change and disaster risk: An agenda for researchIn: Der Klimawandel: Sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, ed. Martin Voss (VS Verlag, Wiesbaden, Germany), pp. 377-393 Author(s): Schipper, L.Date: October 2010 Research Area(s): Adaptation & Vulnerability This chapter explores the role that religious belief plays in the context of risk, with an aim to contributing a new aspect of the growing research agenda on the topic. While research can be found on the topics of perceptions and risk, the role of faith in the recovery process following a disaster, religious explanations of nature, and the role of religion in influencing positions on environment and climate change policy, little of this provides guidance to policy- and decision-makers about how to take belief systems into account when assessing vulnerability and designing policy, projects and programs on disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change.More information |
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Learning from recovery after Hurricane MitchDisasters 34: Supplement s2, S202-S219 Author(s): Christoplos, I. ; Schipper, L. ; Rodriguez, T.; Narvaez, E.A.; Bayres Mejia, K.M.; Buitrago, R.; Gomez, L.; Perez, F.J.Date: April 2010 Research Area(s): Adaptation & Vulnerability This article reviews how Nicaragua has recovered from Hurricane Mitch, in October 1998, particularly how the assumptions and claims that were made during initial recovery planning have proven relevant in light of subsequent development. It looks at the response to Hurricane Mitch in the context of broader trends that have driven recovery, including household, community and government initiatives and the economy as a whole. It finds that recovery efforts have not 'transformed' Nicaragua – in fact, market upheavals and livelihood changes in rural areas have had a more profound impact on poverty profiles. Risk reduction has become more deeply integrated into the rural development discourse than was the case before the disaster, but risk reduction initiatives continue to place undue emphasis on hazard response rather than addressing vulnerability.External Link |