1.                  Urban Water Supplies & Climate Change – Australia     

2.                  Building Urban Resilience: Principles, Tools, and Practice

3.                  The Climate Adaptation Frontier

4.                  Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS for Flood Hazard Management    

5.                  Climate Change Adaptation and the Rental Sector

6.                  International Workshop: Living in Low-income Urban Settlements

Urban Water Supplies & Climate Change – Australia          

NCCARF’s policy guidance briefs address key challenges to effectively adapting Australia to a variable and changing climate, providing high-level policy advice designed for use by policy makers at Commonwealth and State level. This policy guidance brief deals with the challenge of managing the urban water supply under climate change. The example location is south-west Western Australia (SWWA), which is experiencing a long-term drying trend linked to climate change that will likely persist. 

Planning, Ensuring Australia’s Urban Water Supplies under Climate Change, Policy Guidance Brief 2, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Gold Coast, Australia, 2013 [1.35 MB, PDF]

Building Urban Resilience: Principles, Tools, and Practice

This handbook is a resource for enhancing disaster resilience in urban areas. The objective is to demonstrate a scalable methodology and practical tools for risk assessment that can be used for city-level investment decisions. It offers open-source risk assessment tools that can be used by city-level institutions, other communities, private investors, and planners of infrastructure services. The handbook contains case studies and tables that provide further details and examples of good practice to enhance disaster resilience.

Building Urban Resilience: Principles, Tools, and Practice, Jha, Abhas K et al., Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the World Bank, 2013 [14.63 MB, PDF]

The Climate Adaptation Frontier

The paper introduces the concept of an ‘adaptation frontier’, which is defined as a socio-ecological system’s transitional adaptive operating space between safe and unsafe domains. It explores the possible outcomes for systems that find themselves within frontier territory and how they might find their way back to more sustainable regions. The paper concludes with some discussion of the implications of the adaptation frontier for how adaptation researchers and practitioners frame the concept of adaptation and the extent to which more optimistic or pessimistic socio-ecological futures will prevail.

The Climate Adaptation Frontier, Benjamin L. Preston, Kirstin Dow, and Frans Berkhout,Sustainability, vol. 5, no. 3, 2013 [1.08 MB, PDF]

Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS for Flood Hazard Management    

Floods are one of the most common hazards in the world, affecting people’s lives and livelihoods. Flood hazard mapping and flood shelters suitability analysis are vital elements in appropriate land use planning for flood-prone areas. This paper describes application of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in identifying flood hazard zones and flood shelters. It describes a simple and efficient methodology to accurately delineate flood inundated areas, flood-hazard areas, and suitable areas for flood shelter to minimize flood impacts.

Application of Remote Sensing and GIS for Flood Hazard Management: A Case Study from Sindh Province, Pakistan, Kabir Uddin, Deo Raj Gurung, Amarnath Giriraj, Basanta Shrestha, American Journal of Geographic Information System, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2013 [655 KB, PDF]

Climate Change Adaptation and the Rental Sector

The research employs an asset-based approach to understanding the capacities, assets and skills which tenants, landlords and housing managers bring to climate change adaptation. It focuses on the adaptive capacity of low-income renters in the public and private sectors, addressing the equity dimensions of vulnerability and adaptation. The research finds that the tenants are motivated by concern about the impact of human activity on the environment, and exercise this concern through everyday sustainable household practices, as well as through engagement with community or political organisations.

Climate Change Adaptation and the Rental Sector, Lesley Instone, Kathleen Mee, Jane Palmer, Miriam Williams, and Nicola Vaughan, The University of Newcastle Australia and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Gold Coast, Australia, 2013 [1.23 MB, PDF]

International Workshop: Living in Low-income Urban Settlements

This international workshop (living in low-income urban settlements in an era of climate change: processes, practices, policies and politics) will be held on 9-10 September 2013 in University of Manchester, UK. The workshop aims: to deepen the understanding of the broader processes that shape and mediate the responses to climate change of poor urban households and communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America; and to contribute to the evolution of more effective pro-poor climate change policies by local governments, national governments and international organisations. For more details, please visit the website given below.

Living in Low-income Urban Settlements in an Era of Climate Change: Processes, Practices, Policies and Politics, International Workshop, University of Manchester, UK, 9-10 September 2013 [132 KB, PDF]

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Adaptation of Built Environment to Climate Change

The paper examines the likely impacts of increased intensities of weather-related natural hazards on the built environment. It identifies adaptations of key regulatory mechanisms (building codes, land-use planning and housing insurance) and industry best practice through building construction, housing and planning. The paper addresses the gap in knowledge (using case studies) through an all hazards approach to building design, land use planning and building stock, to facilitate a proactive approach that could link practice to policy.

Planning, Building and Insuring: Adaptation of Built Environment to Climate Change Induced Increased Intensity of Natural Hazards, David King et al., James Cook University and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Gold Coast, Australia, 2013 [4.41 MB, PDF]

Have Climate Finance Promises Been Fulfilled for the LDCs?

This paper includes a systematic review of the reports filed to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2012 of the nations that promised to provide US$ 30 billion in FSF (fast-start finance) over a three-year period from 2010-2012. It assesses whether wealthy nations transparently met their obligations – balancing adaptation and mitigation funding, sourcing funds through UNFCCC channels, without reverting to debt-inducing loans in the place of grants – to the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

Least Developed, Most Vulnerable: Have Climate Finance Promises Been Fulfilled for the LDCs? David Ciplet, Timmons Roberts, Mizan Khan, Spencer Fields and Keith Madden, European Capacity Building Initiative (ECBI), April 2013 [325 KB, PDF]

Path Dependence, Physical Vulnerability & Climate Extremes

The article argues that understanding the future implications of climate change will require improved attention to socioeconomic processes that contribute to vulnerability. In particular, it looks at trends in physical vulnerability in the United States and projects future vulnerability under the assumption that path dependence dictates future geographic patterns of development. The article places these projections in context by projecting the economic losses that could be anticipated by 2050 given such path dependence.

Local Path Dependence of U.S. Socioeconomic Exposure to Climate Extremes and the Vulnerability Commitment (In-press), Benjamin L. Preston, Global Environmental Change, April 2013 [Subscription Required]

Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment – Thailand

This paper presents an extended framework for climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessments. It provides a simplified example that uses a holistic view of a society under pressures from socioeconomic changes as well as climate change, and addresses the inter-linkage between key sectors from a complex system perspective. The paper points out gaps in using sectoral vulnerability and adaptation assessment for landscape adaptation planning.

A Holistic Approach to Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment: Pilot Study in Thailand, Suppakorn Chinvanno, Partner Report Series No. 4, Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia and Stockholm Environment Institute (Asia Centre), Bangkok, Thailand, 2013 [1.44 MB, PDF]

Emergency Management and Climate Change

This review of recent literature on climate change adaptation and emergency management is a background document supporting the updating of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Plan (NARP) for Emergency Management for NCCARF. It provides a brief commentary for four overarching strands of research areas including: understanding risk; community and organisational resilience; adaptive strategies; and regional implications.

Emergency Management and Climate Change: An Updated Review of the Literature 2009-2012, John Handmer, Blythe McLennan, Briony Towers, Joshua Whittaker, Frank Yardley, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Gold Coast, Australia, 2013 [655 KB, PDF]

International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts – Indonesia

The 7th International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts (APAC 2013) will be held from 24-26 September 2013 in Bali, Indonesia. The aim of the conference is to promote scientific advancement, technological progress, information exchange, and cooperation among engineers and researchers in coastal, port, and ocean engineering and other related fields (including climate change and coastal adaptation). For more details, please visit the website given below.

7th International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts (APAC 2013), Engineering Faculty, Hasanuddin University, Tamalanrea, Makassar, Indonesia, 24-26 September 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Functional Resilience of Port Environs in a Changing Climate

This report designs a methodological framework for systematically identifying the vulnerability of Australian port assets, infrastructure, and logistics operations to weather-related impacts and future climate change. It develops an agent based model to simulate the likely impacts of climate-related extreme events on port operations. The report investigates the implications for operations practice, and options to increase the adaptive capacity of the ports workforce.

Functional Resilience of Port Environs in a Changing Climate – Assets and Operations, Prem Chhetri et al., Enhancing the Resilience of Seaports to a Changing Climate Report Series, RMIT University & National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Australia, 2013 [2.77 MB, PDF]

Mainstreaming Adaptation into Local Development Planning

The study helps understand climate risks and uncertainty within local communities and demonstrates the integration of climate change adaptation into local development plans. It assesses climate risks, uncertainty and vulnerability within the Sapanhin sub-district (Nong Mamong district) in Thailand. The study employs a mixture of approaches (e.g., participatory rural appraisal, review of local development plans and related documents, & in-depth interviews, household surveys, and focus group discussions) to identify adaptation options in the area.

Mainstreaming Adaptation into Local Development Planning: A Case Study in Chainat, Thailand, Kitichai Rattana & Dusita Krawanchid, Partner Report Series No. 7, Adaptation Knowledge Platform, Stockholm Environment Institute, Bangkok, 2013 [1.23 MB, PDF]

Climate Stressors and the Vulnerability of Older Adults

This paper assesses the vulnerability of older Americans to climate change and identifies opportunities for adaptation. A literature survey finds that older Americans are likely to be especially vulnerable to stressors associated with cli¬mate change. The paper argues that additional study is needed of the vulnerability of older adults and the interplay of vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive responses to projected climate stressors.

Climate Change and Older Americans: State of the Science (Review), Janet L. Gamble et al., Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 121, No. 1, pp. 15-22, 2013 [243 KB, PDF]

Climate Change and Mosquito-borne Diseases in China

The paper summarizes what is known about the impact of climate change on the incidence and prevalence of malaria, dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis in China and provides information and direction for adaptation policy making. As a result of a literature survey, the paper makes some key adaptation recommendations including: improving current surveillance and monitoring systems; concentrating adaptation strategies and policies on vulnerable communities; and strengthening adaptive capacity of public health systems.

Climate Change and Mosquito-borne Diseases in China: A Review, Li Bai, Lindsay Carol Morton and Qiyong Liu, Open Access, Globalization and Health , vol. 9, No. 10, pp. 1-22, 2013 [419 KB, PDF]

Heavy Weather: Climate and the Australian Defence Force

This report argues that the downstream implications of climate change are forcing Australian Defence Force to become involved in mitigation and response tasks. It makes a number of recommendations including: Defence should work with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency to address climate event scenarios for Australia and the Asia-Pacific and to manage the risks those scenarios pose to national resilience and regional stability.

Heavy Weather: Climate and the Australian Defence Force, Special Report, Anthony Press, Anthony Bergin and Eliza Garnsey, Issue 49, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Australia, March 2013

Climate Adaptation Champions 2013

NCCARF annual climate adaptation champion awards highlight the achievements of people taking concrete steps to change behaviour, techniques, businesses practices and policies to adapt to climate variability and change. A nationwide search for 2013 climate adaptation champions is on to share the stories of Australian people, businesses and organisations who are champions of practical and innovative ways to adapt to climate change. The nominations close on 19th April 2013.

Climate Adaptation Champions 2013, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Australia, 2013 [453 KB, PDF]

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Enhancing the Resilience of Australia’s Seaports

This synthesis report contributes to an emerging knowledge base relating to climate change and seaports. It focuses on the resilience of seaports; critical components of the national infrastructure portfolio that are considered vital to the functioning of Australia. The report concludes with some reflections on the key challenges and opportunities facing researchers, policymakers and practitioners in making Australia’s seaports more resilient to future risks.

Enhancing the Resilience of Seaports to a Changing Climate: Research Synthesis and Implications for Policy and Practice, Darryn McEvoy and Jane Mullett, RMIT University and National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Australia, 2013 [4.75 MB, PDF]

Adaptation or Development? Bangladesh and Vietnam

This publication highlights the insights gained from the implementation of adaptation activities in Bangladesh and Vietnam. It aims to assist Bangladesh and Vietnam in building climate resilience of human systems, ecosystems and economies through mobilization of knowledge and best practices, enhanced institutional capacity and informed decision making processes, and facilitated access to finance and technologies.

Adaptation or Development? Exploring the Distinctions (or lack thereof) through Case Studies in Bangladesh and Vietnam, Partner Report Series No 8, Stockholm Environment Institute and Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform, Bangkok, 2013 [2.05 MB, PDF]

Planning Approaches for Adaptation under Deep Uncertainty

There is increasing interest in long-term plans that can adapt to changing situations under conditions of deep uncertainty. This paper describes and compares a family of related conceptual approaches to designing a sustainable plan and describes several computational tools supporting these approaches. It argues that a sustainable plan should not only achieve economic, environmental, and social objectives, but should be robust and able to be adapted over time to (unforeseen) future conditions.

Adapt or Perish: A Review of Planning Approaches for Adaptation under Deep Uncertainty, Warren E. Walker, Marjolijn Haasnoot and Jan H. Kwakkel, Sustainability, Open Access, vol. 5, pp. 955-979, 2013

Climate Change Adaptation to Flood Hazards – Australia

This research identifies the factors that either inhibit or enable adaptation strategies within flood affected communities. It carries out a mixed methods survey in three case study locations: Brisbane and Emerald, Queensland, and Donald, Victoria. The research provides a valuable information on various barriers and opportunities people face in making changes to reduce their vulnerability to flood prior to, during, and/or after an event.

Impact of the 2010-11 Floods and the Factors that Inhibit and Enable Household Adaptation Strategies, Deanne Bird et al., Synthesis and Integrative Research Program, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Australia, 2013

Hot Weather, Climate Change and Public Health

In order to protect people’s health from heat events and climate change, this paper discusses how public health organizations should implement adaptation strategies, and how to improve the evidence base for climate-related policies. It argues that the integration of climate change adaptation into current public health practice is needed to ensure an increase of resilience in the future. The paper finds that the economic evaluation of temperature related health costs and public health adaptation strategies are particularly important for policy decisions.

Managing the Health Effects of Temperature in Response to Climate Change: Challenges Ahead, Cunrui Huang et al., Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA, 2013 [246 KB, PDF]

NCCARF Climate Adaptation Conference – 2013

This conference (NCCARF Climate Adaptation Conference 2013) will take place from 25-27 June 2013 in Sydney, Australia. Building on the success of the NCCARF-CSIRO ‘climate adaptation in action 2012’ conference, the successful building of formal research networks and informal adaptation partnerships, this will be Australia’s pre-eminent event focusing solely on climate change adaptation for 2013.

2013 Climate Adaptation Conference, Sydney, Australia, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Australia, 25-27 June 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Leading Adaptation Practices and Support Strategies – Australia

This report introduces a structured framework and methodology to analyze end user needs and currently available products and services to support organizations and decision makers in their adaptation practice. Drawing on extensive stakeholder engagement through both consultation and workshops, the report concludes that there is a significant gap between user-needs and what is currently available.

Leading Adaptation Practices and Support Strategies for Australia: An International and Australian Review of Products and Tools, Synthesis and Integrative Research Final Report, Robert Webb Jie-lian Beh, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Gold Coast, Australia, 2013 [1.83 MB, PDF]

Disaster-induced Internal Displacement in the Philippines

This report highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the response to the Sendong disaster and the recovery process. It describes in detail the Philippines’ developing corpus of laws on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and draws out linkages between disaster preparedness, disaster impacts, responses, displacement and the subsequent, often prolonged, search for durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Disaster-induced Internal Displacement in the Philippines: The Case of Tropical Storm Washi/Sendong, Justin Ginnetti et al., Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Switzerland, 2013 [2.15 MB, PDF]

Community Based Flood Early Warning System – Jakarta

This paper uses social network analysis in visualizing the transmission of flood warning messages in Cawang, Jakarta. It addresses: (i) the context of urban floods in Jakarta; (ii) local government’s views on the flood problems; (iii) living with floods as community adaptation to floods in Cawang; (iv) school adaptation to floods; and (v) flood warning practice in Cawang.

Conceptualizing an Established Network of a Community Based Flood Early Warning System: Case of Jakarta, Jonatan A. Lassa, Saut Sagala, Adi Suryadini, Working Paper No. 3, Institute of Resource Governance and Social Change (IRGSC), 2013 [1.24 MB, PDF]

Urban Governance for Risk Reduction and Resilience

The paper identifies key intervention areas to address climate change with special reference to Southeast Asia and a focus on India. It points out where the current prevalent approaches to urban climate change resilience are still blind. The paper brings the urban agenda of climate change resilience and risk management under the umbrella of sustainable development.

Urban Governance for Risk Reduction and Climate Change Resilience – Considerations with Special Attention to Southeast Asia and India, Christoph Woiwode, Sri Lankan Journal of Real Estate, Department of Estate Management and Valuation, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Issue 6, pp. 38-60, 2013 [472 KB, PDF]

Building Resilient Coastal Communities and Ecosystems

The biophysical and socioeconomic complexities of Australia’s coastal environment present challenges for decision makers seeking to effectively manage the coastal zone under current conditions. This NCCARF’s evidence-based guidance brief deals with coastal management under climate change. It is built upon the experience of New South Wales, but is relevant to planning for the coastal zone throughout Australia.

Building Resilient Coastal Communities and Ecosystems, NCCARF Policy Guidance Brief 1, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Gold Coast, Australia, 2013 [596 KB, PDF]

Symposium – Adaptation Engineering for Cities and Coasts

This symposium (climate adaptation engineering for cities and coasts) will take place from 29-31 October 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. It aims to showcase research in climate adaptation engineering (considering the risks of a changing climate to develop technological and engineering solutions to reduce vulnerability and build resilience) and highlight its significance for human settlement in urban and coastal areas Abstracts may be submitted by 31 May 2013.

Climate Adaptation Engineering for Cities and Coasts Symposium 2013, Melbourne, Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 29-31 October 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Cross-Scale Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation

The study addresses the following objectives: a) identify a set of critical cross-scale barriers to adaptation planning and implementation by local government across Australia; b) identify the underlying processes and structures that give rise to these barriers, and understand how the actors and the context of the system contribute to the barriers; and c) suggest options for how barriers will be overcome, thereby defining the adaptation capacity interventions to move to a climate resilient delivery of local government.

Cross-Scale Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation in Local Government, Australia, Final Report, Pierre Mukheibir, Natasha Kuruppu, Anna Gero and Jade Herriman, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), Gold Coast, Australia, 2013 [2.19 MB, PDF]

Water Supply & Climate Change – Hong Kong

This article discusses the issues in the current water supply system of Hong Kong and highlights the interrelated risks within the context of climate change, namely: drought; rainstorm/flood events; sea-level rise; water pollution; social management; and policy gaps in Hong Kong. The article suggests that for a sustainable future, Honk Kong needs to invest in improving water self-sufficiency, diversify water sources and conduct aggressive public awareness to increase individual adaptation to predicted climate change impacts.

Water Supply Risks and Urban Responses Under a Changing Climate: A Case Study of Hong Kong, Liang Yang, Chunxiao Zhang, Grace W. Ngaruiya, Pacific Geographies, vol. 39, 2013 [4.87 MB, PDF]

Global Risks 2013: Insight Report

The report shows how experts from around the world, from different backgrounds, currently perceive the risks that the world is likely to face over the next decade. It provides a platform for stakeholders to explore ways to collaborate on building resilience to global risks. The report continues to raise awareness about global risks, stimulates thinking about how risks can be factored into strategy development, and challenges global leaders to improve how they approach global risks.

Global Risks 2013: Insight Report, Eighth Edition, An Initiative of the Risk Response Network, World Economic Forum, 2013 [10.8 MB, PDF]

Australia’s Country Towns 2050

The report considers the structure and functioning of Australia’s country towns in the year 2050 in the face of on-going climate driven change. It finds that the future of Australia’s country towns will be determined by their capacity to adapt, which in turn will be affected by their stock of community assets including social, economic, human and natural capital. Some locations will be more sensitive than others when exposed to climate change, one group of settlements will adapt well, while others maladapt or simply disappear.

Australia’s Country Towns 2050: What Will A Climate Adapted Settlement Pattern Look Like, Preliminary Report, Beer, A., Tually, S., Kroehn, M. and Law, J., Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Adelaide, Australia (2013)

Community Based Flood Early Warning System: Case of Jakarta

Application of social network analysis to the study of early warning systems is not yet available. This paper conceptualizes the established practice of a real world flood warning system in Cawang, Jakarta. It uses social network analysis in visualizing the transmission of flood warning messages in Cawang, Jakarta. The paper concludes that social network analysis is a powerful and promising tool to understand end-to-end early warning systems.

Conceptualizing an Established Network of a Community Based Flood Early Warning System: Case of Jakarta, Lassa, Jonatan A; Sagala, Saut; Suryadini, Adi, Working Paper No. 3, Institute of Resource Governance and Social Change, Indonesia, February 2013

2013 Climate Adaptation Conference – RMIT University

This conference will take place from 2-4 July, 2013 in RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. It aims to bring together the very different constituencies of academia, civil society, urban governance and business, and asks questions such as: What does it mean to be responsible for the future of our planet? And how can we best work collaboratively across those different constituencies to address basic issues of sustainability? Abstracts may be submitted by 15 February 2013.

2013 Climate Adaptation Conference, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, 2-4 July, 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

This is the last issue for 2012. AdaptNet will resume on Tuesday, 12 February 2013. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest and support throughout 2012. You are one of over 1200 subscribers to AdaptNet in fifty different countries. We would appreciate your feedback on how AdaptNet is currently being used and how it might be improved in future. Please send comments to the editor, Dr. Saleem Janjua, at: muhammadsaleem.janjua@rmit.edu.au

1. Technical Report: Urban Heat Island
2. GIS Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Climate Change
3. Suburban Neighbourhood Adaptation for a Changing Climate
4. Food Security, Neoliberalism, Productivism & Climate Change
5. Why a 4C Warmer World Must Be Avoided?
6. International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts

Technical Report: Urban Heat Island

The report focuses on the collection and use of airborne thermal remote sensing of the urban land surface as a tool for informing policy development and on-ground implementation of urban heat island mitigation strategies. It reviews previous studies to investigate approaches of collecting and using airborne thermal imagery to analyze drivers of high urban surface heating, and hence the urban heat island.

Technical Report: Urban Heat Island, Richard Harris and Andrew Coutts, Victorian Centre for Climate Change Adaptation Research (VCCCAR), Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, October 2012

GIS Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Climate Change

The paper assesses the potential vulnerability of Vietnam’s coast to climate change and discusses possible adaptation policies and plan to reduce the impacts. It uses GIS analysis for the assessment of coastal vulnerability. The paper finds that a non-structural approach (coastal buffer zones, storm warning systems, growing of flood-resistant crops, elevated storm shelters) could be used by Vietnam to adapt its low-lying coastline to climate change.

GIS Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Climate Change and Coastal Adaption Planning in Vietnam, Isaac Boateng, Journal of Coastal Conservation, vol. 16, issue 1, pp. 25-36, March 2012 [subscription required]

Suburban Neighbourhood Adaptation for a Changing Climate

Based on the outcomes of SNACC (suburban neighbourhood adaptation for a changing climate) project, this report presents effective, feasible and acceptable suburban adaptation actions. It discusses pathways to achieving those adaptation actions as well. The paper argues that over 85% of people in England live in suburbs, yet little is being done at either the home and garden scale or the neighbourhood scale to reduce the impacts of future climate change.

Suburban Neighbourhood Adaptation for a Changing Climate (SNACC): Final Report, Katie Williams et al., University of the West of England, Oxford Brookes University and Heriot-Watt University, UK, 2012 [2.84 MB, PDF]

Food Security, Neoliberalism, Productivism & Climate Change

This paper provides a brief overview of food insecurity among Australians. It examines the unsustainable farm production system that has developed since the Second World War and has been strongly shaped, in the last three decades, by neoliberalism. The paper highlights the role of neoliberalism in fostering productivist responses to the climate-change challenge, and to other challenges, faced by Australian agriculture.

Food Security in Australia in an Era of Neoliberalism, Productivism and Climate Change (Article in Press), Geoffrey Lawrence, Carol Richards and Kristen Lyons, Journal of Rural Studies, pp. 1-10, 2012 [311 KB, PDF]

Why a 4C Warmer World Must Be Avoided?

This report is a stark reminder that climate change affects everything. The solutions do not lie only in climate finance or climate projects. The solutions lie in effective risk management and ensuring all our work, all our thinking, is designed with the threat of a 4°C degree world in mind. The report argues that the lack of action on climate change not only risks putting prosperity out of reach of millions of people in the developing world; it threatens to roll back decades of sustainable development.

Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4C Warmer World Must Be Avoided, A Report for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, November 2012 [14.3 MB, PDF]

International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts

7th International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts will take place from 24-26 September 2013 in Bali, Indonesia. It aims to promote scientific advancement, technological progress, information exchange, and cooperation among engineers and researchers in coastal, port, and ocean engineering and other related fields. Abstracts/proposals may be submitted by 15 January 2013.

7th International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts, Hasanuddin University, Bali, Indonesia, 24-26 September 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Australia’s Landscapes in a Changing Climate

This paper attempts to answer the following questions: What are the critical capabilities and relationships that determine capacity to actively manage landscapes, natural resources, and environmental systems? What has been learnt about managing at a landscape scale that is relevant to climate change adaptation? And how equipped is Australia to proactively shape its landscape under a changing climate?

Australia’s Landscapes in a Changing Climate – Caution, Hope, Inspiration, and Transformation, Jason Alexandra, Crop & Pasture Science, vol. 63, pp. 215-231, May 2012 [835 KB, PDF]

Urban Climate Adaptation in the Global South

The article investigates climate adaptation planning in two cities in the global south – Durban, South Africa, and Quito, Ecuador – in order to understand what leads cities to initiate planning processes and how initiatives in this emerging policy domain are able to develop in the absence of norms and models to guide action. It illustrates that climate adaptation initiatives are often sustained as a consequence of local actors taking advantage of opportunities.

Urban Climate Adaptation in the Global South: Planning in an Emerging Policy Domain, JoAnn Carmin, Isabelle Anguelovski and Debra Roberts, Journal of Planning Education and Research, vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 18-32, 2012 [192 KB, PDF]

Assessing Community Resilience to Climate Change

This paper defines a framework to benchmark community resilience and applies it to a case study in the Wet Tropics in tropical Queensland, Australia within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) catchment. It finds that rural, indigenous and some urban populations are highly vulnerable and sensitive to climate change, particularly in terms of economic vitality, community knowledge, aspirations and capacity for adaptation.

Assessing Community Resilience to Climate Change, Karen Vella, Allan Dale, Alison Cottrell, and M. Gooch, Proceedings of the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, Cairns, Australia, 9-13 July 2012 [367 KB, PDF]

Role of Insurance – Climate Change Adaptation

This case study examines the role of insurance as a mechanism for climate change adaptation. It carries out interviews about bushfire management in Tasmania with staff in state, regional and local government agencies and with representatives of the housing construction, property development and insurance sectors. The case study argues that insurance is critical to disaster recovery but its role in preparedness remains poorly understood, under-developed and under-utilized.

Is Insurance an Under-utilized Mechanism in Climate Change Adaptation? The Case of Bushfire Management in Tasmania, Kate Booth and Stewart Williams, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 27, No. 4, October 2012 [6.35 MB, PDF]

Hydro-climate Knowledge Needs for Climate Change Adaptation

The report provides an inventory of catchment yields and runoff characteristics for historic, current and future climates for a range of regions within Australia that is currently available for users in the water resources and fresh water ecosystem community.  It looks at the role of hydrological metrics, primarily flow, in characterizing, quantifying and monitoring the potential impacts and responses of freshwater biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems to climate change.

Hydro-climate Knowledge Needs for Climate Change Adaptation, Carolina Casaril, Marie Ekstrom and Nicky Grigg, CSIRO Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, Australia, 2012 [2.57 MB, PDF]

Conference – Challenges in Disaster Mitigation & Management

This conference (International Conference on Challenges in Disaster Mitigation and Management Strategies) will take place from 15-17 February, 2013 in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It aims to provide a platform for researchers, professionals, planners and policy makers associated with the field of disaster mitigation to share the latest knowledge and techniques for mitigating the impact of natural and man-made hazards.

International Conference on Challenges in Disaster Mitigation and Management Strategies, Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India, 15-17 February, 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Managing Climate Risks to Australia’s Infrastructure

The report assesses the physical impacts and consequences of climate change on Australia’s infrastructure in the property, electricity, road and rail, and finance sectors. It examines the state of preparation among businesses and governments and the steps needed to improve Australia’s climate readiness. The report calls on businesses to fully account for their climate risks and for governments to integrate climate risk management into nationally coordinated policies and regulations.

Coming Ready Or Not: Managing Climate Risks to Australia’s Infrastructure, Olivia Kember et al., the Climate Institute, Sydney, Australia, October 2012 [1.68 MB, PDF]

Climate Change Adaptation in Maldives – Expert Views

The paper examines the status of coastal climate change adaptation in Maldives under the implementation of a four-year project (supported by the Least Developed Countries Fund, Maldivian Government and the United Nations Development Program) titled as ‘integrating climate change risks into resilient island planning in the Maldives’. Based on a series of semi-structured interviews with Maldivian experts, the paper discusses various benefits, challenges, and lessons learnt during implementation of this project.

Expert Views of Climate Change Adaptation in the Maldives, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Climatic Change, vol. 114, pp. 295–300, 2012

Reducing Vulnerability and Exposure to Disasters

The report emphasizes the need to move from ‘informed intentions’ to ‘sustained actions’ in reducing risks from disasters. It finds that disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a process with many specific objectives, multiple starting points, and various directions depending upon the combination of actors engaged and resources that are available. While the HFA (Hyogo Framework for Action) provides basic foundation guidance, the report reviews some of the important elements of DRR.

Reducing Vulnerability and Exposure to Disasters: Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2012, Jerry Velasquez et al., Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), 2012 [5.40 MB, PDF]

Managing Climate Risk with Seasonal Forecasts

This paper revolves around the island countries of the Pacific that are directly affected by ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) and are able to benefit directly from advances in the ability to predict it. It argues that steady improvements in GCM resolution and physics, coupled with ever increasing understanding of the physical mechanisms of predictability, ensure that seasonal predictions are becoming an important component of adaptation to a changing climate.

Managing Climate Risk with Seasonal Forecasts, Andrew Charles, Yuriy Kuleshov and David Jones, Chapter 23, INTECH, 2012 [1.41 MB, PDF]

Coastal Climate Adaptation Planning – Victoria, Australia

This paper presents a case study on how climate change-related coastal hazards have been addressed through the planning system in Victoria, Australia. It reviews and analyses the state coastal climate hazard framework to illustrate how planning responses can lead to maladaptation and inequitable outcomes. The paper provides a critique by arguing that the framework and the way it has been implemented have been controversial, attracting widespread public interest and triggering numerous disputes.

Coastal Adaptation Planning: A Case Study on Victoria, Australia, Andrew Macintosh, CCLP Working Paper Series 2012/2, Centre for Climate Law and Policy (CCLP), Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 2012 [123 KB, PDF]

4^th International Conference on Sustainability Science in Asia

The 4^th International Conference on Sustainability Science in Asia (ICSS-Asia 2013) will take place at the Australian National University, Canberra from 4-8 February 2013. The latest findings from climate change modeling projection, issues relevant to water such as sharp fluctuation of agricultural production in Australia because of water scarcity, enhancing resilience in the society through conversion of traditional knowledge into modern technology to respond to climate change will be discussed in the conference.

4^th International Conference on Sustainability Science in Asia (ICSS-Asia 2013), Australian National University, Canberra, 4-8 February 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.

Health and Climate Change Adaptation – Australia

The paper explores ways in which vulnerable sub-populations adapt their personal behavior to cope with heat. It draws upon scientific, historical and literary sources and on a set of repeat interviews in the suburbs of Western Sydney with eight older participants and two focus group discussions. The paper finds that while a number of methods are employed by older people to stay cool, these may become limited in the future.

Socio-cultural Reflections on Heat in Australia with Implications for Health and Climate Change Adaptation, Open Access Article, Cathy Banwell et al., Glob Health Action, 16 October 2012 [693 KB, PDF]

Poverty and Climate Change in Urban Bangladesh

Drawing upon existing research and new data from a survey of four bustees (‘bustees’ are places where physical, social, economic and political vulnerabilities collide, creating a multi-layered blanket of vulnerability for their residents) in Dhaka, this paper provides a review of urban poverty in Bangladesh to date. It reveals new insights into the strategies that low-income urban households pursue in a context of scarce resources and hostile conditions.

Urban Poverty in Bangladesh: Causes, Consequences, and Coping Strategies, Nicola Banks, BWPI Working Paper 178, Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI), The University of Manchester, UK, October 2012 [877 KB, PDF]

Roles of Public and Private Actors – Adaptation

The paper reviews risk governance and insurance literature to draw findings for the governance of climate adaptation. It uses the recently published compendium of disaster risk initiatives in the developing world and a case study of agricultural insurance in India. The paper argues that the role of private sector is increasing in adaptation; however there is little empirical examination carried out to show how this sector might be involved more effectively to ensure adaptation actions address vulnerability.

The Roles of Public and Private Actors in the Governance of Adaptation: The Case of Agricultural Insurance in India, Susannah Fisher and Swenja Surminski, The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (CCCEP), The Munich Re Programme, and The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, September 2012 [675 KB, PDF]

Sustainability, Climate Adaptation and Google Earth

This project aims to test a participatory mapping methodology using Google Earth to develop shared understandings among participants about sustainability and climate change. It focuses on improving knowledge uptake and enabling dialogue among participants in order to develop adaptation strategies for Rottnest Island, off the Western Australian coast. One of the important project results finds the usefulness of Google Earth for participatory planning for climate adaptation and sustainability.

Sustainability and Climate Adaptation: Using Google Earth to Engage Stakeholders, Laura Stocker et al., Ecological Economics, vol. 80, pp. 15-24, August 2012 [subscription required]

Climate Change – Electricity Infrastructure Vulnerability

The paper identifies climate change adaptation issues in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). It analyses climate change impacts on reliability in the NEM under alternative climate change scenarios to 2030, particularly what adaptation strategies the power generation and supply network infrastructure will need. The paper assesses the robustness of the institutional arrangements that supports effective adaptation.

Institutional Adaptability to Redress Electricity Infrastructure Vulnerability Due to Climate Change, John Foster et al., The University of Queensland and University of Technology, Sydney, 2012 [3.92 MB, PDF]

Academic Conference – People and the Planet 2013

The Global Cities Research Institute (RMIT University) and the UN Global Compact Cities Programme invite paper and panel proposals for this academic conference, which will be held from 2-4 July 2013 at RMIT University, Melbourne Australia. The conference themes include: urban sustainability; cultural sustainability; corporate sustainability; community sustainability; climate change adaptation; globalization and culture; human security and disasters; urban decision-making and complex systems; sustainable urban and regional futures; global indigeneity and reconciliation; and global ecologies and culture. Proposals must be submitted by 15 February 2013.

People and the Planet 2013: Transforming the Future, Academic Conference, RMIT University, Melbourne Australia & UN Global Compact Cities Programme, Storey Hall, RMIT University, Melbourne Australia, 2-4 July 2013

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@rmit.edu.au

Subscribe & Unsubscribe

Professor Darryn McEvoy, Program Leader, RMIT University Climate Change Adaptation Programme

Professor Peter Hayes, Co-founder and Executive Director of Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability

Dr. Saleem Janjua, Editor AdaptNet

AdaptNet is a free fortnightly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Research Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme, Melbourne, Australia. It is published in partnership with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability.