AdaptNet for 17 February 2009

1. Climatic and Non-Climatic Risks to Australian Catchments
2. Climate Change in California: Scenarios for Adaptation
3. U.S.-China Collaboration on Energy and Climate Change: A Roadmap
4. Climate Change Adaptation Assessment – New Directions
5. Climate Change and Children – A Human Security Challenge
6. Local Adaptation Pathways Program: Round 2 – Grants Available

Climatic and Non-Climatic Risks to Australian Catchments         

This paper undertakes a screening-level risk assessment for Australia’s 325 surface water management areas by aggregating a suite of six relevant risk indicators (four indicators address the antecedent conditions upon which future climate change will act; two indicators address future drivers of supply and demand). The results indicate that the management challenges for catchments currently experienced in Australia are likely to increase in future decades.                  

Screening Climatic and Non-Climatic Risks to Australian Catchments, B.L. Preston and R.N. Jones, Geographical Research, 46(3), Institute of Australian Geographers, Australia, September 2008 [subscription required]  

Climate Change in California: Scenarios for Adaptation 

The report provides an overview of climate change scenarios for California and explores how these might be used in state and regional planning efforts in the future. It stresses that the resource managers, regional planners, and government agencies should consider climate change in their planning, both to respond to long-term changes in the climate and to the occurrence of extreme events.            

Climate Change in California: Scenarios for Adaptation, Amy Luers and Michael D. Mastrandrea, Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), San Francisco, California, USA, November 2008 [810 KB, PDF]  

U.S.-China Collaboration on Energy and Climate Change: A Roadmap       

The report outlines a roadmap for a program of U.S.-China collaboration on energy and climate change. It recommends the leaders of the two countries should convene a summit to launch a new partnership in this regard. The report outlines some of the critical project areas that should be jointly explored through practical collaboration by government officials as well as by the private sector.               

A Roadmap for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change: Common Challenge, Collaborative Response, Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Asia Society: Center on U.S.-China Relations, January 2009 [1.61 MB, PDF]  

Climate Change Adaptation Assessment – New Directions    

This report summarizes a National Research Council workshop at which presentations and discussions identified specific needs associated with the knowledge gap between the demand and supply of scientific information about climate change adaptation. It summarizes six presentations and discussions that were held during the workshop.                   

New Directions in Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts, and Adaptation Assessment: Summary of a Workshop, Jennifer F. Brewer, Rapporteur, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council of the National Academies, Washington D.C., USA, November 2008   

Climate Change and Children – A Human Security Challenge         

The study reviews the implications of climate change for children and future generations. It draws on relevant experiences in different sectors and countries of promoting child rights and well-being. The study seeks to substantiate the need for frameworks and protocols that will recognise, protect and empower children and young people in light of the effects of climate change.                

Climate Change and Children: A Human Security Challenge, Policy Review Paper, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (Italy) in cooperation with UNICEF Programme Division, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), November 2008 [543 KB, PDF]

Local Adaptation Pathways Program: Round 2 – Grants Available       

The Australian Government’s Local Adaptation Pathways Program (Round 2) seeks to complement and build on the work from Round 1. This round of funding will help councils undertake climate change risk assessments and develop action plans to prepare for the likely local impacts of climate change. Expressions of interest close on 25 February 2009.      

Local Adaptation Pathways Program, Round 2 – Grants Now Available, Department of Climate Change, Australian Government, Canberra, February, 2009