AdaptNet for 28 June 2011

1. Governance and Climate Change Risk Assessment

2. Agency in the Context of Renewable Energy Governance

3. Strategy for Reducing Maryland’s Vulnerability

4. What Can Enhance Practical Impact of Adaptation Studies?

5. Climate Adaptation: Finding the Appropriate Response

6. Workshop – Urban Response to Climate Change in Asia

Governance and Climate Change Risk Assessment

The paper summarizes current climate change vulnerability and/or risk assessment projects and their uptake within adaptation policy in Australia. It discusses the role of governance in mediating assessment processes and institutional responses. The paper argues for the need to reframe the conventional understanding regarding risk assessment in the context of social learning, arguing that reflexive problem orientation may be one of the more valuable benefits of assessments. 

Embedding Climate Change Risk Assessment within a Governance Context, Benjamin L. Preston, Chiara Danese and Emma J Yuen, Linking Research to Practice: Knowledge, Measurement and Policymaking, Colorado Conference on Earth System Governance: Crossing Boundaries and Building Bridges, 17-20 May 2011 [389 KB, PDF]

Agency in the Context of Renewable Energy Governance   

This paper presents empirical analyses related to agency in renewable energy governance in India. It looks specifically at the role of stakeholder networks in wind energy deployment in two selected Indian states. The paper discusses the implications for the role of agency as a condition for effective earth system governance. 

Networking for Climate Change: Agency in the Context of Renewable Energy Governance in India, Elisabeth Benecke, International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 23-42, DOI: 10.1007/s10784-011-9148-8, 2011 [301 KB, PDF]

Strategy for Reducing Maryland’s Vulnerability          

The State of Maryland releases a new report addressing the causes of climate change and proposing adaptation strategies for the most likely impacts across a wide range of issues including human health, ecosystem viability, water, population and infrastructure. It provides the basis for guiding and prioritizing state-level activities within short to medium-term timeframes. The report argues that implementation of key adaptation measures will ensure the State minimizes the impacts and costs of climate change in the long run.

Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Maryland’s Vulnerability to Climate Change – Phase II: Building Societal, Economic, and Ecological Resilience, Boicourt K and ZP Johnson (eds.), Report of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change Adaptation and Response and Scientific and Technical Working Groups, 2011 [31.1 MB, PDF]

What Can Enhance Practical Impact of Adaptation Studies?     

The paper explores the interface between adaptation research and adaptation policy, planning, and investment. It attempts to find answer to the question, ‘How is research on adaptation informing the nascent domain of adaptation policy and practice?’ The paper extracts lessons from four different domains of adaptation research: risk assessment and impact response, social vulnerability and adaptive capacity, resilience, and the science of decision making and policy implementation. 

Are Adaptation Studies Effective, and What Can Enhance their Practical Impact? Hallie C. Eakin and Anthony Patt, WIRES Climate Change, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2011 [Subscription required]     

Climate Adaptation: Finding the Appropriate Response     

This study is part of a participatory research process in Cambodia. It attempts to answer questions such as; how to identify mal-adaptation, how to support the movement of good autonomous adaptation strategies towards effective and efficient planned responses, and how to bring inclusiveness to adaptation decision making. The study develops a better understanding of what drives adaptation responses and captures practice based knowledge for effective and efficient climate adaptation support. 

Climate Change Adaptation: Finding the Appropriate Response, Regional Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge Platform for Asia, 2011 [2.74 MB, PDF]

Workshop – Urban Response to Climate Change in Asia

This training workshop will be held from November 10th to 15th, 2011 at the National Taipei University in New Taipei City, Taiwan. It will focus on urban responses to climate change (including mitigation and adaptation strategies) in Asian cities. The workshop aims to collect studies from various countries in order to provide valuable material for drafting parts of the IPCC AR5. Applications may be submitted before July 29, 2011.      

Urban Response to Climate Change in Asia: Understanding Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies, National Science Council of Taiwan, Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC), and Southeast Asia Regional Committee for START, National Taipei University in New Taipei City, Taiwan, November 10th to 15th, 2011

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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

Saleem Janjua, editor AdaptNet.