AdaptNet for 5 April 2011

1. Sea Level Rise and Managed Retreat of Communities

2. Applying ‘Real Options’ to Climate Adaptation Measures

3. Adaptation and Risk Management

4. Planning for Climate Change – A Strategic, Values-based Approach

5. Desalination, Climate Adaptation, and Sustainability

6. South Asia Media Workshop on Climate Change Adaptation   

Sea Level Rise and Managed Retreat of Communities                

The paper explores community reactions to a hypothetical managed retreat scheme (COR-conditional occupancy rights) that requires residents to forfeit their land to make way for an ecological barrier when sea level rise (SLR) reaches a designated point. It presents a meta-theoretical social functionalist framework to analyse the range of personal concerns and responses to proposed policy options for vulnerable coastal shorelines.

Managed Retreat of Coastal Communities: Understanding Responses to Projected Sea Level Rise, Kim S. Alexander, Anthony Ryan and Thomas G. Measham, SEED Working Paper 43, CSIRO, Australia, January 2011 [198 KB, PDF]

Applying ‘Real Options’ to Climate Adaptation Measures      

The proposed ‘real options’ approach provides a useful framework for planners because it considers flexible and creative alternatives to standard deterministic responses. This paper argues that the ‘real options’ approach is ideally suited to addressing the climatic uncertainty associated with adaptation measures. It stresses the need to carry out a more detailed study of potential ‘real options’ for adaptation to climate in order to generate new lines of thought.

Notes on Applying ‘Real Options’ to Climate Change Adaptation Measures, with Examples from Vietnam, Leo Dobes, CCEP working paper 7.10, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy, Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University, Australia, November 2010 [1.58 MB, PDF]

Adaptation and Risk Management         

The paper reviews current risk management approaches to climate change which are increasingly being recommended for adaptation assessments. It finds that two orientations can commonly be identified: top-down and bottom-up; or prescriptive and diagnostic. The paper argues that combinations of these orientations favour different types of assessments. Further input from a wider variety of assessment methodologies is needed before choosing specific tools and methods of adaptation.

Adaptation and Risk Management (Focus Article), Roger N. Jones and Benjamin L. Preston, WIREs Climate Change, vol. 2, issue 2, DOI: 10.1002/wcc.97, January 2011 [subscription required]

Planning for Climate Change – A Strategic, Values-based Approach    

This guide presents a value-based, decision-focused planning approach to help support planners in developing and implementing their climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives. Such an approach helps ensure that the city’s particular social and economic challenges (poverty, population health, water and sanitation, etc.) frame the climate change planning process and provide for local community objectives.

Planning for Climate Change – A Strategic, Values-based Approach for Urban Planners (version 1 for field-testing and piloting in training), Bernhard Barth, Training and Capacity Building Branch, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), 2011 [5.98 MB, PDF]     

Desalination, Climate Adaptation, and Sustainability    

The paper discusses the construction of desalination plants in Australia and explores their implications for sustainability by using case studies of water management decisions in the context of climate-related drying of water sources in Perth and Sydney. It argues that the trend towards the construction of desalination plants as a climate change adaptation measure raises questions about the sustainability of urban water futures in Australia.

‘Drought Proofing’ Australian Cities: Implications for Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability, Phoenix Lawhon Isler, John Merson, and David Roser, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 70, 2010 [301 KB, PDF]

South Asia Media Workshop on Climate Change Adaptation

This workshop will take place in Dhulikhel (near Kathmandu), Nepal from 18 to 20 May 2011.  The event will enable journalists from eight South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) to better understand the effects of climate change and adaptation practices related to water and agriculture sectors. Applications to attend the workshop (funding available) may be submitted before 8 April 2011.      

South Asia Media Workshop on Climate Change Adaptation, Asia Pacific Adaptation Network (APAN) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Dhulikhel, Nepal, 18-20 May 2011