1. Health of Remote Indigenous Australians
2. Migration and Climate Change in Oceania
3. U.S. Hurricane Storm Surge and Sea-level Rise Vulnerability
4. Climate Change and the Australian Millennium Drought
5. Vulnerable Communities to Climate Change Impact
6. Conference – Climate Change and Global Warming
Health of Remote Indigenous Australians
This paper argues that it is time to explicitly draw on Indigenous definitions of health, which directly address the need to connect individual and community health to the health of their country, in order to develop effective climate adaptation and health strategies. It details how current health policies in Australia overlook this ‘missing’ dimension of Indigenous connection to country, and why that is likely to be detrimental to the health and well-being of people living in remote communities.
Living on Climate-Changed Country: Indigenous Health, Well-Being and Climate Change in Remote Australian Communities, Donna Green and Liz Minchin, EcoHealth, International Association for Ecology and Health, 14 January 2014 [213 KB, PDF]
Migration and Climate Change in Oceania
This chapter focuses on migration and environment in the Pacific island countries. It finds that small island developing states are likely to have high levels of exposure to the effects of climate change, including: sea-level rise; increased incidence and intensity of floods and droughts; coral degradation; increased intensity of tropical cyclones; and changes in the distribution of disease vectors.
Migration and Climate Change in Oceania, John Campbell and Richard Bedford, People on the Move in a Changing Climate, Global Migration Issues, vol. 2, pp. 177-204, 2014 [subscription required]
U.S. Hurricane Storm Surge and Sea-level Rise Vulnerability
The study scales up previously published methods to undertake a first pass assessment of coastal vulnerability to hurricane storm surge and sea-level rise. It explores geographic variability in exposure of U.S. coastlines to storm surge inundation. The study presents two case study applications for coastal exposure assessment – one for U.S. energy infrastructure in the Southeast and one for future coastal housing.
A Geospatial Dataset for U.S. Hurricane Storm Surge and Sea-level Rise Vulnerability: Development and Case Study Applications (Article in Press), Megan C. Maloney and Benjamin L. Preston, Climate Risk Management, 2014 [2.77 MB, PDF]
Climate Change and the Australian Millennium Drought
Australia is one of the driest inhabited continents in the world, with a climate that is highly variable and which experiences seasonal-scale droughts. This paper provides an overarching review of the research that was stimulated by the recent drought in many Australian regions. It evaluates climate model simulations of variability modes and their impact on rainfall and the extent to which the rainfall trends are congruent with trends in climate modes.
Did Climate Change-Induced Rainfall Trends Contribute to the Australian Millennium Drought? Wenju Cai, Ariaan Purich, Tim Cowan, Peter van Rensch, and Evan Weller, Journal of Climate, vol. 27, May 2014 [9.81 MB, PDF]
Vulnerable Communities to Climate Change Impact
The study focuses on key indicators that measure the exposure of local communities to climate change and socio-economic vulnerabilities of local populations. It incorporates physical, environmental and socio-demographic data sets and extensive use of spatial modelling and estimation methods to spatially define climate change and social vulnerability ‘hot spots’. The study presents a tool that can be used in the initial assessment phase by planners and policy-makers to better assist those who are limited in their ability to adapt to climate change.
Spatially Identifying Vulnerable Communities to Climate Change Impact in South Australia, Yan Tan and Michael Chadbourne, Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, Routledge, May 2014 [subscription required]
Conference – Climate Change and Global Warming
International Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming (ICCCGW-2015) will take place in Bangkok, Thailand on 17-18 December 2015. It aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, concerns, practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted in the field of climate change and global warming. Abstracts/papers may be submitted before 17 June 2015.
International Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming (ICCCGW-2015), Bangkok, Thailand, December 17 – 18, 2015
For further information, please contact the editor, Dr. Saleem Janjua: muhammadsaleem.janjua@rmit.edu.au
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.