1. Leverage Points for Adaptation in Urban Environments
2. Climate-Related Natural Disasters – Asia Pacific
3. Building Climate Adaptation on Community Experiences
4. Impact of Climate Change on Health
5. Community Based River Basin Management & Climate Adaptation
6. International Conference on Climate Change & Social Issues
Leverage Points for Adaptation in Urban Environments
The paper suggests that the collaborative development of conceptual models can help a group to identify potential leverage points for effective adaptation. It finds that a system dynamics approach (revolving around the collaborative construction of a set of conceptual models) can help communities to improve their adaptive capacity, and to better meet the challenge of maintaining, and even improving, urban health in the face of climate change.
Human Health and Climate Change: Leverage Points for Adaptation in Urban Environments, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 9, pp. 2134-2158, June 2012
Climate-Related Natural Disasters – Asia Pacific
The paper examines the nexus of climate-related natural disasters to climate change, population exposure to disasters, and other factors. It presents the lessons drawn from evaluations of information sourced from publicly available databases. The key databases include: the emergency event database (EM-DAT), the HADCRUT3 temperature database, and the global precipitation climatology centre database on precipitation.
Intense Climate-Related Natural Disasters in Asia and the Pacific, Learning Lessons, Asian Development Bank (ADB), April 2012 [Download PDF from Website]
Building Climate Adaptation on Community Experiences
This publication links climate change adaptation and community based natural resources management (CBNRM). It looks at the lessons community based adaptation (CBA) can learn from the experiences of CBNRM. The publication applies an analytical framework to CBNRM case studies in Southern Africa, and provides guidance to CBNRM stakeholders on how they can integrate CBA in their work.
Building Climate Change Adaptation on Community Experiences: Lessons from Community Experiences, Nyasha Chishakwe, Laurel Murray and Muyeye Chambwera, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK, 2012 [1.95 MB, PDF]
Impact of Climate Change on Health
The paper examines the health impacts of climate change and identifies strategies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. It argues that the exact nature and extent of such impacts are yet to be established as many other non-climate factors also produce similar outcomes. The paper calls for more research – especially for the developing world – where impacts are greater but reliable data is less available.
Impact of Climate Change on Health and Strategies for Mitigation and Adaptation, Alok K Deb, Suman Kanungo, Manjari Deb & Gopinath B Nair, WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 8-19, 2012 [382 KB, PDF]
Community Based River Basin Management & Climate Adaptation
This report provides an example of a local initiative of participatory water management and adaptation. It documents the experiences of Uttaran and Paani Committee (Bangladesh) with tidal river management. The report argues that national and international policy processes related to water management and climate change largely ignore the practical knowledge of local communities, despite the fact that their experiences and initiatives can contribute significantly to more sustainable policies and actions.
Tidal River Management (TRM): Climate Change Adaptation and Community Based River Basin Management in Southwest Coastal Region of Bangladesh, Zakir Kibria, Uttaran, Bangladesh, 2012 [2.66 Mb, PDF]
International Conference on Climate Change & Social Issues
This conference (international conference on climate change & social issues) will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 28-29, 2012. Session themes for the conference cover a rich and diverse range of research topics related to climate change and social issues. Abstracts must be submitted before 30 July 2012.
2nd International Conference on Climate Change & Social Issues, The International Center for Research and Development (ICRD) & Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 28-29, 2012
For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua: daptnet@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.