AdaptNet for 23 January 2007

Recommended Citation

"AdaptNet for 23 January 2007", ADAPTNet English Edition, January 23, 2007, https://nautilus.org/adaptnet/adaptnet-for-23-january-2007/

AdaptNet for 23 January 2007

  1. Health & Urban Environment in Australia
  2. Asia-Pacific: Risk, Adaptation & Sustainability
  3. Mainstreaming Adaptation: Barriers & Opportunities
  4. Guidance on Designing Developments in a Changing Climate
  5. India Leads in Adapting to Climate Change
  6. Indigenous Australians: Climate Change & Health

Health & Urban Environment in Australia

This project focuses on urban form, transport systems and location of health services.  It finds an absence of accurate knowledge on the relationship between urban environments and health outcomes is reflected in urban-health reform’s lack of influence in urban planning. Policy measures lack the effectiveness to secure, provide and improve positive health outcomes. It suggests that systemic policies rather than targeted strategies are likely to be more successful in achieving broad and lasting improvements in urban health relationships.

Urban Environments & Health: Identifying Key Relationships & Policy Imperatives, Elspeth Mead, Jago Dodson and Claire Ellway, Urban Research Program-Griffith University, Research Monograph 10, October 2006 [PDF] 

Asia-Pacific: Risk, Adaptation & Sustainability

Mainstreaming integrates policies and other measures addressing climate change in ongoing development planning and decision-making. Mainstreaming at a local level minimizes negative and maximizes positive impacts of climate change leading to sustainable development. Areas requiring attention include practical demonstrations, building capacity, strengthening institutional frameworks, streamlining financial mechanisms and improving governance.

Mainstreaming Adaptation Concerns in Development: Options and Challenges for the Asia-Pacific, Ancha Srinivasan, The 15th Asia-Pacific Seminar on Climate Change, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, 12 September, 2005 [PDF]

Mainstreaming Adaptation: Barriers & Opportunities

This paper states that the barriers and opportunities for mainstreaming climate change adaptation are availability and spread of information, identification and participation of stakeholders, adequate incentives for developing countries and appropriate funding by international organizations.

Overcoming the Barriers: Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries, Tearfund Climate Change Briefing Paper 1, Institute of Development Studies, October 2006 [PDF] 

Guidance on Designing Developments in a Changing Climate

This guidance checklist provides a framework for developers to use in making planning and design proposals for new developments.  It argues that developments should be designed to adapt to the changing climate throughout their lifetime. It covers water re-use and efficiency, reducing flood risk, avoiding overheating and minimising damage from subsidence and heave.

Adapting to Climate Change: A Checklist for Development, Greater London Authority, London Climate Change Partnership, November 2005 [PDF]

India Leads in Adapting to Climate Change

India is already implementing projects with built-in capacity to deal with climate change as it has been dealing with more climate variability than most developing nations, claims Bilal Rahill, the World Bank’s environmental specialist for South Asia. However, experts say that with more freak weather expected, India needs to move faster in rural areas to deal with the changing climate.

India Ahead of Many in Adapting to Global Warming, Nita Bhalla, Reuters, 2006-12-07

Indigenous Australians: Climate Change & Health

This paper reviews evidence of the likely health impacts for Indigenous communities and provides material to inform adaptation strategies. For Indigenous Australians changing climate has serious health impacts. Necessary public health infrastructure is unavailable. Socio-economic disadvantage of Indigenous communities adds to the problem. Change in temperature and humidity, precipitation, coastal erosion, sea-level rise and cyclones will affect morbidity and mortality via direct and indirect routes.

Climate Change and Health: Impacts on Remote Indigenous Communities in Northern Australia, Donna Green, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Paper 012, November 2006 [PDF]

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AdaptNet is a free weekly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Institute’s Climate Change Adaptation Working Group. It is produced in partnership with the Victorian Government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society at Melbourne University, Australia.

For further information, please contact the editor, Saleem Janjua.