AdaptNet for 31 July 2007

• 1. Need for New Areas of Research in Climate Change
• 2. Impact of Urban Density on Local Climate
• 3. Adaptation-A Powerful Option to Combat Climate Change
• 4. Adaptation to Climate Change-Latin American Agriculture
• 5. Climate Vulnerability, Development and Poverty
• 6. Ninth International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) – 2008

1. Need for New Areas of Research in Climate Change

The presentation emphasizes the need for new scientifically sophisticated knowledge of how climate change affects species, ecosystems, and ecosystem services. A big research problem is how to restore ecological connectivity at catchment, bioregional and continental scales. It suggests the key research areas should include invasive plants and feral animals, threatened species, aquatic systems, and systematic environmental and conservation planning.

Research for Understanding Climate Change Impacts on the Natural Environment & Options for Mitigation-Adaptation, Prof Brendan Mackey, Australian National University, Presented at the NSW Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Summit, February 23, 2007 [PDF]

2. Impact of Urban Density on Local Climate

The study determines the impact of increasing urban density on the surface energy balance by using the eddy covariance technique. It investigates the increasing density’s relationship to Melbourne’s local climate. The study is useful to determine particularly vulnerable areas around Melbourne and to examine further the potential impact of the Melbourne 2030 key directions across the entire city.

Impact of Increasing Urban Density on Local Climate: Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Surface Energy Balance in Melbourne, Australia, Andrew M. Coutts, Jason Beringer and Nigel J. Tapper, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Volume 46, April 2007 [PDF]

3. Adaptation – A Powerful Option to Combat Climate Change

The paper includes adaptation as a policy variable in the Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy (DICE). It uses a new AD-DICE model to derive the adaptation cost functions implicit in the DICE model. The paper shows numerically that adaptation is a powerful option, as it reduces most of the potential costs of climate change in earlier periods, while mitigation does so in later periods.

AD-DICE: An Implementation of Adaptation in the DICE Model, Kelly C. de Bruin, Rob B. Dellink and Richard S.J. Tol, CCMP–Climate Change Modelling and Policy, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Paper Series, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, May 2007 [PDF]

4. Adaptation to Climate Change – Latin American Agriculture

The study expands on empirical agricultural models of irrigation choice to examine how such choices are influenced by climate. It models the choices to grow crops, own livestock, and install irrigation. It tests whether these choices are influenced by temperature and precipitation across over 2000 farmers in Latin America. The results quantify how farmers adapt their choice of farm type and irrigation to their local climate.

Changing Farm Types and Irrigation as an Adaptation to Climate Change in Latin American Agriculture, Robert Mendelsohn and Niggol Seo, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4161, World Bank, March 2007 [PDF]

5. Climate Vulnerability, Development and Poverty

The paper focuses on how to help create the enabling environments for technology transfer and development both for effective limitation of climate vulnerability and implementation of Millennium Development Goals (MDG). It presents the IMPACT Network’s methodology and case studies, providing an original framework to design intermediate public policies, integrating multiple priorities in local and national strategies.

Poverty Reduction, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: The Need for Intermediate Public Policies Harnessing Technology Appropriation, C. Rynikiewicz and A. Chetaille, SPRU 40th Anniversary Conference-The Future of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, Brighton, September 11-13, 2006 [PDF]

6. Ninth International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) – 2008

The Ninth International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP) will take place on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks from June 29 – July 03, 2008. A peer-reviewed proceeding of papers will be available at the Conference both in printed form and on CD. Abstracts (approximately 400 words) may be submitted no later than September 1, 2007.

Ninth International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP), International Permafrost Association (IPA), University of Alaska Fairbanks, June 29 – July 03, 2008

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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.

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