AdaptNet for 1 June 2010

1. Climate Change Risks to Indigenous Communities – Australia

2. Economics of Climate Adaptation in Developing Countries

3. World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change

4. Enhancing the Reliability and Security of Urban Water Infrastructure

5. Children Rights and Climate Change Adaptation

6. Melbourne 2010: Knowledge Cities World Summit

Climate Change Risks to Indigenous Communities – Australia              

This study presents an assessment of the potential impacts of climate change on Indigenous settlements and communities across tropical northern Australia, including the Torres Strait Islands and the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It finds that Indigenous peoples in the tropical north are at greater risk from climate change than most other communities in Australia. 

Risks from Climate Change to Indigenous Communities in the Tropical North of Australia, Donna Green et al. (editors), Australian Government Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Commonwealth of Australia, May 2010 [5.32 MB, PDF] 

Economics of Climate Adaptation in Developing Countries     

The paper discusses the conceptual issues involved in costs and benefits of climate change adaptation in developing countries. It argues that costs and benefits of climate change adaptation cannot be analyzed using economic aspects only; climate science, behavioral science, and legal and moral aspects have crucial implications for the outcome of the analysis.

Economic Valuation of Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries, Jesper Stage, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1185 (2010), 150 – 163, 2010 [169 KB, PDF] 

World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change      

The report indicates that climate change threatens all countries, with developing countries being the most vulnerable. It estimates that developing countries would bear some 75 to 80 percent of the costs of damages caused by the changing climate. The report finds that even 2°C warming above pre-industrial temperatures could result in permanent reductions in GDP of 4 to 5 percent for Africa and South Asia.

World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change (overview), The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, Washington DC, 2010 [3.34 MB, PDF] 

Enhancing the Reliability and Security of Urban Water Infrastructure     

This paper investigates intelligent monitoring, assessment and optimization techniques that can be applied in urban water infrastructures to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of operational data from water distribution networks. It explores techniques that can comprehensively monitor a complex, highly dynamic environment and enhance the reliability and security of urban water infrastructures.

Enhancing the Reliability and Security of Urban Water Infrastructures through Intelligent Monitoring, Assessment, and Optimization, W. Wu and J. Gao, Intelligent Infrastructures, Volume 42, Part 4, 2010  [subscription required] 

Children Rights and Climate Change Adaptation  

This report examines how children’s voices are represented and heard in climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction policy and decision-making spaces and how this process can best be facilitated and promoted. It addresses children in Kenya experiencing a third consecutive year of failed rains, and Cambodian children’s families’ crops devastated by unseasonal rains. 

Child Rights and Climate Change Adaptation: Voices from Kenya and Cambodia, Research Report, Emily Polack, Children in a Changing Climate, February 2010 [1.44 MB, PDF]

Melbourne 2010: Knowledge Cities World Summit   

Melbourne 2010: Knowledge Cities World Summit is being taking place from 16-19 November, 2010 at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. At this summit, the theoretical and practical maturing of knowledge-based development paradigms will be discussed. One of the Summit’s themes is: sustainable (urban) development, climate change and quality of life. 

Melbourne 2010: Knowledge Cities World Summit, City of Melbourne, Office of Knowledge Capital, and World Capital Institute, Melbourne, 16-19 November, 2010