The Geography Of Climate Change Vulnerability

Geography of Climate Change Vulnerability: Exposure, Sensitivity and Adaptation explores the geographic dimensions of vulnerability of human- environmental systems to climate change. It provides information on the concepts, principles, methods and uses of GIS for climate change research and focuses on the spatial characteristics of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, which constitute the primary determinants of vulnerability. It starts with the fundamentals, reviewing the role geography plays in assessing climate change vulnerability beyond applied climatology. It then reviews the basics of GIS: what it is, what it can do and how to integrate climate science and research into existing GIS programs. Next it reviews the essentials of climate change and climate science. From there, the authors (editors) review vulnerability science and its role of in adapting to or mitigating issues stemming from climate change. The techniques of assessing climate change vulnerability are then explored, both on a theoretical and on a practical level. Finally, the applications of what the GIS data reveals are covered, including reviewing climate vulnerable human-environmental systems, scale, data sources, and more. The applications continue into specific areas of impact from water resource systems, to agricultural and ecological systems, human-land interactions and tying it in to the IPCC WGII assessment report of vulnerability. Geography of Climate Change Vulnerability will help readers learn a hands-on, problem-based approaches to providing real-world research across the different roles and modes of GIS applications in climate research. This is an essential resource for researchers across disciplines looking into issues and solutions stemming from climate variability, and for new ways to assess complex and diverse data while doing so. Reviews how to integrate current climate science with diverse environmental data to better model, analyze and predict climate impacts and vulnerabilities Emphasizes the implementation of a wide array of GIS concepts and techniques (e.g., geodatabases, geoprocessing, spatial modeling, mapping, etc.) All tasks of geospatial analytics, modeling and visualization are illustrated in the ArcGIS platform

This book highlights how climate change has affected migration in the Indian subcontinent. Drawing on field research, it argues that extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, cyclones, cloudbursts as well as sea-level rise, desertification and declining crop productivity have shown higher frequency in recent times and have depleted bio-physical diversity and the capacity of the ecosystem to provide food and livelihood security. The volume shows how the socio-economically poor are worst affected in these circumstances and resort to migration to survive. The essays in the volume study the role of remittances sent by migrants to their families in environmentally fragile zones in providing an important cushion and adaptation capabilities to cope with extreme weather events. The book looks at the socio-economic and political drivers of migration, different forms of mobility, mortality and morbidity levels in the affected population, and discusses mitigation and adaption strategies. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of environment and ecology, migration and diaspora studies, development studies, sociology and social anthropology, governance and public policy, and politics.

Martin Parry University College, London, UK The 13 country studies collected in this re Adaptations Assessment published by the port represent the first of what is likely to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change become a worldwide, country-by-country (Carter et al., 1994) as an agreed technical estimate of the likely impacts of, and appro set of scientific methods for climate impact priate adaptations to, greenhouse-gas-in assessment and has written its own guidance duced global climate change. document, Guidance for Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment (U.S. CSP, 1994). Under the U.N. Framework Convention on The u.S. Country Studies Program devel Climate Change (UNFCCC), signatories oped the Guidance and other reviews of agreed to two near-term actions and one ma methodology into a nonspecialist set of jor subsequent one. The two near-term ac workbooks for use at the country level, tions are to make annual estimates of the which, backed up by advice from experi emissions and sinks of greenhouse gases, enced scientists from the United States and which are now being reported as part of a other countries, enabled local scientists to country-by-country inventory developed by conduct their own vulnerability and adapta the U.N. Environment Programme, the Or tion assessments.

Climate change is a profoundly social and political challenge that threatens the well-being, livelihood, and survival of people in communities worldwide. Too often, those who have contributed least to climate change are the most likely to suffer from its negative consequences and are often excluded from the policy discussions and decisions that affect their lives. People and Climate Change pays particular attention to the social dimensions of climate change. It closely examines people's lived experience, climate-related injustice and inequity, why some groups are more vulnerable than others, and what can be done about it--especially through greater community inclusion in policy change. The book offers a diverse range of rich, community-based examples from across the "Global North" and "Global South" (e.g., sacrificial flood zones in urban Argentina, forced relocation of United Houma tribal members in the United States, gendered water insecurities in Bangladesh and Australia) while posing social and political questions about climate change (e.g., what can be done about the unequal consequences of climate change by questioning and transforming social institutions and arrangements?). It serves as an essential resource for practitioners, policymakers, and undergraduate-/graduate-level educators of courses in environmental studies, social work, urban studies, planning, geography, sociology, and other disciplines that address matters of climate and environmental change.

This latest Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC will again form the standard reference for all those concerned with climate change and its consequences.

Climate change is one of the inescapable themes of current times. Climate change confronts society in issues as diverse as domestic and international political debate and negotiation, discussion in the media and public opinion, land management choices and decisions, and concerns about environmental, social and economic priorities now and for the future. Climate change also spans spatial, temporal and organisational scales, and has strong links with nature-society relationships, environmental dynamics, and vulnerability. Understanding the full range of possible consequences of climate change is essential for informed decision making and debate. This book provides a collection of chapters that span environmental, social and economic aspects of climate change. Together the chapters provide a diverse and contrasting series that highlights the need to analyze, review and debate climate change and its possible impacts and consequences from multiple perspectives. The book also is intended to promote discussion and debate of a more integrated, inclusive and open approach to climate change and demonstrates the value of geography in addressing climate change issues. This book was originally published as a special issue of Annals of the Association of American Geographers.

This book highlights how climate change has affected migration in the Indian subcontinent. Drawing on field research, it argues that extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, cyclones, cloudbursts as well as sea-level rise, desertification and declining crop productivity have shown higher frequency in recent times and have depleted bio-physical diversity and the capacity of the ecosystem to provide food and livelihood security. The volume shows how the socio-economically poor are worst affected in these circumstances and resort to migration to survive. The essays in the volume study the role of remittances sent by migrants to their families in environmentally fragile zones in providing an important cushion and adaptation capabilities to cope with extreme weather events. The book looks at the socio-economic and political drivers of migration, different forms of mobility, mortality and morbidity levels in the affected population, and discusses mitigation and adaption strategies. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of environment and ecology, migration and diaspora studies, development studies, sociology and social anthropology, governance and public policy, and politics.

This latest Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC will again form the standard reference for all those concerned with climate change and its consequences.