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Strengthening responses to climate variability in South Asia
This executive summary is based on the findings from desk and field research conducted by International Alert and the South Asia Network for Security and Climate Change (SANSaC) in nine sub-national locations across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The research looks at the root causes of vulnerability and non-adaptation in fragile contexts and at the opportunities for strengthening resilience to combined risks of climate change and conflict. The academic literature on climate change and security is still characterised by the drive to establish or refute direct causality between climate ...
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Available online: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ClimateChange_2013_Disc [...]
S. Mitra ; J. Vivekana ; Climate and Development Knowledge Network
Published by: CDKN ; 2013This executive summary is based on the findings from desk and field research conducted by International Alert and the South Asia Network for Security and Climate Change (SANSaC) in nine sub-national locations across Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. The research looks at the root causes of vulnerability and non-adaptation in fragile contexts and at the opportunities for strengthening resilience to combined risks of climate change and conflict. The academic literature on climate change and security is still characterised by the drive to establish or refute direct causality between climate change and conflict as two independent variables. Little attention is given to the complex reasons why climate change makes it harder for states to deal with the various drivers which underlie conflict, or to forms of insecurity other than the incidence of armed conflict.
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Climate ; Climate change ; Adaptation ; Conflict ; Poverty and Poverty reduction ; Region II - Asia
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Latin American experience in combining Disaster Risk Management with poverty reduction
Watanabe Masahiro - ELLA, 2013Extreme weather events have a direct impact on households' welfare, and in particular, the poorest, most socially excluded populations. Increasing frequency and intensity of disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding, is closely linked to the growing vulnerability of households and communities. Thus, the impacts of extreme events on poverty, income, consumption, health and education present a serious challenge to the well-being of these populations, and also produce negative long-term consequences for economic and social development across the region. In order to reduce the impact ...
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Available online: http://ella.practicalaction.org/sites/default/files/130218_ENV_DisRisManCit_BRIE [...]
Published by: ELLA ; 2013
Extreme weather events have a direct impact on households' welfare, and in particular, the poorest, most socially excluded populations. Increasing frequency and intensity of disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding, is closely linked to the growing vulnerability of households and communities. Thus, the impacts of extreme events on poverty, income, consumption, health and education present a serious challenge to the well-being of these populations, and also produce negative long-term consequences for economic and social development across the region. In order to reduce the impacts of disasters on existing economic and social disparities, Latin American countries are implementing a range of initiatives that combine Disaster Risk Management (DRM) approaches with poverty reduction measures, social inclusion and the creation of jobs and productive activities. This Brief presents some key experiences from across the region, with a focus on urban governance, public investment systems and innovative insurance mechanisms. The Brief then describes the main contextual factors that explain why Latin American countries have made progress in these areas, as well as on-going challenges and key lessons that may be useful for other regions.
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Natural hazards ; Disaster Risk Management (DRM) ; Poverty and Poverty reduction ; Case/ Case study ; Latin America ; Region IV - North America, Central America and the Caribbean ; Region III - South America
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Making cities resilient assessment: Dar es Salaam
This report, part of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign by UNISDR, provides an in-depth analysis showing how the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is resilient to disasters. The information was generated by the city council using the HFA-LGSAT self-assessment tool, which uses a ‘ten essentials’ thematic framework focused on improving cities disaster resilience. The paper begins with the background and aims of the study, and an overall assessment of the city council. A literature review then explores the geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic profiles of the city, as well as the potential ...
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Available online: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/MCR%20resilience%20asse [...]
Oscar Ebalu ; United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
Published by: UN/ISDR ; 2012This report, part of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign by UNISDR, provides an in-depth analysis showing how the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is resilient to disasters. The information was generated by the city council using the HFA-LGSAT self-assessment tool, which uses a ‘ten essentials’ thematic framework focused on improving cities disaster resilience. The paper begins with the background and aims of the study, and an overall assessment of the city council. A literature review then explores the geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic profiles of the city, as well as the potential impacts of climate change. The methodology for the collection of data on resilience is provided, followed by the data itself and the subsequent analysis. The paper finishes with a summary of study’s conclusions and recommendations: (1) There is no institutional framework in place at the local government level dedicated to DRR, and the existing national disaster committee lacks capacity. (2) The city council lacks any form of disaster database to track loss and vulnerability, though there are organisations within Der es Salaam that have this data available. (3) Drainage represents the biggest challenge; major upgrades are required to reduce flood risk, a project that is already in planning stages. Additionally, unplanned settlements are creating concerns regarding waste management. (4) A small number of schools constructed on the flood riverine areas are still affected by flooding, but the council lack the necessary resources to sustain adequate monitoring. (5) A communication strategy is required to enforce suitable building codes, and disaster awareness training must be scaled up. (6) Tsunami protection is diminishing due to continued destruction of mangroves for house building and charcoal burning. (7) Work has begun on establishing an emergency centre to address the lack of early warning systems in Dar es Salaam. (8) Recovery and reconstruction capacity is inadequate; immediate relief funds can be accessed from national government, but community organisations play the key-role long-term. (9) A consultative and holistic approach should be taken to improve DRR technical skills within the council itself.
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Climate change ; Urban zone management ; Poverty and Poverty reduction ; United Republic of Tanzania
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The poverty and welfare impacts of climate change quantifying the effects, identifying the adaptation strategies
Although poverty remains widespread in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, substantial progress has been made especially in the past three decades. Nevertheless, this report stresses that climate change is likely to reduce agricultural productivity, which will directly affect poor people's livelihood assets including health, access to water and other natural resources, homes and infrastructure. Increasing climatic variability will make poor households even more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, which could in turn exacerbate the incidence, severity and persistence of poverty in developi ...
The poverty and welfare impacts of climate change quantifying the effects, identifying the adaptation strategies
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Available online: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/9384/714510PUB097800C [...]
Published by: World Bank ; 2012
Although poverty remains widespread in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, substantial progress has been made especially in the past three decades. Nevertheless, this report stresses that climate change is likely to reduce agricultural productivity, which will directly affect poor people's livelihood assets including health, access to water and other natural resources, homes and infrastructure. Increasing climatic variability will make poor households even more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, which could in turn exacerbate the incidence, severity and persistence of poverty in developing countries. The report surveys the research terrain concerning the effects of climate change on poverty looking closely at vulnerable rural populations in Indonesia and Mexico, where weather shocks have measurable short term, if not immediate, effects on rural livelihoods. The report highlights how the low-income farmers of Indonesia and Mexico are at the human forefront of climate change.
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Climate ; Climate change ; Agroclimatology ; Poverty and Poverty reduction ; Social protection and welfare ; Case/ Case study ; Indonesia ; Mexico ; Developing countries
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Disaster risk and poverty trends in Jordan, Syria, Yemen: key findings and policy recommendations
UN/ISDR, 2012This paper discusses a project in the Arab region aimed at enabling national and regional institutions to develop system wide capacities to monitor, archive and disseminate data on key hazards and vulnerabilities, and periodically assess emerging risk such as national poverty trends. It shows that systematically recording data on disaster loss represents a low cost, high impact strategy for visualizing risk patterns and trends over space and time. This paper focuses on the findings of national disaster loss databases in three of the project's pilot countries: Jordan, Syria, and Yemen.
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Available online: http://www.preventionweb.net/files/27853_arabriskpovertypolicynotejuly2012.pdf
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
Published by: UN/ISDR ; 2012This paper discusses a project in the Arab region aimed at enabling national and regional institutions to develop system wide capacities to monitor, archive and disseminate data on key hazards and vulnerabilities, and periodically assess emerging risk such as national poverty trends. It shows that systematically recording data on disaster loss represents a low cost, high impact strategy for visualizing risk patterns and trends over space and time. This paper focuses on the findings of national disaster loss databases in three of the project's pilot countries: Jordan, Syria, and Yemen.
Language(s): English
Format: Digital (Free)Tags: Capacity development ; Information management ; Natural hazards ; Poverty and Poverty reduction ; Yemen ; Syrian Arab Republic ; Jordan
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Bangladesh: a sustainable and disaster resilient future
This document addresses how people in disaster prone areas of Bangladesh are at risk to lose their lives, land, and livelihoods due to floods, cyclones, earthquakes and drought, and how sustainable development and effective risk reduction can help prevent these risks. It also discusses how disasters in Bangladesh hamper the country's long-term ability to effectively tackle poverty. The document acknowledges the growing awareness among citizens that disaster risk reduction (DRR) is necessary to assist vulnerable communities; and that there needs to be a coordinated effort to undertake intensive ...
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Municipal ICT Capacity and its Impact on the Climate-Change Affected Urban Poor: the case of Mozambique
World Bank, 2012
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Climate change, disaster risk, and the urban poor: cities building resilience for a changing world
Baker Judy L. - World Bank, 2012This study study examines the inter linkages between climate change, disaster risk, and the urban poor. This study calls on cities to take a lead role in proactively addressing the risks of climate change and natural hazards at the local level, with a focus on populations at highest risk. It suggests a number of actions that cities can take to build resilience, beginning with mainstreaming pro-poor risk reduction policies into urban planning and management.
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Working towards a Balanced and Inclusive Green Economy: a United Nations System-wide Perspective
United Nations, 2011The EMG’s Issue Management Group on Green Economy was tasked to prepare a report to assess how the United Nations system could coherently support countries in transitioning to a green economy. The report is expected to facilitate a common understanding of the green economy approach and the measures required for the transition. The report is also envisioned to contribute to the preparatory process for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD or Rio+20) where “the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication” is one of the two themes ...
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Too little too late: Welfare impacts of rainfall shocks in rural Indonesia
The authors use regression analysis to assess the potential welfare impact of rainfall shocks in rural Indonesia. In particular, they consider two shocks: (i) a delay in the onset of monsoon and (ii) a significant shortfall in the amount of rain in the 90 day post-onset period. Focusing on households with family farm businesses, the analysis finds that a delay in the monsoon onset does not have a significant impact on the welfare of rice farmers. However, rice farm households located in areas exposed to low rainfall following the monsoon are negatively affected. Rice farm households appear to ...
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The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011 : how does international price volatility affect domestic economies and food security?
FAO, 2011This year’s report focuses on the costs of food price volatility, as well as the dangers and opportunities presented by high food prices. Climate change and an increased frequency of weather shocks, increased linkages between energy and agricultural markets due to growing demand for biofuels, and increased financialization of food and agricultural commodities all suggest that price volatility is here to stay. The report describes the effects of price volatility on food security and presents policy options to reduce volatility in a cost-effective manner and to manage it when it cannot be avoide ...
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Building Resilience, the future for rural livelihoods in the face of climate change : (Cambodia Human Development Report 2011)
UNDP, 2011The Cambodia Human Development Report is about people’s well-being. This is an in-depth, national policy analysis document. This report will inform Cambodia’s responses to the development challenges of climate change at all levels, changing people’s perceptions of what this will mean for their futures.
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Water for Food Innovative water management technologies for food security and poverty alleviation
UNCTAD, 2011This series of publications seeks to contribute to exploring current issues in science, technology and innovation,
with particular emphasis on their impact on developing countries
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Distributional implications of climate change in India
Global warming is expected to heavily impact agriculture, the dominant source of livelihood for the world's poor. Yet, little is known about the distributional implications of climate change at the sub-national level. Using a simple comparative statics framework, this paper analyzes how changes in the prices of land, labor, and food induced by modest temperature increases over the next three decades will affect household-level welfare in India. The authors predict a substantial fall in agricultural productivity, even allowing for farmer adaptation. Yet, this decline will not translate into a s ...
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The poverty impacts of climate change : a review of the evidence
Climate change is believed to represent a serious challenge to poverty reduction efforts around the globe. This paper conducts an up-to-date review of three main strands of the literature analyzing the poverty impacts of climate change : (i) economy-wide growth models incorporating climate change impacts to work out consistent scenarios for how climate change might affect the path of poverty over the next decades; (ii) studies focusing on the poverty impacts of climate change in the agricultural sector; and (iii) studies exploring how past climate variability impacts poverty. The analysis find ...
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