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Social strategies for prevention and adaptation = Estrategias sociales de prevención y adaptación
This document contains 13 case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and its objective is to recuperate ancestral and vernacular knowledge culturally developed and associated with risk prevention in face of recurrent hydro-meteorological hazards, like floods.
Societies have imagined, created, constructed, rejected and returned to imagine, create and construct diverse strategies that allow them to prevent the effects related to the imminent presence of a natural hazard. These processes are associated and are the result of the conditions in which a certain society d ...
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Fragile States 2013: Resource flows and trends in fragile states
By 2015, half of the world’s people living on less than USD 1.25 a day will be in fragile states. While poverty has decreased globally, progress on Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 is slower in fragile states than in other developing countries. Fragile states are also off-track to meet the rest of the MDGs by 2015.
Fragile situations became a central concern of the international development and security agenda in the 1990s. Since then, powerful forces have been influencing the causes and manifestations of fragility, including the combination of democratic aspirations, new te ...
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Disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change: experience from German development cooperation
German Government, 2012This publication aims to pinpoint commonalities between disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change. It describes the experience gathered from German development cooperation’s work in seven countries, which we see as a stimulus to aim for more effective and efficient interaction between the two fields and to work towards a significant reduction of risk in our partner countries by implementing risk management measures adapted to the respective conditions.
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Climate Security Report
ASP, 2012One of the most significant challenges to the global security system in the 21st Century will be a changing climate; the effects of these changes are already being felt all over the world. Climate change poses a clear and present danger to the United States through its effects on our global allies as well as its direct effects on our agriculture, infrastructure, economy and public health.
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Climate-change mitigation and adaptation in small island developing states: the case of rainwater harvesting in Jamaica: In Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, vol. 8, issue 2 (Summer 2012)
Waite Marilyn - 2012This essay looks at climate change impacts on small island developing states (SIDS). It argues that climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies must be developed to cope with changes such as shifting precipitation patterns, increasing evapotranspiration and expanding saline intrusion into coastal aquifers and wells. Using Jamaica as a case study, the paper examines the utility of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in SIDS and answers questions regarding: 1) how much rainwater can be harvested on the island given present and future precipitation patterns; and 2) how much can RWH realistically c ...
Climate ExChange
Climate ExChange is a fully illustrated 250-page book with over 100 authors relating their work in weather, climate and water services at international, regional, national and local levels. The commentaries draw upon experiences around the world reflecting how people are using climate information to improve their lives. Climate ExChange reflects the progress and challenges in these fields, highlighting good practices in a wide variety of societies and disciplines.
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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 ...
An exploration of the link between development, economic growth, and natural risk
This paper investigates the link between development, economic growth, and the economic losses from natural disasters in a general analytical framework, with an application to hurricane flood risks in New Orleans. It concludes that where capital accumulates through increased density of capital at risk in a given area, and the costs of protection therefore increase more slowly than capital at risk, (i) protection improves over time and the probability of disaster occurrence decreases; (ii) capital at risk -- and thus economic losses in case of disaster -- increases faster than economic growth; ...
Tortillas on the roaster: Central American maize-bean systems and the changing climate
This study predicts the potential impacts that climate change will have on the production of maize and beans, the two most important food crops in Central America. Using state-of-the-art climate models and GIS tools, agronomic research and socio-economic analyses, it makes recommendations to climate change adaptation strategies tailored to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The results of the study are intended to fill a critical gap in the knowledge of the impacts of climate change on maize/bean production in Central America, in order for stakeholders to shift from a position of ...
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CGIAR Working paper, 23. Impacts of climate change on the agricultural and aquatic systems and natural resources within the CGIAR’s mandate
CCAFS, 2012The document attempts to distil what is currently known about the likely impacts of climate change on the commodities and natural resources that comprise the mandate of CGIAR and its 15 Centres. It was designed as one background document for a review carried out by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) at the behest of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) on what is known about the likely effects of climate change on food security and nutrition, with a focus on the most affected and vulnerable regions and populations. A total of 25 summaries covering 22 ...
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Climate change, water stress, conflict and migration
UNESCO, 2012This collection of papers, presented at the symposium ‘Climate change, water stress, conflict and migration’ held on 21 September 2011 in the Netherlands, highlight how climate change, water stress and other environmental problems threaten human security. For example, the paper by Muniruzzaman ilustrates how water ignores political and community boundaries, and how decisions in one place can significantly affect water use elsewhere. India’s plans to build more dams could, for instance, have devastating affects for Pakistan’s agricultural productivity which is highly dependent on water supply f ...
Climate vulnerability monitor
DARA, 2012The Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2nd Edition reveals that climate change has already held back global development and inaction is a leading global cause of death. Harm is most acute for poor and vulnerable groups but no country is spared either the costs of inaction or the benefits of an alternative path.
Commissioned by the world’s most vulnerable countries and backed by high-level and technical panels, the new Monitor estimates human and economic impacts of climate change and the carbon economy for 184 countries in 2010 and 2030, across 34 indicators.
Building urban resilience to climate change: what works where, and why
This document reports on a resilience-building curriculum that includes laying the groundwork for addressing climate change and climate resilience, conducting a climate change vulnerability and risk assessment, and using this assessment and other materials to prepare an initial resilience strategy, developed in 15 cities in 5 countries — Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Thailand and the United States.
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Climate change adaptation in Grenada: water resources, coastal ecosystems and renewable energy
This study attempts to encourage practical implementation of climate change adaptation programmes and their integration into national plans for sustainable development. It argues that the assessment process must evolve over time to fit continuously changing climate change impacts, conditions, priorities and national sustainable development criteria. The publication summarises initial analysis, findings and proposals of three critical areas for Grenada: water resources, costal ecosystems and renewable energy systems. The study concludes with a number of recommendations. For example, in terms of ...
Managing drought risk on the ranch: a planning guide for great plains ranchers
National Drought Mitigation Center ; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), 2012This guide is designed to help rangeland managers to better prepare for and manage drought. For ranchers in the United States, drought can be defined as too little soil moisture to meet the needs of dominant forage species during their rapid growth windows. The longer you wait to make decisions, the fewer options you will have available to you and producers who focus on increasing flexibility and maximizing the health of resources are more likely to find solutions during drought that minimize painful decisions with limited resources. Accordingly, having a plan will help producers get through a ...
Capturing Recent Climate Variations in the Extreme Southern Caribbean with Projections for the Near and Medium Terms: A Downscaling Approach for Trinidad and Tobago
To mitigate adverse effects of future extremes in climate in the extreme southern Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago require a sound understanding of the science of the climate, along with realistic and region specific projection outputs; in order that an effective response can be provided by respective regions. As a step towards achieving this, downscaling GCM outputs through RCMs is useful at the local and regional scales because it can provide finer detailed and more user friendly output required for planning. Moreover, it is an avenue through which more profound understanding of the ...
FONDEN: Mexico’s natural disaster fund – A review
This report aims to share Mexico’s considerable achievements on financial management of natural disasters with other governments. The report outlines the evolution of FONDEN to date and highlights aspects of particular bearing and applicability to other disaster-prone countries. The report is of particular relevance to middle-income countries but also contains important messages for both high- and low-income countries. It is hoped that this report will contribute to the dialogue on financial disaster risk management and inspire innovation elsewhere, leading to the improved financial management ...
Perspectivas de investigación y acción frente al cambio climático en Latinoamérica
Briones Fernando; Red de Estudios Sociales en Prevención de Desastres en América (LA RED) - LA RED, 2012This report explores practical approaches to building urban resilience, focusing on tools and methodologies that can facilitate the use of risk information in public infrastructure investment and urban management decisions as integral elements of reducing disaster and climate risks. It demonstrates that risk-based methodology focused on building urban resilience can be implemented within a range of contexts, with risk assessments as crucial tools for decision-makers. It encourages national, local and city level governments to invest in geospatial risk information, as well as making risk inform ...
Sea level rise and the Freely Associated States: addressing environmental migration under the compacts of free association
Dema Briana - Columbia Law School, 2012This paper is concerned with rising sea levels that have the potential to submerge coastal regions and displace millions of people. It reports on how current international legal frameworks applicable to refugees and immigrants will offer little protection to citizens of Freely Associated States (FAS) displaced by rising sea levels. The FAS are sovereign nations (Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau) that have negotiated Compacts of Free Association with the United States, under which the U.S. provides the states with certain types of assistance. It addresses how current refugee and immigrat ...
Crisis response and disaster resilience 2030: forging strategic action in an age of uncertainty
This progress report addresses the Strategic Foresight Initiative (SFI), which is a transformative, community-wide effort in the United States to create an enduring foresight capability intended to advance strategic planning and thinking about the future. SFI also seeks to prepare the community for emerging challenges and for the key opportunities presented by the world's changing environment. This report is concerned about a future which is highly uncertain, noting that the complexity of this uncertainty will test the ability of the emergency management community to execute its mission. It is ...
Disaster risk reduction in school curricula: case studies from thirty countries
Selby David; Kagawa Fumiyo; United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); et al. - UNESCO, 2012This publication captures key national experiences in the integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the curriculum, identifying good practice, noting issues addressed or still lacking, and reviewing learning outcomes. The study researched DRR related curriculum development and integration, pedagogy, student assessment, teacher professional development and guidance, learning outcomes and policy development, planning and implementation aspects covering thirty countries.
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Annual disaster statistical review 2011: the numbers and trends
In 2011, 332 natural disasters1 were registered, less than the average annual disaster frequency observed from 2001 to 2010 (384). However, the human and economic impacts of the disasters in 2011 were massive. Natural disasters killed a total of 30 773 people and caused 244.7 million victims worldwide (see Figure 1). Economic damages from natural disasters were the highest ever registered, with an estimated US$ 366.1 billion [...]
Putting resilience at the heart of development: investing in prevention and resilient recovery
UNDP, 2012This brochure illustrates lessons and challenges learned from UNDP activities in disaster risk reduction (DRR), recovery and reconstruction. Its goal is to further the understanding of the role of UN agencies, including the UNDP, and the role of the international community in DRR. It also discusses the government of Japan's role as a strong partner with UNDP in DRR and provides other country examples. Issues addressed: (i) reducing the impact of disaster through prevention measures; (ii) emergency response and recovery from disasters; (iii) gender equality and the empowerment of women in disas ...
Climate change education for sustainable development in Small Island Developing States : report and recommendations
UNESCO, 2012This report summarizes the key outcomes of a three-day meeting which discussed and reflected on the challenges that climate change poses to education systems in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and on the role that education must play in adaptation to climate change. Acknowledging that SIDS are already confronted with the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels and changes in weather and climate extremes such as droughts, floods and tropical cyclones/hurricanes, it considers the need for them to reduce their vulnerability to climate change by strengthening their adaptive c ...
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