应对气候变化需以生态文明理念构建全球技术合作体系

气候变化是人类发展过程中遇到的最大全球性环境问题,也是最大的外部性问题。IPCC报告显示,实现本世纪末温度升高不超过2度的目标,需要全球经济和能源系统深度的低碳转型,并在本世纪下半叶达到温室气体的净零排放。应对气候变化因此面临着前所未有的技术创新与合作需求。2015年底达成的《巴黎协定》提出了落实技术开发与转让的长期愿景,主张对气候变化领域的技术创新给予政策和资金支持,使发展中国家在技术周期的早期阶段就能够获取必要的技术,从而为实现全球应对气候变化提供保障。然而,基于工业文明的传统技术创新与合作模式难以满足保护全球气候的技术需求。减缓与适应技术是气候变化挑战下全球命运共同体的公共财富。为保证其足够的供应,必须超越追求私人利益最大化的狭隘,基于生态文明理念构建全球应对气候变化的新型技术合作体系。其核心是:实现多赢的合作目标,遵循"生态人"的合作原则,体现协同的合作内容,基于互信的合作形式,鼓励多元主体的参与,促进合作成果的分享。中国作为新兴发展中大国,对应对气候变化技术国际合作有多元的利益需求。为有效落实《巴黎协定》,亟需以加速国际合作为契机,积极谋划中国应对气候变化技术对外合作的总体方略和具体行动,有针对性地制定与发达国家、其他发展中国家及欠发达国家间优势互补的合作计划,探索并引导"南-北-南"三方技术合作等新形式。     

Combining qualitative and quantitative understanding for exploring cross-sectoral climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in Europe

Climate change will affect all sectors of society and the environment at all scales, ranging from the continental to the national and local. Decision-makers and other interested citizens need to be able to access reliable science-based information to help them respond to the risks of climate change impacts and assess opportunities for adaptation. Participatory integrated assessment (IA) tools combine knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines, take account of the value and importance of stakeholder ‘lay insight’ and facilitate a two-way iterative process of exploration of ‘what if’s’ to enable decision-makers to test ideas and improve their understanding of the complex issues surrounding adaptation to climate change. This paper describes the conceptual design of a participatory IA tool, the CLIMSAVE IA Platform, based on a professionally facilitated stakeholder engagement process. The CLIMSAVE (climate change integrated methodology for cross-sectoral adaptation and vulnerability in Europe) Platform is a user-friendly, interactive web-based tool that allows stakeholders to assess climate change impacts and vulnerabilities for a range of sectors, including agriculture, forests, biodiversity, coasts, water resources and urban development. The linking of models for the different sectors enables stakeholders to see how their interactions could affect European landscape change. The relationship between choice, uncertainty and constraints is a key cross-cutting theme in the conduct of past participatory IA. Integrating scenario development processes with an interactive modelling platform is shown to allow the exploration of future uncertainty as a structural feature of such complex problems, encouraging stakeholders to explore adaptation choices within real-world constraints of future resource availability and environmental and institutional capacities, rather than seeking the ‘right’ answers.     

Vulnerability, Risk and Adaptation Assessment Methods in the Pacific Islands Region: past approaches, and considerations for the future

Over two decades of vulnerability assessments have shown the Pacific Islands region to be one of the regions most at risk to the adverse consequences of climate change. Pacific Island countries have shown strong leadership in characterising the challenges of climate change, both nationally and for the region as a whole, and in identifying the most appropriate responses. This paper reviews the various Vulnerability, Risk and Adaptation (VRiA) Assessment Methods and Tools that have been used across the Pacific Islands region, with an emphasis on the past two decades. The aim is to identify the approaches that are best suited to the region, and to develop a common understanding and principles that may be relevant and useful to harmonising the assessment of vulnerability and risk, and of adaptation options across the region. Even though assessments undertaken in the Pacific Islands region tend to share the common objective of reducing vulnerabilities and risks, practitioners in the Pacific are using numerous approaches, methods and tools to assess vulnerabilities and identify possible adaptation interventions. No one approach will address all needs and accommodate all capacities. Rather, several successful approaches, methods and tools are identified. The paper also identifies and assesses the approaches, methods and tools that have merit for further use, without or with further improvements. Lessons learned as well as success stories and success factors are documented. These findings are reflected in principles designed to assist harmonisation of approaches to VRiA assessment. These principles, in turn, influence the development of a proposed higher-level framework and approach for VRiA assessments. It accommodates the various approaches, methods and tools commonly used with success in the Pacific.     

Combating climate change calls for a global technological cooperation system built on the concept of ecological civilization

Climate change has been considered as the most paramount global environmental problem and the biggest externality throughout the history of human development. Accordingly, the world is facing unprecedented technological innovation and collaborative demands to deal with climate change. In the 2015 Paris Agreement, a long-term vision of technology development and transfer implementation was proposed, and policy and financial support for technological innovation in the area of climate change was advocated. These terms aim to enable developing countries to acquire the necessary technology in the early stage of the technology cycle to address climate change challenge. However, the traditional technological innovation and cooperation mode based on industrial civilization can hardly meet the technical demands of global climate protection. To ensure the continuous development and deployment of technology in a required scale and pace, a new global technical cooperation system is proposed to develop based on the philosophy of ecological civilization. The core contents of this system are supposed be as follows: to implement all-win cooperation targets, adhering to cooperation principles of Eco-man, adopt cooperation content that reflects synergy, pursue cooperation based on mutual trust, encourage participation of multiple actors, and promote sharing of cooperative outputs.     

Scenario analysis of perspective change to support climate adaptation: lessons from a pilot study on Dutch river management

Climate adaptation is a complex task surrounded by uncertainty. To support climate adaptation policies, a new scenario approach is pursued to explore possible discontinuous future developments of societal perspectives on climate adaptation issues. The scenario approach was tested for a case study on Dutch river management. In a series of scenario development workshops, a select group of stakeholders explored the perspectives on the management of the River Meuse in the past, present, and future. The process was supported by an analytical perspectives mapping tool to illustrate and analyze the development of perspectives over time. The process and analytical tools contributed to insight into the drivers of perspective change for the case study at hand. Moreover, the stakeholders highlighted the potential of the approach for water management policy for creating awareness about the plurality of perspectives and the dynamics of perspective change, monitoring perspectives and perspective change as part of a flexible policy approach, and anticipating on the occurrence of shock events. Further work is required to better represent the social dynamics of perspectives change, to better empirically ground the perspective change model, and to apply integrated water models in the scenario development process to assess water–society interactions.     

Roles of State Strategy of Adaptation to Climate Change in China

Abstract

For the adverse impacts of climate change, China government should place the problem of adaptation to climate change on the agenda. It is time to institute and implement a state adaptive strategy to reduce the adverse impacts on economy, community and people's health and life by international cooperation and our own endeavor. A state strategy of adaptation to climate change should be closely linked with other current interrelated national strategies, and they should be supplemented and improved by each other. This paper discusses the roles of the state strategy of adaptation to climate change in the state climate change integrative strategy, the environmental protection strategy, and the sustainable development strategy in China. Furthermore, it proposes the main aims of the state adaptive strategy of China.     

中国水资源管理适应气候变化的研究综述

以全球变暖为特征的气候变化已成为当今科学界、各国政府和社会公众普遍关注的最重要议题之一。气候变化对水资源管理的影响是具有重要学术价值的新兴研究方向,目前的重点研究领域主要包括:气候变化背景下水资源综合管理方式与集成研究,气候变化下水资源适应性管理机制,中国面临的水资源均衡性管理,公众参与水资源适应性管理的政策制定,对减缓措施与水资源可持续发展的认识。主要的研究方法包括:适应气候变化的定性分析方法(多尺度适应综合分析方法)、成本效益分析方法等。适应性管理是目前应对气候变化伴随的不确定性问题的有效策略,未来应在分析中国各流域水资源不确定性问题的基础上,建立气候变化情景下适应气候变化的水资源适应性管理体制机制。     

Climate change,food security,and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Multiple biophysical, political, and socioeconomic stresses interact to increase the region’s susceptibility and constrain its adaptive capacity. Climate change is commonly recognized as a major issue likely to have negative consequences on food security and livelihoods in the region. This paper reviews three bodies of scholarship that have evolved somewhat separately, yet are inherently interconnected: climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, food security, and sustainable livelihoods. The paper develops a conceptualization of the relationships among the three themes and shows how food security’s vulnerabilities are related to multiple stresses and adaptive capacities, reflecting access to assets. Food security represents one of several livelihood outcomes. The framework shows how several research paradigms relate to the issue of food security and climate change and provides a guide for empirical investigations. Recognizing these interconnections can help in the development of more effective policies and programs. The framework is applied here to synthesize findings from an array of studies in sub-Saharan Africa dealing with vulnerability to climate change, food security, and livelihoods.     

Roles of State Strategy of Adaptation to Climate Change in China

For the adverse impacts of climate change, China government should place the problem of adaptation to climate change on the agenda. It is time to institute and implement a state adaptive strategy to reduce the adverse impacts on economy, community and people＇s health and life by international cooperation and our own endeavor. A state strategy of adaptation to climate change should be closely linked with other current interrelated national strategies, and they should be supplemented and improved by each other. This paper discusses the roles of the state strategy of adaptation to climate change in the state climate change integrative strategy, the environmental protection strategy, and the sustainable development strategy in China. Furthermore, it proposes the main aims of the state adaptive strategy of China.     

Shifting drivers and static baselines in environmental governance: challenges for improving and proving water quality outcomes

Understanding the conditions that enable or constrain success in environmental governance is crucial for developing effective interventions and adapting approaches. Efforts to achieve and assess success in environmental quality improvement are often impeded by changes in conditions that drive outcomes but lie outside the scope of intervention and monitoring. We document how long-term changes in land use, agriculture, and climate act as non-stationary, shifting drivers of change that combine to render water quality management interventions less effective and increasingly difficult to assess. Focusing on the Yahara River watershed of south-central Wisconsin, USA, we ask how baselines influence program modeling, monitoring, and evaluation, as well as adaptation in governance approach. Through historical trend, GIS, and policy and qualitative data analyses, we find that changes in long-term land use and precipitation pattern dynamics exert tremendous pressure on water quality outcomes but are not captured in snapshot baseline assessments used in management planning or evaluation. Specifically, agricultural sector change related to the intensification of milk and manure production is increasingly challenging to address through best management practices, and flashier precipitation associated with climate change makes it difficult to achieve goals and establish a causal connection between management interventions and outcomes. Analysis of shifting drivers demonstrates challenges facing environmental governance in the context of climatic and social–ecological change. We suggest that goal setting, program design, and evaluation incorporate new modes of analysis that address slowly changing and external determinants of success.     

气候变化研究的中国知识贡献及其影响局限

气候变化知识的不断深化和积累是全球气候治理的基础。政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)邀请全球有代表性的科学家,通过分析评估国际上正式发表的文献,提供关于全球气候变化科学进展的最新认识结论。本文基于文献计量学,通过统计中国在气候变化十大重要领域的科技成果产出量和影响力、中国政府和科学家对IPCC评估报告的参与以及中国大陆引文在IPCC第五次评估报告中的贡献,分析了中国对全球气候变化知识的贡献与局限。结果表明:近十年来,中国在气候变化大多数领域的科技成果产出量已居全球第二或第三位,但在海洋与气候变化、适应气候变化和全球气候治理领域的国际论文量明显落后;与美国和英国相比,中国气候变化科技成果的各类影响力指标明显偏低;中国对IPCC评估报告的参与度和影响力在不断提升,中国积极组织相关机构和专家参与IPCC评估工作,对全球气候治理起到了重要的科学支撑作用;但从IPCC第五次评估报告中国大陆引文的角度看,中国贡献仍整体偏弱,中国大陆引文的贡献呈领域分布不均衡,优势领域少,成果影响面窄的特点。与科学基础领域相比,中国在影响和适应、减缓和国际合作领域的科学贡献更弱,对全球视角关注不够,但中国大陆引文总体的国际科学合作活跃度较高。后巴黎时代,中国需要更加面向国家需求、气候公约和《巴黎协定》目标以及国际气候变化科技前沿,加强全球视野和原始创新,突出中国优势和特色,使气候变化的中国研究成果更多支撑全球气候治理进程的推进。     

Climate change perceptions and adaptations of smallholder farmers in Eastern Kenya

Several studies have indicated the importance of understanding farmers’ perceptions of risks associated with climate change, the adaptation strategies they employ and factors that affect adaptive capacity. This study aimed to understand smallholder farmers’ perceptions of climate change, adaptation strategies and adaptive capacity in the semiarid Matungulu Sub-County, Eastern Kenya. A participatory approach, using three climate roundtables, was conducted to enhance community participation and understanding of climate change issues. The study showed that farmers’ perceptions concerning climate change are influenced by past experiences of weather extremes that have affected production levels and farm incomes. The farmers have made strategic responses to manage risks posed by climate change. However, they face several challenges in adaptation such as inadequate technical knowledge, low financial resources and inadequate land size. Further, the study showed that climate roundtables is a successful participatory approach that can give effective insights for smallholder farmers to understand agricultural vulnerability, climate change and their adaptation strategies.     

Costs and benefits of adapting spatial planning to climate change: lessons learned from a large-scale urban development project in the Netherlands

Climate change increases the vulnerability of low-lying coastal areas. Careful spatial planning can reduce this vulnerability, provided that decision-makers have insight into the costs and benefits of adaptation options. This paper addresses the question which adaptation options are suitable, from an economic perspective, to adapt spatial planning to climate change at a regional scale. We apply social cost–benefit analysis to assess the net benefits of adaptation options that deal with the impacts of climate change-induced extreme events. From the methods applied and results obtained, we also aim at learning lessons for assessing climate adaptation options. The case study area, the Zuidplaspolder, is a large-scale urban development project in the Netherlands. The costs as well as the primary and secondary benefits of adaptation options relating to spatial planning (e.g. flood-proof housing and adjusted infrastructure) are identified and where possible quantified. Our results show that three adaptation options are not efficient investments, as the investment costs exceed the benefits of avoided damages. When we focus on ‘climate proofing’ the total area of the Zuidplaspolder, when the costs and benefits of all the presented adaptation options are considered together, the total package has a positive net present value. The study shows that it is possible to anticipate climate change impacts and assess the costs and benefits of adjusting spatial planning. We have learned that scenario studies provide a useful tool but that decision-making under climate change uncertainty also requires insight into the probabilities of occurrence of weather extremes in the future.     

Collaborative governance for climate change adaptation in Canada: experimenting with adaptive co-management

The search for strategies to address ‘super wicked problems’ such as climate change is gaining urgency, and a collaborative governance approach, and adaptive co-management in particular, is increasingly recognized as one such strategy. However, the conditions for adaptive co-management to emerge and the resulting network structures and relational patterns remain unclear in the literature. To address these identified needs, this study examines social relationships from a network perspective while initiating a collaborative multiactor initiative aimed to develop into adaptive co-management for climate change adaptation, an action research project undertaken in the Niagara region of Canada. The project spanned 1 year, and a longitudinal analysis of participants’ networks and level of participation in the process was performed. Evidence of support for climate change adaptation from the process included the development of deliberative and adaptive responses to opportunities presented to the group and the development of a strong subgroup of participants where decision-making was centered. However, the complexity of the challenge of addressing climate change, funding constraints, competing initiatives, and the lack of common views among participants may have contributed to the group, highlighting the finding that beneficial network structural features and relational patterns are necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of an adaptive co-management process. The context of climate change adaptation may require a different social network structure and processes than other contexts for adaptive co-management to occur, and there may be limitations to adaptive co-management for dealing with super wicked problems.     

Adaptation planning and the use of climate change projections in local government in England and Germany

Planning for adaptation to climate change is often regarded to be a local imperative and considered to be more effective if grounded on a solid evidence base and recognisant of relevant climate projections. Research has already documented some of the challenges of making climate information usable in decision-making but has not yet sufficiently reflected on the role of the wider institutional and regulatory context. This article examines the impact of the external institutional context on the use and usability of climate projections in local government through an analysis of 44 planning and climate change (adaptation) documents and 54 semi-structured interviews with planners in England and Germany conducted between July 2013 and May 2014. We show that there is little demand for climate projections in local adaptation planning in either country due to existing policy, legal and regulatory frameworks. Local government in England has not only experienced a decline in use of climate projections, but also the waning of the climate change adaptation agenda more widely, amidst changes in the planning and regulatory framework and severe budget cuts. In Germany, spatial planning makes substantial use of past and present climate data, but the strictly regulated nature of planning prevents the use of climate projections, due to their inherent uncertainties. Findings from the two countries highlight that if we are to better understand the usability of climate projections, we need to be more aware of the institutional context within which planning decisions are made. Otherwise we run the risk of continuing to provide tools and information that are of limited use within their intended context.     

Accountability in climate change governance and Caribbean SIDS

The good governance of institutions and regimes requires accountability suited to the particular context of each institution and regime. The paper examines the nature of accountability in climate change governance using the Caribbean region as a case study. In doing so, the paper makes two original contributions. First, using insights from the environmental governance literature, it presents a conceptual framework that categorises the types (levels, relationships and mechanisms) of accountability in governance that can be used to test accountability. The accountability framework comprises two levels (internal/external accountability); four relationships (normative, relational, decision and behavioural); and four mechanisms or processes through which accountability can be exercised (certification, monitoring, participation by stakeholders in the overseeing of projects and self-reporting). Second, through an analysis of survey and interview responses from Caribbean climate change experts, it reports on the nature of accountability in climate change governance in the context of Caribbean Small Island Developing States. To do this, first it identifies the actors involved in Caribbean climate governance at the regional and national scales. Then, using the framework, it examines which levels, relationships and processes exist within and between climate governance regional institutions, international partners, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and the private sector for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. The paper draws two main conclusions: first, generally actors valued accountability as a good governance norm. Secondly, limited resources and the perception that using the accountability mechanisms will retard policy implementation led to low levels of accountability in practice. Finally, the study examined how accountability can be enhanced in the climate change sector by ensuring that each of the elements of the framework is operationalised for both state and non-state climate change projects.     

适应气候变化的分析框架及政策涵义

适应气候变化与发展议题密切相关,这也使得适应成为一个过于宽泛的命题,影响了对适应内涵的理解。首先,本文基于国内外对适应问题的探讨,提出了适应气候变化的基本分析框架,即基于不同发展阶段的适应需求,区分增量型适应和发展型适应,并通过工程性适应、技术性适应和制度性适应三种适应手段增强适应能力。增量型适应是指在系统现有基础上考虑新增风险所需的增量投入,这种适应所针对的是发展需求基本得到满足,仅仅需要应对新增的气候风险所需的适应活动;发展型适应是指由于发展水平滞后,使得系统应对常规风险的能力和投入不足,需要协同考虑发展需求及新增的气候风险。其次,分析了适应的四个基本步骤,即:①评估气候风险及脆弱性;②甄别各种可能的适应对策;③选择可行的适应措施;④推荐"成功"的适应行动。还介绍了相应的社会经济分析方法,如脆弱性评估、社会经济影响评估、适应的成本效益分析等。最后,基于中国适应气候变化的基本需求及优先领域,提出了相应的政策建议,如开发农业适应技术、加强流域综合治理、开展健康风险监测、实施灾害保险计划等。     

Adapting to climate change: an integrated biophysical and economic assessment for Mozambique

Mozambique, like many African countries, is already highly susceptible to climate variability and extreme weather events. Climate change threatens to heighten this vulnerability. In order to evaluate potential impacts and adaptation options for Mozambique, we develop an integrated modeling framework that translates atmospheric changes from general circulation model projections into biophysical outcomes via detailed hydrologic, crop, hydropower and infrastructure models. These sector models simulate a historical baseline and four extreme climate change scenarios. Sector results are then passed down to a dynamic computable general equilibrium model, which is used to estimate economy-wide impacts on national welfare, as well as the total cost of damages caused by climate change. Potential damages without changes in policy are significant; our discounted estimates range from US$ 2.3 to US $7.4 billion during 2003?C2050. Our analysis identifies improved road design and agricultural sector investments as key ??no-regret?? adaptation measures, alongside intensified efforts to develop a more flexible and resilient society. Our findings also support the need for cooperative river basin management and the regional coordination of adaptation strategies.     

Climate Change Governance in China: A Case Study

Climate change is treated in China as an issue related closely to the national strategy for sustainable development as well as an issue in international collaboration in environment. The duality of the issue makes the climate change policy often waver between domestic and international emphases. In the past one and a half decades, the central government emphasized mostly on responding to international pressure by participating in negotiations in international treaties. However, the nation, as well as the world, will probably benefit more by taking a more proactive attitude towards mitigation and adaptation to climate change. This paper described the current governance structure for climate change management in China and made concrete recommendations for its improvement. The most urgent recommendation is to improve the cooperation of current National Coordination Committee on Climate Change with authority for policy-making and to oversee climate change.     

适应气候变化的认知与政策评价

气候变化已成为不争的事实.减缓和适应是人类应对气候变化的两类主要措施,在气候变化减缓行动难以很快奏效的情形下,采取具有针对性的适应战略已经成为世界各国更为紧迫的选择.一个有效的适应行动机制需要全社会的广泛参与,而公众和决策层对气候变化的认知是适应行动机制的形成基础.本文以银川阅海湿地适应气候变化能力建设为研究案例,从政府部门和社会公众两个层次进行讨论,比较其对气候变化的认知程度及其对适应措施的评价和需求,以期对适应气候变化策略的认知基础研究提供依据.研究结果表明,无论社会公众和决策层,适应气候变化的意识基础均已基本形成,但公众的认知基础要弱于决策层,并且在认知的准确程度上低于决策层;公众和决策层对气候变化适应政策的实施都做出了正面的评价,但决策层的评价普遍显著高于公众;对于适应政策的需求,公众的政策需求主要集中在公共服务方面,而决策层的适应策略是多方位的,也包括通过限制个人行为来获得公共利益.