气候变化移民:极端气候事件与适应——基于对2010年西南特大干旱农村人口迁移的调查

国际上对气候因素引致人口迁移的直接关联性和重要程度一直存在争议.2010年我国西南地区遭受的特大千旱给探索极端气候事件和气候变化移民之间的复杂关系提供了研究背景.在此特大干旱影晌下,当地农村居民是否、以及怎样采用迁移的方式来应对?本文以2010年8-9月在受灾严重的云南省昆明市寻甸县所进行的田野调查为基础,揭示了特大干旱背景下当地农村人口的迁移行为及特征.调研结果表明在所调查的村组并未因此极端气候事件而引起大规模的气候变化移民活动,无论是暂时的还是永久的.为了解释灾后当地农村人口的迁移选择,本文引入“气候变化一人口迁移响应”的基本理论框架模型,考虑公共和私人两个层面的作用,对当地政府、村集体和农户自身的灾后适应行为进行深入分析和效果评价.结果表明在公共层面的各类帮扶和救助下,农户自身亦采取了多样化的适应措施,两个层面适应行为的共同作用缓解了特大干旱给农户生计带来的压力,使得农户家庭成员的迁移并不成为必须的选择.     

中国在气候变化谈判资金机制演变进程中的挑战及应对

气候变化是当今人类社会面临的最严峻的全球性环境挑战之一,气候变化谈判关乎各国在气候秩序中的权力与义务,涉及到各国经济发展的根本利益,已经成为国际政治博弈的新舞台.根据联合国气候变化框架公约和巴厘路线图精神,发达国家应承担起历史责任,向发展中国家提供新的、额外的、可持续的、可预测的资金支持,帮助其应对气候变化的不利影响.但是,由于发达国家缺乏履行公约义务的政治诚意,长期以来在资金问题上同发展中国家展开了艰苦的斗争.哥本哈根会议后,全球应对气候变化资金呈现出资金来源多样化,资金规模逐渐缩水,资金治理机制对发达国家出资约束力近一步降低的趋势.各利益集团围绕资金机制谈判展开激烈博弈,欧盟与美国正在逐步突破“共同但有区别的责任”原则,争夺气候变化谈判领导权并力图将我国拉入出资国之列,发展中国家阵营逐步分化为“基础四国”、“小岛屿国家”、“最不发达国家”等,保持共同立场难度日渐增大.尽管绿色气候基金在德班会议后正式启动,若无资金注入,也只能为未来资金机制谈判带来不确定性.面对上述形势,我国应坚持公约基本原则,坚持发展中国家定位,加强综合研究及前瞻性判断,以积极的姿态和务实的态度参与应对气候变化的国际谈判,以争取自身的发展权益,维护国家核心利益.同时,探索在当前发展阶段下发展低碳经济和建立低碳社会的路线图,不断提高减缓和适应气候变化的能力,实现自觉减排,为全球应对气候变化做出积极贡献.     

Climate Change in Southern and Eastern Africa During the Past Millennium and its Implications for Societal Development

Climatic records from equatorial eastern Africa and subtropical southern Africa have shown that both temperature and the amount of rainfall have varied over the past millennium. Moreover, the rainfall pattern in these regions varied inversely over long periods of time. Droughts started abruptly, were of multi-decadal to multi-centennial length and the changes in the hydrological budget were of large amplitude. Changing water resources in semi-arid regions clearly must have regional influences on both ecological and socio-economic processes. Through a detailed analysis of the historical and paleoclimatic evidence from southern and eastern Africa covering the past millennium it is shown that, depending on the vulnerability of a society, climatic variability can have an immense impact on societies, sometimes positive and sometimes disastrous. Therefore, the interconnected issue of world ecosystem and social resilience is the challenge for decision-makers if sustainable development is to be reached on global and local levels.     

It is Always Dry Here: Examining Perceptions about Drought and Climate Change in the Southern High Plains

ABSTRACT

Drought is defined, experienced, and communicated about in multiple ways. This case study examines individual definitions of drought (timing, impacts, and severity) and attitudes about climate change. Household surveys (n?=?120) were conducted in Cimarron County, Oklahoma and Union County, New Mexico using a stratified random sampling method to select farmers, ranchers, and town residents. Information about drought is primarily communicated between neighbors, friends, and family, as well as media and local governing agencies. Residents perceive the recent drought to be the worst drought on record, regardless of previous drought experiences. Residents reported widespread drought-related impacts on agriculture, environment, and society. Most residents see drought as cyclical and driven by natural causes, rather than human causes. We recommend adaptive drought communication engage more fully with identity, place, and history. Climate information should be presented in a relevant manner to diverse agricultural stakeholders with differing attitudes about climate change, management, and climate information.     

Global Journalism in Decision-Making Moments: A Case Study of Canadian and American Television Coverage of the 2009 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen

Climate change is a phenomenon with global causes but local effects, and thus global climate change decision-making moments provide ideal opportunities to examine how local and global discourses work together—or do not—through global journalism. This case study investigates the globally focused vs. culturally bound frames used in television news coverage, in Canada and the USA, of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Initial quantitative findings that Canadian media used many more culturally bound sources than did American media contradict the past findings and suggest Canadian media engaged less in producing global journalism than did American media. A follow-up qualitative analysis not only found more global framing in the American stories, but also concluded that global sources did not necessarily create global journalism; instead, a global orientation is required.     

Portraying the Perils to Polar Bears: The Role of Empathic and Objective Perspective-taking Toward Animals in Climate Change Communication

Images of animals, particularly polar bears, harmed by climate change are often used in environmental campaigns, despite warnings of potential reactance and resultant perceived distance from the issue. As an alternative to these emotional appeals, environmental campaigns could encourage an objective (i.e., emotionally detached) perspective on climate change impacts. The present research tests the effects of a message that encourage empathic vs. objective perspectives toward polar bears harmed by climate change on emotions and subsequent support for climate change activism among 241 American adults through an online survey. Contrary to popular warnings, the present research found no reactance toward portraying harm to polar bears from climate change and no benefits of taking an objective perspective toward the polar bears. Instead, portrayals of polar bears harmed by climate change motivated both environmentalists and non-environmentalists to donate money to environmental activist groups when they took an empathic perspective toward the animals. Empathy and hope explain effects for environmentalists and empathy, hope, worry, personal guilt, and boredom explain effects for non-environmentalists.