The interplay between climate change and disaster risk reduction policy: evidence from Mexico

Mexico gained worldwide reputation for its efforts to develop both climate change (CC) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies at the national and international levels. However, the integration of agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Hyogo and Sendai Frameworks into the national institutional setting has been challenging in terms of creating a coherent national risk reduction policy. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the interplay between DRR and CC domains; it provides evidence for the situation in Mexico by comparing the institutions and main actors in both fields as well as the financial and operational instruments currently in force. The comparison is based on institutions’ jurisdictions, priorities and lines of action. This paper synthesises the most important policy instruments, their meeting points and their contradictions and discusses the implications of such policy setting for the implementation of effective CC risk policies. The study depicts a fragmented policy interface with serious shortcomings in terms of the institutional design necessary to coordinate actions. The article concludes that, despite the multiple conceptual and political intersections between both policy fields, the implementation of specific, shared actions would hardly overcome the difficulties imposed by the current, fragmented normative frameworks and jurisdictions.     

Climate change adaptation in the urban planning and design research: missing links and research agenda

This paper investigates the extent and the nature of how the urban planning literature has addressed climate change adaptation. It presents a longitudinal study of 157 peer-reviewed articles published from 2000 to 2013 in the leading urban planning and design journals whose selection considered earlier empirical studies that ranked them these journals. The findings reveal that the years 2006–07 represent a turning point, after which climate change studies appear more prominently and consistently in the urban planning and design literature; however, the majority of these studies address climate change mitigation rather than adaptation. Most adaptation studies deal with governance, social learning, and vulnerability assessments, while paying little attention to physical planning and urban design interventions. This paper identifies four gaps that pertain to the lack of interdisciplinary linkages, the absence of knowledge transfer, the presence of scale conflict, and the dearth of participatory research methods. It then advocates for the advancement of participatory and collaborative action research to meet the multifaceted challenges of climate change.     

About bridges and bonds: community responses to the 2000 floods in Mabalane district, Mozambique

Massive floods hit Mozambique in 2000.1 Many of the affected regions benefited from external aid. This paper investigates how the floods impacted on two communities in the interior of the Limpopo Valley, which did not receive significant assistance during the event and in the immediate aftermath. Drawing on the livelihood approach, it focuses on the role of two types of local resources: knowledge and social capital. The paper shows that the scale of the 2000 floods surpassed the response capacity of these resources and looks at how wealth and gender influenced access by households to the local support mechanisms that enhance survival and recovery. It appears that the floods mainly affected wealthier households, as these more frequently lost houses and cattle. The paper points to the importance of ploughs and cattle for local support mechanisms, which, in turn, most likely reduced the capacities of communities to recover from the disaster.     

基于最优粒度的城市热环境与景观特征耦合分析

综合Landsat和国产高分2号遥感影像反演地表温度、划分地表覆被类型,通过划分100m×100m～1000m×1000m等多个网格单元,分析北京市五环内热环境影响因素的粒度效应;并基于最优粒度分析城市景观组分和构型特征与热环境特征的相互关系.结果表明:随粒度增加,网格单元内平均地表温度和不透水地表(IS)、植被水体(...     

Photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide modified concrete materials – Influence of utilizing recycled glass cullets as aggregates

Combining the use of photocatalysts with cementitious materials is an important development in the field of photocatalytic air pollution mitigation. This paper presents the results of a systematic study on assessing the effectiveness of pollutant degradation by concrete surface layers that incorporate a photocatalytic material – Titanium Dioxide. The photocatalytic activity of the concrete samples was determined by photocatalytic oxidation of nitric oxide (NO) in the laboratory. Recycled glass cullets, derived from crushed waste beverage bottles, were used to replace sand in preparing the concrete surface layers. Factors, which may affect the pollutant removal performance of the concrete layers including glass color, aggregate size and curing age, were investigated. The results show a significant enhancement of the photocatalytic activity due to the use of glass cullets as aggregates in the concrete layers. The samples fabricated with clear glass cullets exhibited threefold NO removal efficiency compared to the samples fabricated with river sand. The light transmittance property of glass was postulated to account for the efficiency improvement, which was confirmed by a separate simulation study. But the influence of the size of glass cullets was not evident. In addition, the photocatalytic activity of concrete surface layers decreased with curing age, showing a loss of 20% photocatalytic activity after 56-day curing.     

Flood risk management in Dutch local spatial planning practices

Spatial planning is increasingly regarded as an important instrument to reduce flood consequences. Nevertheless, there are very few studies that show why local planning authorities do or do not systematically use spatial planning in advance to mitigate flood risks. This paper explores flood reduction strategies in local planning practices in the Netherlands. It also explores why spatial planning was or was not used to reduce flood consequences. The arguments for the use or non-use of planning mainly referred to requirements from other governmental bodies and the perceived role and the related responsibility of local planning authorities, previous disaster experience, and previous experience with spatial planning for flood risk management.     

地球物理灾害链研究的新进展

本文从2008岁首冰雪灾害链的自然态和人文态分析入手,通过对<地球物理灾害链>一书内容梗概的介绍,阐述了灾害链研究工作的新进展,最后试图运用地球系统科学的理论,指出了若干地球物理灾害链对策.     

莆田市气象灾害及减灾对策研究

根据近17年的莆田市气候影响评价资料,结合实地调查,对莆田市台风、暴雨、冰雹、干旱、寒潮等主要气象灾害的基本特点进行了分析。研究表明,近17年莆田市危害最大的气象灾害是台风灾害,其次为洪涝灾害,揭示了几种主要气象灾害之间的相互关系,并提出相应的减灾对策。     

Examining Hazard Mitigation Within the Context of Public Goods

/ This paper presents a case study of an American barrier island devastated by a hurricane to show how it is addressing the free-riding problem and protecting its public goods, thereby contributing to hazard mitigation. It examines hazard mitigation and the free-riding problem within the public goods framework. Free-riding is a term used in the public choice theory and common pool resource literature. It is a term used for describing the actions of rational individuals who freely exploit a collective or public good at the expense of others. Free-riding is a major problem faced by public goods. The problem very frequently occurs in the context of hazard mitigation and coastal resource management. Very little is known about the factors that contribute to the promotion of hazard mitigation. This paper identifies some of the important factors that help local institutions provide and sustain hazard mitigation measures. Theoretical and practical implications for hazards research and disaster management policy are presented.     

国家地震紧急救援训练基地可控地震废墟设计(Ⅰ)--结构地震破坏模式

我国是一个地震多发的国家，地震灾害给我国造成了巨大的经济损失和严重的生命伤亡。专业化的震后紧急搜索救援能够最大限度地减少人民生命财产的损失，是防震减灾体系不可或缺的组成部分。通过大量的地震灾害实例，并借鉴地震灾害评估方法和建筑物抗震设计，对危害人类生命财产的建筑物震害的特征按照结构类型进行了详细说明，通过对这些地震中常见震害的了解和认识，为国家地震紧急救援训练基地的规划设计和相应搜索救援训练科目的设置提供依据。