Community strategies to improve flood risk communication in the Red River Basin, Manitoba, Canada

More than a decade after the 1997 Red River Flood, vulnerability to future flooding exists due to a lack of risk communication. This study identifies risk communication gaps and discusses the creation of strategies to enhance information-sharing, bottom-up activity and partnership development. The objectives were achieved using mixed methods, including interviews, a floodplain-wide survey, and a decision-makers' risk management workshop. The results highlight a number of external pressures exerted by regional floodplain policies and procedures that restrict risk communication and affect social vulnerability in the rural floodplain. The failures of a top-down approach to floodplain management have impacted on communities' abilities to address floodplain risks, have amplified local risks, and have decreased community cooperation in floodplain management initiatives since the 1997 'Flood of the Century'. Recommended policies promote the establishment of community standards to compensate for gaps in risk communication and the development of partnerships between floodplain communities.     

昆明市东川区农业旱灾风险区识别研究

昆明市东川区是云南省农业旱灾危害较为严重的区域之一。利用2000-2007年东川区各乡镇历史灾情等数据资料,应用风险分析理论、效用理论、因子-成份分析方法等理论方法,在分别研究致灾风险度、承灾体易损性及地域人群对农业旱灾心理反响等基础上,构建了东川区农业旱灾风险评价模型。初步揭示出东川区农业旱灾风险度呈现出自南向北、自西向东逐渐增强的空间态势;识别出极高风险区、高风险区、中风险区和低风险区等4个农业旱灾风险区;发现东川区各地农业旱灾综合风险度、致灾风险度、承灾体易损度以及地域人群对旱灾的心理响应值等指数之间普遍存在着明显的正相关。     

淄博市雷电灾害易损性风险评估及区划

从雷电灾害易损性分析角度出发,利用山东省淄博市8个气象台站1963-2012年雷暴日资料和2002-2012年雷电灾害资料,结合各区县的经济和人口密度特征,选取雷击大地密度、雷电灾害频度、经济易损模数、生命易损模数4个指标,对淄博市雷电灾害易损性进行了评估。结果显示：张店区、淄川区是极高易损区,沂源县、临淄区为高易损区,博山区、周村区是中易损区,桓台县为低易损区,高青县为极低易损区。初步形成了各地易损性结构和淄博市雷电灾害易损度区划图,为各级政府和相关管理部门指导城市规划、防御和减轻雷电灾害提供了客观的科学依据。     

基于个体脆弱性区域疏散最佳路径

针对危险化学品、生化制剂、放射性或核物质（ CBRN）事故情景,建立区域疏散路径优化模型。基于个体脆弱性模型,提出了适合求解模型算法,包括静态最优路径算法和动态最优路径算法。最后用随机路网测试算法的应用效果,结果表明,所提算法可以满足区域疏散路径双目标优化的需求,并能根据外部环境变化动态更新当前最优路径,是一种近似、快速的算法。区域疏散路径的确定可为CBRN事故救灾提供有力的技术支持。     

Australian local government action on climate change adaptation: some critical reflections to assist decision-making

The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the limitations of risk management as a strategy for Australian local government climate change adaptation and explore the advantages of complementary approaches, including a social-ecological resilience framework, adaptive and transition management, and vulnerability assessment. Some federal and local government initiatives addressing the limitations of risk-based approaches are introduced. We argue that conventional risk-based approaches to adaptation, largely focused on hazard identification and quantitative modelling, will be inadequate on their own for dealing with the challenges of climate change. We suggest that responses to climate change adaptation should move beyond conventional risk-based strategies to more realistically account for complex and dynamically evolving social-ecological systems.     

The role of community-based watershed development in reducing farmers’ vulnerability to climate change and variability in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

Community-based watershed development (CBWD) has been implemented in Ethiopia since the last three decades. However, the benefits of these watershed development interventions for climate change adaptation are not well documented. This study, therefore, assesses the contributions of CBWD in reducing farmers’ vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and variability in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Data were collected from systematically selected 157 households using questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of questions on climate, ecosystem and households’ livelihood capital. Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change Livelihood Vulnerability Index (IPCC-LVI) methods were used to generate vulnerability indices. Vulnerability indices computed for three conserved watersheds were compared with one non-conserved watershed using one-way ANOVA test. LVI score for ecosystem related indicators was significantly low for Adef Wuha compared to the non-conserved watershed. Similarly, LVI scores generated from agriculture, wealth and social indicators were low for Tija Baji and Guansa watersheds. On the other hand, the IPCC-LVI result did not show significant differences in exposure; however, sensitivity scores of conserved watersheds were significantly lower compared to the non-conserved. The adaptive capacities of two conserved watersheds (Guansa and Tija Baji) were also significantly lower as compared to the non-conserved. The overall (composite) vulnerability of watersheds generated from both methods (LVI and IPCC-LVI) showed that the conserved watersheds were less vulnerable to climate change compared to the non-conserved. The findings suggest that CBWD is an important strategy to reduce vulnerability of smallholder farmers to the ongoing and future climate change.     

Vulnerability and resilience to climate change in Sorsogon City,the Philippines: learning from an ordinary city?

Sorsogon City is a rapidly urbanising coastal area in the Philippines. Its location, combined with a rapidly changing and growing urban fabric, leaves it vulnerable to both incremental climate change and associated extreme weather events. In this paper, UN-HABITAT data are used to draw out the climate change vulnerabilities and policy responses in Sorsogon City. Vulnerability “hotspots” highlight the spatial intersection of socio-economic justice concerns, particularly in terms of vulnerability to increased cyclone activity. We discuss vulnerabilities of Sorsogon City and its citizens to climate change and measures undertaken through various social, environmental and technical systems and interventions to increase resilience. The paper also attempts to unpick the relationship between the neat, concise reported city and the complexities of urban life using the Sorsogon experiment to consider the limitations of such approaches to governing climate change. We group these under four headings: social simplification in the absence of data; over-governance (and under-representation); quick wins versus strategic investment; and stretching the ecological and vulnerability footprints of the city. The experience of Sorsogon City is then extended to reflect on issues of governance and planning in other Asian coastal cities.     

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.     

近30年来中国气候湿润程度变化的空间差异及其对生态系统脆弱性的影响

论文利用近30 a中国756个气象站点日观测数据计算中国陆地表层潜在蒸散和湿润指数现状及变化趋势,然后划分湿润程度变化对不同自然地带生态系统脆弱性影响的等级,并应用于农田、林地和草地三大生态系统脆弱性变化分析,结果显示:近30 a中国陆地表层平均年潜在蒸散为754 mm,平均湿润指数为-5.6,湿润指数平均变化率为-4.4/10 a,反映中国陆地表层湿润程度总体具有下降趋势。近30 a中国陆地表层气候湿润程度变化导致生态系统脆弱性增加的面积约占中国陆地面积的43.7%,主要集中在东北地区西南部、华北地区、西北地区东部,以及青藏高原的西部、北部和东部。总体上,近30 a中国陆地表层气候湿润程度变化对农田、林地和草地生态系统脆弱性具有不利影响。其中草地生态系统脆弱性增加的面积最大,约占草地生态系统总面积的63.2%;其次为农田生态系统,约占31.6%;林地生态系统脆弱性受影响面积最小,约占17.7%。     

上海市环境污染事故风险受体脆弱性评价研究

从环境风险受体敏感性和适应力两方面构建了脆弱性概念模型,在此基础上,考虑社会经济脆弱性和生态系统脆弱性,选取14个指标构建了上海市环境污染事故风险受体综合脆弱性评价指标体系.研究结果表明：上海市中心城区社会脆弱性较高,而崇明岛、南汇、奉贤的社会经济脆弱性最低;黄浦江上游水源保护区、崇明岛东滩湿地生态系统脆弱性较高,浦东...