Spatially identifying vulnerable communities to climate change impact in South Australia

The impending form and extent of climate change and its direct impacts present disproportionate challenges for the most socially and economically disadvantaged groups within populations. Evaluating the vulnerability of disadvantaged groups in the context of climate change has presented tremendous theoretical, methodological and policy challenges especially where vulnerability assessment research is focused at the local community level. This study addresses the challenges by developing an interdisciplinary methodology, based on expert knowledge, and uses the state of South Australia as a case study. It focuses on key indicators that measure the exposure of local communities to climate change and socio-economic vulnerabilities of local populations. A main contribution in this study is the novel incorporation of physical, environmental and socio-demographic data sets and extensive use of spatial modelling and estimation methods to spatially define climate change and social vulnerability “hot spots”. This paper assesses vulnerability under moderate and high Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change CO₂ emission scenarios in order to generate an assessment model to be used before planning is done. The result is the creation of a practical tool through which decision-makers can better understand how the complexity of one's local spatial context influences the unique exposure, which different vulnerable communities have, to the impacts of climate change. This paper presents a useful tool that can be used in the initial assessment phase by planners and policy-makers to better assist those who are limited in their ability to adapt to climate change.     

Interactions in hazard management policies: the case of drought in Nicaragua, 1976–2010

The literature on adaptive and multi‐level governance calls for interactive hazard management to increase societies’ resilience. This paper maps the hazard management policies in a poor and hazard‐prone country—Nicaragua—and examines what role the government gives to interactions among different actors at different societal levels. A new analytical framework is developed that includes scope and direction to capture unidirectional or mutual interactions that are either horizontal or vertical. This enables a more complex analysis of interactions than that found in previous research. The review shows that the historical change in the role given to interactions, as a result of a focus on short‐term emergency response being complemented by long‐term risk management, mainly lies in how they are characterised—with more participants and other types of content categories—and the awareness that interactions other than mutual ones can be positive. This illustrates the complexity of the issue of interactions.     

Modeling residual flood risk behind levees,Upper Mississippi River,USA

Flood protection from levees is a mixed blessing, excluding water from the floodplain but creating higher flood levels (“surcharges”) and promoting “residual risk” of flood damages. This study completed 2D hydrodynamic modeling and flood-damage analyses for the 459 km² Sny Island levee system on the Upper Mississippi River. These levees provide large economic benefits, at least $51.1 million per year in prevented damages, the large majority provided to the agricultural sector and a small subset of low-elevation properties. However these benefits simultaneously translate into a large residual risk of flood damage should levees fail or be overtopped; this risk is not recognized either locally in the study area nor in national policy. In addition, the studied levees caused surcharges averaging 1.2–1.5 m and locally as high as 2.4 m, consistent with other sites and studies. The combined hydraulic and economic modeling here documented that levee-related surcharge + the residual risk of levee overtopping or failure can lead to negative benefits, meaning added long-term flood risk. Up to 31% of residential structures in the study area, 8% of agricultural structures, and 22% of commercial structures received negative benefits, totaling $562,500 per year. Although counterintuitive, structures at the margin of a leveed floodplain can incur negative benefits due to greater flood levels resulting from levees purportedly built to protect them. National levee policies and plans for local projects are unbalanced, crediting levee benefits but rarely fully planning for adverse impacts or considering alternatives.     

湖南城市洪涝易损性诊断与评估

首先从孕育洪涝灾害的环境变异性、社会经济灾敏性、城市土地利用对洪涝的放大作用，防洪标准和人为设障等方面对湖南城市洪涝的易损性进行了总体诊断。然后，选取人口密度、工业产值密度、道路网密度、排水管道密度、建成区绿地率等指标，运用模糊综合评判对之进行了定量评估。将全省城市洪涝的易损性程度划分为5个等级；高度易损性，较高度易损性、中度易损性、较低度易损性、低度易损性。研究结果表明：湖南城市洪涝易损性程度总体水平高，因此，湖南洪涝防治要从以农村为重点转向以城市为重点，加大城市洪涝治理力度；湖南城市洪涝易损性程度等级与城市规模之间没有对应关系，因此，湖南城市洪涝防治应因地制宜。     

九江市地下水易污性评价——基于DPASTIC指标的模糊综合评价模型

从污染物入渗土壤-包气带-含水层的过程出发，以地质、地貌、水文地质条件为主控因素，选取地下水埋深〖WTBX〗(D)、降雨入渗补给量(P)、含水层岩性(A)、土壤类型(S)、地形坡度(T)、非饱和带介质(I)及含水层渗透系数(C)〖WTBZ〗7个指标，建立了九江市地下水易污性评价DPASTIC指标体系。结合模糊数学理论和方法，建立了基于DPASTIC指标的模糊综合评价模型。该模型克服了指标参数级别划分定额差异和指标值不连续性变化的缺陷，寻求出最优的级别定额划分状态和指标值的连续性变化情况；在指标级别定额划分上，引用了指标标准特征值的概念，根据实测参数数据资料，建立了10个级别的指标标准特征值矩阵，确定指标参数的最优相对隶属度。结合MAPGIS软件得出最后的地下水易污性分区，评价结果与规划区的实测及预测的水环境质量相吻合。     

Vulnerability and Resilience of Tropical Forest Species to Land‐Use Change

Abstract: We provide a cross‐taxon and historical analysis of what makes tropical forest species vulnerable to extinction. Several traits have been important for species survival in the recent and distant geological past, including seed dormancy and vegetative growth in plants, small body size in mammals, and vagility in insects. For major past catastrophes, such as the five mass extinction events, large range size and vagility or dispersal were key to species survival. Traits that make some species more vulnerable to extinction are consistent across time scales. Terrestrial organisms, particularly animals, are more extinction prone than marine organisms. Plants that persist through dramatic changes often reproduce vegetatively and possess mechanisms of die back. Synergistic interactions between current anthropogenic threats, such as logging, fire, hunting, pests and diseases, and climate change are frequent. Rising temperatures threaten all organisms, perhaps particularly tropical organisms adapted to small temperature ranges and isolated by distance from suitable future climates. Mutualist species and trophic specialists may also be more threatened because of such range‐shift gaps. Phylogenetically specialized groups may be collectively more prone to extinction than generalists. Characterization of tropical forest species’ vulnerability to anthropogenic change is constrained by complex interactions among threats and by both taxonomic and ecological impediments, including gross undersampling of biotas and poor understanding of the spatial patterns of taxa at all scales.     

Pinning down vulnerability: from narratives to numbers

Social vulnerability analyses have typically relied upon narratives to capture the nuances of the concept. While narratives have enhanced our understanding of the multiple drivers of vulnerability, they have had limited influence on hazards and climate adaptation policy. This is partially a function of the different needs and goals of the policy and research communities. The former prioritises generalised quantitative information, while the latter is more concerned with capturing complexity. A theoretically driven and empirically tested quantitative vulnerability and capacities index (VCI) for use at the local scale is presented to help connect vulnerability research and policy. There are four versions of the index for use in rural and urban contexts at the household and community levels. There can be an infinite number of drivers of vulnerability, but the VCI draws upon 12 indicators to represent material, institutional and attitudinal aspects of differential vulnerability and capacities.     

Superstorm Sandy and voter vulnerability in the 2012 US Presidential Election: a case study of New Jersey and Connecticut

Superstorm Sandy was an unprecedented meteorological event that devastated the Caribbean and the Northeastern Coast of the USA in October 2012. While many research efforts will focus on the atmospheric conditions that led to the creation and unusual track of the storm, this study evaluates the impact of Sandy on voter turnout in the 2012 US Presidential Election. The goals of this paper are to (1) determine if any alterations in voter turnout occurred, (2) assess the extent to which Sandy was responsible for any voter turnout changes and (3) investigate if the influence of Sandy on voter turnout was contingent upon social vulnerability. To accomplish these goals, voter turnout change between the 2008 and 2012 US Presidential Elections was analysed at the county and municipal level for both New Jersey and Connecticut. The notable decreases in voter turnout discovered in both states were likely due to the election occurring in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. The correlation, spatial clustering analysis, analysis of variance and multiple regression results all suggest that storm surge was more likely to be responsible for reduced voter turnout in New Jersey than in Connecticut. Specifically in New Jersey, the findings indicate that storm surge coverage, rather than height, was influential in reducing voter turnout and that this relationship was contingent upon the racial composition of the municipalities. Overall, understanding how Sandy affected voter turnout will help improve the resiliency of electoral systems to future natural disasters.     

Why the poor pay with their lives: oil pipeline vandalisation, fires and human security in Nigeria

Since its discovery in Nigeria in 1956 crude oil has been a source of mixed blessing to the country. It is believed to have generated enormous wealth, but it has also claimed a great many lives. Scholarly attention on the impact of oil on security in Nigeria has largely focused on internal conflicts rather than on how disasters associated with oil pipeline vandalisation have impacted on human security in terms of causing bodily injuries and death, destroying livelihoods and fracturing families. This paper examines how pipeline vandalisation affects human security in these ways. It identifies women and children as those who are hardest hit and questions why the poor are the most vulnerable in oil pipeline disasters in this country. It recommends the adoption of a comprehensive and integrated framework of disaster management that will ensure prompt response to key early warning signs, risk-reduction and appropriate mitigation and management strategies.     

云南电网地质灾害易损性评估与区划

云南电网几乎覆盖云南全境,已有的灾害历史表明：地质灾害可以导致电网设备产生物理性损伤,致使电网不能正常运行,甚至产生连锁反应,造成局部电网瘫痪.目前国内学者在电力系统易损性领域的研究还处于起步阶段,尚无应用广泛的规范性易损性评价模型.围绕云南电网地质灾害易损性评估,提出了基于内生易损性和外因易损性的电网地质灾害易损性评估方法;采用统计分析方法,以云南电网本身健康指数和历史地质灾害资料为依据,通过从内生易损性和外因易损性对云南各市（州）局电网进行了地质灾害易损性评估;按四级分区法绘制了云南电网地质灾害易损性区划图.研究结果表明,云南省作为地质灾害多发易发省份,云南电网有43.75％部分处于地质灾害高易损性等级以上,电网的安全运行受到较严重的威胁,分析结果可为云南电网地质灾害防灾减灾管理等提供参考依据.