Climate Change Mitigation To Adaptation And Resilience Environmental Sciences Essay

Climate Change Mitigation To Adaptation And resiliency Environmental Sciences EssayRecent studies on climatic science decl atomic number 18 whizself that our clime does not append or decrease in a steady and die away pace as we once thought (Parry, et al. 2007). Rather, it modifys shortly over a short period due to a combine of natural or external forcing and anthropological factors (Parry, et al. 2007). However, the closely compelling depicted object regarding humor counter stir is not its main contri howevering mountnt except the reality that our mode is indeed or will inevitably miscellany and that we pay off to do something in retort to that salmagundi. In its fourth judgment report (AR4) in 2007, the Inter political relational Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ac familiaritys that by the turn of the century our eco schema will be overwhelmed by odd conclave of humour change and natural disasters much(prenominal) as flooding, wildfire and insect infestation , and different anthropogenic global change drivers such as land-use change, over befoulment and over extraction of natural options. The impact and magnitude of these disruptions would cultivate a costly toll on victuals security, water supply, health and the thrift especially on securetlements in low lying aras such as coastal and flood plains where most rapid urbanization in some(prenominal) growth countries is taking place. This is compounded by the fact that these will get out urban poor communities, which argon comm and in high soaking up on those aras, highly vulner qualified and unable to deal with these changes due to their express alterive capacity.This investigate researchs the indispensableness to shift the current emphasis of mode change agenda on developing countries from mitigation to interpretation and resiliency. It too relates the current trends in urban adaption on temper change pushing global perspective of inter case communities and t he perspective of local state actors. It further look fors the festering interests on utilizing resilience principles on top of conventional edition measures on its potency to address un genuineties that interpretation plans are not able to announce and account for. investigate ProblemI am vignetteing how the practices and characteristics of sea- take aim and coastal urban poor communities in Metro Manila, which are perennially exposed to climatic stresses, make them sensitive or bouncing to humor change, and to what limit these attributes able to contribute to the communities mode resiliency. era legion(predicate) studies flush out that urban poor communities are single the highest vulnerable to temper change and ASLR, very few studies have actually been made that appreciate their needs for resilience. Without sufficient information regarding adaptation st charge per unitgies to humor change, urban planners and managers are bound to haphazardly develop action pla ns in response to humour change.By exploring the strengths and limitations of these practices, this research aims to provide a better understanding on how urban planners and managers could improve upon these practices in addressing the residual effects of clime variability.Research QuestionsVulnerabilityWhat are the effects of unpredictable clime variability to sea-level and coastal urban communities?ResilienceWhat are the intrinsic characteristics of the barangay that makes them resilient to climate change?What indicators can be used to assess climate resilience at the barangay level?What are the national programs, policies and plans that aim to in a flash levy climate change resilience and to what extent do these address issues of resilience at the barangay level?ImplicationsWhat are the implications of the results of this field of battle to urban planning and counseling at the city level and, concurrently, at the barangay level?Research ObjectivesTo explore the characteris tics of vulnerable urban settlements with respect to unpredictable climate variabilityTo explore the climate resilient characteristics of communitiesThe describe the extent of these characteristics in degrading and/or enhancing the resilience of urban communitiesTo explain the validity of lively literature on largely accepted indicators for climate change resilience at the society levelTo evaluate how the results of this study could influence finality-making at the local levelScope and LimitationsThe study will involve the vulnerability and resilience judicial decision of two urban barangays in Metro Manila or in the great Manila Area, one with CBRM and the other with no CBRM. Further, the selection barangays is hold by the availability of required secondary info for the assessment. The study shall insure affable, economic and environmental indicators linked to vulnerability and resilience instaurationd on the studies of Ibarrarn et al. (2009) on VRIM and Cutter (2008) o n DROP. Limitations are directly derived from the limitations of the assessments sits as acknowledged by their authors.Literature ReviewResponding to climate change necessitates a two-pronged approach decreasing amount of GHG emissions will enchantment at the equivalent time addressing the impacts that are already manifested on vulnerable populations. Whether by virtue good or by the monetary prospects of clean development chemical mechanism projects, a meaning(a) number of mitigation programs have already been employ all over the even among countries that are non-Annex I party to UNFCCC (Chandler, et al. 2002) (UNFCCC 2010). step-down of carbon emissions and carbon footprint are widely associated nowadays with climate change and became new buzzwords in media literature. These positively reflect on the breathing attitude towards global commitment in reduce target GHG emissions. Adaptation, on the other hand, receives less media mileage and more than or less the identical attention from international assistance community in the form of the ball-shaped Environment Facility (GEF) and the bilateral and multilateral donors (Hayes 2006) due to its fuzzy nature.While this study does not discount the fact of the fundamental import of reducing global GHG emissions to their natural assimilation levels, it tries to highlight the increase urgency of adapting to climate change. Fssel (2007) posits four arguments which presuppose the emerging need for climate change adaptation (1) the effects of anthropogenic GHG emissions are already felt on recent history of climatic extremes and unprecedented variability, (2) climate records from fossil data show that climate changed periodically in the past and will advance to do so indefinitely, (3) GHG continuous to accumulate so do the rate of global warming, (4) the effectiveness of adaptation programs implemented whether locally and/or regionally are not easily influenced by other strategical actions, and (5) thithe r is a growing momentum of interest among development organizations to fund climate adaptation programs as reflected by the growing number of climate change assessment techniques. Hayes (2006) adds that unlike mitigation measures, adaptation measures have eer been practiced by societies and governments in responding to climate variability. While this makes it difficult to start out it from for those done in response or in anticipation to anthropogenic induced climate change, it is excessively in the soil of familiarity for many think professions and state actors. Many civilizations have learned to deal with the climate constraints overtime, usually in response to lack of water resources during dry periods (e.g., Egyptians Nile River irrigation system, Roman aqueduct, Mesopotamian dams) or the exceeding abundance of it during rainy season (Venetian Grand Canal, floating villages in Thailand and Cambodia). Fussel and Klein (2006) overly points out the difficulty in monitoring th e results and impacts of adaptation programs in aiding its intended beneficiary. There is a significant degree of uncertainty to what extent is the program able to reduce the impact of climate change. This raises a concern among international funding institutions as development programs necessitate a certain measure that ensures their effectiveness. Moreover, while mitigation measures done local level is generally considered to have a global impact, the same cannot be say for adaptation strategies that have a more localized benefit (Hayes 2006). Ironically, those who are least able to pay for it local communities from poor and under developed countries, get the brunt of costs by climate change. UNFCCC estimated that by 2030 the total investment and financial flows needed for adaptation is about $49-171 billion, of which $28-67 billion are needed by developing countries alone (UNFCCC, 2007).Emergence of resilienceClimate change adaptation refers to a broad range of initiatives and measures that reduce the vulnerability of natural and tender-hearted systems against actual or expected climate change effects such as (Metz, et al. 2007). Adaptation to climate change occurs as a response to an extreme event that exceeds the normal coping range of a system. It reacts and anticipates to these boxs continuously, inclined that the system is given sufficient capability, time and resources to cope up increasing its adaptive capacity. The context of adaptation is influenced by the climate-sensitive domain under study, types of climate hazard present, certainty of climate change models, on-climatic conditions in the form of governmental, economic, ethnical and other environmental forcings, purposefulness, timing, planning horizon, form whether technical, institutional, legal or other than and the actors involved. Due to its diverse context, there is no single approach to adaptation. It whitethorn take in the form or combination of anticipatory and oxidizable measur es, private and in the public eye(predicate) domains, and autonomous and planned measures.As stated before, many forms adaptation measures are not new. It incorporates well-established disciplines already practiced in the realm of regional and urban planning such as coastal resource forethought, disaster risk management, and integrated flood management. It is likewise present in public health management and advances in agricultural science research in developing pest/drought/flood resistant crops. However, we should also consider that some aspects of climate change adaptation arose very tardily in contemporary history. Further elaborating on this papers introduction, our world have are starting to experience unprecedented climate conditions and extremes at an unprecedented rate of change. This limits the ability of many ecological systems and human communities to cope and adapt with changes. Further, the domain of identified climate sensitive receptors is continually expanding, necessitates the involvement of disciplinary approaches and actors not traditionally involved with regional-local planning and development such as gender, mathematics, communication, sociology, atmospheric sciences. Recent advances in climatic sciences also offer decision-makers and planners precise and timely information on determining the extent, magnitude, origin and, to some extent, the trajectory of climate induced impacts that are not available before. However, these new developments also bring with discoveries also pits traditional approaches to local climate variability with the more complex dynamics global climate change. annoy to better presage models also exposes limitations of adaptation structures in resolving uncertainties which results from sudden and extreme changes. or so urban planners and policy makers take into account the risk of natural disasters such as storms, flood and earthquake and by extension climate change. However, it is practically in the light of natural catastrophic disaster such as floods, tsunamis and typhoons. It is less seen in the context of the multiple hazards of an ever-changing climate to solid food security, health, disruptions to ecological balance and increasing vulnerabilities of urban centers.At the heart of these issues is the enable capability to alleviate these uncertainties which is compounded by the nature of climate change (1) it crosses local, national and global boundaries (2) its effects are felt for many decades or even centuries (3) overlaps and interacts with many layers of ecological systems (4) it is a highly dynamic routine whose domain entrenches social, economic and environmental spheres easily a sustainability issue. Adaptation measures are only effective if it is able to account and anticipate the magnitude of shock it is designed to suppress. Effective adaptation policies are developed by decision makers base on available prediction data. Uncertainties in these cases could lead to ov erestimation, which wastes rich resources that could be allocated to other tasks, underestimation which exposes them to the risk of overwhelming impact (Barnett 2001), ignorance of a calamity that will hit them or indeterminate and prolonged painting to climatic stress.There are many approaches to climate change adaptation in current literature one of the more prevalent approaches is done increasing the resilience of systems, both human and ecological. Strengthening of resilience aims to increase a systems ability to cope with shocks, prolonged disturbances and unknown/wildcard forcings. Resilience is a measure of the ability of systems to absorb changes of state inconstants, driving variables and parameters (Holling 1973). These systems are able reorganize by undergoing change while retaining indispensablely the same go, structure, identity and feedbacks (Walker, et al. 2004). Resilience is not simply a return-to-original-state process. In the realm of social-ecological syst em, by extension the urban environment, Walker et al. (2004) further relates resilience to adaptability and transformability, the capacity to micturate a fundamentally new system when ecological, economic, or socio-political conditions make the animate system untenable.A citys resilience to climate change is therefore delineate by its capacity to continuously respond, withstand the effects of climate variability, and dumb function organically. Resilience to climate change requires urban governments to display the following(a) characteristics decentralization and autonomy, accountability and transparency, responsiveness and flexibility, participation and inclusion and experience and subscribe to (Tanner, et al. 2009). A study on the role of local government units on climate change adaptation in the province of Albay, Philippines revealed that communities experiencing frequent and unvoiced climate hazards are more aware and responsive to the need climate change adaptation on (L asco, et al. 2008). This is supported by the presence of political will and the numerous policies, programs and projects (PPPs) that the provincial government has enacted and implemented. Working with adaptation programs at a mesoscale or provincial scale was also found to be more cost-effective than having to delegate it to smaller and more numerous municipalities.Place-based resilience vs. person-or-household-based resilienceThis research body builds upon the arguments presented by Adger (2003) in his paper on social great, collection action and adaptation. He posits that communities, especially in developing countries, are focal points of social collective action and social upper-case letter building necessary for increasing adaptive capacity at the local level. In the Philippines, barangays are the smallest political administration unit entrusted by the government to promote social, economic and environmental welfare. Barangays are also tapped in most local development project s. Moreover, it also forms as the social circle of its inhabitants. However, it should be cautioned that the barangays do not necessarily draw community boundaries. Due to its political nature as an administrative unit, barangay is chosen as the scale for this study due to potential available secondary data from documents and reports from both public and private institutions.Adger (2003) also highlighted three lessons that are further explored in this studyadaptive capacity has culture and place-specific characteristics that can be identified only through culture and place- specific research.there are the institutional prerequi settles for the growth and persistence of collective action and its relative importance compared to state encumbranceinstitutional theories of social capital provide a means to popularise the macro level determinants of adaptive capacityIn light of these arguments, while this study shall be looking at the resilience of the community or the barangay as a wh ole, it will take in to account both place-based and person-based induced resilience as well as the influence of macro level policies that aim to enhance local adaptive capacity. Winnick (1966) and Bolton (1992) discusses the conflict and meaning of place prosperity and people prosperity in the development of national policies that aims to assist to individuals and places.Measuring ResilienceIt is important to note that criterion resilience (and adaptive capacity) is a complicated issue that is largely unre puzzle out. The resilience concepts presented above is on the button a sample of what is currently available in literature. Differences in data types (physical/social, valued/qualitative), temporal and spatial scales, and view on what variable and what receptors are critical produce different approaches to resilience building. Wardekker et al. (2009) summarizes the above characteristics of a resilient system into the following six principles listed in the table below. dodge 2 Principles and characteristics of a resilient systemPrinciplesCharacteristicsHomeostasismultiple feedback loops counteract disturbances and energize the systemOmnivoryvulnerability is reduced by diversification of resources and means highschool fluxa fast rate of movement of resources through the system ensures fast mobilization of these resources to cope with perturbationsFlatnessthe hierarchical levels relative to the base should not be top-heavy. Overly hierarchical systems with no local lump competence to act are too inflexible and too slow to cope with surprise and to rapidly implement non-standard highly local responses.Bufferingessential capacities are over-dimensioned such that critical thresholds in capacities are less possible to be crossedRedundancyoverlapping functions if one fails, others can take overSource Adapted from Operationalising a resilience approach to adapting an urban delta to uncertain climate change by Wardekker, et al. (2009)Another method for measurin g resilience is proposed by Malone and Brenkert (2008) and Moss et al. (2000) using a vulnerability-resilience indicator model (VRIM). The give tongue to model utilizes a comprehensive example that goes beyond the analysis of hazards motion picture at the same time taking into account location based factors of resilience. VRIM is a four-tier model (1) resilience index from sensitivity and adaptive capacity, (2) live sectors (human, economy, environment), (3) proxy variables for each sector and (4) scenario projection. Malone and Brenkert (2008) point out that the said model, as with many indicator based research, is not able to account for the function of demographic and social characteristics.Shaw et al. (2009) also proposed a similar approach but on a city scale. They developed a Climate accident Resilience Index that tries to account for the localized effects of climate-induced disasters, such as cyclone, flood, heat wave, drought and heavy rainfall induced landslide. The mo del assessed overall resilience based on natural, physical, social, economic and institutional resilience.Cutter et al. (2008) provides an move in integrating these unaccounted socioeconomic characteristics by proposing a new framework for measuring disaster resilience called disaster resilience of place (DROP) model. The said model improves upon the existing comparative assessment for disaster resilience at the community level. Their seminal paper in 2008 provides an initial candidate set of variables that will be used in the model. The model has three limitations (1) it is specifically designed to address natural hazards (2) it focuses on community-level resilience (3) it focuses on social resilience of places and (4) it does not into account national policies and legislations that may have significant influence of on community resilience. The model measures inherent vulnerability and resilience of the community using the following indicators ecological, social, economic, instit utional, infrastructure, and community competence. As of the papers publication, the model proposed was not til now operationalized. The authors also suggest on improving and standardizing the initial set of indicators.Adaptation planning in Southeast AsiaLao PDR, Cambodia, MyanmarThailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, capital of SingaporeNational adaptation planning in the PhilippinesExisting Policies (CAA, CWA, ESWM, Rainwater (RA 6716) latterly passed CC law and recently signed National Framework on Climate ChangeInitiatives (CCCI Sorsogon, Albay, Malabon)Assessments (EEPSEA, Manila Observatory, IACCC, Sales)GapsA recent project of UN habitat in the Sorsogon City, Sorsogon, Philippines on promoting community resilience reflects the still-prevailing needs of many cities in developing countries (1) enabling capacity to implement measures in combating contemporary issues such as climate change and (2) strong public involvement at all levels of planning, decision-making process and impleme ntation. The latter case being largely solved (or at least in the process of being solved) already at least in countries where there is a strong presence of internationally denominated donor agencies. The former however is still largely unresolved. This is clearly echoed by the development priorities on capacity building and technical assistance from international assistance mentioned. Prioritizing the acquisition of knowledge and skills is clearly the first step in the effort of achieving climate change resilience. This, together with the strengthening of organic tie in within the city further inspires local cooperative action. Further, while it is one of the most essential parts for climate adaptation action, it is also one of the easiest to implement technically and financially. These effort necessitates only the participation of the vulnerably populations (which is a sufficient incentive given the perceived threat) and political willingness and resolve of local authorities (vul nerable populations are also potential voters). Local governments, such as Sorsogon City, as pointed out by Lasco et al. (2008), which are very much exposed to the climate-induced hazards are those who are more readily aware to the needs of climate change, yet are unable to respond due to their limited set of knowledge and skills.Urban Planning Management and resilienceUrban planning and management has big role, nay, it has the central role in building urban climate resiliency. Already illustrated in the examples given in the previous voice are domains such as effective land use, public transport systems and accommodate on which urban planning are already championed in the circles of environmental sustainability, equity, economic development and climate change. On the other hand, there are also domains which are new (or whose responsibility is not often relegated or less visible) with urban planning such as energy, water and food security. Sourcing (or outsourcing) of these thre e sectors are often outside urban governance. These are often nationally or regionally shared resource and are also largely dealt with by such authorities. But then again, with the increasing need for resilience from external shocks brought by oil crisis, prolonged drought, food-biofuel competition, flood and other man-made and natural calamities, cities should start focusing on developing utility(a) options for these three sectors. This concept evades urban planning and management cultures even in many developed cities that are still highly reliant on resources taken outside (city as a parasite).Urban climate resilience is the marriage of urban management and governance, both old and new, which is of an advantage as it is already in the sphere of familiarity. It is wrong, however, to assume that climate resilience is just about semantics and simply a repackaging of existing concepts. Climate change resilience puts these concepts into perspective. It gives us a framework that guide s us coherently toward securing sustained and unvarying city development that is responsive to the growing threats of climate change. In an age of unprecedented extremes in climate variability, selective and compartmental adaptation measures for climate change, marred with the inability to respond to uncertainties and ignorance of unforeseen calamities, only give ill-conceived notion of resolution and maybe suspect to failure.MethodologyThe proceeding section discusses the specific aims and the methodologies of this research.Type of ResearchThis research uses mixed method approach. It is a primarily qualitative study but augmented and validated by quantitative approaches as well. The qualitative approach aims toExplore the characteristics of vulnerable urban settlements with respect to unpredictable climate variability. Determine the perceived effects of climate change. It aims to map out economic and donjon fabrics and determine how these dependencies strengthen or weaken the com munities resilience.Explore the climate resilient characteristics of communities with respect to their inherent capacities and local practicesDescribe the extent of these characteristics in degrading and/or enhancing the resilience of urban communitiesEvaluate how the results of this study could influence decision-making at the local and meso levelThe quantitative approach of this study aims toDescribe the effects of climate variability on the urban community using indicator-based measurement toolsExplain the validity and limitations of existing literature on generally accepted indicators for climate change resilience at the community levelMethodological FrameworkResearch Instruments uncrystallised interviews linchpin witnesser interviews (semi-structured)Review of published reports and public documentsLivelihood procedure/zoningOnsite observationsFGDAnalysis InstrumentsResearch QuestionCritical Information arrangeData SourcesData Collection TechniquesWhat are the effects of unpr edictable climate variability to low-lying and coastal urban communities?Flood datawellness recordsMortality rateOther effects identified/perceived by respondents (exploratory)News articles daybook articles publish reportsKey informant and respondents accountCommunities accounts commonplace documents and reportsDocumentationAnalyses of published accounts/reports and public documentsUnstructured interviewsFGDsWhat makes these communities vulnerable to climate change?Settlement/infrastructure sensitivityFood securityEcosystem sensitivity kind-hearted health sensitivityWater resource sensitivityEconomic and livelihood fabricKey informant accountsNews articlesPublished reportsPublic documents and reportsJournal articlesDocumentationAnalyses of published accounts/reports and public documentsKey informant interviewsOn site observationsLivelihood mapping/zoningWhat are the intrinsic characteristics of the community that makes them resilient to climate change? community competenceSocial net works and social embeddednessCommunity values-cohesionInstitutional capacityEconomic capacityHuman civic resourcesAccess to vital infrastructure and servicesInstitutional capacitySocial capitalIndigenous practicesKey informant and respondents accountCommunities accountsObservationNews articlesPublished reportsPublic documents and reportsDocumentationAnalyses of published accounts/reports and public documentsUnstructured interviewsFGDsAttitude surveysKey informant interviewsOn site observationsWhat are the national programs, policies and plans that aim to directly enhance climate change resilience?Number and nature of strategic actions (PPPs)Public documents and reportsAuthorative reports and analyses regarding these PPPsKey informant interviews with expertsAnalyses of published accounts/reports and public documentsKey informant interviewsWhat are the implications of the results of this study to urban planning and management?Results of the study practiced judgmentStudy areaThe study shall be conducted on two communities located in Metro Manila or in Greater Manila Area (1) urban barangay located on the coastal regularize with CBRM and (1) urban barangay located along the coast with NO CBRM. The barangays can be selected from already-identified vulnerable cities or communities from existing studies of Perez et al. (1996), Sales (2009), EEPSEA and others.