IPCC_Managing Risks of Extreme Events.pdf - Climate Access

Changes in Impacts of Climate Extremes: Human Systems and EcosystemsChapter 4or whose housing offers limited protection from weather events will beparticularly susceptible to harm (Dodman and Satterthwaite, 2008).Others with limited capacity to recover include those with limitedpersonal resources for recovery or with no access to external resourcessuch as insurance or aid after an event, and those with limited personalsupport networks (Handmer and Dovers, 2007). Knowledge, health, andaccess to services of all kinds including emergency services and politicalsupport help reduce both key aspects of vulnerability.The concept of ‘resilience’ (developed in an ecological context by Holling,1978; in a broad social sustainability context by Handmer and Dovers,2007; and by Adger, 2000; Folke et al., 2002; see also the Glossary)emphasizes the positive components of resistance or adaptability in theface of an event and ability to cope and recover. This concept of‘resilience’ is often seen as a positive way of expressing a similarconcept to that contained in the term ‘vulnerability’ (Handmer, 2003).Refugees, internally displaced people, and those driven into marginalareas as a result of violence can be dramatic examples of peoplevulnerable to the negative effects of weather and climate events, cut offfrom coping mechanisms and support networks (Handmer and Dovers,2007). Reasons for the increase in vulnerability associated with warfareinclude destruction or abandonment of infrastructure (e.g., transport,communications, health, and education) and shelter, redirection ofresources from social to military purposes, collapse of trade andcommerce, abandonment of subsistence farmlands, lawlessness, anddisruption of social networks (Levy and Sidel, 2000; Collier et al., 2003).The proliferation of weapons and minefields, the absence of basichealth and education, and collapse of livelihoods can ensure that theeffects of war on vulnerability to disasters are long lasting, althoughsome also benefit (Korf, 2004). These areas are also characterized by anexodus of trained people and an absence of inward investment.Many ecosystems are dependent on climate extremes for reproduction(e.g., through fire and floods), disease control, and in many casesgeneral ecosystem health (e.g., fires or windstorms allowing newgrowth to replace old). How such extreme events interact with othertrends and circumstances can be critical to the outcome. For example,floods that would normally be essential to river gum reproduction maycarry disease and water weeds (Rogers and Ralph, 2010).Climate extremes can cause substantial mortality of individual speciesand contribute to determining which species exist in ecosystems(Parmesan et al., 2000). For example, drought plays an important role inforest dynamics, as a major influence on the mortality of trees (Villalbaand Veblen, 1997; Breshears and Allen, 2002; Breshears et al., 2005).4.2.2. Complex Interactions among Climate Events,Exposure, and VulnerabilityThere exist complex interactions between different climatic and nonclimatichazards, exposure, and vulnerability that have the potential oftriggering complex, scale-dependent impacts. Anthropogenic changes inatmospheric systems are influencing changes in many climatic variablesand the corresponding physical impacts (see Chapter 3). However, theimpacts that climatic extremes have on humans and ecosystems(including those altered by humans) depend also on several other nonclimaticfactors (Adger, 2006). This section will explore these factors,drawing on examples of flooding and drought.Changes in socioeconomic status are a key component of exposure; inparticular, population growth is a major driver behind changing exposureand vulnerability (Downton et al., 2005; Barredo, 2009). In manyregions, people have been encroaching into flood-prone areas whereeffective flood protection is not assured, due to human pressure and lackof more suitable and available land (McGranahan et al., 2007; Douglaset al., 2008). Urbanization, often driven by rural poverty, drives suchmigration (Douglas et al., 2008). In these areas, both population andwealth are accumulating, thereby increasing the flood damage potential.In many developed countries, population and wealth accumulation alsooccur in hazard-prone areas for reasons of lifestyle and/or lower cost(e.g., Radeloff et al., 2005). Here, a tension between climate changeadaptation and development is seen; living in these areas withoutappropriate adaptation may be maladaptive from a climate changeperspective, but this may be a risk people are willing to take, or a riskover which they have limited choice, considering their economiccircumstances (Wisner et al., 2004). Furthermore, there is often adeficient risk perception present, stemming from an unjustified faith inthe level of safety provided by flood protection systems and dikes inparticular (Grothmann and Patt, 2005) (e.g., 2005 Hurricane Katrina inNew Orleans).Economic development and land use change can also lead to changesin natural systems. Land cover changes induce changes in rainfall-runoffpatterns, which can impact on flood intensity and frequency (e.g.,Kundzewicz and Schellnhuber, 2004). Deforestation, urbanization,reduction of wetlands, and river regulation (e.g., channel straightening,shortening, and embankments) change the percentage of precipitationbecoming runoff by reducing the available water storage capacity (Few,2003; Douglas et al., 2008). The proportion of impervious areas (e.g.,roofs, yards, roads, pavements, parking lots, etc.) and the value of therunoff coefficient are increased. As a result, water runs off faster torivers or the sea, and the flow hydrograph has a higher peak and ashorter time-to-peak (Cheng and Wang, 2002; Few, 2003; Douglas et al.,2008), reducing the time available for warnings and emergency action.In mountainous areas, developments extending into hilly slopes arepotentially endangered by landslides and debris flows triggered byintense rains. These changes have resulted in rain that is less extremeleading to serious impacts (Crozier, 2010).Similarly, the socioeconomic impacts of droughts may arise from theinteraction between natural conditions and human water use, whichcan be conceptualized as a combination of supply and demand factors.Human activities (such as over-cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation)have exacerbated desertification of vulnerable areas in Africa and Asia,238