GEOG 307: Climate Change Adaptation

• Helena Shilomboleni can be contacted at [email protected]
• Office hours are on Thursdays, 10 AM - 12 PM at EV2 2039

Course Agenda

• The Course will cover societal adaptation, the role of development, and vulnerabilities to climate change
• Case studies will focus on Beira, Mozambique, and Fort MacMurray, Alberta.
• Announcements, course information, assignments, and a lecture are included

Assignments

• The LEARN website contains the course outline, announcements, and assignment guidelines
• Weekly course material should be read before class
• Attending scheduled classes is key to doing well on the exam (25% of the grade)
• Select three readings from weeks 2-9 to write a reflection paper
• Tutorials are worth 10% of the grade, with assignment guidance constituting 40% of the grade
• There is one term paper, "Map the System", with the first part due Feb. 3rd
• Email response time is a maximum of two working days and should use a UW account with "GEOG 307" in the subject line during work hours

Course Details

• TA: Kayne Boyall ([email protected])
• Tutorials are on Thursdays 1:30 - 2:20 PM at DWE 3518
• Term Assignment: Map the System
• Resource: Johnson et al. (2019)
• Group assignments will consist of four members

Learning Outcomes

• Students should be able to understand response options to climate change, the impacts and vulnerabilities, and how to communicate climate change
• Students should also learn how to articulate the affect climate change has on adaptation and vulnerability and how this affects sectors and locations

Understanding Societal Adaptation

• Adaptation involves efforts in human systems responding to climate stimuli and their impacts
• Adaptation can be autonomous, reactive, planned, or anticipatory
• Private decision-makers and public agencies or governments are those who adapt

Types of Adaptations to Climate Change

• Anticipatory adaptations include initiatives like purchasing insurance, constructing houses on stilts, redesigning oil rigs, implementing early-warning systems, and implementing location incentives
• Reactive adaptations include changes in growing seasons, ecosystem composition, and wetland migration as well as farm practices,. compensatory payments, and beach nourishment

Planned/Anticipatory Adaptations for Health

• Adaptation measures for heat-related illnesses include weather watch/warning systems, planting trees, and education campaigns
• Adaptation for vector-borne diseases include vaccinations and campaigns to eliminate breeding sites
• Adaptation for health and weather events includes disaster preparedness programs, land-use planning, and banning precarious residential placements

Development in Adaptation

• Human development includes improved access to education, nutrition, health facilities, energy, safe housing and settlement structures, and social support structures,reduced gender inequality and margilialization,
• Poverty alleviation includes improved access to and control of local resources; land tenure; disaster risk reduction; social safety nets and social protection; insurance schemes
• Livelihood security Includes income, asset, and livelihood diversification; improved infrastructure; access to technology and decision-making fora; increased decision-making power; changed cropping, livestock and aquaculture practices; reliance on social networks

Development as Capability

• Development expands capabilities and improves the quality of life
• The Human Development Index includes education, health, nutrition, life expectancy, and shelter combined with economic opportunities
• Development is vital for building adaptive capacity

Adaptive Capacity

• Adaptive capacity includes the potential/ability of individuals, communities, regions, or systems to adapt to the effects/impacts of climate change
• Determinants of adaptive capacity include economic, social, institutional, and technological innovations that facilitate or constrain the development and deployment of adaptive measures
• Limited adaptive capacity makes people & systems vulnerable to (climate and social) risks

Understanding Vulnerabilities

• Vulnerability includes exposure/susceptibility to the impacts of climate risks and hazards
• Vulnerability includes the limited adaptive capacity to prepare for, cope with, or recover from hazard
• Vulnerability has linkages to social vulnerability
• Development capabilities differ between individuals, communities, regions, and countries
• Historical, political, socio-cultural, institutional, and natural resource processes shape lives and lifestyles
• Intersectionality of race, class, gender, age, caste, and (dis)ability are factors

Case Study: Cyclone Idai (2019) in Mozambique

• Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique in March 2019, followed by Cyclone Kenneth in August
• Disastrous development outcomes in Mozambique and neighboring countries were a result of underlying social vulnerabilities

Case Study: Fort McMurray Wildfire (2016)

• Implications address efforts related to climate risks becoming more frequent and intense
• Planned adaptation measures and adaptive capacities are needed for the long-term
• Incremental changes help people cope, while transformative changes address root causes of vulnerability
• Economic, political, and social structures can reduce marginalization and inequalities

Next Class

• Discuss “Deferential exposure to vulnerabilities to climate change”
• Thomas et al. 2019 is to be read
• Spreads of Decease in Beira Mozambique are related to Cyclones.