1. |
- Boyd, Emily, et al.
(author)
-
Loss and damage from climate change: A new climate justice agenda
- 2021
-
In: One Earth. - : Elsevier BV. - 2590-3330 .- 2590-3322. ; 4:10, s. 1365-1370
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The effects of climate change, whether they be via slow- or rapid-onset events such as extreme events, are inflicting devastating losses and damage on communities around the world, with the most vulnerable affected the most. Although the negative impacts of climate change and the concept of loss and damage are included in international conventions, such as the United Nations Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage and Article 8 of the Paris Agreement, these stop short of providing clear compensation mechanisms. The science of loss and damage has evolved with the development of extreme event attribution science, which assesses the probability of an extreme event being influenced by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, but loss and damage still suffers from the lack of a clear definition and measurability and is further complicated by debates on climate justice and shared but differentiated responsibilities. This primer presents an overview of loss and damage, discusses the complexities and knowledge gaps, and proposes next steps for an interdisciplinary research agenda.
|
|
2. |
- Forouzanfar, Mohammad H, et al.
(author)
-
Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.
- 2015
-
In: The Lancet. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 386:10010, s. 2287-2323
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for prevention. The GBD 2013 provides a timely opportunity to update the comparative risk assessment with new data for exposure, relative risks, and evidence on the appropriate counterfactual risk distribution.METHODS: Attributable deaths, years of life lost, years lived with disability, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) have been estimated for 79 risks or clusters of risks using the GBD 2010 methods. Risk-outcome pairs meeting explicit evidence criteria were assessed for 188 countries for the period 1990-2013 by age and sex using three inputs: risk exposure, relative risks, and the theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL). Risks are organised into a hierarchy with blocks of behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks at the first level of the hierarchy. The next level in the hierarchy includes nine clusters of related risks and two individual risks, with more detail provided at levels 3 and 4 of the hierarchy. Compared with GBD 2010, six new risk factors have been added: handwashing practices, occupational exposure to trichloroethylene, childhood wasting, childhood stunting, unsafe sex, and low glomerular filtration rate. For most risks, data for exposure were synthesised with a Bayesian meta-regression method, DisMod-MR 2.0, or spatial-temporal Gaussian process regression. Relative risks were based on meta-regressions of published cohort and intervention studies. Attributable burden for clusters of risks and all risks combined took into account evidence on the mediation of some risks such as high body-mass index (BMI) through other risks such as high systolic blood pressure and high cholesterol.FINDINGS: All risks combined account for 57·2% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 55·8-58·5) of deaths and 41·6% (40·1-43·0) of DALYs. Risks quantified account for 87·9% (86·5-89·3) of cardiovascular disease DALYs, ranging to a low of 0% for neonatal disorders and neglected tropical diseases and malaria. In terms of global DALYs in 2013, six risks or clusters of risks each caused more than 5% of DALYs: dietary risks accounting for 11·3 million deaths and 241·4 million DALYs, high systolic blood pressure for 10·4 million deaths and 208·1 million DALYs, child and maternal malnutrition for 1·7 million deaths and 176·9 million DALYs, tobacco smoke for 6·1 million deaths and 143·5 million DALYs, air pollution for 5·5 million deaths and 141·5 million DALYs, and high BMI for 4·4 million deaths and 134·0 million DALYs. Risk factor patterns vary across regions and countries and with time. In sub-Saharan Africa, the leading risk factors are child and maternal malnutrition, unsafe sex, and unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing. In women, in nearly all countries in the Americas, north Africa, and the Middle East, and in many other high-income countries, high BMI is the leading risk factor, with high systolic blood pressure as the leading risk in most of Central and Eastern Europe and south and east Asia. For men, high systolic blood pressure or tobacco use are the leading risks in nearly all high-income countries, in north Africa and the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. For men and women, unsafe sex is the leading risk in a corridor from Kenya to South Africa.INTERPRETATION: Behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks can explain half of global mortality and more than one-third of global DALYs providing many opportunities for prevention. Of the larger risks, the attributable burden of high BMI has increased in the past 23 years. In view of the prominence of behavioural risk factors, behavioural and social science research on interventions for these risks should be strengthened. Many prevention and primary care policy options are available now to act on key risks.FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
|
|
3. |
- Otto, Friederike E.L., et al.
(author)
-
Causality and the fate of climate litigation : The role of the social superstructure narrative
- 2022
-
In: Global Policy. - : Wiley. - 1758-5880 .- 1758-5899. ; 13:5, s. 736-750
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Climate litigation has become a strategic tool to push for climate justice, including compensation for losses caused by climate change. Many cases rely on the establishment of a causal relationship between the defendants' emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and the plaintiffs' losses. All decided cases seeking compensation for a concrete climate related impact have been unsuccessful (thus far). Legal scholars as well as social and natural scientists have looked at individual cases and evidence of these unsuccessful claims, aiming to identify legal and scientific hurdles. Based on previous research where we analysed specific cases, we step back from a case-specific analysis in this article and identify the social context in which law and science operate and intersect. We assert that without a general understanding of the urgency of climate change and the scientifically proven fact that climate change impacts the present, and that it is possible to attribute individual losses to human-caused climate change, the fate and future of climate litigation focusing on losses and damages will continue to encounter major obstacles in courts. This is despite the increasingly sophisticated strategies of litigants; the positive outcome of some strategic litigation and improvements in the field of climate science, all of which would be expected to sway for a successful future of the fight against climate change.
|
|
4. |
|
|
5. |
- Otto, Friederike E L, et al.
(author)
-
Toward an Inventory of the Impacts of Human-Induced Climate Change
- 2020
-
In: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. - 0003-0007. ; 101:11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Current levels of global warming (Haustein et al. 2017) have already intensified heat waves, droughts, and floods, with many recent events exhibiting evidence of being exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change (e.g., Herring et al. 2016, 2018). Recent improvements in understanding demonstrate that half a degree of additional warming will have further severe impacts (Masson-Delmotte et al. 2018). In the context of this rapid and damaging change, there is a clear need to quantify and address both the losses and damages from impacts we have not adapted to today, as well as to adapt to those that will emerge in the next few decades. To do this, it is essential to understand the impacts of man-made climate change on the scales that climate adaptation decisions are made. Drivers of disasters, ultimately responsible for much loss and damage, are unfolding in an ever-changing socioeconomic context, which also alters exposure and vulnerability. While various case studies exist (discussed below), there is to date no comprehensive or comparable database quantifying anthropogenic contributions to climate change loss and damage. We suggest that this needs to change.
|
|
6. |
- Raju, Emmanuel
(author)
-
Exploring Disaster Recovery: Stakeholder Interfaces, Goals and Interdependencies
- 2013
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Disaster risk management has seen the importance of coordination at various levels of planning and implementation, ranging from preparedness to disaster response, and in planning for long term recovery and sustainable development. This thesis aims to develop a deeper and analytical understanding of stakeholder coordination for disaster recovery. The thesis is built on case studies from the mega –disaster of the Indian Ocean tsunami that affected India in 2004 and one case-study from repeated flooding in the Western Cape in South Africa. The key question addressed in this thesis is related to the factors affecting coordination for sustainable disaster recovery. The thesis presents the factors affecting coordination drawn from empirical data and its analysis. Finally, this thesis is an attempt to set the stage for more research to address recovery coordination as a governance issue.
|
|
7. |
- Raju, Emmanuel, et al.
(author)
-
Exploring interdepencies and common goals in disaster recovery coordination
- 2018
-
In: Procedia Engineering. - : Elsevier BV. - 1877-7058. ; 212, s. 1002-1009
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The present paper seeks to investigate the extent and nature of organizational interdependencies in recovery operations. It focuses on the recovery following the Boxing day tsunami in 2004 in Tamil Nadu, India. It uses the theoretical framework from infrastructure interdependencies to a disaster recovery setting. It takes a case study approach and is based on eighteen interviews conducted in Tamil Nadu. The main findings of this study highlight that there are different types of dependencies between stakeholders. Further, the strength of these dependencies varies between two or more stakeholders. Also, the study indicates that lack of effort in articulating common goals for disaster recovery.
|
|
8. |
- Raju, Emmanuel
(author)
-
Housing reconstruction in disaster recovery: a study of fishing communities post-tsunami in chennai, India.
- 2013
-
In: PLoS Currents. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 2157-3999. ; 5
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Disaster recovery after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 led to a number of challenges and raised issues concerning land rights and housing reconstruction in the affected countries. This paper discusses the resistance to relocation of fishing communities in Chennai, India. Qualitative research methods were used to describe complexities in the debate between the state and the community regarding relocation, and the paper draws attention to the dimensions of the state-community interface in the recovery process. The results of this study highlight the effects of differences in the values held by each of the stakeholders regarding relocation, the lack of community participation, and thereby the interfaces that emerge between the state and the community regarding relocation. The failure to establish a nexus between disaster recovery and the importance of a sustainable livelihood for fishing communities severely delayed housing reconstruction.
|
|
9. |
- Raju, Emmanuel, et al.
(author)
-
Intra-governmental coordination for sustainable disaster recovery: A case-study of the Eden District Municipality, South Africa
- 2013
-
In: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-4209. ; 4, s. 92-99
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Post-disaster coordination is an essential aspect to achieve sustainable disaster recovery. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the subject of coordination in disaster recovery in comparison to response coordination. This study is an investigation into the factors affecting coordination for sustainable disaster recovery. It uses the case-study of Eden district Municipality in South Africa which has been continuously impacted by floods. The paper provides a background on disaster risk management, response and recovery in South Africa to understand the legal instruments available for coordination within the government. The study is structured around the theoretical themes of coordination within the public sector and sustainable disaster recovery. This paper also aims to make suggestions for coordinating sustainable disaster recovery. According to the respondents, the study highlights that (1) much attention paid to response oriented disaster risk management; (2) government departments working in independent silos; and (3) funding and political will are factors that affect coordination for sustainable disaster recovery. Though, the study is limited to a single case study, the results presented may be important considerations in other recovery settings.
|
|
10. |
- Raju, Emmanuel, et al.
(author)
-
Multi-organisational coordination for disaster recovery: The story of post-tsunami Tamil Nadu, India
- 2013
-
In: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-4209. ; 4, s. 82-91
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Coordination during disaster recovery is one of the most neglected areas of disaster risk management, as the majority of literature on coordination focuses on disaster response. The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors affecting coordination for long-term recovery. For this purpose, the study uses semi-structured interviews with different actors involved in the recovery process of the 2004 tsunami in Tamil Nadu, India. The study highlights five key factors that affect coordination in long-term recovery: (1) the need to coordinate; (2) the role of the government; (3) knowledge networking; (4) mandates and goals and (5) coordination at the donor level. Finally, the study indicates a potential for applying a governance perspective on disaster recovery coordination, which needs to be further researched.
|
|