Spelling suggestions: "subject:"adaptive capacity"" "subject:"adaptive apacity""
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Evaluation de la capacité adaptative des socio-écosystèmes forestiers français face au changement climatique : le cas de la migration assistée / Adaptive capacity assessment of French forest social-ecological systems face to climate change : the case of assisted migrationSansilvestri, Roxane 17 December 2015 (has links)
Dans la problématique du changement climatique, la mise en place de nouvelles stratégies d’adaptation apparaît comme un des grands challenges de nos sociétés actuelles. C’est au début des années 2000, que la communauté scientifique a proposé une option de gestion de la biodiversité afin de limiter les impacts dus à la vitesse du changement climatique, cette option étant connue sous le nom de migration assistée (MA). Cependant, malgré une justification théorique intéressante, l’application de cette pratique a soulevé de nombreuses questions autant éthiques, écologiques, économiques que politiques. Tout au long de cette thèse, je me suis intéressée à la capacité d’adaptation des acteurs face au changement climatique, via la mise en place de nouvelles pratiques de gestion, en s’intéressant tout particulièrement au cas de la MA. Compte tenu du rythme de migration lent des espèces forestières, les forêts représentent un écosystème pertinent pour la mise en place de la MA, et plus spécifiquement pour la France, qui compte plus de 29% de son territoire en surface boisée avec une forte problématique de fragmentation. Dans la première partie de cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés au débat que la MA a suscité et j’ai analysé les blocages qui existent actuellement dans sa conception et sa mise en place. Sur la base d’une analyse comparative entre la France et le Canada, j’ai pu mettre en évidence que les différentes conceptions d’adaptation et de MA entre les acteurs politiques et les scientifiques représentaient des barrières à l’application de programmes de MA. Ainsi, j’ai proposé une nouvelle conception de la MA, avec un volet écosystémique, permettant de limiter les approches économico-centrée de ces programmes. De plus, j’ai démontré que l’action de MA ne s’inscrit pas seulement dans une démarche de précaution mais également de prévention, dénouant ainsi le blocage présent sur la question du « quand doit-on agir ? ». Après une analyse théorique et empirique de la MA et de son contexte, dans la seconde partie, nous nous sommes posés la question de sa réelle application sur le terrain. J’ai donc analysé la capacité des acteurs forestiers locaux à mettre en œuvre des stratégies d’adaptation grâce à une méthode originale d’estimation des capitaux locaux. Malheureusement, cette analyse a montré qu’à l’heure actuelle, les forestiers mettent plus facilement en place des stratégies favorisant la robustesse que des stratégies plus complexes de résilience globale ou de transformabilité, telle que la MA, augmentant ainsi la fragilisation des socio-écosystèmes et risquant des transitions brutales. / In a climate change context, the implementation of adaptive strategies appears as one of the greatest challenges for our societies. At the beginning of the 21st century, the scientific community proposed an adaptation option to limit climate change impacts on biodiversity, the assisted migration (AM). Despite a good theoretical justification, the AM application raises several questions about ecological, economical, ethical and political issues. Along this thesis, I was interested in the adaptive capacity of society actors concerning the changing climate, through the implementation of new practices as AM. Given the slow migration capacity of tree species, forests represent a relevant ecosystem for AM application, especially in France which has more than 29% of its surface as forest areas that are highly fragmented. In the first part of this thesis, I concentrated on the AM debate and I analyzed the actual barriers in its conception and its implementation. On the basis of a comparative analysis between France and Canada, I highlighted that different acceptations of adaptation and AM between policy and scientific actors represent a barrier for the implementation of adaptive strategies, as AM. Hence, I proposed a new concept of AM at the ecosystem scale, allowing limiting the focus on economic issues of AM programs. Moreover, I demonstrated that the AM actions are not constrained in a precautionary approach but could be applied in a prevention context. These results unties the deadlock about the “when to act?” question. After an empirical and theoretical analysis of AM and its context, in the second part of this thesis, I was interested on the real application of AM in the field. Therefore, I evaluated the capacity of forest actors to change their practices in a climate change context, with an original method based on the estimation of local capitals. Sadly, this analysis showed that for the moment, foresters implement more easily strategies for increasing robustness than resilient or transformative strategies, increasing the fragility of socio-ecosystems and risking a violent collapse of them.
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NURTURING ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE? : The Impact of Strategic Sustainable Development on the Adaptive Capacity of OrganizationsRocha, Patrizzia, Decoodt, Ellen, Charrois, Sophie January 2020 (has links)
This research explores how strategic sustainable development (SSD) using theFramework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) might influence the resilience oforganizations, using the lens of adaptive capacity (AC). The topic was addressed by researchinghow practices informed by the FSSD are experienced in relation to fostering organizations’ AC.Data was gathered through interviews and a focus group with FSSD practitioners and interviewswith sustainability champions applying the FSSD inside organizations. The findings show thatthe FSSD has the potential to foster AC in organizations, although it isn’t designed for it.Especially the systems perspective and backcasting from principles, which are core to theFSSD, proofed helpful. However, the data shows that there are conditions to foster AC throughSSD. Important is a long-term, iterative use of the FSSD, as well as the human-centered aspectsof facilitation and leadership. The existing culture of organizations showed to be critical as well.There are further implications that render the FSSD’s potential as an organizationaldevelopment tool. An opportunity lies in understanding organizations from a social systemsperspective and in using the complexity science behind it to stress this viewpoint in practice,both strengthening resilience and the sustainability practice.
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Känslighet och anpassningsförmåga inför värmeböljor i Östergötland : En studie om klimatrelaterad sårbarhet / Sensitivity and adaptive capacity to heat waves in Östergötland : A study about climate-related vulnerabilityBerg, Sara, William-Olsson, Julia January 2021 (has links)
Värmeböljor i Östergötland förväntas bli mer frekvent förekommande och med en större intensitet. Klimat- och sårbarhetsanalyser används som underlag för klimatanpassningen i länet, men det saknas en enhetlig definition av vad klimatrelaterad sårbarhet innebär. Dagens sårbarhetsanalyser för Östergötland fokuserar på utsattheten för olika klimatförändringsaspekter. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka sårbarhet inför värmeböljor i Östergötland utifrån känslighet och anpassningsförmåga och att sätta det i relation till gällande styrdokument för klimatanpassning. Studien görs via karteringar över Östergötlands biofysiska känslighet och socioekonomiska anpassningsförmåga som sedan kompletteras med en tematisk dokumentanalys av några av länets plandokument. Karteringen visar hur känsligheten är koncentrerad i stadskärnorna medan låg anpassningsförmåga snarare är utspridd över stadsdelarna. Temana som tas upp och diskuteras utifrån dokumenten är strategi, behov, känslighet och anpassningsförmåga. Dokumentanalysen visar på en otydlighet samt vissa motsägelser mellan styrdokumenten vilket indikerar att Länsstyrelsen brister i sin roll som samordnande organ inom klimatanpassningen i länet. / Heatwaves in Östergötland are expected to appear more frequently and intensify. Climate and vulnerability assessments are used as the basis of climate adaptation in the region, but there is a lack of a standardized definition of climate related vulnerability. This study aims to assess the vulnerability to heatwaves in Östergötland based on sensitivity and adaptive capacity, to put in relation to current policy and planning documents for climate adaptation in the region. The study is conducted by mapping the bio-physical sensitivity and the socio-economic adaptive capacity with a complementary thematic analysis of the regions policy and planning documents. The mapping shows that high sensitivity and low adaptive capacity mainly occurs within and around the urban areas of Linköping and Norrköping. The thematic analysis demonstrates an ambiguity within the policy documents and the conclusion is that Länsstyrelsen Östergötland fails in its role as a coordinator of climate adaptation in the region.
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Exploring Social-Ecological Response Capacity to Drought of Swedish FarmsOhlsson, Moa January 2019 (has links)
Ecosystem services are intrinsically social-ecological. The capacity to provide them over time is both dependent on the functional attributes of species that contribute to ecological processes and social assets underpinning management practices. Yet, these two dimensions are rarely integrated or empirically assessed, even though their interaction contributes to the overall capacity of a social-ecological system to respond. In this study, theoretical frameworks of resilience, adaptive capacity, and ecosystem services are combined to explore “social-ecological response capacity” as the ability of a social-ecological system to respond to extreme weather events. This study focuses on Swedish livestock farms and was set up in response to the drought of 2018 and concerns raised about the general lack of drought mitigation and adaptation strategies in Europe. 15 surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted and combined with ecological data collected before the drought, to create a baseline for the capacity to respond before the disturbance. The relationship between assets and drought impact on farm performance was indirect and results revealed that social-ecological response capacity was not a mitigating factor of the impacts of drought on the financial and subjective success of farms. However, financial capital and diversification of income might have a disproportionate influence on the farms performance. Moreover, results showed that farms used a wide diversity of strategies to handle drought effects that focused on increasing current and future fodder supply. These findings can provide useful information for all stakeholders that rely on the stability and provision of essential ecosystem services when navigating similar, as well as other disturbances in the future. Additionally, this study contributes to insights on the empirical assessment of properties that are essential for specified and general resilience.
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Vulnerability and Adaptability: Modelling the Adaptive Capacity of Rural Households to Environmental ChangesMwamba, Leonard Otieno 23 January 2013 (has links)
This dissertation presents the results of an investigation of rural households’ ability to adapt to changing environmental and climatic conditions. It presents soil degradation arising from worsening soil erosion, leaching, depletion of nutrients due to years of uninterrupted cultivation and low levels of use of fertilizers; uncontrolled deforestation leading to loss of biodiversity; and climate variability seen through longer dry seasons as well as delayed and falling levels of precipitation as key issues leading to the vulnerability of households in Kakemega District in Western Province of Kenya.
An enquiry has been made into the adaptation strategies of the rural households and a composite household adaptive capacity index (HACI) developed which is then used in hypothesis testing. Despite a situation laden with serious soil degradation and fears that credit taken by rural households often end up in low-return necessity-based enterprises or in consumption expenditure, the dissertation shows that the use of credit positively contributes to the HACI as does regular and optimal use of farm inputs. Diversification into non-agricultural activities, on-farm planting of trees and migration with remittances were some of the adaptation strategies observed among households with relatively high adaptive capacity indices while a secondary school level of education alongside the possession of non-land and non-livestock assets were key factors clearly associated with high adaptive capacity indices.
Regarding adaptation decision making, the household head was observed to be the single most important actor in a process which was often characterized by authoritarianism. The household head’s level of information or awareness of environmental changes and open options proved to be important for adaptation. It was revealed that membership to groups and networks as well as government and NGO-activities were the most important factors in informing the household heads. Given small land sizes and a high incidence of other negative shocks, household heads tended to adopt and implement only tried and tested adaptation actions. During the study behind this dissertation, pioneers in the implementation of new strategies were observed to be better informed household heads or beneficiaries of incentives from the promoters of such strategies. Newer efforts aimed at the promotion of adaptability would therefore gain wider acceptance and adoption if preceded by a pilot phase carefully designed to include committed opinion shapers who would provide a demonstration effect.:Acknowledgment......................................................................................i
Dedication................................................................................................ii
Summary.................................................................................................iii
Zusammenfassung (summary in the German language).........................iv
List of Tables....................................................................................................vii
List of Figures.........................................................................................ix
List of Abbreviations...............................................................................xi
1.0 Introduction: Structure and Objectives.............................................1
1.1 Background.................................................................................5
1.2 Problem Statement.....................................................................7
1.3 Theoretical and Methodological Contribution..............................8
1.4 Objectives...................................................................................9
1.5 Research Questions..................................................................10
1.6 Hypothesis................................................................................10
1.7 Scope and Limitations of the Study...........................................11
1.8 Structure of the Dissertation.....................................................12
2.0 Environmental and Climate Change................................................13
2.1 Climate Change.........................................................................13
2.2 Environmental Changes............................................................15
2.3 Vulnerability..............................................................................22
2.4 Adaptation and Coping Strategies............................................32
2.5 Household Adaptability.............................................................40
3.0 Study Design and Setting................................................................57
3.1 Study Area................................................................................76
3.2 Sampling and Data Collection....................................................85
4.0 Rural Households and their Environment........................................87
4.1 General Descriptive Statistics....................................................87
4.2 Observed Vulnerability Causes and Coping Strategies.............92
4.3 Role of the Government............................................................98
5.0 Rural Household Adaptive Capacity...............................................101
5.1 HACI without External Sub-index................ ............................101
5.2 HACI including External Sub-index..........................................167
5.3 Hypothesis Testing..................................................................171
5.4 Towards Enhanced Adaptability: Factors and Strategies........180
6.0 Conclusion and Recommendations................................................185
7.0 Appendix.......................................................................................197 / In dieser Dissertation wurden ländliche Haushalte bezüglich ihrer Anpassungsfähigkeit an den Umwelt- und Klimawandel untersucht. Desweiteren geht die Dissertation unter anderen der Frage über Strategien nach, die von ländlichen Haushalten angesichts der Auswirkungen von Umweltproblemen eingesetzt werden. Die Feldforschung wurde unter den Haushalten im Kakamega Distrikt in Kenia getätigt.
Eine Abnahme der Bodenproduktivität ist durch Erosion, einem Auslaugen und einer ununterbrochenen Kultivierung in Kakamega entstanden. Desweiteren führt eine unkontrollierte Abholzung mit resultierendem Verlust von heimischer Flora und Fauna sowie längeren Trockenperioden mit verspätetem Einsatz von Regenfällen und einer damit verbundenen Niederschlagsminimierung zu einer schwierigen Lebenssituation für die ländlichen Haushalte, die hauptsächlich durch Landwirtschaft ihre Existenz sichern. Diese Situation (gekennzeichnet durch Abholzung, Verlust der Artenvielfalt, Verminderung der Bodenqualität und unregelmäßige und wechselhafte Niederschlag) wird in dieser Arbeit als Umweltwandel (Environmental Change oder Environmental Stress) bezeichnet.
Es konnte unter anderem als eines der Ergebnisse der Arbeit festgestellt werden, dass die ländlichen Haushalte aufgrund schlechten Bodens, unkontrollierten Abholzungen, längeren Trockenzeiten und sinkenden Niederschlagsmengen sehr anfällig sind. Durch den Einsatz des zusammengesetzten Haushalt-Anpassungsfähigkeitsindex (Household Adaptive Capacity Index = HACI), der im Rahmen dieser Dissertation entwickelt wurde, konnten die Bedenken gemindert werden, dass Kredite, die an ärmeren ländlichen Haushalten vergeben werden, oft für Notgründungen und Konsumausgaben eingesetzt werden. Es hat sich herauskristallisiert, dass die optimale und regelmäßige Nutzung von Düngemitteln sowie der Einsatz von Krediten, die HACI positiv beeinflusst. Als weitere Ergebnisse konnte beobachtet werden, dass Haushalte mit höheren Anpassungsfähigkeitsindexen Anpassungstrategien wie Diversifizierung in nicht-agra Aktivitäten, Aufforstung und Migration verwenden, und, dass ein Sekundarschulabschluss und der Besitz von Wirtschaftsgütern mit hohen Haushalt-Anpassungsfähigkeitsindexen assoziiert sind.
Zum Anpassungsentscheidungspozess konnte festgestellt werden, dass Haushaltoberhäupter, die wichtigste Akteure sind. Entscheidungsweisen dieser Haushaltoberhäupten lassen oftmals autoritäre Züge erkennen. So entscheiden die Haushaltoberhäupter häufig auch, in welcher Art und Weise Haushalte sich anpassen dürfen. Von daher ist das Wissen des Haushaltoberhauptes über die herrschenden Umweltbedingungen und die offenen Strategien oder Handlungspielräume von Bedeutung. Die Feldforschung zeigte, dass die Zugehörigkeit zu einzelnen Gruppen sowie die Bemühungen von der Regierung und den Nichtregierungsorganisationen wichtig für die Erhöhung des Wissens von Haushaltoberhäupten sind. Da der durchschnittliche Haushaltgrundstückbesitz sinkt und andere negative Ereignisse wie Krankheit und Tod zunehmend Angst verbreiten, setzen Haushaltsoberhäupter häufig nur dann empfohlene Strategien zur Anpassung ein, wenn sie beispielsweise einen Erfolg bei einem Nachbar verzeichnen können. Oftmals werden Anpassungsstrategien auch bei finanziellen Anreizen, zum Beispiel von Förderern, umgesetzt. Es würden mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit mehr Anpassungstrategien von ländlichen Haushalten umgesetzt werden, wenn diese Strategien Pilotprojekte beinhalten würden, die Haushalten das Zusammenspiel von Anpassung und Ernteertrag präsentieren.:Acknowledgment......................................................................................i
Dedication................................................................................................ii
Summary.................................................................................................iii
Zusammenfassung (summary in the German language).........................iv
List of Tables....................................................................................................vii
List of Figures.........................................................................................ix
List of Abbreviations...............................................................................xi
1.0 Introduction: Structure and Objectives.............................................1
1.1 Background.................................................................................5
1.2 Problem Statement.....................................................................7
1.3 Theoretical and Methodological Contribution..............................8
1.4 Objectives...................................................................................9
1.5 Research Questions..................................................................10
1.6 Hypothesis................................................................................10
1.7 Scope and Limitations of the Study...........................................11
1.8 Structure of the Dissertation.....................................................12
2.0 Environmental and Climate Change................................................13
2.1 Climate Change.........................................................................13
2.2 Environmental Changes............................................................15
2.3 Vulnerability..............................................................................22
2.4 Adaptation and Coping Strategies............................................32
2.5 Household Adaptability.............................................................40
3.0 Study Design and Setting................................................................57
3.1 Study Area................................................................................76
3.2 Sampling and Data Collection....................................................85
4.0 Rural Households and their Environment........................................87
4.1 General Descriptive Statistics....................................................87
4.2 Observed Vulnerability Causes and Coping Strategies.............92
4.3 Role of the Government............................................................98
5.0 Rural Household Adaptive Capacity...............................................101
5.1 HACI without External Sub-index................ ............................101
5.2 HACI including External Sub-index..........................................167
5.3 Hypothesis Testing..................................................................171
5.4 Towards Enhanced Adaptability: Factors and Strategies........180
6.0 Conclusion and Recommendations................................................185
7.0 Appendix.......................................................................................197
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A Complex Systems Simulation Study for Increasing Adaptive-CapacityRam, Kadambari 01 January 2017 (has links)
Examination of empirical research confirmed that climate change is a complex problem of anthropological origin and revealed the need for a management framework to facilitate strategic decisions aimed at mitigating a rise in global temperatures of 2-°C linked to irresponsible and unsustainable business practices. The purpose of this simulation study was to develop a management framework of resilience, robustness, sustainability, and adaptive-capacity (RRSA) for organizations viewed as complex systems to address the current unsustainable state. As such, the evolutionary-RRSA prisoner's dilemma (PD) simulation was developed using an evolutionary game theory approach to agent based modeling and simulation, to generate data. Regression analyses tested the relationships between organizational resilience (x1), robustness (x2), and sustainability (x3) as independent variables, and the dependent variable of adaptive capacity (y) for cooperative and defective strategies. The findings were that complex nonlinear relationships exist between resilience, robustness, sustainability, and adaptive-capacity, which is sensitive to initial conditions and may emerge and evolve from combinations of cooperative and defective decisions within the evolutionary RRSA PD management tool. This study resulted in the RRSA management framework, a cyclical 4-phased approach, which may be used by climate governance leaders, negotiators, and policy-makers to facilitate strategy to move global climate change policy forward by guiding bottom-up consumption and production of GHGs, thereby improving adaptive-capacity, while mitigating an increase in global temperatures of 2-°C, which in turn would improve global socio-economic conditions.
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Contributions of Regenerative Leadership to team collaboration and Social SustainabilityMark, Vanessa, Vangelova, Nedelina January 2022 (has links)
Regenerative Leadership is a newly emerged leadership approach with a holistic worldview that is aiming to restore, preserve and enhance people, society and environment. It is a purposeful and empathic leadership that focuses on fostering partnerships between people and nature. In this research, we investigated application of this approach in work teams to promote collaboration and strategically contribute to Social Sustainability. By conducting several interviews with Regenerative Leadership practitioners and analyzing them doing qualitative content analysis, we found that Regenerative Leaders build team cultures that shift power and agency to the team as collective, the collaborative processes are centered around self-organization and inclusive decision-making. Building a culture of trust and encouraging learning, the leaders strengthen the adaptive capacities in the small social system of their work teams, thereby contributing to social sustainability. The way the interviewed leaders make decisions, how they choose the people in their team, what they value, how they act in a moment of misunderstanding in their team, what is their attitude towards the collective – all this is not only inspired by RL theory, but by the personal values and in particular by the spiritual convictions of the leaders.Even with the spiritual and personal perspectives of the interviewees, Regenerative Leadership strengthens all adaptive capacities of a work team as a social system. Moreover, this leadership paradigm offers a vision and values as a source of inspiration for the team members to collaborate Therefore, the approaches taken by leaders in this new and emergent field are effective ways to integrate the science-based principles of Social Sustainability into work teams
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Pathways of adaptive capacity for climate impact researchAndrijevic, Marina 07 September 2021 (has links)
Bei den Schätzungen der künftigen Auswirkungen bleiben die globalen Ungleichheiten der sozioökonomischen Bedingungen meist unberücksichtigt, die für die tatsächliche Fähigkeit der Systeme, viele der Anpassungsmaßnahmen umzusetzen, entscheidend sein werden. Um das zu erwartende Ausmaß der Anpassung auf der Grundlage wirtschaftlicher, finanzieller, menschlicher, technologischer und anderer Kapazitäten besser bestimmen zu können, sollten Projektionen der Klimaauswirkungen und der daraus resultierenden Verluste und Schäden die Koevolution zwischen Klimagefahren und sozioökonomischer Entwicklung berücksichtigen. In dieser Arbeit werden verschiedene Bereiche der Klimawissenschaft miteinander verknüpft, um ein Instrumentarium zur besseren Darstellung der Anpassung in quantitativen Modellierungsinstrumenten anzubieten. Der Ansatz bettet die sozioökonomischen Barrieren in den Szenariorahmen der Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) ein, um quantitative Pfade der Anpassungsfähigkeit zu erstellen. Die Integration der Anpassungsfähigkeit in den Szenarioraum ermöglicht eine differenziertere Operationalisierung der Anpassung in der quantitativen Modellierung. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit werden zwei Erweiterungen des Szenariorahmens vorgestellt, die sich auf Indikatoren für die Regierungsführung und die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter als zwei der wichtigsten Hindernisse für die Anpassung konzentrieren. Im zweiten Teil werden zwei Anwendungen der Anpassungsfähigkeit für die Sektoren Gesundheit und Landwirtschaft vorgestellt, die den Zusammenhang zwischen sozioökonomischen Bedingungen und der unterschiedlichen Anfälligkeit für mögliche Klimastressoren aufzeigen. Das hier vorgestellte Toolkit eignet sich in erster Linie für den Einsatz in quantitativen Bewertungen von Auswirkungen und alternativen politischen Optionen, um anpassungsrelevante Informationen einzubeziehen, damit der Klimawandel unter verschiedenen sozioökonomischen Szenarien robuster dargestellt werden kann. / Adaptation to climate change can substantially reduce the negative impacts of climate change, but quantitative estimates of future impacts tend to disregard global inequalities in socio-economic conditions, which will be decisive for the systems’ actual ability to deploy many of the adaptation measures. To better ascertain the degree of adaptation that can be expected based on economic, financial, human, technological and other capacities, projections of climate impacts and the ensuing loss and damage should account for the co-evolution between climate hazards and socio-economic development. To this end, this thesis connects several areas of climate change science to offer a toolkit for improving the representation of adaptation in quantitative modeling tools. The approach shown here embeds the socio-economic barriers to into the scenario framework of Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) to establish quantitative pathways of adaptive capacity. Integrating adaptive capacity in the scenario space opens opportunities for a more nuanced operationalization of adaptation in quantitative modeling. In the first half of the thesis, two extensions of the scenario framework are presented, focusing on indicators of governance and gender equality as two of the key barriers to adaptation that have not yet been part of the set of indicators in the SSPs. The second half of the thesis showcases two sectoral applications of adaptive capacity for the health and agriculture sectors, demonstrating the relationship between socioeconomic conditions and differential vulnerability to possible climate stressors. The toolkit presented in this thesis is primarily suited for use in quantitative assessments of impacts and alternative policy options to incorporate adaptation-relevant information, with the ultimate goal of a more robust representation of climate change under different socio-economic development scenarios.
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Business Continuity and Resilience Engineering: How Organizations Prepare to Survive Disruptions to Vital Digital InfrastructureRomine, Jessica D. 19 June 2012 (has links)
No description available.
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Private sector adaptive capacity to climate change impacts in the food system : food security implications for South Africa and BrazilPereira, Laura M. January 2012 (has links)
Achieving food security under climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. The challenge becomes even greater when contextualised within our current limited understanding of how the food system functions as a complex, adaptive socio-ecological system, with food security as one of its outcomes. Adding climate change into this already complex and uncertain mix creates a ‘wicked problem’ that must be solved through the development of adaptive food governance. The thesis has 4 key aims: <ul><li>1. To move beyond an understanding of food security that is dependent solely on agricultural production, and therefore the reliance of future food security predictions on production data based on climate model inputs.</li><li>2. To ground the theoretical aspects of complex adaptive systems with empirical data from multi-level case studies.</li><li>3. To investigate the potential role of the private sector in food system futures.</li><li>4. To analyse food system dynamics across scales and levels.</li></ul> In order to realise these aims, a complex adaptive system (CAS) approach within the GECAFS food system framework is employed to multilevel case studies in South Africa and Brazil. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of the private sector and how these vital actors, comprising a powerful component of the global food system, can be mobilized towards building adaptive capacity for a more resilient food system. Critically, the private sector is often left out of academic discussions on adaptation, which tend to focus more on civil society and governmental capacity to adapt. This thesis provides novel insight into how the power of the private sector can be harnessed to build adaptive capacity. The findings of the thesis showed that applying CAS to issues of governance has three important implications: The first is that in a complex system, it is critical to maintain diversity. This can translate into appreciating a multiplicity of viewpoints in order to reflect a range of decision-making options. This finding makes the case for closer synergy between the public and private sectors around areas like product development and distribution that includes an emphasis on enhancing food security under climate change. In the developing country context, the inclusion of smallholders and local entrepreneurs is also vital for building adaptive capacity. In this sense, it is possible for business to help achieve development goals by developing the capacity of those most vulnerable to socio-economic and environmental shocks. Secondly, adapting to climate change and other environmental and economic pressures will require a shift in mind-set that embraces the uncertainty of the future: ‘managing for uncertainty rather than against it’. This entails a shift in governance mindset away from linear thinking to a decision-making paradigm that is more flexible to deal with unexpected shocks. The third implication for governance is the need to understand the complex interplay of multiple interlinking processes and drivers that function across many levels and sometimes have exponential positive feedbacks in the food system. Adaptive governance is an iterative process, but as more is learnt and information is retained in the system, the ideal is that the beneficial processes that lower inequality and increase food security will start to be reinforced over those that entrench the current inequality in the food system.
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