No / Our aim in this article is to articulate and consider a number of questions concerning the future purpose, scope, and practice of peace studies. Our premise, set out in the first section, is that the current era of growth and globalisation will necessarily give way to some degree of social and economic contraction, as the limits to growth implied by the interacting forces of ecological change and resource dependency are encountered. Against this background, we suggest that ‘peaceful adaptation’ could be an appropriate concept to guide consideration of and responses to future challenges associated with building more sustainable forms of society in a context of ‘less’. The remainder of the paper works through a series of questions regarding the meaning of ‘peaceful adaptation', and the potential roles of peace researchers and educators, taking into account the need for peace studies not only to study and contribute to adaptation processes, but to also to respond to the prospect that current systems for knowledge production, dissemination and maintenance may themselves be vulnerable. In each section, we point to examples of existing work that provide promising starting points for engagement, but also highlight some issues and questions that need further attention, especially from the more normative standpoint(s) of ‘peace’.

Denna uppsats utforskar effektiviteten av klimatanpassningsåtgärder i Norrköpings kommun, med särskilt fokus på hanteringen av ökad klimatpåverkan. Genom en detaljerad genomgång av klimatförändringarnas påverkan på den urbana infrastrukturen identifierar studien centrala utmaningar och strategiska val som har implementerats mellan åren 2010 och 2024. Med användning av tematisk analys som både metod och teoretiskt ramverk, analyseras data insamlat från djupgående intervjuer och omfattande dokumentstudier för att ge en systematisk överblick av de anpassningsstrategier som tillämpats. Resultatet i denna uppsats utforska och analysera de utmaningar som svenska kommuner står inför i sin strävan att anpassa sig till det ökande behovet av klimatanpassningsåtgärder. Resultaten diskuteras i ljuset av tidigare forskning om institutionell kapacitet, styrningsmekanismer och samverkan mellan olika sektorer. Denna forskning bidrar till en djupare förståelse för de politiska, tekniska och administrativa aspekterna av klimatanpassning. / This thesis explores the effectiveness of climate adaptation measures in Norrköping Municipality, with a particular focus on managing increased precipitation levels and stormwater. Through a detailed examination of the impact of climate change on urban infrastructure, the study identifies key challenges and strategic choices implemented between the years 2010 and 2024. Using thematic analysis as a method and theoretical framework, data collected from in-depth interviews and extensive document studies are analyzed to provide a systematic overview of the adaptation strategies employed. The study's findings reveal a range of adaptive measures that have been utilized to mitigate the effects of climate change. The results are discussed in light of previous research on institutional capacity, governance mechanisms, and collaboration between different sectors. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the political, technical, and administrative aspects of climate adaptation.

In response to recent storms like Superstorm Sandy and sea-level rise influenced by climate change, cities, particularly those located at the coast, have taken initiative to combat these growing threats with adaptive urban planning. Although civilians residing in susceptible neighborhoods are often the most vulnerable socioeconomically, there has been minimal evidence that planning has accounted for the characteristics of vulnerability. This thesis evaluates the recent planning efforts and vulnerability of Norfolk, VA and New York City to gauge the progress being made toward reducing citizen vulnerability and raising adaptability and preparedness. The most recent peer-reviewed research is consulted to forge the evaluation framework and also to recognize breakthroughs and conformity. After analyzing the performance of the sets of planning documents in both cities, it is evident that the ability to effectively plan for the public’s vulnerability is contingent in part on inter-governmental capacity, but more specifically on disaster experience.

Despite considerable uncertainties regarding the exact contribution of anthropogenic climate change to disaster risk, rising losses from extreme events have highlighted the need to comprehensively address climate-related risk. This requires linking climate adaptation to disaster risk management (DRM), leading to what has been broadly referred to as climate risk management (CRM). While this concept has received attention in debate, important gaps remain in terms of operationalizing it with applicable methods and tools for specific risks and decision-contexts. By developing and applying a methodological approach to CRM in the decision context of sovereign risk (flooding) in Austria we test the usefulness of CRM, and based on these insights, inform applications in other decision contexts. Our methodological approach builds on multiple lines of evidence and methods. These comprise of a broad stakeholder engagement process, empirical analysis of public budgets, and risk-focused economic modelling. We find that a CRM framework is able to inform instrumental as well as reflexive and participatory debate in practice. Due to the complex interaction of social-ecological systems with climate risks, and taking into account the likelihood of future contingent climate-related fiscal liabilities increasing substantially as a result of socioeconomic developments and climate change, we identify the need for advanced learning processes and iterative updates of CRM management plans. We suggest that strategies comprising a portfolio of policy measures to reduce and manage climate-related risks are particularly effective if they tailor individual instruments to the specific requirements of different risk layers. (authors' abstract)

There are many studies about citizen participation in urban planning, but there are almost no studies about citizen participation in relation to climate change adaptation. This study was conducted in order to understand how Swedish municipalities work with citizen participation in this area. To fulfill this purpose, a caste study was built on the Swedish municipality Norrköping. Specifically, the study seeked the answers to the following four questions: How does the municipality work with citizen participation in their planning process? Does the work with citizen participation in any way touch upon issues regarding climate adaptation in the municipality? Are there any challenges with integrating citizens in the planning process when it comes to climate adaptation? What can the municipality do in order to overcome these challenges? These questions were answered using data from semi-structured interviews with municipality officers and two focus groups consisting of citizens from a residential area in Norrköping. The results indicate that no concrete work is made on citizen participation in relation to climate change adaptation in Norrköping. However, the municipality showed large potential for developing both effective and meaningful citizen participation in this area, for instance by using visualization technology and their exhibition arena. To make a good use of these tools, the municipality should define how citizen opinions are to be used and what they would like to achieve by integrating citizens in planning related to climate change adaptation.

At the same time that additional coordination and cooperation between involved stakeholder groups is required more than ever to respond to changing environmental and socio-economic conditions, there has been an increasing trend of polarization across several important social divides (scientists/local actors, urban/rural, and political partisanship). Boundary organizations and boundary chains have been promoted as ways to help mitigate the problematic effects these divisions have on the successful communication of climate adaptation information in the water management sector. In this dissertation, I present three studies that were conducted in two regions to further explore stakeholder groups and the boundary chains that connect them. Both areas (Guanacaste, Costa Rica and Montana, USA) are historically agricultural regions experiencing ongoing environmental and socio-economic shifts. A mental models approach involving the use of interviews and surveys was used in each study area. The first two studies were conducted in Guanacaste and focused on comparing stakeholder group perceptions of their water system and hydro-climate information and on the differences in trust in forecast sources and its impact on forecast use. The results of these studies suggest that there is a distinction between the perceptions of larger stakeholder groups (e.g. government agencies or large farmers) and smaller groups (e.g. local water committees), and that this division suggests a need for boundary-type translation work. The third study was conducted in Montana with a focus on what communication strategies are used by, and what prompts engagement with, a boundary chain connecting rural agriculturalists to urban scientists. The results show that members of the network generally agree that for successful communication it is important both to not engage in ways viewed as attacks on agriculture and to make attempts to understand and respect local agricultural contexts. While there is some tension in the network, overall “buy-in” to the goal of bridging divides appears to be a common reason for engagement. In addition, organizations engage with the boundary chain for both the opportunity to connect to others and because of the need for translation between the concerns and logistics of different groups.

<p>Generellt går det att hantera klimatförändringar på två sätt. Dels genom att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser och dels genom att anpassa sig till de klimatförändringar som kommer. I denna uppsats kommer jag att fokusera på klimatanpassning. Ett av de områdena i Sverige som beräknas drabbas värst är runt Vänern, framförallt då sannolikheten för översvämningar väntas öka på grund av klimatförändringarna. Syftet är att ta reda på vilka problem det finns med att genom klimatanpassning minska risken vid översvämningar kring Vänern, samt undersöka vem som har ansvaret att lösa dessa problem. Metoden är en kvalitativ fallstudie med semi-strukturerade intervjuer som analyserats enligt ”grounded theory”. Även en mindre litteratundersökning har genomförts. Slutsatsen är att de övergripande problemen är att det finns en osäkerhet angående förutsättningen för klimatanpassning, att klimatanpassning är ett så nytt begrepp att det inte riktigt är implementerat i den politiska strukturen än, att det finns bristande medel för genomförandet samt att det finns en brist på samordning. Det övergripande ansvaret att minska sannolikheten för översvämningar ligger på staten. Det övergripande ansvaret att minska sårbarheten ligger till viss del på kommunerna, men är till stor del oklart. Något som skulle vara intressant att studera vidare är kopplingen i praktiken mellan klimatanpassning och hållbar utveckling.</p> / <p>In general there are two ways of coping with climate change. One way is through mitigation and the other is through climate adaptation. This essay will focus on climate adaptation. One of the areas in Sweden which is expected to be the most afflicted is around the lake Vänern, mainly because of the flooding risk which is expected to rise because of climate change. The purpose of this study is to find out what kind of problems there are with climate adaptation as a way of reducing flooding risk around the lake Vänern, and to find out who is responsible to solve these problems. The method used is a qualitative case study with semi-structured interviews. A miner literature study has also been made. The conclusion is that the general problems are insecurity about the background of climate adaptation, climate adaptation is a new concept which has not been implemented in the political structure yet, there is shortage of means for the implementation and there is a lack of coordination. The main responsibility of decreasing the probability of flooding is on the state. The main responsibility to reduce the vulnerability is partly on the county but for some part unclear. Something interesting to study further is the connection between climate adaptation and sustainable development.</p>

Generellt går det att hantera klimatförändringar på två sätt. Dels genom att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser och dels genom att anpassa sig till de klimatförändringar som kommer. I denna uppsats kommer jag att fokusera på klimatanpassning. Ett av de områdena i Sverige som beräknas drabbas värst är runt Vänern, framförallt då sannolikheten för översvämningar väntas öka på grund av klimatförändringarna. Syftet är att ta reda på vilka problem det finns med att genom klimatanpassning minska risken vid översvämningar kring Vänern, samt undersöka vem som har ansvaret att lösa dessa problem. Metoden är en kvalitativ fallstudie med semi-strukturerade intervjuer som analyserats enligt ”grounded theory”. Även en mindre litteratundersökning har genomförts. Slutsatsen är att de övergripande problemen är att det finns en osäkerhet angående förutsättningen för klimatanpassning, att klimatanpassning är ett så nytt begrepp att det inte riktigt är implementerat i den politiska strukturen än, att det finns bristande medel för genomförandet samt att det finns en brist på samordning. Det övergripande ansvaret att minska sannolikheten för översvämningar ligger på staten. Det övergripande ansvaret att minska sårbarheten ligger till viss del på kommunerna, men är till stor del oklart. Något som skulle vara intressant att studera vidare är kopplingen i praktiken mellan klimatanpassning och hållbar utveckling. / In general there are two ways of coping with climate change. One way is through mitigation and the other is through climate adaptation. This essay will focus on climate adaptation. One of the areas in Sweden which is expected to be the most afflicted is around the lake Vänern, mainly because of the flooding risk which is expected to rise because of climate change. The purpose of this study is to find out what kind of problems there are with climate adaptation as a way of reducing flooding risk around the lake Vänern, and to find out who is responsible to solve these problems. The method used is a qualitative case study with semi-structured interviews. A miner literature study has also been made. The conclusion is that the general problems are insecurity about the background of climate adaptation, climate adaptation is a new concept which has not been implemented in the political structure yet, there is shortage of means for the implementation and there is a lack of coordination. The main responsibility of decreasing the probability of flooding is on the state. The main responsibility to reduce the vulnerability is partly on the county but for some part unclear. Something interesting to study further is the connection between climate adaptation and sustainable development.

Recent climate changes show that the historical record is not an appropriate analog for future climate conditions. This understanding calls into question management decisions that assume climate stationarity and consequently the demand for climate information has increased in order to help frame climate risk more accurately. However, deficits in knowledge about climate impacts and weak connections between existing information and resource managers are two barriers to effective incorporation of climate information in resource management, development, risk management, and other climate-sensitive decisions. In research presented here, I showcase results that address knowledge gaps in the impact of climate on glacial resources in Bolivia, South America. I present a mixing model analysis using isotopic and anion tracers to estimate that glacial meltwater contributed about 50% of the water to streams and reservoirs in La Paz region of Bolivia during the 2011 wet and 2012 dry seasons. To assess how future warming may impact water supplies, I develop a temperature-driven empirical model to estimated changes in a future glacial area. Surface temperature changes were extracted from a multi-model ensemble of global climate models produced for the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) fifth assessment report and for two greenhouse gas emission scenarios. In both scenarios, declines in glacial area are substantial. For many small glaciers, temperatures at the toe of each glacier rise above the glacier's maximum elevation by 2050 suggesting that water resources will be substantially impacted with continued warming. While these results address a knowledge gap, the extent to which they inform resource management is unknown because the research was conducted without an explicit connection to resource management. Information produced in this fashion is generally acknowledged as being less immediately useful for decision-making because of access and comprehension barriers. These challenges may be mollified, however, with information management strategies. Therefore, I present results from an experiment to see if translating and contextualizing existing climate-related information - information produced similarly to the glacier results highlighted above - help facilitate its use. During a drought afflicted period in Arizona and New Mexico, a monthly synthesis of climate impacts information was disseminated to more than 1400 people. Survey responses from 117 people who consulted the information indicated that the majority of them made at least one drought-related decision and the information in the synthesis at least moderately influenced the majority of those decisions. In addition, more than 90% of the survey respondents indicated that the synthesis improved their understanding of climate and drought; it also helped the majority of them better prepare for drought. The results demonstrate that routine interpretation and synthesis of existing climate information can help enhance access to and understanding of climate information.

The primary objectives of this study are to understand if and how cities are adapting to heat and water stress and to characterize their understanding of the potential tradeoffs associated with vegetation-based strategies. I address these objectives using two approaches: a comparative analysis of climate adaptation and sustainability planning documents in cities vulnerable to heat and water stress and an in-depth case study of the response to heat and water threats in Los Angeles. The comparative analysis of city plans builds a broad understanding of how cities are planning to adapt to heat and water stress and the degree to which they articulate an understanding of, and mitigate the potential for, maladaptive measures. The Los Angeles case study provides the opportunity to more deeply trace how the process of adapting to heat and water stress has unfolded in a single city. To do so, I locate the city’s contemporary policies in an historical continuum with previous municipal environmental policy efforts, in local patterns of urban development and their entailing political and economic foundations, and in regional, state, national, and international environmental policy hierarchies.