Scholarly record
EVALUATING THE CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN DATA-SPARSE REGIONS - AN AUTOMATED GIS-BASED TOOLBAR
Abstract
Every year, storm surges, flooding, droughts, and other meteorological natural hazards cause major damages worldwide. Due to climate change, the frequency and intensity of these disasters will increase drastically over the next few decades. Since governments and decision makers are struggling to cope with the effects of these weather disasters as it is, implementing adequate mitigation and adaptation measures that will protect the area against current hazard events as well as future ones, is essential, especially in developing countries where funds and resources are scarce. In this research, a toolbar for ArcGIS that guides the user through a clear workflow to identify the high-risk areas, now and in the future, and to assess planned measures and their impact on the environment, was developed. This toolbar offers decision makers in data-sparse regions a quick, easy-to-use analysis methodology, based on open source input data. The results of the assessment are visual as well as numeric. Output climate risk maps, on which the user can quickly identify the risks and problems in the study area, are created. Tables with numeric data, such as percentages of land use at risk, offer more in-depth information on the climate resilience of the area. Furthermore, planned measures and projects can be added to analyze their impact on the environment and the climate resilience of the area. Two study areas were tested using the toolbar: the urban area of Annotto Bay in Jamaica and the rural plain of the river Moustiques in Haiti. The goal of the research was to create a user-friendly, quick and adequate climate test for data-sparse regions. While this assessment simplifies the complex nature of climate change and its effects, it does provide useful information for governments and decision makers in the form of a first adequate analysis of the climate resilience of the chosen study area and the impact of future projects.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References12
Donovan J., Gutierrez S.J.A., Tan M., Global Environment Outlook 6, Chapter 3 : The Current State of our Data and Knowledge, UN Environment, Cambridge, 2019.
I PCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Switzerland, 151 pp, 2014.
Lavell A., Oppenheimer M., Diop C., Hess J., Lempert R., Li J., Muir-Wood R., Myeong S., Climate change: new dimensions in disaster risk, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience, Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), UK and USA, pp 25-64, 2012.
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Destructive 2018 Atlantic hurricane seasons draws to an end, retrieved from https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/destructive-2018-atlantic-hurricane-season-draws-to-end, November 28, 2018.
UPI, Record 2017 hurricane season cost $370B, hundreds of lives, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/11/30/Record-2017-hurricane-season-cost-370B-hundreds-of-lives/7711511317614/, November 30, 2017.
UNISDR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction), UNISDR Annual Report 2017, 2016-17 Biennium Work Programme Final Report, Switzerland, 2018.
Colls A., Ash N., Ikkala N., Ecosystem-based Adaptation: a natural response to climate change, Switzerland, 16 pp, 2009.
Gobiet A., Jacob D., The EURO-CORDEX-Initiative, WCRP Open Science Conference Denver, USA, poster, 2011.
Simpson M.C., Scott D., Harrison M., Sim R., Silver N., O’Keeffe E., Harrison S., Taylor M., Lizcano G., Rutty M., Stager H., Oldham J., Wilson M., New M., Clarke J., Day O.J., Fields N., Georges J., Waithe R., McSharry P., Quantification and Magnitude of Losses and Damages Resulting from the Impacts of Climate Change: Modelling the Transformational Impacts and Costs of Sea Level Rise in the Caribbean (Full Document), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Barbados, West Indies, 2010.
Glas H., De Roo B., Deruyter G., De Wulf A., De Maeyer P., How can a Belgian flood risk assessment be the base of a new risk approach in Annotto Bay, Jamaica?, International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference-SGEM 2016, Bulgaria, 2016.
EM-DAT, The International Disaster Database, http://www.emdat.be/advanced_search/index.html, 2019.
Government of Haiti, Analysis of Multiple Natural Hazards in Haiti (NATHAT), 2010.
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.
