GECHS

GECHS will organize 12 sessions with more than 60 paper presentations in the Open Meeting in Bonn 26-30 April 2009. The meeting will take place at the former German Parliament premises on the United Nations Campus.

This 7th Open Meeting, “Social Challenges of Global Change”, addresses the need to incorporate not only the social aspects of climate change, but also the social aspects of many other environmental changes which happen in our society, such as resource shortages, the destruction of ecosystem services, and new threats to human health.

The GECHS sessions cover important aspects of the social challenges of global change, including how to approach the threats to human security, emerging new vulnerabilities in megacities and its implications for human security, interactions between globalization and global environmental change, limits and barriers to climate adaptation, climate change and conflicts, sustainable adaptation, environmental management and human security for disaster resilient communities, sustainability and adaptive capacity, and reducing water insecurity through stakeholder participation.

An overview over these sessions is presented below. The full program for the conference is available at the Open Meeting website.

• Emerging New Vulnerabilities in Megacities and Implications for Human Security
• Emerging Urban Vulnerabilities under Climate Change: Implications for Health and Human Security
• Sustainable Adaptation: Climate Change and Poverty Reduction
• Reducing Water Insecurity through Stakeholder Participation in River Basin Management
• Human Security in the 21st Century
• Double Exposure: Interactions between Globalisation and Global Environmental Change
• Limits I: Barriers and Limits to Adaptation Posed by Governance (international focus)
• Limits II: Barriers and Limits to Adaptation Posed by Governance (National and Subnational Focus)
• Limits III: Barriers and Limits Relating to the Role of Communities in Local Adaptation
• Sustainability and Adaptive Capacity

As a result of a collaborative effort by the Southern African Vulnerability Initiative and the Southern African Savannas Network (ICSU/EU-sponsored), a set of articles integrating findings from research efforts regarding the sustainability of southern African savannas are now out in the journal Environmental Science and Policy. The articles are available electronically from the journal website and will be published in the paper version of the journal later this year. The articles seek to identify main threats and opportunities to sustainability, link sustainability and vulnerability in the region, and exemplify how these interlinkages play out on the ground. GECHS associate Siri Eriksen is the lead author of two articles and co-author of two articles, while GECHS chair Karen O’Brien is the lead author of one of the five articles.

The Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) project organized an International Human Dimensions Workshop (IHDW) on “Sustainable Adaptation to Climate Change” October 11-16, 2009, New Delhi, India. A total of 17 researchers and practitioners from around the world attended and contributed to this seminar. The participation of 5 young researchers from Africa was funded from START/PACOM African Global Change Research Grants. The training seminar focused on the concept of sustainable adaptation to climate change as a means of enhancing human security. In particular, the relationship between adaptation and development was explored, including how poverty reduction strategies can have either positive or negative influences on vulnerability to climate change. The role of social and technological innovations for development was also addressed in the seminar, especially the role of renewable energy technologies in contribution to increased adaptive capacity and sustainable adaptation. The presentations given during the IHDW are listed below:

• Presentation Chaurey IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Presentation Erhart IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Presentation Park IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Presentation O’Brien IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Presentation Eriksen IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Presentation Roychowdhury Delhi 2008.pdf
• Presentation_Sygna_IHDWDelhi2008.pdf
• Case Study Presentation Aldunce IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Case Study Presentation Erhart IHDW 2008.pdf
• Case Study Presentation Martins IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Case Study Presentation Olorunfemi IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf
• Group Presentation Plenary Nhemachena IHDW Delhi 2008.pdf

GECHS has written a report on climate adaptation for the Development Fund, a Norwegian NGO working with environment and development projects through southern organizations and networks. The aim of the report is threefold:

1. to present a method for examining poverty reduction projects and programs based on a comprehensive approach to climate adaptation, in order to identify, plan, and evaluate climate adaptation activities;
2. to identify what sustainable adaptation measures can look like in development projects;
3. to present some guiding principles for the design and implementation of climate change adaptation in poverty reduction strategies and activities.

The report was launched during the 30th year anniversary of the Development Fund on September 9th 2008. Authors were Kirsten Ulsrud, Linda Sygna and Karen O’Brien at the GECHS project, in close collaboration with the Development Fund and it’s partners in Nicaragua, Nepal and Ethiopia. The report, “More than rain: Identifying sustainable pathways for climate adaptation and poverty reduction”, can be downloaded here.

In July 2008, Robin Leichenko and GECHS chair Karen O’Brien will launch the book Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures. The book explores the connections between two of the most transformative processes of the twenty-first century, namely global environmental change and globalization. In the book, Leichenko and O’Brien present a conceptual framework for analyzing the interactions between these two processes, and they illustrate, through case studies, how these interactions create situations of “double exposure.” Drawing upon prominent recent and current environmental events – Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, recurring droughts in India, and the melting of the Arctic sea ice – the case studies each demonstrate a different pathway of interaction between globalization and environmental change. The double exposure framework not only sheds light on the challenges raised by these processes, but also possibilities for using the interactions to generate positive opportunities for action. The book can be ordered here.