Institute of Resource Assessment
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Browsing Institute of Resource Assessment by Subject "adaptation"
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Item Africa Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(Cambridge University Press, 2008) Boko, M.; Niang, I.; Nyong, A.; Vogel, A.; Githeko, Andrew; Medany, M.; Osman-Elasha, B.; Tabo, R.; Yanda, Pius Z.Climate Change 2007 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability of natural and human environments, and the potential for response through adaptation. The report: • evaluates evidence that recent observed changes in climate have already affected a variety of physical and biological systems and concludes that these effects can be attributed to global warming; • makes a detailed assessment of the impacts of future climate change and sea-level rise on ecosystems, water resources, agriculture and food security, human health, coastal and low-lying regions and industry and settlements; • provides a complete new assessment of the impacts of climate change on major regions of the world (Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, North America, polar regions and small islands); • considers responses through adaptation; • explores the synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation; • evaluates the key vulnerabilities to climate change, and assesses aggregate damage levels and the role of multiple stresses. This latest assessment by the IPCC will form the standard scientific reference for all those concerned with the consequences of climate change, including students and researchers in ecology, biology, hydrology, environmental science, economics, social science, natural resource management, public health, food security and natural hazards, and policymakers and managers in governments, industry and other organisations responsible for resources likely to be affected by climate changeItem Crisis in the wetlands: Combined stresses in a changing climate–Experience from Tanzania(Taylor & Francis Group, 2012) Hamisia, Hamudu I.; Tumbo, Madaka; Kalumanga, Elikana; Yanda, Pius Z.Climate variability and change has led to multifaceted stresses and compounded socio-environmental problems. Using the example of Simiyu wetlands in Tanzania, this article analyses the complexity and inter-connectedness of climate-related mal-adaptation and coping strategies and their implications. Various study methods were used, including consultative meetings, stakeholders workshops, a literature review, household questionnaires and land use cover and change analysis. Reactive coping and adaptation strategies have resulted in increased risks to livelihoods and the environment. Responses to climate variability and change in the study are complex, leading to amplified chain reactions. Extreme weather events, particularly droughts, have led people and herds of livestock to migrate into the wetlands. Environmental degradation is alarming. More than 42 per cent of natural vegetation in the study area has been wiped out in a span of 15 years. As a result, poor people whose livelihoods derive from the wetlands have suffered. The present institutional arrangements have failed to integrate the community's coping and adaptation strategies into wetlands management. Emerging conflicts among wetland users are intensifying environmental and community risks. This article emphasizes that, in a changing climate, wetlands need to be managed through flexible institutional and management frameworks that cross sectoral boundaries and involve all affected partiesItem Managing a changing climate in Africa: Local level vulnerabilities and adaptation experiences(Mkuki na Nyota Publishers Ltd, 2011) Yanda, Pius Z.; Mubaya, C. P.The realisation that the Earth climate might be sensitive to the atmospheric concentrations of gases that create a greenhouse effect is more than a century olds (IISD 2008; IPCC1 2007d: 7-9). Scientist such as Fourier (French) and Arrhenius (Swedish) explained the Earth’s greenhouse effect and the role played by some atmospheric gases such as CO2 and methane (CH4) in warming our planet (Fleming, 1998). Around the same time, Arrhenius, together with Chamberlain, an American scientist, realised that the burning of fossils fuels could lead to global warming. Indeed there is increasing evidence from work that have been carried out over nearly two decades by the IPCC, which cements the conclusion that global warming and subsequent climate change are largely due to human activities. However, there continues to be considerable debate regarding the causes of climate change, that is, whether it is included by anthropogenic activities or simply within the range of natural variability in climate.