Conferences and Workshops: Disaster Governance: The Urban Transition in Asia organized by NUS from 7 to 8 Nov 2013

Conferences and Workshops
Disaster Governance: The Urban Transition in Asia

Date:	07 Nov 2013 - 08 Nov 2013
Venue:	Seminar Rooms A, B and C
	AS7, Shaw Foundation Building, NUS @ Kent Ridge
	Level 1, 5 Arts Link, Singapore 117570
Organisers:	Prof DOUGLASS Michael  Dr MILLER Michelle

Download Files: AS7 MAP

Description:
The transition to an increasingly urban world in the twenty-first century is accompanied by growing vulnerabilities for cities and urban residents. In Asia, around 1.5 billion people currently reside in urban areas and account for more than half of the global urban population, even though Asia remains one of the world’s least urbanized regions. Aging populations, rapid urban growth and ‘shrinking’ cities, infrastructural obstacles and health issues related to poor public service delivery have presented specific problems for urban spaces and residents. Disasters linked directly or indirectly to global warming and climate change have also become far more costly and prevalent worldwide, especially in Asia, where the urban transition has been marked by a coastal orientation that has left urban populations more exposed to floods, tsunamis and cyclones. The increasing frequency of these global disasters with cascading impacts has heightened awareness of the need for a more comprehensive approach to disaster governance, including a stronger emphasis on integrative risk management and financial preparedness for disaster. How cities adapt and respond to these events has import for the role of urban governance at the forefront of disaster response initiatives in an increasingly interconnected and urban planet. This conference focuses on how Asia’s urban populations deal with disaster and its threat from a governance perspective, with governance understood as a process of social decision-making involving government, civil society and private enterprise. Remaining mindful of the blurred boundaries and frequent areas of overlap between ‘anthropogenic’ and ‘natural’ disasters in urban contexts, we take ‘disaster’ to denote any event that causes widespread destruction. Our central concern is with how the structures and processes of urban governance are working to develop more effective and inclusive initiatives to manage and prevent these large-scale destructive events. We invite submission of papers from young and established scholars, policymakers, planners and development practitioners on the role of disaster governance in urban settlements and populations in Asia. In this, we encourage applicants to consider empirical case studies and theories within comparative Asian contexts, and what lessons might be learned from Asia for disaster governance in other urban areas in the world. Questions that will guide the conference proceedings to speak to related themes across disciplinary and geographical boundaries include: • In what ways does Asia's urban transition change issues for governance in disaster preparedness, humanitarian assistance and/or resilience. • What factors assist and impede the capacities of cities to prepare for disasters to make urban populations safer? • What roles can neighbourhoods, communities and/or non-government organizations play in disaster governance? • What kinds of cultural or social institutions contribute to disaster governance in urban contexts? • What priorities are shaping disaster governance programs (e.g., cultural heritage, protection of vulnerable sections of society such as the urban poor and elderly)? • How do vulnerabilities vary among cities, and urban populations more broadly, in disaster governance? • How can urban heritage be more actively brought into disaster governance? • What initiatives are successful in overcoming problems of coordination and collaboration among different state and societal actors? • What good practices are emerging in the governance of disaster response initiatives in urban populations? • To what extent are best practices in disaster governance travelling for emulation or replication by other cities? • What networks of cooperation and collaboration are emerging within and between cities through disaster governance? CONTACT DETAILS OrganizersProf Mike DOUGLASSAsia Research Institute, and Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore arimike@nus.edu.sg Dr Michelle MILLERAsia Research Institute, National University of Singapore arimam@nus.edu.sg SecretariatMr Jonathan LEEAsia Research Institute, National University of Singapore #10-01 Tower Block, 469A Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259770 Email: jonathan.lee@nus.edu.sg
Contact Person: Mr LEE Ming Yao, Jonathan
Email: arimike@nus.edu.sg, arimam@nus.edu.sg, arilmyj@nus.edu.sg

For more information: 
http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/events_categorydetails.asp?categoryid=6&eventid=1421

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New research highlights: Which ecosystems are most vulnerable to climate change (16 Sep 2013)

Which ecosystems are most vulnerable to climate change?Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
September 16, 2013

New research highlights the world's most (and least) vulnerable ecosystems to climate change. The study, published in Nature Climate Change, is the first to combine anticipated climatic impacts with how degraded the ecosystem is due to human impacts, creating what scientists hope is a more accurate list of vulnerable regions. The most endangered regions include southern and southeast Asia, western and central Europe, eastern South America, and southern Australia. 

James Watson, lead author of the study, says the research is meant to provide "clarity" on "where limited resources will do the most good" in safe-guarding vulnerable ecosystems in a warming world. 

"We need to realize that climate change is going to impact ecosystems both directly and indirectly in a variety of ways and we can’t keep on assuming that all adaptation actions are suitable everywhere. The fact is there is only limited funds out there and we need to start to be clever in our investments in adaptation strategies around the world," says Watson, the Director of Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Climate Change Program. 

Watson and his team began by evaluating the stability of ecosystems under future climate change scenarios, given that some ecosystems are expected to undergo more drastic changes than others. For example, the Arctic is expected to undergo some of the most drastic changes due to warming. But then the researchers combined these findings with how much of the ecosystem remains intact, theorizing that in more intact ecosystems species will be better able to adapt. The result points to region that have already been heavily degraded--such as southeast Asia and western Europe--and have at least moderate sensitivity to climate change. 

The least vulnerable areas, in terms of both climate impacts and current degradation, include southern South America, the Middle East, northern Australia, and southwestern Africa. 




Most vulnerable regions are cream colored, while least vulnerable are dark gray/black. Regions that are heavily degraded but should retain stable climates are dark orange, while those that are relatively intact but are expected to be sensitive to climate change are dark green. Map courteys of Watson et al. 



Citations:

• James E. M. Watson, Takuya Iwamura& Nathalie Butt. (2013) Mapping vulnerability and conservation adaptation strategies under climate change. Nature Climate Change. doi:10.1038/nclimate2007

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0916-hance-vulnerable-climate.html

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Publications: PROVIA Identifies Research Priorities on Vulnerability (2 Sep 2013)

PROVIA Identifies Research Priorities on Vulnerability

2 September 13: The Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA) has released a report titled 'Research Priorities on Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation: Responding to the Climate Change Challenge,' which presents global research priorities that were identified through a consultation process with experts and policymakers, and are intended to serve as guidance to researchers, donor groups and other stakeholders.

The report consists of 33 topics presented in three sections: information to support policymaker decisions; systems and regions; and emerging topics. Each of the 33 topics includes a description of why the research is needed, followed by several paragraphs describing specific activities that respond to that need. A short bulleted list thereafter highlights representative examples of critical activities from the broader set of proposed activities for each research topic.

The report addresses vulnerability of the following key systems: food systems; water systems; ecosystems; energy systems; and infrastructure systems and the built environment. It also addresses the impacts of climate change on human well-being and identifies the following critical geographical areas: vulnerable coastal areas and islands; arid and semi-arid regions; open ocean; mountain regions and the cryosphere; and urban areas.

PROVIA was launched in September 2011 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

[Publication: Research Priorities on Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation: Responding to the Climate Change Challenge] [PROVIA Website]

For more information:
http://climate-l.iisd.org/news/provia-identifies-research-priorities-on-vulnerability/213684/

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