Responding To Threats of Climate Change Mega-Catastrophes PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Responding To Threats of Climate Change Mega-Catastrophes PDF full book. Access full book title Responding To Threats of Climate Change Mega-Catastrophes by Carolyn Kousky. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Carolyn Kousky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atmosphere
Languages : en
Pages : 26
Get Book
Book Description
There is a low but uncertain probability that climate change could trigger "mega-catastrophes," severe and at least partly irreversible adverse effects across broad regions. This paper first discusses the state of current knowledge and the defining characteristics of potential climate change mega-catastrophes. While some of these characteristics present difficulties for using standard rational choice methods to evaluate response options, there is still a need to balance the benefits and costs of different possible responses with appropriate attention to the uncertainties. To that end, the authors present a qualitative analysis of three options for mitigating the risk of climate mega-catastrophes - drastic abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, development and implementation of geoengineering, and large-scale ex ante adaptation - against the criteria of efficacy, cost, robustness, and flexibility. They discuss the composition of a sound portfolio of initial investments in reducing the risk of climate change mega-catastrophes.
Author: Carolyn Kousky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atmosphere
Languages : en
Pages : 26
Get Book
Book Description
There is a low but uncertain probability that climate change could trigger "mega-catastrophes," severe and at least partly irreversible adverse effects across broad regions. This paper first discusses the state of current knowledge and the defining characteristics of potential climate change mega-catastrophes. While some of these characteristics present difficulties for using standard rational choice methods to evaluate response options, there is still a need to balance the benefits and costs of different possible responses with appropriate attention to the uncertainties. To that end, the authors present a qualitative analysis of three options for mitigating the risk of climate mega-catastrophes - drastic abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, development and implementation of geoengineering, and large-scale ex ante adaptation - against the criteria of efficacy, cost, robustness, and flexibility. They discuss the composition of a sound portfolio of initial investments in reducing the risk of climate change mega-catastrophes.
Author: Richard A. Posner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780195346398
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Get Book
Book Description
Catastrophic risks are much greater than is commonly appreciated. Collision with an asteroid, runaway global warming, voraciously replicating nanomachines, a pandemic of gene-spliced smallpox launched by bioterrorists, and a world-ending accident in a high-energy particle accelerator, are among the possible extinction events that are sufficiently likely to warrant careful study. How should we respond to events that, for a variety of psychological and cultural reasons, we find it hard to wrap our minds around? Posner argues that realism about science and scientists, innovative applications of cost-benefit analysis, a scientifically literate legal profession, unprecedented international cooperation, and a pragmatic attitude toward civil liberties are among the keys to coping effectively with the catastrophic risks.
Author: Suraj Mal
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319564692
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 309
Get Book
Book Description
This book discusses the science, causes, impacts and risk reduction strategies for climate change and disasters. It focuses on the use of traditional knowledge, new innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels in order to promote sustainable development goals in general and disaster risk reduction in particular. The global climate has changed substantially over the last century. There is strong evidence of global climate change in the form of increase in air and sea surface temperature, recession of glaciers, changes and shifting of climate regimes, increasing number of extreme events and sea levels changes. The increasing frequency of climate change induced disasters in particular is posing a threat to resilience, lives and livelihoods at global, regional and local levels. Major ecosystems of the world have experienced several climate induced disaster events in recent past. This book provides new insights into the occurrence and impacts of climatic extremes and strategies for disaster risk reduction. It includes studies on rainfall and temperature trends, floods and drought disasters, weather and climatic related disasters in mountains, changes in plant activities, risk assessment and responses in different ecosystems of the world. The book is particularly useful for environmental and disaster managers, researchers and graduate students, as well as policy makers.
Author: Ira Helsloot
Publisher: Charles C Thomas Publisher
ISBN: 0398086834
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Get Book
Book Description
We live in turbulent times with continents and nations facing ever-heightening risks such as natural disasters, intense and protracted conflicts, terrorism, corporate crises, cyber threats to infrastructures and mega-events. We are witnessing the rise of mega-crises and a new class of adversity with many unknowns. The prospect of mega-crises presents professionals and students in the field of crisis management with four major tasks. First, they should engage in “deep thinking” about the causes of the increasing occurrence of mega-crises. Second, they should identify and work through the dominant trends which complicate contemporary crisis management. Third, they should upgrade institutional crisis management capacity. Fourth, they should improve societal resilience since no institutional complex can mitigate or manage these mega-crisis on its own. This book is divided into four primary parts, each of which looks at one facet of mega-crises. Part I focuses on the concept of a mega-crisis and mega-crisis management; Part II examines crisis management of mega-natural disasters; Part III evaluates crisis management of man-made mega-crises; and Part IV identifies mega-threats and vulnerabilities. Additional major topics include Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Gustav; the London Bombings; the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks of July 7, 2005; corporate meltdowns; the subprime crisis; the Olympic Games; electricity grids; global climate change; the Dutch Delta; risks to food security; and mega-crises and the Internet. This comprehensive text will provide practitioners and academics with the results of an across-the-board research effort in the prospects, nature, characteristics, and the effects of mega-crises.
Author: Christopher B. Field
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107380103
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 593
Get Book
Book Description
This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report (IPCC-SREX) explores the challenge of understanding and managing the risks of climate extremes to advance climate change adaptation. Extreme weather and climate events, interacting with exposed and vulnerable human and natural systems, can lead to disasters. Changes in the frequency and severity of the physical events affect disaster risk, but so do the spatially diverse and temporally dynamic patterns of exposure and vulnerability. Some types of extreme weather and climate events have increased in frequency or magnitude, but populations and assets at risk have also increased, with consequences for disaster risk. Opportunities for managing risks of weather- and climate-related disasters exist or can be developed at any scale, local to international. Prepared following strict IPCC procedures, SREX is an invaluable assessment for anyone interested in climate extremes, environmental disasters and adaptation to climate change, including policymakers, the private sector and academic researchers.
Author: William Holt
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 178190037X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 350
Get Book
Book Description
Examining urban environmental issues at the macro, municipal level down to the micro community and individual level, this volume features cities and metropolitan regions across the global north and south with case studies from the United States, Canada, Eastern and Western Europe to India, Central America, South America and Africa.
Author: Howard Kunreuther
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812251326
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416
Get Book
Book Description
Whether man-made or naturally occurring, large-scale disasters can cause fatalities and injuries, devastate property and communities, savage the environment, impose significant financial burdens on individuals and firms, and test political leadership. Moreover, global challenges such as climate change and terrorism reveal the interdependent and interconnected nature of our current moment: what occurs in one nation or geographical region is likely to have effects across the globe. Our information age creates new and more integrated forms of communication that incur risks that are difficult to evaluate, let alone anticipate. All of this makes clear that innovative approaches to assessing and managing risk are urgently required. When catastrophic risk management was in its inception thirty years ago, scientists and engineers would provide estimates of the probability of specific types of accidents and their potential consequences. Economists would then propose risk management policies based on those experts' estimates with little thought as to how this data would be used by interested parties. Today, however, the disciplines of finance, geography, history, insurance, marketing, political science, sociology, and the decision sciences combine scientific knowledge on risk assessment with a better appreciation for the importance of improving individual and collective decision-making processes. The essays in this volume highlight past research, recent discoveries, and open questions written by leading thinkers in risk management and behavioral sciences. The Future of Risk Management provides scholars, businesses, civil servants, and the concerned public tools for making more informed decisions and developing long-term strategies for reducing future losses from potentially catastrophic events. Contributors: Mona Ahmadiani, Joshua D. Baker, W. J. Wouter Botzen, Cary Coglianese, Gregory Colson, Jeffrey Czajkowski, Nate Dieckmann, Robin Dillon, Baruch Fischhoff, Jeffrey A. Friedman, Robin Gregory, Robert W. Klein, Carolyn Kousky, Howard Kunreuther, Craig E. Landry, Barbara Mellers, Robert J. Meyer, Erwann Michel-Kerjan, Robert Muir-Wood, Mark Pauly, Lisa Robinson, Adam Rose, Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Paul Slovic, Phil Tetlock, Daniel Västfjäll, W. Kip Viscusi, Elke U. Weber, Richard Zeckhauser.
Author: Michele Companion
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482248441
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Get Book
Book Description
Many facets of disasters generate interest among scholars and practitioners. However, a vital area of disaster research is consistently underemphasized. Little is written about the immediate and long-term impacts on a communitys livelihood systems and the customs and practices of the culture affected. Disasters Impact on Livelihood and Cultural S
Author: Nicholas Stern
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814551864
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 280
Get Book
Book Description
The year 2015 will be a landmark year for international climate change negotiations. Governments have agreed to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris in 2015. The agreement will come into force no later than 2020. This book focuses on the prospects for global agreement, how to encourage compliance with any such agreement and perspectives of key players in the negotiations — the United States, India, China, and the EU. It finds that there is strong commitment to the established UN institutions and processes within which the search for further agreed actions will occur. There are already a myriad of local and regional policies that are helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build mutual confidence. However, the chapters in the book also highlight potential areas of discord. For instance, varying interpretations of the “common but differentiated responsibilities” of developing countries, agreed as part of the UNFCCC, could be a major sticking point for negotiators. When combined with other issues, such as the choice of consumption or production as the basis for mitigation commitments, the appropriate time frame and base date for their measurement and whether level or intensity commitments are to be negotiated, the challenges that need to be overcome are considerable. The authors bring to bear insights from economics, public finance and game theory. Contents:Introduction (Alex Bowen, Nicholas Stern and John Whalley)Global Cooperation and Understanding to Accelerate Climate Action (James Rydge and Samuela Bassi)The US and Action on Climate Change (Samuela Bassi and Alex Bowen)Challenges and Reality: China's Dilemma on Durban Platform Negotiation (Mou Wang, Huishan Lian and Yamin Zhou)Sustainable Growth and Climate Change: Evolution of India's Strategies (Ruth Kattumuri and Darshini Ravindranath)After Copenhagen and the Economic Crisis: Does the EU Need to Go Back to the Drawing Board? (Christian Egenhofer and Monica Alessi)The Scope for “Green Growth” and a New Technological Revolution (Alex Bowen)Negotiating to Avoid “Dangerous” Climate Change (Scott Barrett)Unilateral Measures and Emissions Mitigation (Shurojit Chatterji, Sayantan Ghosal, Sean Walsh and John Whalley)Compliance Mechanisms in Global Climate Regimes: Kyoto and Post-Kyoto (Sean Walsh and John Whalley) Readership: students and researchers in developmental economics and climate change; policy makers and decision makers; general public interested in climate change issues. Keywords:Climate Change;International Negotiation;Participation;COP21;UNFCCCKey Features:Timely and relevant for climate policy negotiators in the run-up to COP21 in Paris at the end of 2015Written by authors who have strong backgrounds in economics, both theoretical (e.g. game theory) and empirical (e.g. climate policy evaluation)
Author: Jeff Schlegelmilch
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231548877
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 91
Get Book
Book Description
As human society continues to develop, we have increased the risk of large-scale disasters. From health care to infrastructure to national security, systems designed to keep us safe have also heightened the potential for catastrophe. The constant pressure of climate change, geopolitical conflict, and our tendency to ignore what is hard to grasp exacerbates potential dangers. How can we prepare for and prevent the twenty-first-century disasters on the horizon? Rethinking Readiness offers an expert introduction to human-made threats and vulnerabilities, with a focus on opportunities to reimagine how we approach disaster preparedness. Jeff Schlegelmilch identifies and explores the most critical threats facing the world today, detailing the dangers of pandemics, climate change, infrastructure collapse, cyberattacks, and nuclear conflict. Drawing on the latest research from leading experts, he provides an accessible overview of the causes and potential effects of these looming megadisasters. The book highlights the potential for building resilient, adaptable, and sustainable systems so that we can be better prepared to respond to and recover from future crises. Thoroughly grounded in scientific and policy expertise, Rethinking Readiness is an essential guide to this century’s biggest challenges in disaster management.
