case study adaptation to climate change

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts .

Searchable Case Studies for Climate Change Adaptation

Communities across the United States are anticipating, planning, and preparing for the impacts of climate change. Below are examples of municipal, state, or tribal communities that have taken action.

Select from the options below to view cases according to the area of interest, geographic region, or level of government. Use the search function to view cases according to key words or areas of interest not provided below (Example: Sea Level Rise, Drought, or Green Infrastructure).

To see all the climate change adaptation case studies, click the Show All button.

Does your community have a story to share about adaptation in action? Contact us to learn more about having your story added to ARC-X!

• Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-X) Home
• Your Climate Adaptation Search
• Implications of Climate Change
• Adaptation Planning
• Adaptation Strategies
• Case Studies
• Federal Funding & Technical Assistance
• Underlying Science
• EPA Contacts & State Websites

• FAQ for users
• FAQ for providers
• Guidance to search function
• Tutorial Videos
• Share your information
• About Climate-ADAPT
• Dissemination materials
• Tutorial videos
• Inspiring Climate-ADAPT use cases
• Climate-ADAPT performance reporting
• Climate-ADAPT events and webinars
• Country specific promotions
• EU Adaptation Strategy
• EU Mission on Adaptation
• EU Reporting on Adaptation
• EU Covenant of Mayors
• EU Sustainable Finance Strategy
• EU funding of adaptation

Agriculture

Biodiversity

• Business and Industry

Coastal areas

Cultural heritage

• Disaster risk reduction

Land use planning

• Marine and fisheries

Mountain areas

Water management

• EU REGIONAL POLICY
• European Climate Risk Assessment
• Just resilience
• Nature-based solutions
• Country Profiles
• Cities and towns
• Adriatic-Ionian
• Alpine Space
• Atlantic Area
• Central Europe
• Danube Area
• Mediterranean (Euro-Med)
• North West Europe
• Northern Periphery and Arctic
• South West Europe
• Outermost Regions
• Black Sea Basin (NEXT)
• Mediterranean Sea Basin (NEXT)
• Impacts, risks and vulnerabilities
• Adaptation options
• Uncertainty guidance
• Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation
• Europe's vulnerability to climate change impacts occurring outside Europe
• Climate Services
• Indicators in Climate-ADAPT
• RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROJECTS
• EUROPEAN CLIMATE DATA EXPLORER
• Adaptation Support Tool
• Urban Adaptation Support Tool
• Urban Adaptation Map Viewer
• Economic losses and fatalities
• Economic tools
• Case study explorer
• LIFE projects
• INTERREG projects
• Search the database
• EUROPEAN Climate and Health Observatory
• ADAPTATION IN THE FORESTRY SECTOR

Language preference detected

Do you want to see the page translated into ? Yes, reload the page using my language settings.

Climate-ADAPT Case study explorer

Climate-ADAPT case studies showcase implemented adaptation options and initiatives to create and improve the enabling conditions for adaptation at all governance scales – from local to EU level.    

Nine criteria have been defined for selecting and presenting Climate-ADAPT case studies.

Case studies serve as inspiration on how known adaptation options can be implemented in practice under a range of different conditions.   

This collection is regularly updated with new case studies, aiming to reach a balanced distribution of represented sectors, climate-related impacts, approaches applied and geographic locations. Case studies included are also periodically reassessed and updated, to track both the process and the effectiveness of adaptation actions across Europe.    

Access to Climate-ADAPT Case studies  

To learn from diverse experiences, explore Climate-ADAPT case studies through the map-based  Case study explorer below. Case studies can be explored through the following three filters:  

Adaptation Sectors – Users can navigate across 19 adaptation sectors addressed by the case studies in terms of climate change adaptation.  

Climate Impacts – This filter enables users to filter case studies through climate change impacts they cope with.  

Key Type Measures - This filter enables users to select case studies through the categories of adaptation options implemented. The adaptation options are labelled by Key Type Measures (KTM).  The KTM are a common framework and reporting approach for climate change adaptation that allows clustering the wider variety of adaptation options and measures across EEA Member countries.   

Adaptation Sectors

Business and industry

Disaster Risk Reduction

Marine and Fisheries

Non specific

Climate Impacts

Extreme Temperatures

Ice and Snow

Sea Level Rise

Water Scarcity

Key Type Measures

Governance and Institutional A1: Policy Instruments A2: Management and planning A3: Coordination cooperation and networks

Economic and Finance B1: Financing incentive instruments B2: Insurance and risk sharing instruments

Physical and technological C1: Grey options C2: Technological options

Nature based Solutions and Ecosystem based approaches D1: Green options D2: Blue options

Knowledge and behavioural change E1: Information and awareness raising E2: Capacity building empowering and lifestyle practices

Climate-ADAPT case studies

Case studies collected at national level in Spain, provided by AdapteCCA.es

You can also access case studies through the  Climate-ADAPT database. The database enables filtering case studies by ‘adaptation sectors’ they address, ‘climate impacts ‘ they cope with, ‘adaptation elements’ they apply and by ‘countries’ and ‘transnational regions’ where they are located.  

How to share case studies on Climate-ADAPT  

Find case study catalogues of eea member countries  .

Climate-ADAPT case studies complement case study catalogues, prepared at national levels by EEA Member countries. Together, the EEA and EEA Member countries aim to give policymakers and practitioners in the EU the best available practical examples to reach agreed environmental and sustainability targets through adaptation actions.  

The Case study explorer currently provides access to case studies prepared at national level in Spain, provided by the Platform for the exchange and consultation of information on adaptation to climate change in Spain  AdapteCCa.es    

Responding to Climate Change

NASA is a world leader in climate studies and Earth science. While its role is not to set climate policy or prescribe particular responses or solutions to climate change, its purview does include providing the robust scientific data needed to understand climate change. NASA then makes this information available to the global community – the public, policy- and decision-makers and scientific and planning agencies around the world.

Climate change is one of the most complex issues facing us today. It involves many dimensions – science, economics, society, politics, and moral and ethical questions – and is a global problem, felt on local scales, that will be around for thousands of years. Carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping greenhouse gas that is the primary driver of recent global warming, lingers in the atmosphere for many thousands of years, and the planet (especially the ocean) takes a while to respond to warming. So even if we stopped emitting all greenhouse gases today, global warming and climate change will continue to affect future generations. In this way, humanity is “committed” to some level of climate change.

How much climate change? That will be determined by how our emissions continue and exactly how our climate responds to those emissions. Despite increasing awareness of climate change, our emissions of greenhouse gases continue on a relentless rise . In 2013, the daily level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time in human history . The last time levels were that high was about three to five million years ago, during the Pliocene Epoch.

Because we are already committed to some level of climate change, responding to climate change involves a two-pronged approach:

• Reducing emissions of and stabilizing the levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (“mitigation”) ;
• Adapting to the climate change already in the pipeline (“adaptation”) .

Mitigation and Adaptation

Mitigation – reducing climate change – involves reducing the flow of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere , either by reducing sources of these gases (for example, the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, or transport) or enhancing the “sinks” that accumulate and store these gases (such as the oceans, forests, and soil). The goal of mitigation is to avoid significant human interference with Earth's climate , “stabilize greenhouse gas levels in a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner” (from the 2014 report on Mitigation of Climate Change from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, page 4).

Adaptation – adapting to life in a changing climate – involves adjusting to actual or expected future climate. The goal is to reduce our risks from the harmful effects of climate change (like sea-level rise, more intense extreme weather events, or food insecurity). It also includes making the most of any potential beneficial opportunities associated with climate change (for example, longer growing seasons or increased yields in some regions).

Throughout history, people and societies have adjusted to and coped with changes in climate and extremes with varying degrees of success. Climate change (drought in particular) has been at least partly responsible for the rise and fall of civilizations . Earth’s climate has been relatively stable for the past 10,000 years, and this stability has allowed for the development of our modern civilization and agriculture. Our modern life is tailored to that stable climate and not the much warmer climate of the next thousand-plus years. As our climate changes, we will need to adapt. The faster the climate changes, the more difficult it will be.

While climate change is a global issue, it is felt on a local scale. Local governments are therefore at the frontline of adaptation. Cities and local communities around the world have been focusing on solving their own climate problems . They are working to build flood defenses, plan for heat waves and higher temperatures, install better-draining pavements to deal with floods and stormwater, and improve water storage and use.

According to the 2014 report on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (page 8) from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, governments at various levels are also getting better at adaptation. Climate change is being included into development plans: how to manage the increasingly extreme disasters we are seeing, how to protect coastlines and deal with sea-level rise, how to best manage land and forests, how to deal with and plan for drought, how to develop new crop varieties, and how to protect energy and public infrastructure.

How NASA Is Involved

NASA, with its Eyes on the Earth and wealth of knowledge on Earth’s climate, is one of the world’s experts in climate science . NASA’s role is to provide the robust scientific data needed to understand climate change. For example, data from the agency’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) , its follow-on mission ( GRACE-FO ), the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), and the ICESat-2 missions have shown rapid changes in the Earth's great ice sheets. The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and the Jason series of missions have documented rising global sea level since 1992.

NASA makes detailed climate data available to the global community – the public, policy-, and decision-makers and scientific and planning agencies around the world. It is not NASA’s role to set climate policy or recommend solutions to climate change. NASA is one of 13 U.S. government agencies that form part of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which has a legal mandate to help the nation and the world understand, assess, predict, and respond to global change. These U.S. partner agencies include the Department of Agriculture , the Environmental Protection Agency , and the Department of Energy , each of which has a different role depending on their area of expertise.

Although NASA’s main focus is not on energy-technology research and development, work is being done around the agency and by/with various partners and collaborators to find other sources of energy to power our needs.

Related Articles

For further reading on NASA’s work on mitigation and adaptation, take a look at these pages:

Earth Science in Action

• Sustainability and Government Resources
• NASA's Electric Airplane
• NASA Aeronautics
• NASA Spinoff (Technology Transfer Program)

Discover More Topics From NASA

Explore Earth Science

Earth Science Data

Facts About Earth

• Skip to global NPS navigation
• Skip to the main content
• Skip to the footer section

Exiting nps.gov

Coastal adaptation strategies: case studies.

NPS Photo by Marcy Rockman

Explore the Case Studies Each link below will open the case study in PDF format

Report Editors

Last updated: February 5, 2024

Health system adaptation to climate change: a Peruvian case study

Affiliations.

• 1 Centre for Global Public Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
• 2 Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Estudios Latinoamericanos, Madrid, España.
• 3 Centro de Investigaciones Tecnológicas, Biomédicas y Medioambientales - CITBM, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru.
• 4 Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru.
• PMID: 33263753
• DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czaa072

Despite mitigation attempts, the trajectory of climate change remains on an accelerated path, with devastating health impacts. As a response to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change call for National Adaptation Plans, Peru has developed a national and decentralized regional adaptation plans. The purpose of this article is to understand the role and priority status of health within the adaptation planning and process. Peru was used as a case study to analyse the policy process in the creation of adaptation plans, encompassing the need to address climate change impacts on health with a particular focus on marginalized people. An actor, content and context policy analyses were conducted to analyse 17 out of 25 regional adaptation plans, which are available. The national adaptation plans (2002, 2015) do not include health as a priority or health adaptation strategies. In a decentralized health care system, regional plans demonstrate an increased improvement of complexity, systematization and structure over time (2009-17). In general, health has not been identified as a priority but as another area of impact. There is no cohesiveness between plans in format, content, planning and execution and only a limited consideration for marginalized populations. In conclusion, the regional departments of Peru stand on unequal footing regarding adapting the health sector to climate change. Findings in the strategies call into question how mitigation and adaption to climate change may be achieved. The lack of local research on health impacts due to climate change and a particular focus on marginalized people creates a policy vacuum. The Peruvian case study resembles global challenges to put health in the centre of national and regional adaptation plans. In-depth cross-country analysis is still missing but urgently needed to learn from other experiences.

Keywords: Climate change adaptation; Peru; health system; policy analysis; vulnerability.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].

• Climate Change*
• Government Programs*
• Policy Making
• United Nations

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Global Health

Climate change adaptation in South Africa: a case study on the role of the health sector

Matthew f. chersich.

1 Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Caradee Y. Wright

2 Environment and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council and Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

Associated Data

Not applicable as it is a review. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Globally, the response to climate change is gradually gaining momentum as the impacts of climate change unfold. In South Africa, it is increasingly apparent that delays in responding to climate change over the past decades have jeopardized human life and livelihoods. While slow progress with mitigation, especially in the energy sector, has garnered much attention, focus is now shifting to developing plans and systems to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

We applied systematic review methods to assess progress with climate change adaptation in the health sector in South Africa. This case study provides useful lessons which could be applied in other countries in the African region, or globally. We reviewed the literature indexed in PubMed and Web of Science, together with relevant grey literature. We included articles describing adaptation interventions to reduce the impact of climate change on health in South Africa. All study designs were eligible. Data from included articles and grey literature were summed thematically.

Of the 820 publications screened, 21 were included, together with an additional xx papers. Very few studies presented findings of an intervention or used high-quality research designs. Several policy frameworks for climate change have been developed at national and local government levels. These, however, pay little attention to health concerns and the specific needs of vulnerable groups. Systems for forecasting extreme weather, and tracking malaria and other infections appear well established. Yet, there is little evidence about the country’s preparedness for extreme weather events, or the ability of the already strained health system to respond to these events. Seemingly, few adaptation measures have taken place in occupational and other settings. To date, little attention has been given to climate change in training curricula for health workers.

Conclusions

Overall, the volume and quality of research is disappointing, and disproportionate to the threat posed by climate change in South Africa. This is surprising given that the requisite expertise for policy advocacy, identifying effective interventions and implementing systems-based approaches rests within the health sector. More effective use of data, a traditional strength of health professionals, could support adaptation and promote accountability of the state. With increased health-sector leadership, climate change could be reframed as predominately a health issue, one necessitating an urgent, adequately-resourced response. Such a shift in South Africa, but also beyond the country, may play a key role in accelerating climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The impacts of global changes in climate are rapidly escalating in South Africa. Unless concerted action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures may rise by more than 4 °C over the southern African interior by 2100, and by more than 6 °C over the western, central and northern parts of South Africa [ 1 , 2 ]. Extreme weather events are the most noticeable effects to date, especially the drought in the Western Cape and wildfires, but rises in vector- and waterborne diseases are also gaining prominence. Global warming, which manifests as climate variability, has already been implicated in increased transmission of malaria, Rift Valley Fever, schistosomiasis, cholera and other diarrheal pathogens, and Avian influenza in the country [ 3 – 10 ]. Studies have documented the considerable impact of high ambient temperatures on mortality in the country, with mortality rises of 0.9% per 1 °C above certain thresholds, and considerably higher levels in the elderly and young children [ 11 , 12 ]. Food security is under threat, with, for example, crop yields likely to decline in several provinces, with concomitant loss of livestock [ 13 ]. Moreover, any negative impacts of climate change on the country’s economy will have major implications for people’s access to food, which is largely contingent on affordability. Food access is already tenuous given the existing levels of poverty and as ownership of arable land is highly inequitable, reflecting the particular history of the country [ 14 ].

The impact of rises in temperature are especially marked in occupational settings, particularly in the mining, agriculture and outdoor service sectors [ 15 – 17 ]. Impacts, including measurable mortality effects, are heightened in those living in informal settlements, where houses are often constructed of sheets of corrugated iron [ 18 – 20 ]. In addition, heat increments are pronounced in many schools and health facilities as these have not been constructed to withstand current and future temperature levels [ 21 , 22 ]. Importantly, all the impacts of climate change affect mental health, in a nation where already one sixth of the population have a mental health disorder [ 23 ].

While climate mitigation efforts, especially a reduction in carbon-based power production, have garnered much attention, focus is shifting to more direct, and shorter or ‘near’ term actions to counter the impacts of climate change [ 24 – 26 ]. These actions – commonly called adaptation measures – range from building the resilience of the population and health system, to preparing for health impacts of extreme weather events and to reducing the effects of incremental rises in heat in the workplace and other settings [ 27 ].

Most importantly, the effectiveness of adaptation pivots on reducing levels of poverty and inequities, especially in women and other vulnerable groups. Simply put: if an individual’s or household’s socio-economic status is robust, they will have a greater ability to withstand shocks induced by climate change. In South Africa, however, about a quarter of the population are unemployed and over half live below the poverty line [ 28 ]. Poverty reduction initiatives, such as the highly successful social grants system [ 29 ], thus lie at the heart of health adaptation. These initiatives already reach 17.5 million vulnerable people in South Africa [ 30 ], could be further extended to counter balance the disproportionate effects of climate change on vulnerable groups [ 31 ]. Equally, having a resilient health system is central to effective climate change adaptation.

While health professionals can play a critical role in advocating for stronger mitigation efforts such as a shift from brown to green energy (the government envisages that in 2030, still two thirds of energy production in the country will be coal-based [ 32 ]), the contribution of the health sector mostly centres around climate change adaptation. Several features of an effective health-sector adaptation response bear mention [ 33 ]. Firstly, national- and local-level policy frameworks and plans are required, supported by adequate resources. In particular, emergency incident response plans are needed for events such as heat waves, wildfires, floods, extreme water scarcity and infectious disease outbreaks [ 34 ]. These response plans set out the procedures to follow in the case of such events and the responsibilities of different actors. Secondly, communication is a key component of adaptation strategies, targeting a wide range of audiences, and using social and other media. Long-term communications strategies, such as “Heat education” campaigns, can raise awareness of the health risks of heat waves, and help prepare individuals and communities to self-manage their responses to increased heat [ 35 ]. Then, more short-term response communication is needed when an actual extreme weather event is forecast, making the public aware of an impending period of risk and what steps are needed to ameliorate that risk. Thirdly, the effectiveness of adaptation interventions rests on the strength of data systems and surveillance. Aside from providing warnings of extreme weather events, heightened surveillance is required of diseases associated with environmental factors, together with concerted efforts to systematically document the effectiveness of adaptation responses and to identify opportunities for improving services.

There is clearly a real opportunity to bring the credible voice and considerable resources of the health sector to bear on climate change policies and programmes [ 36 – 38 ]. It is important to assess the extent to which this is occurring and gaps in this response. Some reviews have examined this issue in South Africa [ 39 – 41 ], but none have done so recently, or employed systematic review methodology. This study fills that gap and presents lessons from the response in South Africa that might be applied in other countries and, indeed, globally [ 42 ]. In recent decades, South Africa has played a leading role in tackling public health issues affecting the African region, especially in the HIV field. The country has the potential, drawing on its research and programme expertise, to play a similar role in climate change adaptation, galvanising action in other parts of the continent. Thus, while the impacts of climate are somewhat unique to each country and even within different parts of a country, lessons drawn from this case study may provide useful insights for other countries in the region.

The paper is divided into two thematic areas. The first covers policy frameworks relating to climate change adaptation, as well as data monitoring and surveillance of climate change adaptation in the country. The second reviews the level of preparedness and actions already taken for extreme weather events, rises in temperature and infectious disease outbreaks. Topics indirectly related to health, such as food security, are not addressed in the paper, though remain of key importance.

Review methods

We systematically reviewed literature indexed in PubMed (Medline) and Web of Science for articles that address climate change adaptation in South Africa. Full details and the PRISMA Flow Chart are described elsewhere [ 43 ]. The Pubmed search strategy included free text terms and controlled vocabulary terms (MeSH codes), specifically: (((((“South Africa”[MeSH]) OR (“South Africa”[Title/Abstract]) OR (“Southern Africa*”[Title/Abstract]))) AND “last 10 years”[PDat])) AND (((“global warming”[Title/Abstract] OR “global warming”[MeSH] OR climatic*[Title/Abstract] OR “climate change”[Title/Abstract] OR “climate change”[MeSH] OR “Desert Climate”[MeSH] OR “El Nino-Southern Oscillation”[MeSH] OR Microclimate[MeSH] OR “Tropical Climate”[MeSH])). This strategy was translated into a Web of Science search.

In total, 820 titles and abstracts were screened by a single reviewer after removal of 34 duplicate items. To be included, articles had to describe adaptation interventions to reduce the impact of climate change on health in South Africa. All study designs were eligible and no time limits were imposed. We excluded articles that were not in English ( n  = 3), only covered animals or plants ( n  = 345), were not on South Africa ( n  = 273), were unrelated to health ( n  = 57) or to climate change ( n  = 56), or were only on climate change impact ( n  = 34) or mitigation ( n  = 31). In total, we screened 86 full text articles for eligibility, 21 of which were included (Fig.  1 ). We also included literature located through searches of article references (one additional paper) or through targeted internet searches. Thereafter, we extracted data on the characteristics of the included articles, including their study design and outcome measures (Table  1 ). In analysis, we grouped studies on similar topics and, where possible, attempted to highlight commonalities or differences between the study findings. Policy documents were located by searching the website of the National Department of Environmental Affairs ( https://www.environment.gov.za ) and the National Department of Health ( http://www.health.gov.za/ ), and by asking experts familiar with these policies in South Africa.

PRISMA Flow Diagram for Review of health-related adaptation to Climate Change in South Africa

Characteristics of studies included in the review

CC climate change

Engagement of the health sector in climate change policies, planning and data systems

We located 14 journal articles on health sector engagement. With these limited number of records, results are presented as a narrative, rather than as a comparison of findings in different parts of the country or across population groups. We first discuss national and local policies and practices, and then turn to assess the climate and health monitoring systems in the country.

In recent years, the national government has developed a series of documents covering key legislative and strategic aspects of adaptation. In 2018, the government released a draft of the National Climate Change Response White Paper which sets out the different ways in which climate change considerations can be integrated within all sectors, including health. This document updates the 2011 White Paper on this topic. More recently, the draft National Climate Change Bill was made available for comment [ 24 ]. Little reference is made to human health and scanty detail is provided on actual implementation of the policies. Additionally, in 2017, the second draft of the South African National Adaptation Strategy was made open for public comment [ 25 ]. This is a ten-year plan, which describes key strategic areas, with measurable outcomes. The strategy acts as a reference point for all climate change adaptation efforts in South Africa, providing overarching guidance across the various sectors of the economy. As such, it seeks to ensure that different levels of government and the private sector integrate and reflect climate change adaptation. The implementation priorities for health are listed as water and sanitation, early warning systems for effective public health interventions during extreme weather events, and occupational health.

While national policies set the stage for lower levels of government and funding prioritisation, much of the actual planning for climate change adaptation occurs at the provincial and local government level. Most importantly, each local area government is charged with developing an Integrated Development Plan every five years, involving many sectors, including health [ 44 ]. Health implications of climate change are mentioned in some of these plans, but not all [ 45 – 47 ]. A survey of Environmental Health Practitioners ( n  = 48), who are at the forefront of implementing these plans, provides insights of the degree to which climate change priorities have been incorporated within these plans [ 48 ]. Though almost all felt that they should play a supportive or leading role in addressing climate change, only half had a budget allocated for climate change and health-related work, and only a third had ever participated in climate change-related projects. Another study involving fieldwork in a range of settings in South Africa reported that, for climate change adaptation plans to be successful, local communities need to be more involved in their design and implementation [ 49 ]. A further study in eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Province noted that few climate change advocates had emerged among local politicians and civil servants, and that decisions made at the local government level seldom took climate change issues into account [ 50 ]. A case study of the Integrated Development Plan in the same municipality examined the working relations between the local government, civil society and private sector actors on climate change initiatives, forming a ‘network governance’ structure [ 51 ]. Having a ‘network’ helped local government shift from ruling by regulations and authority, to a ‘softer approach’, one that ‘enabled’ solutions to climate challenges. For their part, however, the private sector found it challenging to incorporate climate-sensitive actions into their modus operandi and may require financial incentives to adopt mitigation and adaptation measures. Concerns remain that the private sector - and indeed the public sector – view environmental issues as constraints to profit and development, rather than as contributors [ 50 ].

While it appears that national and local policy and planning frameworks can influence programmes and funding allocations, at least to some extent, their impact needs to be monitored closely, using appropriate indicators. These data can help decision-makers to identify programmatic areas to target, researchers to analyse and benchmark programme performance, and civil society and communities to gauge service provision in their area. The growing and shifting burden of climate-sensitive diseases, however, means that the district- and national-level indicators currently used for monitoring disease and service provision may be less relevant in this new era.

A review in 2014 emphasized the need for developing new tools for incorporating data from climate monitoring systems, for example temperature and rainfall, into Demographic Health Information Systems (DHIS) in South Africa, and vice versa [ 39 ]. The tremendous potential of integrated weather-health data is, however, constrained by differences in spatial, temporal and quality of these respective data sources. While weather data are recorded hourly and in small geographical units, [ 52 , 53 ] health data are often only available in monthly units and at district level. Analysing climate data at those resolutions results in a considerable loss of information and thus predictive ability. Challenges in collecting health data – often paper-based – means that these data are often of poorer quality than climate data, though deficiencies in climate data are not uncommon in South Africa [ 12 ]. Despite these limitations, combining climate and health data can assist with seasonal forecasting, and early warning systems for infectious diseases and other climate-related conditions.

The Infectious Diseases Early Warning System project (iDEWS) project, involving Southern African and Japanese researchers, aims to advance all these efforts, and to develop early warning system for a wide range of infectious diseases, based on climate predictions [ 54 ]. Such applications have been developed to support malaria programming in the country [ 55 ], where temporal patterns in temperature, rainfall and sea surface temperature can forecast changes in malaria incidence and the geographical expansion of disease outbreaks [ 3 , 56 , 57 ]. Further, as shown in a study in Cape Town, close monitoring of ambient temperature, can predict spikes in incidence of diarrhoeal disease, allowing health services to prepare for rises in admissions and outpatient visits [ 9 ]. Similarly, another study across several provinces noted that anomalous high rainfall precedes outbreaks of Rift Valley fever by one month and that this finding can be used to forewarn epidemics in affected areas of the country [ 58 ].

In addition to applications around infectious diseases, health and climate data are analysed in multiple-risk systems, such as the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (SARVA) [ 59 ]. This spatial database allow for visualisation of the drivers, exposures, vulnerabilities, risks and hazards across different locations. SARVA provides more than just data outputs, however, and has developed a range of practical climate services for the agriculture sector, for example. Additionally, Heat–Health Warning Systems in the country, based on increasingly sophisticated meteorological systems, have long lead-times, and can alert decision-makers and the public of forthcoming extreme heat events, triggering a graded set of pre-specified actions [ 52 , 60 ].

While adaptation is classically defined as the ability to deal with change, it also encompasses the capacity to learn from it. Doing so requires investments in research and analytical systems, especially among public health practitioners. Of concern, a collaboration across several countries, including South Africa, noted that climate change and environmental health, in general, have not been mainstreamed within curricula at medical schools [ 61 ]. The group noted that, given the limited capacity in this area, international assistance maybe required to develop curricula and teaching materials. Other studies in have documented considerable gaps in knowledge on climate change among university students across disciplines and the limited ability of these future leaders to engage with others on the topic [ 62 , 63 ]. Overall, the research outputs by South Africa scientists on climate change has grown (around 600 academic publications in 2015), but only 3%, or about 20, of these publications make reference to health [ 64 ]. Of more concern, a report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change group, using a narrower search strategy, located only about 20 papers related to climate change and health in the whole of Africa in 2017, constituting well under 10% of the total 300 such papers worldwide [ 65 ]. Reviews have also noted that little interdisciplinary work between meteorology and health has been done [ 66 ]. But, perhaps most importantly, research investigating the performance of interventions to reduce the health impacts of climate change are largely absent [ 40 , 67 ].

Response to extreme weather events and gradual increments in temperature

We located only 8 studies applicable to this section of the review, limiting our ability to provide a comprehensive analysis on the topic at hand. This section covers disaster preparedness and responses, including of the health system, and the population groups, occupations and housing types most vulnerable to heat exposure.

The government of South Africa has developed Disaster Management Frameworks and a National Disaster Management Centre, [ 25 , 68 ] whose responsibilities include directing the country’s responses to disasters and strengthening cooperation amongst different stakeholders. There are, however, concerns that disaster risk reduction systems operate in isolation from other climate change adaptation initiatives in the country, rather than drawing on the strengths of each group [ 69 ]. While there are robust ‘Heat Health’ warning systems in the country, it appears that actual action plans or responses to heat waves require further development [ 35 , 70 ]. Some steps have been taken to develop these systems in local government areas and the private sector. A case study examining preparedness for flooding in the city of Johannesburg provides useful examples of potential synergies between the health and other sectors, but also notes considerable political barriers to cross-sectoral actions [ 71 ]. Another example of preparedness was noted in a report by a mining company that operates in several parts of the country. The company had developed substantial information, communication and technology capacity for risk assessments, and warning systems for flooding and other climate-related disasters [ 72 ].

Efforts to prepare the health system for extreme weather events or infectious disease outbreaks are hampered by weaknesses in health systems, especially in human resources for health in South Africa [ 28 ]. The recent experiences with the Listeriosis outbreak, the largest and longest lasting epidemic documented worldwide to date, brought these concerns to the fore, in particular the country’s ability to mount a swift and systematic response to disease outbreaks [ 73 ]. There were major challenges in collecting data on patient outcomes during the epidemic, for example, where the mortality status was unknown for as many as 30% of affected patients [ 74 ]. This outbreak and recent extreme weather events present many opportunities for learning. It seems, however, that these learning opportunities are often missed. A review of the responses to droughts in the country over the past century found that there have been few attempts to learn from previous droughts, and that responses to each event were largely developed de novo, rather than shaped by long-term planning and lessons from previous similar events [ 75 ].

Several populations groups and geographical areas in South Africa are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The Draft National Adaptation Strategy in 2017 and the White Paper of 2011, which presented the South African Government’s strategic vision for an effective climate change response mentions the importance of placing women and other vulnerable groups at the centre of adaptation actions. These documents, however, do not expand on this concept and no evidence was located on the differential effectiveness of adaptation interventions among women in the country, and efforts to specifically tailor adaptation measures accordingly [ 31 ]. This is concerning as many of the health and social burdens in the country are underscored by harmful gender norms, with, for example, the country has one of the highest rates of sexual violence worldwide and a very gendered HIV epidemic [ 76 ]. Few studies were located on adaption in occupational settings, many of which may become ‘moderate to high risk’ workplaces as temperatures rise [ 15 ]. A study in Johannesburg and Upington (where daily maximum temperatures may exceed 40 °C) found that outdoor workers experienced a range of heat-related effects [ 17 ]. These include sunburn, sleeplessness, irritability and exhaustion, leading to difficulty in maintaining work levels and output during very hot weather. Aside from commencing work earlier, during the cooler part of the day, no measures had been taken to protect the workers, who believed that sunglasses, wide-brimmed hats and easier access to drinking water would improve their comfort and productivity. In the mining sector in South Africa, several studies have reported that workers’ comfort and productivity can be raised with interventions such as ventilation cooling [ 77 – 79 ]. Of note, insulation within many hospital buildings has been found wanting, but little had been done to address the problem [ 80 ]. Some hospitals have taken steps to increase use of natural ventilation to adapt to temperature increases and as part of efforts to curb use of air conditioning [ 81 ]. Natural ventilation also reduces transmission of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, important as the country has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis worldwide [ 82 ].

Improvements in specific types of housing, especially in informal settlements, could reduce the considerable heat-health impacts of these structures, which include mortality [ 18 , 19 ]. We identified several studies on urban health in South Africa, but these did not extend to documenting the health benefits of energy efficient buildings, green spaces, public transport, car-free zones and active transport [ 71 , 83 , 84 ]. Further, many school classrooms in the country are constructed of prefabricated asbestos sheeting and corrugated iron roofs or made from converted shipping containers. A study in several parts of Johannesburg showed that heat-related symptoms are common in these structures [ 21 ]. The authors postulate that improving these structures would increase comfort for scholars and could raise educational outcomes.

The review sums the body of evidence on climate change adaptation in South Africa. We note that some steps have been taken to develop a multi-pronged strategy that cuts across health and other disciplines, and that helps adapt to the already substantial and future impacts of climate change in the country [ 42 , 85 ]. Such steps are being supported by efforts to build the resilience of vulnerable groups, who have limited ability to adapt to droughts, flooding, changes in biomes and other events [ 84 ]. While key policy frameworks are in place, it is difficult to gauge whether these have been actualized at national and local level. Increased efforts to include civil society advocates, local communities and the private sector may accelerate progress with policy implementation. In South Africa, highly-detailed data are available on weather conditions at very fine spatial and temporal resolution. Health data generally have lower resolution and quality. Additional spatial and temporal disaggregation of health information could provide invaluable data, for example, to help identify critical heat-stress thresholds in different settings and to monitor the effectiveness of action response plans. In the meantime, more evaluations, including ‘dry runs’ are needed of the health aspects of emergency response plans to extreme weather events [ 60 ]. Gaps were also noted in research infrastructure and in efforts to reduce heat exposures in some housing types and occupational settings.

The case study presented here provides useful perspectives for other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Most especially, the findings could feed into the work of the Clim-HEALTH Africa network, which aims to share expertise, and to inform climate-sensitive policies and planning across the region [ 86 ]. While the network has already supported the development of several adaptation plans, the evidence presented here may contribute to future iterations of these plans and other network initiatives.

Strategies for extreme events – and indeed for all interventions related to climate change – need to be informed by an analysis of the implications for those living in poverty, migrants, women and children, among other groups. We noted little evidence of specific ‘targeting’ of adaptation responses to vulnerable groups. There may, for example, be benefits to specifically targeting women, as opposed to men, in early warning systems and disaster reduction plans. This approach is supported by evidence that, as with many other social interventions, it is most effective to distribute relief kits and house building grants to women [ 87 ]. In tandem with other adaptation initiatives and targeting, the overall functioning of the health system needs to be fortified, though there is much uncertainty about how this might be done [ 88 , 89 ]. The goal is to ensure that health facilities remain operational during extreme weather events, serve as places of refuge and support, and can summon the additional capacity required to deal with the impacts of extreme events. An external evaluation of the recent response to the Listeriosis outbreak might identify important lessons for improving the response to future outbreaks or extreme weather events. Potential links between climate change and that outbreak as well as future outbreaks also warrant investigation [ 73 ]. The health sector is also responsible for developing and testing heat-health guidelines for specific settings and populations, such as guidelines for sports events, which stipulate the temperature thresholds at which different sport activities should be cancelled.

Going forward, there are many opportunities to strengthen data monitoring and surveillance systems on climate and health. The Lancet Countdown has developed indicators to monitor national-level progress on climate change in the health sector [ 90 ]. Six of these pertain to adaptation and correspond broadly to the sections of this paper: 1. National adaptation plans for health; 2. City-level climate change risk assessments; 3. Detection and early warning of, preparedness for, and response to health emergencies; 4. Climate information services for health; 5. National assessment of vulnerability, impacts and adaptation for health; and 6. Climate-resilient health infrastructure. This paper suggests that additional work is required in each of these areas in South Africa. These indicators – and the full Lancet Countdown framework – could be used to benchmark the country’s progress against other nations and to pinpoint the specific areas requiring attention [ 91 ]. Monitoring data could be used to produce annual estimates of the burden of disease and health costs that would be averted by more vigorous climate change mitigation or adaptation efforts [ 92 ]. Such disease prediction models have been used with great effect in the HIV epidemic [ 93 ], where they generated considerable pressure on the government and international donors to prioritise actions and resource allocations accordingly. Additionally, given the vulnerabilities of food security to climate change in South Africa, close monitoring is needed of under-nutrition, agriculture and marine productivity [ 14 , 94 ].

An adequate adaptation response is contingent on the progressive accrual of robust evidence. This, in turn, depends on earmarked funding for research on climate change and health, agile and responsive research systems and, indeed, an adequate number of capacitated researchers. Given the growing attention paid to this field, high-quality evidence with compelling findings could rapidly foment policy changes. Moreover, if the quality and volume of research were raised, it will become possible to make evidence-based national policies, as in other health fields. The health sector in South Africa, with its considerable research capacity, is well placed to lead such efforts. To achieve this, however, researchers in other health fields, such as HIV, for example, would need to take on projects on climate change. As a first step, it may be useful to convene consultations of experts in health, the environment and related fields to develop broad plans for taking advantage of opportunities for cross-learning and action. Some targeted research funding for joint health and environmental projects on climate change could have a considerable impact. The iDEWS project offers an important example of such an initiative [ 54 ]. In the long run, research in this field could be sustained by allocating more time to climate change topics in training programmes for health workers and public health practitioners.

While the review highlights some important findings, the limited number of papers located suggests that the country has some way to go to fulfilling its potential leadership role on the continent, and indeed globally. One area that health practitioners in South Africa could lead on is the promotion of a ‘meat tax’, given their pioneering work on the ‘sugar tax’ [ 95 ]. Curbing the intake of ruminant meat is a key climate change mitigation strategy and would lower cancer risks, among other health benefits [ 96 ]. This is important in South Africa, where an estimated total of 875,000 tons of beef are consumed annually [ 97 ], producing 648 gigagrams of methane [ 98 ]. The principal arguments for a sugar tax – and indeed for tobacco and alcohol taxes – hold for ruminant meat: harm to self and others, and the considerable cost burdens on broader society [ 99 ]. In this case, the harms are mediated through environmental destruction, a change in climate and cancer, amongst others [ 95 ]. Such policies are, however, likely to be vigorously opposed by the meat industry in South Africa, and public health and environmental and social justice experts in the country will need to rally together [ 26 ]. Bringing together the complementary skills of these experts has the potential for powerful synergies and for drawing additional researchers into the climate change and health arena. Similarly, broadening the scope of climate change adaptation to encompass existing programmes that have an indirect impact on climate change adaptation would also increase the number of climate adaption workers. This would also assist in mainstreaming climate change into existing health programmes, and highlight additional ways that the health sector has successfully responded to the problem. Increased attention to these successes might demonstrate the extent to which the sector is leading the field and its potential contribution to overall adaptation efforts in the country.

The study has some limitations. The limited number of papers included in the review ( n  = 22) and the heterogeneous nature of the evidence constrained our ability to draw overall conclusions about the adaption response to date. Likely many additional studies on the topic are published in grey literature sources or unpublished and would thus not be in our search. Moreover, the search would not have located studies of interventions by the health sector that indirectly reduce the impact of climate change, but have not been framed as such. These intervention may include socio-economic initiatives that build financial resilience of households, improvements in housing and control of infectious diseases.

In fact, explicitly framing existing programmes that have an indirect impact on climate change adaptation as contributing to climate change adaptation.

The review highlights several important gaps in adaptation practices. While policy and planning frameworks for climate change at national, provincial and local level do make mention of health priorities, the health sector does not yet appear to be viewed as an essential platform for adaption measures, and health concerns appear to be accorded low priority. We did, however, note several important examples of health sector involvement in adaptation initiatives within local area government and in occupational settings. Importantly, there have been few rigorous evaluations of the effectiveness of actual interventions on climate adaptation for the health sector; most studies are descriptive in nature. Perhaps the largest knowledge gap is evidence around the effectiveness of disaster management systems and the level of preparedness of these systems for extreme weather events. The lack of studies on that and other topics may reflect the nascent nature of the field and that the priority given to climate-sensitive conditions in training for health workers and public health practitioners has not reflected the present and future burden of these conditions.

Clearly, interventions targeting the direct impacts of climate change need to occur in tandem with actions to shore up the resilience of the population and health system. Many health sector initiatives targeting those areas already contribute to climate adaptation, albeit indirectly so. Highlighting the successes of these initiatives and explicitly framing them as part of climate adaptation could mainstream climate change into existing programmes and provide examples of the ways in which the country is already successfully responding to the problem. Reframing in this manner may generate the leadership and momentum necessary for making rapid advances in this field.

Indeed, increased health sector leadership and lobbying may prove pivotal in advancing the adaptation field per se. The explicit framing of climate change adaptation and mitigation as critical to protecting the health of the nation may secure a more vigorous policy and programmatic response by government, and strengthen the engagement of civil society and communities [ 36 ]. Health could be placed firmly at the centre of policies for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Equally, effective leadership would mainstream climate change considerations into all policies for health [ 37 ]. High-quality research, involving a range of disciplines and backed by local and international funding, could go a long way to securing these changes.

While the country has led the way globally in HIV and several other arenas, it has yet to fully assume a leadership role in this field. With increased focus, the health sector could use its considerable influence to advocate for policy change and improved climate governance: it’s time for health to take a lead.

Acknowledgements

Neville Sweijd, Helen Rees, Fiona Scorgie for technical inputs.

This research received no external funding.

Availability of data and materials

Abbreviations, authors’ contributions.

MFC conceptualized the article and wrote the first draft. CW contributed to writing the drafts of the paper and provided critical review of each draft. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable as it is a review

Consent for publication

Competing interests.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Contributor Information

Matthew F. Chersich, Phone: +27-72-752-1123, Email: az.ca.ihrw@hcisrehcm .

Caradee Y. Wright, Email: [email protected] .

• Frontiers in Environmental Science
• Social-Ecological Urban Systems
• Research Topics

Climate Change Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Human Settlements

Total Downloads

Total Views and Downloads

About this Research Topic

Climate issues have become a global concern and are impacting the sustainable development of human settlements worldwide. Adapting to climate change in these settlements is crucial to ensure that growth is not compromised and that the increasing global population can thrive in their own habitats. Even before ...

Keywords : Community-based adaptation, Climate-resilient, Human settlements, Rural housing subsidies, Ecosystem-based adaptation, Urban densification, Socio-economic opportunities, Environmental impact assessment, Disaster risk management, Climate change, Ecosystem

Important Note : All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Topic Editors

Topic coordinators, recent articles, submission deadlines, participating journals.

Manuscripts can be submitted to this Research Topic via the following journals:

total views

• Demographics

No records found

total views article views downloads topic views

Top countries

Top referring sites, about frontiers research topics.

With their unique mixes of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author.

Assessment of climate change related loss and damage on mangrove ecosystem: a case study in Ca Mau, Vietnam

• Published: 14 March 2024
• Volume 28 , article number  47 , ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Thang Trung Nguyen 1 ,
• Anh Ngoc Thi Nguyen 1 &
• Sivapuram Venkata Rama Krishna Prabhakar 2  

44 Accesses

Explore all metrics

Globally, mangroves have been promoted to protect the coastal ecosystems and human settlements against weather vagaries including climate change impacts. However, climate change can also affect the mangrove ecosystems, affecting their ability to mitigate losses and damages caused by climate change. Recognizing the need to understand the impact of climate change on the ability of mangroves to mitigate loss and damage, this paper presents the impact of climate change on mangrove ecosystems in Dat Mui commune, Ngoc Hien district, Ca Mau province, Vietnam by using community-based methods. Results showed that the most noticeable impact of climate change is the loss in mangrove area, aquatic resources, and coastal erosion prevention. In addition, there is a decline in timber, firewood supply, and habitat of mangrove species. Despite adaptation actions taken by the local authorities and households, mangrove ecosystems are is still facing loss and damage. Solutions have been proposed to help the local and national authorities and communities to address losses and damages caused by the climate change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Source: Dat Mui Commune, 2020

(Source: Summarized by the Study Team, 2020)

(Source: Summarized by the Research Team, 2020)

Data Availability

Data supporting this study are included within the article and supporting materials.

Abuodha PAW, Kairo JG (2001) Human-induced stresses on mangrove swamps along the kenyan coast. Hydrobiologia 458:255–265

Article   Google Scholar  

ADB (2014) Non-economic L&D caused by climatic stressors in selected coastal districts of Bangladesh. https://www.icccad.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ADB-Study-on-Non-Economic-Losses-and-Damages-Report_Final-Version-Reduced-File-Size.compressed1.pdf . Accessed 17 Jan 2020

Alcamo J (2003) Ecosystem and Human well-being: A frame work for assessment (Millennium Ecosysem Assessment Series). Island Press

Google Scholar  

Alongi MD (2015) The impact of climate change on Mangrove forests. Curr Clim Change Rep 1(1):30–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-015-0002-x

Barbier EB (2016) The protective service of mangrove ecosystems: a review of valuation methods. Mar Pollut Bull 109(2):676–681

Article   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Bauer K (2013) Are preventive and coping measures enough to avoid L&D from flooding in Udayapur district. Nepal

Biodiversity Conservation Agency (2015) Assessment of climate change impacts on Vietnam's biodiversity and proposal of adaptation solutions. In: Technical Report for implementation of National Target Program (NTP) to respond to climate change. MONRE, Ha Noi

Brander LM, Wagtendonk AJ, Hussainc SS, Vittiec AM, Verburg PH, Grootd RS, Ploeg S (2012) Ecosystem service values for mangroves in Southeast Asia: a meta-analysis and value transfer application. Ecosyst Serv 1(1):62–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2012.06.003

Brander LM (2013) Guidance manual on value transfer methods for ecosystem services. United Nations Environment Programme. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/guidance-manual-value-transfer-methodsecosystem-services . Accessed 15 June 2020

Dung BD (2009) Valuation of damage caused by oil spill accidents to the marine ecosystem: some experiences of foreign countries and conditions for application in Vietnam. Science Magazine of Vietnam National University, Economics and Business 25(2009):239–252

Ca Mau DONRE (2018) The state of biodiversity in Ca Mau Province. Technical report for the task. In: Development of the Master-plan for biodiversity conservation in Ca Mau province until 2025, orientation to 2035. Ca Mau Provincial People Committee, Ca Mau

Ca Mau DONRE (2020) Summary Report on climate change assessment of the Ca Mau province, prepared for the project Development and update of the Action Plan to respond to climate change in Ca Mau Province for the period of 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050. Ca Mau Provincial People Committee

Cai F (2008) Coastal erosion in China under the condition of global climate change and measures for its prevention. Progress Nat Sci 19(4):415–426

Castañeda-Moya E, Twilley R, Rivera-Monroy V (2013) Allocation of biomass and net primary productivity of mangrove forests. For Ecol Manage 307:226–241

Cheung WWL, Lam VWY, Sarmiento JL, Kearney K, Watson R, Zeller D, Pauly D (2009) Large-scale redistribution of maximum fisheries catch potential in the global ocean under climate change. Glob Change Biol. https://doi.org/10.1111/j1365-2486

Chiba Y, Prabhakar SVRK (eds) (2017) Addressing non-economic losses and damages associated with climate change: learning from the recent past extreme climatic events for future planning. In: Climate adaptation framework regional research final report. Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN). https://www.apn-gcr.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/09/cc852324a5c3306538bbe820f7671945.pdf . Accessed 15 Oct 2021

Chong J (2005) Protective values of mangrove and coral ecosystems: A Review of Methods and Evidence. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland

Chow J (2017) Mangrove management for climate change adaptation and sustainble development in coastal zones. J Sustain For 37(2):139–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2017.1339615

Article   ADS   Google Scholar  

Danielsen F, Sorensen MK, Olwing MF, Selvam V, Parish F, Burgess ND, Hiraishi T, Kurunagaran VM, Rasmussen MS, Hansen LB, Quarto A, Suryadiputra N (2005) The asian tsunami: a protective role for coastal vegetation. Science 310(5748):643

Ellison J (2015) Vulnerability assessment of mangroves to climate change and sea-level rise impacts. Wetlands Ecol Manage 23:115–137

Getzner M, Islam MS (2020) Ecosystem Services of Mangrove Forests: results of a meta-analysis of economic values. Int J Environ Res Public Health 17(16):5830

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Gilman EL, Ellison J, Duke NC, Field C (2008) Threats to mangroves from climate change and adaptation options: a review. Aquat Bot 89(2):237–250

Godoy MDP, Lacerda LDD (2015) Mangroves response to climate change: a review of recent findings on mangrove extension and distribution. An Brazilian Acad Sci 87(2):651–667

Haile AT, Kusters K, Wagesho N (2013) L&D from flooding the Gambela region, Ethiopia. Int J Glob Warm 5:483–497

Harwood AS (2016) Mangrove enhancement as a climate change adaptation strategy in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI): Potential ecosystem service shifts following colonization. In: Environmental science and management professional master's project reports. 51. Portland State University. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/mem_gradprojects/51 . https://doi.org/10.15760/mem.53

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Hijioka Y, Lin E, Pereira JJ, Corlett RT, Cui X, Insarov GE, Lasco RD, Lindgren E, Surjan A (2014) Asia. In: Barros VR, Field CB, Dokken DJ, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL (eds) Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part B: Regional aspects. contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, pp 1327–1370. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap24_FINAL.pdf . Accessed 11 May 2021

Himes-Cornell A, Grose SO, Pendleton L (2018) Mangrove ecosystem service values and methodological approaches to valuation: where do we stand? Front Mar Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00376

IMHEN and UNDP (2015) Vietnam special report on disaster risk management and extreme weather events to promote climate change adaptation - SREX Report. Vietnam map and Environment - resource Publisher, Vietnam

International Centre for Environmental Management (ICEM) (2010) Climate Change Baseline Assessment Working Paper. Prepared for the Mekong River Commission Secretariat (MRCS) Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of Hydropower on the Mekong Mainstream, Vol. II: Baseline Assessment Working Papers. International Centre for Environmental Management (ICEM), Ha Noi, Vietnam. https://www.mrcmekong.org/assets/Publications/Consultations/SEA-Hydropower/7-Climate-change-baselineassessment.pdf . Accessed 13 Feb 2019

IPCC (2012) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. In: Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G-K, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM (eds) A special report of working groups I and II of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, and New York

IPCC (2013) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Cambridge University Press, New York, USA

International Resource Group (IRG) (2010) Asia-Pacific Regional Climate Change Adaptation Assessment. Final Report: Findings and Recommendations. USAID Asia. https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnads197.pdf . Accessed 13 Feb 2019

Kaplan M, Renaud FG, Luchters G (2009) Vulnerability assessment and protective effects of coastal vegetation during the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. Nat Hazard 9:1479–1494

Kar R, Kar RK (2005) Mangroves can check the wrath of tsunami. Curr Sci 88:675

Kathiresan K, Rajendran N (2005) Coastal mangrove forests mitigated tsunami. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 65:601–606

Kreienkamp J and Vanhala L (2017) Climate change loss and damage. In: Global governance institute, policy brief. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/global-governance/sites/global-governance/files/policy-brief-loss-and-damage.pdf . Accessed 16 June 2020

Kusters K, Wangdi N (2013) The costs of adaptation: changes in water availability and farmers’ responses in Punakha district, Bhutan. Int J Glob Warm 5:387–399

Mathew LM, Akter S (2017) Loss and damage associated with climate change impacts. In: Handbook of climate change mitigation and adaptation, pp 17–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14409-2_55

McKee KL, Rogers K, Saintilan N (2012) Response of salt marsh and mangrove wetlands to changes in atmospheric CO2, climate and sea level. In: Middleton BA (ed) Global change and the function and distribution of wetlands. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 63–96

McLeod E, Salm RV (2006) Managing Mangroves for Resilience to Climate Change. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland

Mendez P, Losada IJ, Torres-Ortega S, Narayan S, Beck MW (2020) The global flood protection benefits of mangroves. Sci Rep 10:4404. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61136-6

Article   CAS   ADS   Google Scholar  

Quyen C L (2010) Climate change and impacts on fisheries in the coastal mangrove areas. https://www.mard.gov.vn/Pages/biendoi-khi-hau-va-nhung-anh-huong-len-nghe-ca-tai-cac-khu-vuc-rung-ngap-man-ven-bien-4378.aspx . Accessed 17 Feb 2019

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (2017) Report on National Disaster Management Plan in the period of 2018 – 2020. MARD, Ha Noi

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2016) Climate change and sea level rise scenario for Vietnam. Publishing House of Natural Resources, Envionment and Cartography, Ha Noi

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2019) Proceeding of the conference on reviewing of two years implementation of the resolution No.120/NQ-CP on sustainable development and adaption to climate change of Mekong Delta. Dan Tri Publishing house, Ha Noi

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (2020) Technical report on nationally determined contributions of Vietnam. Vietnam, Government Ha Noi, Vietnam. https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/NDC/2022-06/Viet%20Nam_NDC_2020_Eng.pdf . Accessed 31 Jul 2020

Monnereau I, Abraham S (2013) Limits to autonomous adaptation in response to coastal erosion in Kosrae Micronesia. Int J Global Warming 5(4):416–432

Morrissey J, Smith AO (2013) Perspectives on non-economic loss and damage - Understanding values at risk from climate change. In: Working paper, January 2013. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1668.1041

Mukherjee N, Sutherland WJ, Dicks L, Huge J, Koedam N, Dahdouh-Guebas F (2014) Ecosystem service valuations of mangrove ecosystems to inform decision making and future valuation exercises. Plos One 9(10):e111386. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111386

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Nguyen HD (2021) Respond to climate change, towards a green economy. https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/ung-pho-voi-bien-doi-khihau-huong-den-phat-trien-kinh-te-xanh-20210127161538261.htm . Accessed 15 Jul 2021

Nhuan MT, Tan PV, Tri LQ, Dung TV, Thung DC, Thang LV, Lieu TM, Giang NT, Duc DM, Thanh ND, Ha NTT, Tuan LA, Trung NH, Quy TD, Khang NT (2015) Changing impacts of climate extremes and natural disasters on ecosystems and human systems. In: Vietnam special report on Managing risks of natural disasters and extreme events to promote adaptation to climate change, vol 2015. Natural Resources and Environment and Cartography Publishing House, Hanoi, pp 141–186

People’s Committee of Dat Mui Commune (2014) Report No. 226/BC-UBND dated December 29, 2014 on implementation of socio-economic development in 2014 and socio-economic development directions in 2015. Dat Mui commune, Ngoc Hien district

People’s Committee of Dat Mui Commune (2015) Report No 139/BC-UBND dated July 31, 2015 on explanation of 2014 land use status map. Dat Mui Commune, Ngoc Hien District

People’s Committee of Dat Mui Commune (2020a) Report No. 455/BC-UBND dated August 24, 2020 on implementation results of criteria No. 15.1 on households health insurance for the national standard on new rural program. Dat Mui Commune, Ngoc Hien District

People’s Committee of Dat Mui Commune (2020b) Report on implementation of socio-economic development in September and the work plan for October 2020. Dat Mui Commune, Ngoc Hien District

Primavera (2016) Preliminary assessment of post-haiyan mangrove damage and short-term recovery in Eastern Samar, Central Philippines. Mar Pollut Bull 109(2016):744–750

Rabbani G, Rahman A, Mainuddin K (2013) Salinity-induced L&D to farming households in coastal Bangladesh. Int J Glob Warm 5(4):400–415. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJGW.2013.057284

Rahman M, Zimmer M, Ahmed I, Donato D, Kanzaki M, Xu M (2021) Co-benefits of protecting mangroves for biodiversity conservation and carbon storage. Nat Commun 12:3875. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24207-4

Article   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   ADS   Google Scholar  

Roberts E, van der Geest K, Warner K, Andrei S (2014) Loss and damage: when adaptation is not enough. Environ Dev 11:219–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2014.05.001

Santos LCM, Matos HR, Schaeffer-Novelli Y, Cunha-Lignon M, Bitencourt MD, Koedam N, Dahdouh-Guebas F (2014) Anthropogenic activities on mangrove areas (são Francisco River estuary, Brazil northeast): a GIS-based analysis of CBERS and SPOT images to aid in local management. Ocean Coast Manag 89:39–50

Sriskanthan G and Funge-Smith SJ (2011) The potential impact of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture in the Asian region. FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok. RAP Publication 2011/16, 41 pp

Traore S, Owiyo T (2013) Dirty droughts causing L&D in northern Burkina Faso. Int J Global Warm 5:498–513

Truong DD, Thanh LH (2013) Natural resources and environment valuation from theories to practice in Vietnam. Transport Publishing House

Tuan LA (2013) Maintenance of ecosystem service for Ca Mau Cape in context of climate change, Scientific Forum “Conservation of Nature and Culture for Sustainable Development in the Mekong Delta.” Ca Mau City

Tuan LX, Hong PN, Hoc TQ (2008) Coastal environmental issues and mangrove rehabilitation in Vietnam. In: Proceedings of the 3 rd international conference on Vietnamese studies. Ha Noi National University, Ha Noi

UNEP and Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) (2013) Report on value of the ecosystem services in Ngoc Hien District, Ca Mau Province. Technical Report of the Ecosystem Service Project, UNEP, p 2013

UNFCCC, 2013. Non-economic losses in the context of the work programme on loss and damage. UNFCCC Technical paper. https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2013/tp/02.pdf . Accessed 10 Feb 2019

UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Implementation (2012) A literature review on the topics in the context of thematic area 2 of the work programme on L&D: A range of approaches to address L&D associated with the adverse effects of climate change http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2012/sbi/eng/inf14.pdf . Accessed 15 Jul 2020

Valle AD, Eriksson M, Ishizawa OA, Miranda JJ (2020) Mangroves protect coastal economic activity from hurricanes. PNAS 117(1):265–270

Article   PubMed   ADS   Google Scholar  

Van Anh NT (2010) Studying the scientific basis and practice for management and restoration of environment after natural disasters – case studies in some localities. Research report funded by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ha Noi

Vo QT, Kuenzer C, Vo QM, Moder F, Oppelt N (2012) Review of valuation methods for mangrove ecosystem services. Ecol Ind 23(2012):431–446

Ward RD, Friess DA, Day RH, MacKenzie RA (2016) Impacts of climate change on mangrove ecosystems: a region by region overview. Ecosyst Health Sust 2(4):1–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/ehs2.1211

Warner K, van der Geest K, Kreft S, Huq S, Harmeling S, Kusters K, Alex de Sherbinin (2012). Evidence from the frontlines of climate change: Loss and damage to communities despite coping and adaptation. In: Loss and damage in vulnerable countries initiative. Policy Report. Report No. 9. United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNUEHS), Bonn. https://i.unu.edu/media/ourworld.unu.edu-en/article/8283/LossDamage_Vol1.pdf . Accessed 13 Feb 2019

Warner K, van der Geest K (2013) L&D from climate change: local-level evidence from nine vulnerable countries. Int J Global Warming 5(4):367–386

Wong PP, Losada IJ, Gattuso J-P, Hinkel J, Khattabi A, McInnes KL, Saito Y, Sallenger A (2014) Coastal systems and low-lying areas. In: Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea MD, Bilir TE, Chatterjee M, Ebi KL, Estrada YO, Genova RC, Girma B, Kissel ES, Levy AN, MacCracken S, Mastrandrea PR, White LL (eds) Climate change 2014: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Part A: Global and sectoral aspects. Contribution of working group II to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, pp 361–409. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WGIIAR5-Chap5_FINAL.pdf . Accessed 15 Mar 2020

WorldFish Center (2007) The threat to fisheries and aquaculture from climate change. Policy Brief. https://digitalarchive.worldfishcenter.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12348/1594/ClimateChange2.pdf?sequence1= . Accessed 13 Feb 2019

WWF (2016) Living planet report 2016. Risk and resilience in a new era. WWF International, Gland. https://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_2016_full_report_low_res.pdf . Accessed 13 Feb 2019

Yaffa S (2013) L&D from drought in the North Bank Region of The Gambia. United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security, Bonn

Yamane T (1967) Statistics: An Introductory Analysis, 2nd edn. Harper and Row, New York

Zhang KH, Liu Y, Li H, Xu J, Shen J, Rhome TJ, Smith (2012) The role of mangroves in attenuating storm surges. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 102:11–23

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE), 479 Hoang Quoc Viet str., Bac Tu Liem dist., Ha Noi, Vietnam

Thang Trung Nguyen & Anh Ngoc Thi Nguyen

Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Kamiyamaguchi, Hayama, Kanagawa, 2108-11240-0115, Japan

Sivapuram Venkata Rama Krishna Prabhakar

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Specifically, Thang Trung Nguyen initiated and get the study funded and designed its implementation. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Thang Trung Nguyen, Anh Ngoc Thi Nguyen and Sivapuram Venkata Rama Krishna Prabhakar. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Anh Ngoc Thi Nguyen and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thang Trung Nguyen .

Ethics declarations

Declarations.

All authors agreed with the content and gave explicit consent to submit this paper. The authors obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out.

Conflict of interest

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Nguyen, T.T., Nguyen, A.N.T. & Prabhakar, S.V.R.K. Assessment of climate change related loss and damage on mangrove ecosystem: a case study in Ca Mau, Vietnam. J Coast Conserv 28 , 47 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-024-01037-2

Download citation

Received : 16 December 2021

Revised : 30 January 2024

Accepted : 01 February 2024

Published : 14 March 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-024-01037-2

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Loss and damage (L&D)
• Mangrove ecosystem
• Climate change
• Community-based method
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Earth Science in Action

We don’t just study climate. We act on it.

NASA collects data to show how our climate is changing from both natural causes and human activities, from documenting impacts on ice sheets, sea level, and Arctic sea ice to monitoring vegetation health and freshwater movement. We are putting decades of research, technology, and innovation to work to improve people's lives on our home planet.

45 Years Ago: Space Shuttle Columbia Arrives at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

On March 24, 1979, space shuttle Columbia arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the very first time. Following Presidential direction to build the space shuttle in 1972, Congress quickly approved and funded the program later that year. Construction…

NASA’s Tiny BurstCube Mission Launches to Study Cosmic Blasts

NASA’s BurstCube, a shoebox-sized satellite designed to study the universe’s most powerful explosions, is on its way to the International Space Station. The spacecraft travels aboard SpaceX’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission, which lifted off at 4:55 p.m. EDT on…

Payload Adapter Testing: A Key Step for Artemis IV Rocket’s Success

A test version of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s payload adapter is ready for evaluation, marking a critical milestone on the journey to the hardware’s debut on NASA’s Artemis IV mission. Comprised of two metal rings and eight composite…

Station Science 101: Cardiovascular Research on Station

Everyday physical activities keep the cardiovascular system healthy. The human cardiovascular system, which includes the heart and blood vessels, has evolved to operate in Earth’s gravity. When astronauts travel to space, their bodies begin to adjust to the microgravity of…

Mentoring the Next Generation of Engineers and Improving Shock Testing Standards 

The year 2023 was productive for the Loads & Dynamics (L&D) Technical Discipline Team (TDT). New shock and modal analysis techniques were developed and mentoring the next generation of NASA discipline experts continued. Additionally, NESC Technical Bulletin No. 23-3, New…

Shuttle, Family Inspire NASA’s Cryogenic Technology Manager

By Daniel Boyette Jeremy Kenny squinted his eyes as he looked toward the brilliant light. Then came the deafening sound waves that vibrated his body. This was the moment he’d dreamed about since childhood. It was Nov. 16, 2009, at…

Building a Community of Practice 

The Thermal and Fluids Analysis Workshop (TFAWS) is an annual event cosponsored by the NESC’s Thermal Control & Protection, Environmental Control & Life Support, Aerosciences, and Cryogenics Technical Discipline Teams in collaboration with the TFAWS Steering Committee. It is well…

Advancing Human Spaceflight Safety

As NASA continues to pursue new human missions to low Earth orbit, lunar orbit, the lunar surface, and on to Mars, the NESC continues to provide a robust technical resource to address critical challenges. The NESC Environmental Control and Life…

NASA Analysis Sees Spike in 2023 Global Sea Level Due to El Niño

A long-term sea level dataset shows ocean surface heights continuing to rise at faster and faster rates over decades of observations. Global average sea level rose by about 0.3 inches (0.76 centimeters) from 2022 to 2023, a relatively large jump…

NASA’s Hubble Finds that Aging Brown Dwarfs Grow Lonely

It takes two to tango, but in the case of brown dwarfs that were once paired as binary systems, that relationship doesn’t last for very long, according to a recent survey from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Brown dwarfs are interstellar…

NRO Mission Launches from NASA Wallops on Electron Rocket  

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility supported the successful launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket at 3:25 a.m. EDT, Thursday, March 21, from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.   The rocket carried three collaborative research missions for the National…

NASA Advanced Air Mobility Partnerships

NASA is partnered with other government agencies, industry, and academia to conduct Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) research to benefit a future transportation system with routine flight of air taxis and drones. See the current partnerships below and in the map…

The Marshall Star for March 20, 2024

Marshall Technologist Talks Solar Sail Technology in Rocket Center Exhibit By Jessica Barnett Space enthusiasts at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center were treated to a special exhibit featuring technologist Les Johnson of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and a…

55 Years Ago: Four Months Until the Moon Landing

The road to the Moon landing cleared a major hurdle in March 1969 with the flight of Apollo 9 that tested all components of the spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Astronauts James A. McDivitt and Russell L. Schweickart flew the…

Key Test Drive of Orion on NASA’s Artemis II to Aid Future Missions

Astronauts will test drive NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the first time during the agency’s Artemis II test flight next year. While many of the spacecraft’s maneuvers like big propulsive burns are automated, a key test called the proximity operations demonstration…

NASA Sees Progress on Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef Life Support System

A NASA-funded commercial space station, Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef, recently completed testing milestones for its critical life support system as part of the agency’s efforts for new destinations in low Earth orbit. The four milestones are part of a NASA…

NASA, Industry Improve Lidars for Exploration, Science

NASA engineers will test a suite of new laser technologies from an aircraft this summer for Earth science remote sensing. Called lidar, the instruments could also be used to improve models of the Moon’s shape and aid the search for…

Sketch the Shape of the Sun for Science During the Solar Eclipse

Calling all eclipse admirers! The SunSketcher team is looking for one million volunteers to capture photos on their cell phones during the April 8 total solar eclipse. These images will help scientists learn about the size, shape, and inner structure…

Casey Honniball: Finding Her Space in Lunar Science

Lunar scientist Casey Honniball conducts lunar observations and field work near volcanoes to investigate how astronauts could use instruments during moonwalks. Name: Casey HonniballTitle: Lunar scientistOrganization: Planetary Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Laboratory, Science Directorate (Code 698) What do you do…

Tech Today: NASA Helps Find Where the Wildfires Are

Globally, nearly all wildfires start with a human ignition source – not lightning strikes or wildlife encountering power equipment. Knowing humans can be a primary cause is an example of the sort of knowledge that helps predict and prevent wildfires,…

Discover More Topics From NASA

Explore Earth Science

Earth Science Data

Facts About Earth

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

•   Facebook
•   Twitter
•   Linkedin
•   Digg
•   Reddit
•   Pinterest
•   Email

Latest Earthquakes |    Chat Share Social Media  

The Impacts of Climate Change on Phenology: A Synthesis and Path Forward for Adaptive Management in the Pacific Northwest Completed

View the full project in our project explorer.

Phenology, or the timing of the annual cycles of plants and animals, is extremely sensitive to changes in climate. We know that plants and animals may adjust the timing of certain phenological events, such as tree flowering or migration, based on changes in weather. However, it’s important that we also understand how the timing of phenological events is changing over longer time frames, as climate conditions change.   While some species appear to be adjusting to the increase in unseasonal temperatures, drought, and extreme storms that have come with climate change, not all species are responding at the same speed or in the same ways. This can disrupt the manner in which species interact and the way that ecosystems function overall. For example, plants may bloom before butterflies emerge to pollinate them, or caterpillars may emerge before migratory birds arrive to feed them to their young.   For natural resource managers, understanding how changing climate conditions are impacting plant and animal phenology is essential for making effective adaptive management decisions. This project will support management needs in the Pacific Northwest by synthesizing and communicating what we know about the impacts of climate change on phenology in the region, as well as identifying what gaps exist in the research and what tools are available to support management planning. The resulting products will be user-friendly and relevant to a wide range of natural resource managers seeking applied solutions and adaptation options for a range of issues, including land management, wildlife and habitat conservation, and recreation. 

• Source: USGS Sciencebase (id: 5956a3f1e4b0d1f9f050d931 )

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Perspective
• Published: 27 May 2019

Tracking global climate change adaptation among governments

• Lea Berrang-Ford   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9216-8035 1 , 2 ,
• Robbert Biesbroek   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2906-1419 3 ,
• James D. Ford   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2066-3456 1 , 2 ,
• Alexandra Lesnikowski 2 ,
• Andrew Tanabe 2 ,
• Frances M. Wang 2 ,
• Chen Chen 4 , 5 ,
• Angel Hsu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4913-9479 6 ,
• Jessica J. Hellmann 4 , 7 ,
• Patrick Pringle 8 , 9 ,
• Martina Grecequet 7 ,
• J.-C. Amado 10 , 11 ,
• Saleemul Huq 12 ,
• Shuaib Lwasa   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4312-2836 13 &
• S. Jody Heymann 14  

Nature Climate Change volume  9 ,  pages 440–449 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

10k Accesses

136 Citations

107 Altmetric

Metrics details

• Climate change
• Climate sciences
• Environmental social sciences
• Social sciences

The Paris Agreement and Katowice Climate Package articulate a clear mandate for all parties to undertake and document adaptation progress. Yet persistent challenges have prevented substantive developments in tracking adaptation and the assessment of adaptation actions and their outcomes. Here, we provide an overview of the challenges of adaptation tracking and propose a comprehensive conceptual framework for assessing adaptation progress by governments that is scalable over time and across contexts. The framework addresses the core components of adaptation assessment (vulnerability, goals and targets, adaptation efforts, and adaptation results) and characterizes subcomponents focused on adaptation effort (leadership, organizations and policy). In particular, we highlight how critical insights can be uncovered by systematically tracking policy efforts over time, and discusses novel approaches to data collection.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

24,99 € / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 12 print issues and online access

195,33 € per year

only 16,28 € per issue

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

de Coninck, H. et al. in IPCC Special Report: Global warming of 1.5 °C (eds Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) Ch. 4 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2018).

Magnan, A. K. & Ribera, T. Global adaptation after Paris. Science 352 , 1280–1282 (2016).

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Lesnikowski, A. et al. What does the Paris Agreement mean for adaptation? Clim. Policy 17 , 825–831 (2017).

Article   Google Scholar  

Magnan, A. K. Climate change: metrics needed to track adaptation. Nature 530 , 160–160 (2016).

Ford, J. D. et al. Adaptation tracking for a post-2015 climate agreement. Nat. Clim. Change 5 , 967–969 (2015).

Berrang-Ford, L., Ford, J. D. & Paterson, J. Are we adapting to climate change? Glob. Environ. Change 21 , 25–33 (2011).

Ford, J. D. & Berrang-Ford, L. The 4Cs of adaptation tracking: consistency, comparability, comprehensiveness, coherency. Mitig. Adapt. Strat. Gl. 21 , 839–859 (2016).

Ford, J. D., Berrang-Ford, L., Lesnikowski, A., Barrera, M. & Heymann, S. J. How to track adaptation to climate change: a typology of approaches for national-level application. Ecol. Soc. 18 , 40 (2013).

Surminski, S. Private sector adaptation to climate risk. Nat. Clim. Change 3 , 943–945 (2013).

Chen, C., Hellmann, J., Berrang-Ford, L., Noble, I. & Regan, P. A global assessment of adaptation investment from the perspectives of equity and efficiency. Mitig. Adapt. Strat. Gl. 23 , 101–122 (2018).

Dupuis, J. & Biesbroek, R. Comparing apples and oranges: the dependent variable problem in comparing and evaluating climate change adaptation policies. Glob. Environ. Change 23 , 1476–1487 (2013).

Ford, J. D., Berrang-Ford, L. & Patterson, J. A systematic review of observed climate change adaptation in developed nations. Clim. Change Lett. 106 , 327–336 (2011).

UNEP. Adaptation Gap Report 2017 (United Nations Environment Programme, 2017).

Tompkins, E. L., Vincent, K., Nicholls, R. J. & Suckall, N. Documenting the state of adaptation for the global stocktake of the Paris Agreement. WIRES Clim. Change 9 , e545 (2018).

Bours, D., McGinn, C. & Pringle, P. Monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation: a review of the landscape. New Dir. Eval. 147 , 1–12 (2015).

Fisher, S., Dinshaw, A., McGray, H., Rai, N. & Schaar, J. Evaluating climate change adaptation: learning from methods in international development. New Dir. Eval. 2015 , 13–35 (2015).

Chen, C., Doherty, M., Coffee, J., Wong, T. & Hellmann, J. Measuring the adaptation gap: a framework for evaluating climate hazards and opportunities in urban areas. Environ. Sci. Pol. 66 , 403–419 (2016).

Brooks, N. et al. An operational framework for Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD) (IIED, 2013).

Lesnikowski, A., Ford, J., Biesbroek, R., Berrang-Ford, L. & Heymann, S. J. National-level progress on adaptation. Nat. Clim. Change 6 , 261–264 (2016).

Lesnikowski, A. C., Ford, J. D., Berrang-Ford, L., Barrera, M. & Heymann, J. How are we adapting to climate change? a global assessment. Mitig. Adapt. Strat. Gl. 20 , 277–293 (2015).

Gagnon-Lebrun, F. & Agrawala, S. Implementing adaptation in developed countries: an analysis of progress and trends. Clim. Policy 7 , 392–408 (2007).

Araos, M., Ford, J., Berrang-Ford, L., Biesbroek, R. & Moser, S. Climate change adaptation planning for Global South megacities: the case of Dhaka. J. Environ. Pol. Plan. 19 , 682–696 (2017).

Heidrich, O. et al. National climate policies across Europe and their impacts on cities strategies. J. Environ. Manag. 168 , 36–45 (2016).

Preston, B. L., Westaway, R. M. & Yuen, E. J. Climate adaptation planning in practice: an evaluation of adaptation plans from three developed nations. Mitig. Adapt. Strat. Gl. 16 , 407–438 (2011).

Woodru, S. C. & Stults, M. Numerous strategies but limited implementation guidance in US local adaptation plans. Nat. Clim. Change 6 , 796–802 (2016).

Reckien, D. et al. Climate change response in Europe: what’s the reality? analysis of adaptation and mitigation plans from 200 urban areas in 11 countries. Clim. Change 122 , 331–340 (2014).

Jude, S. R. et al. Delivering organisational adaptation through legislative mechanisms: evidence from the Adaptation Reporting Power (Climate Change Act 2008). Sci. Total Environ. 574 , 858–871 (2017).

Townshend, T. et al. How national legislation can help to solve climate change. Nat. Clim. Change 3 , 430–432 (2013).

Wang, F. M. et al. in Adaptation metrics: perspectives on measuring, aggregating and comparing adaptation results (eds Christiansen, L. et al.) 49–62 (UNEP DTU Partnership, 2018).

Lamhauge, N., Lanzi, E. & Agrawala, S. The use of indicators for monitoring and evaluation of adaptation: lessons from development cooperation agencies. Clim. Dev. 5 , 229–241 (2013).

Harley, M., Horrocks, L., Hodgson, N. & Van Minnen, J. ETC/ACC Technical Paper 2008/9 (European Environmental Agency, 2008).

Biesbroek, R., Dupuis, J. & Wellstead, A. Explaining through causal mechanisms: resilience and governance of social-ecological systems. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sust. 28 , 64–70 (2017).

Peters, B. G. & Pierre, J. Comparative governance: Rediscovering the functional dimension of governing (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2016).

Treib, O., Bahr, H. & Falkner, G. Modes of governance: towards a conceptual clarification. J. Eur. Pub. Pol. 14 , 1–20 (2007).

Leiter, T. Recommendations for Adaptation M&E in Practice: Discussion Paper (GIZ, 2013).

Ford, J. D. et al. Vulnerability and its discontents: the past, present, and future of climate change vulnerability research. Clim. Change 151 , 189–203 (2018).

Biesbroek, R., Lesnikowski, A., Ford, J. D., Berrang-Ford, L. & Vink, M. Do administrative traditions matter for climate change adaptation policy? A comparative analysis of 32 high-income countries. Rev. Pol. Res. 35 , 881–906 (2018).

Klijn, E. H. & Koppenjan, J. Governance networks in the public sector (Routledge, 2016).

Tilleard, S. & Ford, J. Adaptation readiness and adaptive capacity of transboundary river basins. Clim. Change 137 , 575–591 (2016).

Ford, J. D. & King, D. A framework for examining adaptation readiness. Mitig. Adapt. Strat. Gl. 20 , 505–526 (2015).

Smith, J. B., Vogel, J. M. & Cromwell, J. E. An architecture for government action on adaptation to climate change. Clim. Change 95 , 53–61 (2009).

Ekstrom, J., Bedsworth, L. & Fencl, A. Gauging climate preparedness to inform adaptation needs: local level adaptation in drinking water quality in CA, USA. Clim. Change 3 , 467–481 (2017).

Sovacool, B., Linner, B. O. & Goodsite, M. E. The political economy of climate adaptation. Nat. Clim. Change 5 , 616–618 (2015).

Eriksen, S. H., Nightingale, A. J. & Eakin, H. Reframing adaptation: the political nature of climate change adaptation. Glob. Environ. Change 35 , 523–533 (2015).

Chu, E. The political economy of urban climate adaptation and development planning in Surat, India. Environ. Plann. C. 34 , 281–298 (2016).

Green, J. F. Policy entrepreneurship in climate governance: Toward a comparative approach. Environ. Plann. C. 35 , 1471–1482 (2017).

Google Scholar  

Jordan, A. J. et al. Emergence of polycentric climate governance and its future prospects. Nat. Clim. Change 5 , 977–982 (2015).

Keohane, R. O. & Victor, D. G. Cooperation and discord in global climate policy. Nat. Clim. Change 6 , 570–575 (2016).

Hsu, A., Weinfurter, A. J. & Xu, K. Y. Aligning subnational climate actions for the new post-Paris climate regime. Clim. Change 142 , 419–432 (2017).

Backstrand, K. & Kuyper, J. W. The democratic legitimacy of orchestration: the UNFCCC, non-state actors, and transnational climate governance. Environ. Pol. 26 , 764–788 (2017).

Hall, P. Policy, paradigms, social learning, and the State: the case of economic policymaking in Britain. Comp. Polit. 25 , 275–296 (1993).

Pelling, M. & Dill, K. Disaster politics: tipping points for change in the adaptation of sociopolitical regimes. Prog. Hum. Geogr. 34 , 21–37 (2010).

Greiving, S. & Fleischhauer, M. National climate change adaptation strategies of European states from a spatial planning and development perspective. Eur. Plan. Stud. 20 , 27–48 (2012).

Henstra, D. The tools of climate adaptation policy: analysing instruments and instrument selection. Clim. Pol. 16 , 496–521 (2016).

Audinet, P., Amado, J.-C. & Rabb, B. in Weather Matters for Energy (eds Troccoli, A., Dubus, L. & Haupt, S. E.) 17–64 (Springer, 2014).

Lesnikowski, A. et al. Frontiers in data analytics for adaptation research: topic modeling. WIRES Clim. Change 10 , e576 (2019).

Siders, A. R. A role for strategies in urban climate change adaptation planning: lessons from London. Reg. Environ. Change 17 , 1801–1810 (2017).

Scott, W. R. Institutions and organisations: ideas and interests 3rd edn (Sage Publications, 2008).

Steurer, R. & Clar, C. The ambiguity of federalism in climate policy-making: how the political system in Austria hinders mitigation and facilitates adaptation. J. Environ. Pol. Plan. 20 , 252–265 (2018).

Runhaar, H., Wilk, B., Persson, A., Uittenbroek, C. & Wamsler, C. Mainstreaming climate adaptation: taking stock about “what works” from empirical research worldwide. Reg. Environ. Change 18 , 1201–1210 (2018).

Burch, S. Transforming barriers into enablers of action on climate change: insights from three municipal case studies in British Columbia, Canada. Glob. Environ. Change 20 , 287–297 (2010).

Biesbroek, G. R., Klostermann, J. E. M., Termeer, C. J. A. M. & Kabat, P. On the nature of barriers to climate change adaptation. Reg. Environ. Change 13 , 1119–1129 (2013).

Wellstead, A. & Howlett, M. Assisted tree migration in North America: policy legacies, enhanced forest policy integration and climate change adaptation. Scand. J. Res. 32 , 535–543 (2017).

Vij, S. et al. Climate adaptation approaches and key policy characteristics: cases from South. Asia. Enviro. Sci. Pol. 78 , 58–65 (2017).

Mukheibir, P., Kuruppu, N., Gero, A. & Herriman, J. Overcoming cross-scale challenges to climate change adaptation for local government: a focus on Australia. Clim. Change 121 , 271–283 (2013).

Bauer, A., Feichtinger, J. & Steurer, R. The governance of climate change adaptation in 10 OECD countries: challenges and approaches. J. Environ. Pol. Plan. 14 , 279–304 (2012).

Howlett, M. & Cashore, B. The dependent variable problem in the study of policy change: understanding policy change as a methodological problem. J. Comp. Pol. Anal. 11 , 33–46 (2009).

Macintosh, A., Foerster, A. & McDonald, J. Policy design, spatial planning and climate change adaptation: a case study from Australia. J. Environ. Plan. Manag. 58 , 1432–1453 (2015).

Schaffrin, A., Sewerin, S. & Seubert, S. Toward a comparative measure of climate policy output. Pol. Stud. J. 43 , 257–282 (2015).

Vogel, B. & Henstra, D. Studying local climate adaptation: a heuristic research framework for comparative policy analysis. Glob. Environ. Change 31 , 110–120 (2015).

Mees, H. L. P. et al. A method for the deliberate and deliberative selection of policy instrument mixes for climate change adaptation. Ecol. Soc. 19 , 58 (2014).

Lampis, A. Cities andclimate change challenges: institutions, policy style and adaptation capacity in Bogota. Int. J. Urban Reg. Res. 37 , 1879–1901 (2013).

Howlett, M. Policy instruments, policy styles, and policy implementation — national approaches to theories of instrument choice. Pol. Stud. J. 19 , 1–21 (1991).

Howlett, M. Administrative styles and the limits of administrative reform: A neo-institutional analysis of administrative culture. Can. Public Admin. 46 , 471–494 (2003).

Hood, C. C. The Tools of Government . (Macmillan, 1983).

Linder, S. H. & Peters, B. G. Instruments of government: perceptions and contexts. J. Public Policy 9 , 35–58 (1989).

Knill, C. European policies: the impact of national administrative traditions. J. Public Policy 18 , 1–28 (1998).

Adapting to the impacts of climate change (Office of the Auditor General of Canada, 2017).

Indicators of Climate Change for British Columbia: 2016 Update (BC Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy, 2016).

Preparing for Climate Change: British Columbia’s Adaptation Strategy (BC Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy, 2010).

Addressing Climate and Health Risks in BC: Climate Change Health Risks (BC Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy, 2019).

Addressing Climate and Health Risks in BC: Public Health (BC Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, 2019).

Kosatsky, T., Henderson, S. B. & Pollock, S. L. Shifts in mortality during a hot weather event in Vancouver, British Columbia: rapid assessment with case-only analysis. Am. J. Pub. Health 102 , 2367–2371 (2012).

Austin, S. E. et al. Intergovernmental relations for public health adaptation to climate change in the federalist states of Canada and Germany. Glob. Environ. Change 52 , 226–237 (2018).

Greenest City 2020 Action Plan (City of Vancouver, 2012).

Ford, J. D. et al. Big data has big potential for applications to climate change adaptation. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113 , 10729–10732 (2016).

Biesbroek, R. et al. Data, concepts and methods for large-n comparative climate change adaptation policy research: a systematic literature review. WIRES Clim. Change 9 , e548 (2018).

Managing Climate Change Risks: An Independent Audit (BC Office of the Auditor General, 2018).

Climate Change Accountability Act, SBC 2007 Ch. 42 (Government of British Columbia, 2007).

Download references

Acknowledgements

The collaboration has been funded by SSHRC, CIHR and Yale-NUS. R.B.’s contribution was partly funded through NWO-VENI (451-17-006-4140). Special thanks to S. Coggins for contributions to the case-study. The funders had no role in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Priestly Centre for Climate Change, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

Lea Berrang-Ford & James D. Ford

Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Lea Berrang-Ford, James D. Ford, Alexandra Lesnikowski, Andrew Tanabe & Frances M. Wang

Public Administration and Policy group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands

Robbert Biesbroek

Environmental Change Initiative, University of Notre-Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA

Chen Chen & Jessica J. Hellmann

World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, USA

Yale–NUS College, Singapore, Singapore

Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

Jessica J. Hellmann & Martina Grecequet

Climate Analytics GmbH, Berlin, Germany

Patrick Pringle

UKCIP, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

J.-C. Amado

Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

International Institute for Environment and Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Saleemul Huq

Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Shuaib Lwasa

Fielding School of Public Health, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

S. Jody Heymann

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

The work presented in this paper was guided by a series of collaborative discussions and workshops within the Adaptation Tracking Collaborative (ATC). Launched as a collaboration of the Tracking Adaptation to Climate Change Consortium (TRAC3, McGill University, University of Leeds and Wageningen University), the Global Adaptation Initiative at the University of Notre-Dame (ND-GAIN), the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) WORLD Policy Analysis Center, the Institute of Environment at the University of Minnesota and in collaboration with Yale-NUS College (Singapore). The ATC hosted three workshops with the goal of: assessing adaptation tracking needs, identifying a common goal, articulating key theoretical and methodological challenges, and collectively outlining a preliminary conceptual framework for global and systematic adaptation tracking. This paper is the result of those discussions. L.B.F., R.B., J.D.F. and A.L. conceived of the study. Conceptual development of the study goals, objectives and an outline of the framework were contributed collectively by all authors over a series of three workshop meetings. These meetings provided the important intellectual content and interpretation of existing literature to develop a first draft. L.B.F. led manuscript writing, with substantial portions of text written by R.B., A.L. and J.D.F.; A.L., R.B., L.B.F., A.T. and F.M.W. contributed to case-study data collection and/or analysis. All authors critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content over numerous drafts and teleconferences.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lea Berrang-Ford .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests

Additional information

Journal peer review information: Nature Climate Change thanks Nathan Engle, Tim Smith and other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Berrang-Ford, L., Biesbroek, R., Ford, J.D. et al. Tracking global climate change adaptation among governments. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9 , 440–449 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0490-0

Download citation

Received : 09 February 2018

Accepted : 24 April 2019

Published : 27 May 2019

Issue Date : June 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0490-0

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

This article is cited by

The next generation of machine learning for tracking adaptation texts.

• Anne J. Sietsma
• James D. Ford
• Jan C. Minx

Nature Climate Change (2024)

Optimization of the parallel semi-Lagrangian scheme to overlap computation with communication based on grouping levels in YHGSM

• Dazheng Liu
• Wenjuan Liu
• Jianping Wu

CCF Transactions on High Performance Computing (2024)

Energy security of the European Union and corruption in Central Asia as the main challenges for the European sustainable energy future

• Bojana Vasić
• Goran Šimić

Energy, Sustainability and Society (2023)

U.S. cities’ integration and evaluation of equity considerations into climate action plans

• Holly Caggiano
• Diren Kocakuşak
• Melissa O. Tier

npj Urban Sustainability (2023)

Navigating the continuum between adaptation and maladaptation

• Diana Reckien
• Alexandre K. Magnan
• Erin Coughlan de Perez

Nature Climate Change (2023)

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

• [email protected]
• Mon - Fri 8:00 - 17:00

• PMU Overview
• View Projects
• Project Sites
• The new DoCC in Vanuatu
• Core Values
• Our Structure
• General Information
• Climate Change Adaptation in Vanuatu
• NGO/CBO’s/CSO’s
• DOCC initiatives
• Newsletters
• Workshop Materials
• Strategic Plan
• Business Plan
• Community Awareness
• Schools Awareness
• Workshops and Trainings
• Productions
• News & Events

Resilience in the Face of Climate Change: A Case Study on Vulnerable Communities

Port Vila, Vanuatu – A new case study was undertaken recently to look into how climate change affects vulnerable communities and their ability to recover.

From the 4th to 8th March 2024, Strengthening loss and damage capacity in the Global South (STRENGTH) project Coordinator Brian Maltera and Loss & Damage PhD researcher Ms Joana Tunn spent 5 days in the villages of Marou, Mangarong and Wiana at Emau Island.

The Strength (L&D) Project under the Department of Climate Change conducted the study, as a baseline, with focus on comprehensive understanding of the diverse climate-induced loss and damage situations as well as to explore the needs of most vulnerable groups in coping with and recovering from climate induced losses and damages.

It is critical for loss and damage to be addressed with a greater sense of clarity at this stage, due to the vast number of losses and damages associated with climate change extremes and slow-onset events.

There is a risk that many important facets of losses and damages will be missed, such as how slow-onset events are causing loss of culture and human health, or how the species loss of plants and animals will jeopardize rural women’s livelihoods for the case of Emau island; subject to future project progress update.

Among the most vulnerable groups identified in the villages, are elderly women, people leaving with disabilities, and women who highlighted the urgent need for tailored interventions to address their specific needs in times of disaster.

Elderly women often widowed, face significant challenges in rebuilding their lives after disaster strikes - With limited financial resources, they struggle to repair and rebuild their homes, often relying on the support of extended family members.

While People living with disability confront multiple barriers during disasters, with access to clean water and sanitation emerging as a critical concern. The intrusions of salt water worsen the situation, posing serious health risks and hindering mobility.

From women perspective, playing a central role in household food security, they face challenges in accessing clean water, sanitation and sufficient food supplies.

Declining of agricultural productivity due to impacts further compounds these challenges, impacting their ability to provide for their families. These are the feedbacks gathered from the group discussions held at selected villages on Emau island.

Coastal erosion at Wiana village on Emau island – Shefa Province - PC Brian Maltera

Latest News

• Vanuatu ICJ Initiative
• Regional Pacific NDC Hub
• Department of Energy
• Department of Environment
• Secretariate of the Pacific Community

share this!

March 19, 2024

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

fact-checked

peer-reviewed publication

trusted source

Sandy soil reptiles are more threatened by climate change than has been supposed, study shows

Reptiles that live in sandy soils in dry areas and tolerate high temperatures have been considered beneficiaries of global warming as suitable habitats expand owing to climate change. However, a study by Brazilian researchers shows this is not necessarily the case, according to an article published in the Journal of Arid Environments .

"We concluded that climate change will modify the geographical distribution of reptiles and lead to the extinction of some species. That's the opposite of the usual prediction," said Júlia Oliveira, first author of the article.

The study was part of her master's research at the State University of Maranhão (UEMA) and of the project "Evolution and biogeography of the herpetofauna: patterns, process, and implications for conservation in a scenario of environmental and climate changes," coordinated by Thaís Guedes, a professor at the State University of Campinas's Institute of Biology (IB-UNICAMP) and Oliveira's research supervisor.

"The species we studied have the peculiarity of being adapted to sandy soil habitats, which confers traits such as reduced or absent limbs, reduced eyes, and raised rostral scales. These are adaptations of their bodies for living in this type of environment. As a result, the areas suited to these species now and in the future depend on specific soil conditions," Guedes said.

The researchers analyzed occurrence records for ten species of psammophilous squamates (five lizards and five snakes) adapted to sandy soil and found in the region known as the South American Diagonal of Open Formations (DOF) or Dry Diagonal (DD), comprising the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes in Brazil, and the Chaco biome in Argentina and Paraguay.

They added data on the current climate, soil types, and other environmental variables associated with these animals' ability to survive in the habitats concerned. They then simulated best-case and worst-case scenarios for greenhouse gas emissions to see what these areas would be like in 2040 and 2060 in accordance with the projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The models also identified suitable areas for the species that have not yet been surveyed on the ground to find out whether the animals in question live there. According to the researchers, these areas should be prioritized for exploration and conservation purposes. The areas concerned, which included the São Francisco River dunes in Bahia state and sandy soil patches in the Caatinga in Piauí state, were found to be excellent habitats for the species, some of which are endemic.

Extinction and habitat loss

The best-case scenario for 2040, which assumes moderate levels of greenhouse gas emissions, predicted habitat loss surpassing the gains in terms of range and climate for all ten species. Micrablepharus maximiliani, a blue-tailed microtelid lizard, and Vanzosaura savanicola, a red-tailed vanzosaur, would see the worst area loss. M. maximiliani would lose 88% of its habitat, while V. savanicola would lose 99% and become locally extinct.

The outlook for 2060 is not much better, even under the best-case climate change scenario. All ten species would again undergo habitat loss, ranging from 2.5% to 100%. V. savanicola would become extinct, as would Rodriguesophis iglesiasi (Gomes's pampas snake) and Phalotris matogrossensis (the Mato Grosso burrowing snake). Two other lizards and a snake would lose 60%-82%.

The worst-case scenario for 2040 also predicted more losses than gains for all species, two of which would lose more than 76%. The worst-case scenario for 2060 predicted even higher losses. There would be higher gains for some species than under other scenarios, but the losses would be greater, and V. rubricauda, another redtail vanzosaur, would become extinct.

For the researchers, the results of the study are particularly alarming because this kind of threat has been overlooked for reptiles that burrow in sandy soil.

They note that the most recent nationwide assessment of endangered reptiles by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), an arm of the Brazilian Ministry for the Environment and Climate Change, was conducted in 2022 and did not consider climate change as a risk factor, although it did use the same criteria as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"Some of the species for which we predict major losses and even extinction wouldn't even be endangered according to the current criteria used in this kind of threat assessment. The criteria must be changed for the next assessment," Oliveira said.

The catastrophe predicted by the study could be averted, or at least mitigated, if new conservation units with full protection were created and/or existing conservation units were extended in an optimized manner in suitable locations for these species now and in the future.

Compared with the DOF/DD in its entirety, the protected areas in the biomes concerned are tiny, corresponding to less than 2% of the Caatinga, 10% of the Cerrado, and 9% of the Chaco.

"Our study shows that future climate conditions may undermine the effectiveness of the existing conservation units in terms of protecting the diversity of these reptiles," Guedes said, explaining that while 27 protected areas have been created in the last six years in the DOF/DD, less than 16% of the total area protected by conservation units in the Cerrado and Caatinga is suitable as a habitat for the species of lizards and snakes covered by the study, according to the climate change scenarios used.

The authors conclude that the outlook for psammophilous squamates may resemble the predictions made for birds, plants, and mammals in the Caatinga by other groups, whose research has pointed to the likelihood of species homogenization, with a few generalists replacing rarer specialist species.

"The good news arising from the study is the potential for discovery of new areas with occurrences of reptiles adapted to living in sandy soil. On the other hand, the findings should be considered a warning that future climate scenarios must urgently be included in conservation planning for a changing planet," Guedes said.

Journal information: Journal of Arid Environments

Provided by FAPESP

Explore further

Feedback to editors

Heat to blame for space pebble demise

10 hours ago

New cost-effective method can detect low concentrations of pharmaceutical waste and contaminants in water

Team proposes using AI to reconstruct particle paths leading to new physics

11 hours ago

A new way to quantify climate change impacts: 'Outdoor days'

Higher temperatures mean higher food and other prices. A new study links climate shocks to inflation

Satellite data assimilation improves forecasts of severe weather

Scientists create novel technique to form human artificial chromosomes

Shakespeare's sister: Digital archives reveal hidden insights into world-famous playwright's unknown sibling

Research reveals new starting points for the rapid and targeted development of future drugs

High speed protein movies to aid drug design

Relevant physicsforums posts, are all biological catabolic reactions exergonic.

Mar 20, 2024

A First of Its Kind: A Calcium-based signal in the Human Brain

Mar 18, 2024

Biological culture and cultural biology

Mar 17, 2024

Potentially fatal dog parasite found in the Colorado River

Mar 15, 2024

Electrical potential difference and charge separation

Mar 14, 2024

Nick Lanes on Sean Carroll's podcast

Mar 11, 2024

More from Biology and Medical

Related Stories

Brazilian semi-arid biome could lose over 90% of mammal species by 2060

Jan 11, 2024

Study finds more animals will become extinct outside nature reserves than within them

Jun 26, 2023

Snakes are distributed in the Chaco in accordance with adaptations to environment, study shows

Feb 13, 2023

Climate change may affect 40% of biodiversity in semi-arid portion of Brazil's Northeast by 2060

Sep 21, 2023

Climate change and carnivores: Shifts in the distribution and effectiveness of protected areas in the Amazon

Sep 29, 2023

Which reptiles and amphibians in the southwestern United States are most vulnerable to climate change?

Nov 9, 2022

Recommended for you

New research shows unintended harms of organic farming

12 hours ago

Decoding the plant world's complex biochemical communication networks

Parrots love playing tablet games, and it's helping researchers understand them

13 hours ago

A product that kills agricultural pests is also deadly to native Pacific Northwest snail

In a first, team identifies mysterious exporter for brassinosteroid plant hormone

In a first, evolutionary biologists have identified a gene that influences visual preferences in tropical butterflies

Let us know if there is a problem with our content.

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form . For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines ).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

E-mail the story

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Newsletter sign up

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

More information Privacy policy

Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience

We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.

E-mail newsletter