Disaster Research Center

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https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/35

The Disaster Research Center (DRC) is the first social science research center in the world devoted to the study of disasters. Founded in 1963 at the Ohio State University, the Center is now part of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Delaware and faculty members from the School of Public Policy and Administration, the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and the Department of Civil Engineering direct Disaster Research Center projects.

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Browsing Disaster Research Center by Author "Berrang-Ford, Lea"

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    Adaptation to compound climate risks: A systematic global stocktake
    (iScience, 2023-02-17) Simpson, Nicholas P.; Williams, Portia Adade; Mach, Katharine J.; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Biesbroek, Robbert; Haasnoot, Marjolijn; Segnon, Alcade C.; Campbell, Donovan; Musah-Surugu, Justice Issah; Joe, Elphin Tom; Nunbogu, Abraham Marshall; Sabour, Salma; Meyer, Andreas L.S.; Andrews, Talbot M.; Singh, Chandni; Siders, A.R.; Lawrence, Judy; van Aalst, Maarten; Trisos, Christopher H.; The Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative Team
    Highlights: • Compound climate impacts are particularly hard to adapt to • Compound vulnerabilities and exposures constrain adaptation capabilities • Inappropriate responses to climate change can lead to maladaptation • Compound impacts can have cascading effects on response options Summary: This article provides a stocktake of the adaptation literature between 2013 and 2019 to better understand how adaptation responses affect risk under the particularly challenging conditions of compound climate events. Across 39 countries, 45 response types to compound hazards display anticipatory (9%), reactive (33%), and maladaptive (41%) characteristics, as well as hard (18%) and soft (68%) limits to adaptation. Low income, food insecurity, and access to institutional resources and finance are the most prominent of 23 vulnerabilities observed to negatively affect responses. Risk for food security, health, livelihoods, and economic outputs are commonly associated risks driving responses. Narrow geographical and sectoral foci of the literature highlight important conceptual, sectoral, and geographic areas for future research to better understand the way responses shape risk. When responses are integrated within climate risk assessment and management, there is greater potential to advance the urgency of response and safeguards for the most vulnerable. Graphical abstract at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.105926
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    Climate change adaptation to extreme heat: a global systematic review of implemented action
    (Oxford Open Climate Change, 2021-06-01) Turek-Hankins, Lynée L.; Coughlan de Perez, Erin; Scarpa, Giulia; Ruiz-Diaz, Raquel; Schwerdtle, Patricia Nayna; Joe, Elphin Tom; Galappaththi, Eranga K.; French, Emma M.; Austin, Stephanie E.; Singh, Chandni; Siña, Mariella; Siders, A. R.; van Aalst, Maarten K.; Templeman, Sienna; Nunbogu, Abraham M.; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Agrawal, Tanvi; the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative team; Mach, Katharine J.
    Extreme heat events impact people and ecosystems across the globe, and they are becoming more frequent and intense in a warming climate. Responses to heat span sectors and geographic boundaries. Prior research has documented technologies or options that can be deployed to manage extreme heat and examples of how individuals, communities, governments and other stakeholder groups are adapting to heat. However, a comprehensive understanding of the current state of implemented heat adaptations—where, why, how and to what extent they are occurring—has not been established. Here, we combine data from the Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative with a heat-specific systematic review to analyze the global extent and diversity of documented heat adaptation actions (n = 301 peer-reviewed articles). Data from 98 countries suggest that documented heat adaptations fundamentally differ by geographic region and national income. In high-income, developed countries, heat is overwhelmingly treated as a health issue, particularly in urban areas. However, in low- and middle-income, developing countries, heat adaptations focus on agricultural and livelihood-based impacts, primarily considering heat as a compound hazard with drought and other hydrological hazards. 63% of the heat-adaptation articles feature individuals or communities autonomously adapting, highlighting how responses to date have largely consisted of coping strategies. The current global status of responses to intensifying extreme heat, largely autonomous and incremental yet widespread, establishes a foundation for informed decision-making as heat impacts around the world continue to increase.