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1 – 10 of 811Guillaume Rohat, Stéphane Goyette and Johannes Flacke
Climate analogues have been extensively used in ecological studies to assess the shift of ecoregions due to climate change and the associated impacts on species survival and…
Abstract
Purpose
Climate analogues have been extensively used in ecological studies to assess the shift of ecoregions due to climate change and the associated impacts on species survival and displacement, but they have hardly been applied to urban areas and their climate shift. This paper aims to use climate analogues to characterize the climate shift of cities and to explore its implications as well as potential applications of this approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a methodology to match the current climate of cities with the future climate of other locations and to characterize cities’ climate shift velocity. Employing a sample of 90 European cities, the authors demonstrate the applicability of this method and characterize their climate shift from 1951 to 2100.
Findings
Results show that cities’ climate shift follows rather strictly north-to-south transects over the European continent and that the average southward velocity is expected to double throughout the twenty-first century. These rapid shifts will have direct implications for urban infrastructure, risk management and public health services.
Originality/value
These findings appear to be potentially useful for raising awareness of stakeholders and urban dwellers about the pace, magnitude and dynamics of climate change, supporting identification of the future climate impacts and vulnerabilities and implementation of readily available adaptation options, and strengthening cities’ cooperation within climate-related networks.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sensitivity of ski businesses and of the accommodation sector in Tyrol to warm winter seasons and to draw conclusions for climate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sensitivity of ski businesses and of the accommodation sector in Tyrol to warm winter seasons and to draw conclusions for climate change vulnerability.
Design/methodology/approach
Operational indicators of ski areas and overnight stays in the destinations were analysed in the record warm winter season 2006/2007. Comparing the climatic anomalies of that season with climate change scenarios, the season can serve as an analogue year for average future winter seasons. By interpreting changes in the analogue year, the potential vulnerability of the winter tourism industry in the study area can be assessed.
Findings
While the impact on ski areas was relatively small on the province level, the analysis on the basis of individual businesses showed a high sensitivity of small to medium and low‐altitude ski areas as well as of ski areas with insufficient snowmaking facilities. Significant differences in the impact on the accommodation sector were found on the district level, with longer‐lasting negative effects on the regional tourism economy in two districts with low‐altitude ski areas. Climate change increases the risk of financial losses for individual ski businesses as well as for tourism‐dependent regional economies, as happened in the 2006/2007 season. As the season represents an extreme event, the long‐term effect of a rising frequency of warm winters on demand cannot be assessed.
Originality/value
The paper presents a valuable and inexpensive approach to assess the impact of warm winter seasons on the supply side as well as on the demand side.
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Narcisse Zegbé Gahi, Kouassi Dongo, Aimé Koudou and Mathieu Badolo
This paper aims to propose, for the very first time in Burkina Faso, a “no regret” reference tool to improve policies and processes which could strengthen agricultural water…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose, for the very first time in Burkina Faso, a “no regret” reference tool to improve policies and processes which could strengthen agricultural water resilience under climate risks and change for sustained food security. Such a framework consists of five pillars derived from the agricultural water vulnerability analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The method combined a new designed tool “ClimProspect”, adapted to the Sahelian climatic context, participatory and analogue approaches.
Findings
Innovative “no regret” framework to overcome current and future climate risks on agricultural water requirements has been built.
Research limitations/implications
The paper proposes a new way to assess vulnerability and build resilience for a given system and brings climate and disaster risks together. In fact, in the country, disaster and climate risks are closely associated.
Practical implications
The proposed measures will reinforce water security under climate variability and change and disaster risks, boost the farmers’ participation in water governance and secure the adaptation investment for the long term.
Social implications
Implementing the proposed measures should provide farmers with agricultural water needs at any time over the year, having access to social protection and sustainably increase their food security.
Originality/value
Method used explicitly allows for paying attention, at the same time, to climate variability and change, disaster risks and social issues. The “no regret” framework is a practical secured tool for policy makers and planners, and it gives them a new way to secure sustainable water requirements.
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Justin Sexton, Yvette Everingham and Bertrand Timbal
This study aims to investigate the effects of climate change on harvestability for sugarcane-growing regions situated between mountain ranges and the narrow east Australian…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effects of climate change on harvestability for sugarcane-growing regions situated between mountain ranges and the narrow east Australian coastline.
Design/methodology/approach
Daily rainfall simulations from 11 general circulation models (GCMs) were downscaled for seven Australian sugarcane regions (1961:2000). Unharvestable days were calculated from these 11 GCMs and compared to interpolated observed data. The historical downscaled GCM simulations were then compared to simulations under low (B1) and high (A2) emissions scenarios for the period of 2046-2065. The 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles of paired model differences were assessed using 95 per cent bootstrapped confidence intervals.
Findings
A decrease in the number of unharvestable days for the Burdekin (winter/spring) and Bundaberg (winter) regions and an increase for the Herbert region (spring) were plausible under the A2 scenario. Spatial plots identified variability within regions. Northern and southern regions were more variable than central regions.
Practical implications
Changes to the frequency of unharvestable days may require a range of management adaptations such as modifying the harvest period and upgrading harvesting technologies.
Originality/value
The application of a targeted industry rainfall parameter (unharvestable days) obtained from downscaled climate models provided a novel approach to investigate the impacts of climate change. This research forms a baseline for industry discussion and adaptation planning towards an environmentally and economically sustainable future. The methodology outlined can easily be extended to other primary industries impacted by wet weather.
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Patrick J. Murphy, Robert A. Cooke and Yvette Lopez
The aim of this paper is to clarify distinct aspects of firm culture, delineate its effects on performance outcomes, and to examine culture intensity on theoretic grounds with…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to clarify distinct aspects of firm culture, delineate its effects on performance outcomes, and to examine culture intensity on theoretic grounds with attention to its effects and limits.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzes a data set of 2,657 individual cases that are empirically aggregated into 302 organizational units. Its operationalization of culture intensity derives from distinct culture theory. Hypothesized relations are examined via structural equation modeling and hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
Structural equation modeling results show culture relates positively to cooperation, coordination, and performance. Hierarchical regression analysis results show intensity influences cooperation and coordination directly and does not moderate culture's relations with those outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The large scale empirical study of a broad diversity of firms has advantages over smaller and more targeted studies of lesser generalizability.
Practical implications
Firms with cultures of higher intensity can enhance performance indirectly by driving cooperation and coordination directly.
Social implications
Culture entails shared values and touches the human side of a firm. Managers can promote a firm's culture to enhance cooperation and coordination outcomes within that firm which, in turn, influence firm performance.
Originality/value
This study distinguishes culture from climate on conceptual grounds. Climate strength, an analog of culture intensity, is known to moderate climate's relations with outcomes. By contrast, this study shows that culture intensity has a main effect on outcomes, in line with culture's distinct theoretic bases.
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Fasil Ejigu Eregno, Chong‐Yu Xu and Nils‐Otto Kitterød
Recent advances in hydrological impact studies point that the response of specific catchments to climate change scenario using a single model approach is questionable. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Recent advances in hydrological impact studies point that the response of specific catchments to climate change scenario using a single model approach is questionable. This study was aimed at investigating the impact of climate change on three river basins in China, Ethiopia and Norway using WASMOD and HBV hydrological models.
Design/methodology/approach
First, hydrological models' parameters were determined using current hydro‐climatic data inputs. Second, the historical time series of climatic data was adjusted according to the climate change scenarios. Third, the hydrological characteristics of the catchments under the adjusted climatic conditions were simulated using the calibrated hydrological models. Finally, comparisons of the model simulations of the current and possible future hydrological characteristics were performed. Responses were evaluated in terms of runoff, actual evapotranspiration and soil moisture change for incremental precipitation and temperature change scenarios.
Findings
From the results obtained, it can be inferred that two equally well calibrated models gave different hydrological response to hypothetical climatic scenarios. The authors' findings support the concern that climate change analysis using lumped hydrological models may lead to unreliable conclusions.
Practical implications
Extrapolation of driving forces (temperature and precipitation) beyond the range of parameter calibration yields unreliable response. It is beyond the scope of this study to reduce this model ambiguity, but reduction of uncertainty is a challenge for further research.
Originality/value
The research was conducted based on the primary time series data using the existing two hydrological models to test the magnitude differences one can expect when using different hydrological models to simulate hydrological response of climate changes in different climate zones.
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CARL R. STEINHOFF and ROBERT G. OWENS
Organization Development, as widely practiced in schools, is characterised by a diagnosis of organizational problems that is carried out collaboratively by facilitator and client…
Abstract
Organization Development, as widely practiced in schools, is characterised by a diagnosis of organizational problems that is carried out collaboratively by facilitator and client. The design of the Organization Development intervention is presumably based upon this diagnosis. Since Organization Development is a planned, sustained effort to change the organization's culture in significant ways one might expect the diagnostic procedures to utilise systematic techniques for assessing organization culture. Further, these diagnostic techniques should reflect a conceptually unambiguous understanding of the nature of organizational culture and its elements. An enquiry of 83 American Organization Development consultants with experience as facilitators in public schools indicated that only seven reported using one or more of the recognised assessment techniques for which there are published data concerning factor structure, reliability and validity. Others reported utilising various combinations of interviews and paper‐and‐pencil techniques developed for local use. The authors discuss the implications of their findings in terms of Organization Development technology through scientific efforts.
O. Cenk Demiroglu, Jana Kučerová and Oguzhan Ozcelebi
– The aim of this paper is to present the relationship between climate and tourism development data as an example of an emerging winter and ski tourism destination in Slovakia.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to present the relationship between climate and tourism development data as an example of an emerging winter and ski tourism destination in Slovakia.
Design/methodology/approach
The method aims to discover the relationship through snow-reliability and regression analyses and to further implicate the consequences of such established relationship under a changing (warming) climate.
Findings
As a result of the research, the authors can predict that a 1 per cent fall in snow depth and visibility would erode the ski demand by 1.2 and 0.12 per cent, respectively, a 1°C rise of the mean temperature, on the other hand, would indicate a 6 per cent loss of skipass sales. The latter finding translates into a further 6.6 to 19.2 per cent loss of sales on account of the anticipated temperature increases for the twenty-first century. The capacity of the resort for the utmost adaptation strategy, snowmaking, is also to deteriorate with the daytime/fulltime annual good quality production range to reduce from 33/45 days to 10-26/14-34 days, according to the emissions-related warming scenarios and in terms of the commonly available current technology.
Practical implications
The results of the study can help the management of ski resorts to adopt strategies for the future development by taking into account the predicted climatic changes.
Originality/value
This study is the first type of study performed in Slovakia and can contribute to the better understanding of the relationship between climate change and the performance of the ski tourism resorts. It also delivers innovation by considering wet-bulb temperature in snow-reliability analyses and also by coining the “climate elasticity” concept.
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Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) was established in 1986. It was restructured in July 2003 to focus on specific technical areas: climate variability and change…
Abstract
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) was established in 1986. It was restructured in July 2003 to focus on specific technical areas: climate variability and change management, urban disaster risk management, public health in emergencies, building national and provincial disaster management systems, and community based disaster risk management (CBDRM), promoting regional cooperation, identifying disaster risk management (DRM) needs in the region and developing strategic solutions. The consolidation enables ADPC's teams to work more effectively with stakeholders and build cross-team inputs into their work. Multiple hazards under this new thematic approach are a key concept along with new areas of importance to DRM that include chemical, biological and radio-nuclear risks, heritage and disaster mitigation, and the role of domestic capital markets in financing improvements in the built environment to create a safer, more disaster-resilient world.
The terms “risk management”, “risk reduction”, “vulnerability reduction”, “capacity building” and “mitigation” began replacing the reactive term “disaster management”, thus making pro-active DRM in Asia part of the development agenda that must deal with the growing variety and intensity of hazards. It was a shift from short-term, reactive, charity-driven responses to long-term, proactive, development initiatives.
Making the right development choices requires coordinated efforts by committed leaders who have the political will and determination to include risk reduction measures in their policies and plans; a corporate sector that will prioritise risk issues and include them into their business plans; scientists who will provide the knowledge and understanding of current and new areas of risk reduction; committed non-government agencies that advocate for risk reduction; educators who are responsible for shaping the awareness of future generations; a mass media that has the power to influence and change behaviour; and informed citizens who make choices about the risks in their lives.
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Lilian Yamamoto, Diogo Andreola Serraglio and Fernanda de Salles Cavedon-Capdeville
This paper aims to assess to what extent South American countries have integrated recommendations of the international agenda to address human mobility in the context of disasters…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to assess to what extent South American countries have integrated recommendations of the international agenda to address human mobility in the context of disasters and climate change in their national laws and policies.
Design/methodology/approach
This research sought to find the level of discussions around human mobility in disaster laws, NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by looking for a range of search terms connected to human mobility in the context of disasters and climate change, followed by the content analysis of these terms.
Findings
Some advances with regards to human mobility are already confirmed in the domestic level of South American countries through humanitarian visas to disaster displaced persons and the inclusion of the topic in the DRR, climate change laws, NAPs and INDCs/NDCs. But they have not developed specific strategies with regards to it. Hence, their advances still require that national norms and policies are harmonized with the international guidelines. This will enable to fill the protection gap of people in context of disasters and climate change.
Originality/value
The results assess the level of harmonization above-mentioned between international instruments with national policies on human mobility in the context of disasters and climate change in South America.
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