Managing systemic risk in emergency management, organizational resilience and climate change adaptation

PurposeThis paper applies the theory of cascading, interconnected and compound risk to the practice of preparing for, managing, and responding to threats and hazards. Our goal is to propose a consistent approach for managing major risk in urban systems by bringing together emergency management, organisational resilience, and climate change adaptation.Design/methodology/approachWe develop a theory-building process using an example from the work of the Greater London Authority in the United Kingdom. First, we explore how emergency management approaches systemic risk, including examples from of exercises, contingency plans and responses to complex incidents. Secondly, we analyse how systemic risk is integrated into strategies and practices of climate change adaptation. Thirdly, we consider organisational resilience as a cross cutting element between the approaches.FindingsLondon has long been a champion of resilience strategies for dealing with systemic risk. However, this paper highlights a potential for integrating better the understanding of common points of failure in society and organisations, especially where they relate to interconnected domains and where they are driven by climate change.Originality/valueThe paper suggests shifting toward the concept of operational continuity to address systemic risk and gaps between Emergency Management, Organizational Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation.

Protecting Food Security, and Increasing Nutrition as Well as Food System Resilience Through Climate Change Adaptation in Greater Miami

Food insecurity, defined as the lack of access to affordable and nutritious food, is one of the greatest challenges of our generation. Worldwide it affects more than 750 million people, with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic pushing this number towards 1 billion. Aside from a lack of food, poor nutrition related to overconsumption of nutrients of concern such as sugar and salt, is creating a global health pandemic. In the United States, it is estimated that by 2030, close to a staggering half of the population will be obese. Obesity has been linked to a variety of diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular conditions that kill more people than cancer on a global scale. These lifestyle diseases rooted in the nutritional value of consumed food are thereby largely preventable, provided a focus on the issue, and effective interventions. Climate change, which augments severe weather events, the number of heat days, and triggers stressors such as sea level rise, is exacerbating the issue of food insecurity by affecting the entire food system from production to consumption. This chapter discusses what the Southeast Florida region Greater Miami is doing to address food security as part of their climate change adaptation initiatives. Miami is "Ground Zero” for the effects of climate change with sea level rise putting in danger economic viability, and ultimately livability in this beautiful coastal region. The counties and municipalities in Greater Miami are spearheading initiatives that have been praised on a national level and are mainly related to infrastructure improvements to adapt to sea level rise. However, as this chapter discusses, they fall short on addressing food security, and nutrition as well as food system resilience. Thus, recommendations will be given to address these issues, based on tertiary research. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.

Biomimetic Architecture and Its Role in Developing Sustainable, Regenerative, and Livable Cities: Global Perspectives and Approaches in the Age of COVID-19

This book focuses on understanding biomimetic architecture and its role as a sustainable design tool. It presents the role of biomimicry in mitigation and adaptation to climate change and examines how biomimetic architecture can provide healthy solutions to limit the spread of COVID-19 in buildings and cities. Coverage includes global examples of biomimetic approaches and buildings, an evaluation of the performance of biomimicry applications in architecture to illustrate best practices, and an exploration of how nature can offer inspiration in building design to conserve resources and save energy use as well as curb carbon emissions - a reaffirmed goal of COP 26 and an outcome of Glasgow Climate Pact. Finally, the book presents guidelines to enhance urban areas and healthier spaces in buildings to meet COVID-19 social distance regulations and beyond. • Examines global applications of biomimicry in architecture;• Highlights the importance of biomimicry in driving livability in cities and buildings;• Explores the role of biomimetic architecture in mitigating climate change. "The line of argument developed is highly relevant to the present, in addition to being original and pertinent to research on urban regeneration, especially in regard to the exploration of the use of biomimicry architecture in response to changing urban demands.” -Alessandra Battisti, Ph.D., Professor of Architecture, University of Rome La Sapienza. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Preface

Following the success of 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021 International Conference on Science & Technology Applications in Climate Change (STACLIM), the Institute of Climate Change (IPI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) is proud to extend our promotion of research and education for the advancement of climate change studies. The 2022 International Conference on Science & Technology Applications in Climate Change (STACLIM 2022) with the theme "Climate change mitigation action through the lens of science and technology” is the fifth in the series of conferences organized by IPI. This year the conference was carried out in virtual form through the Webex platform (29 – 30 November 2022) due to the COVID-19 travel restriction. Through the virtual form, the science community is able to share their research findings in time.The aim of this conference is to bring together researchers in fields of Environmental Science, Health Sustainability, Mathematics, Sustainable Energy, Economic Sustainability, Socio-Cultural Studies, Social Science, Atmospheric Science, and related fields, to present their research findings as well as create new opportunities for future research collaborations. This event is envisaged to witness active participation from various eminent environmental and earth scientists, engineers and students from academia, industry and government sectors for addressing complications associated with climate change and to draw forth novel and ground-breaking initiatives and solutions for climate resilience.The plenary sessions in the main room were opened by two keynote speeches from leading experts including Prof. Dr. Lisa Stein from University of Alberta, Canada on "Microbial Solutions to Mitigating Climate Change”, Prof. Dr. Haruko Kurihara from University of Ryukyus, Japan, on "Ocean acidification impacts on marine ecosystem and its potential mitigation solutions”. As the keynote session was open for public registration, we had participants joining the event. It was then followed by the invited speaker sessions consisting of Prof. Dr. Fredolin Tangang (UKM), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rawshan Ara Begum (Macquarie University, Australia), Dr. Shantanu Kumar Pani (National Central University, Taiwan) and Mr. Saud Aldrees (University of Oxford, England). The program was then continued with oral presentation of 72 papers in 3 parallel breakout rooms. Each presenter was given up to 15 mins for presentation and Q&A sessions. There were additional 13 non-presenters who joined in during the presentation session. Presenters and participants have attended the conference from their respective countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, USA, China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria, India, and Ukraine.The conference went well with great support and synergy of the staff and personnel from Institute of Climate Change, UKM. To document and promulgate the research findings and ideas shared, we are very pleased to publish the accepted research papers of STACLIM 2022 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES).The EditorsList of Organizing Committee is available in this Pdf.

Preface

Climate change has led to the increase of heat exposure or natural hazard due to extreme weather. This anthropological climate change phenomenon has negatively altered the most fundamental natural resources for living organism: air, water, and soil. Air has been polluted and warming due to human activities. The quantity of freshwater keeps on depleting, while the ground water recharge intervened with chemical and biological contamination. The sustainability of soil as the natural planting media is under threat due to land use conversion and soil quality degradation. Water acidification and temperature increase have been proved to change the salinity of seawater. Those are the impact of the increasing greenhouse gas emission in the earth's atmosphere.The 8th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC) aims to accommodate and to discuss the regional findings related the adaptation and mitigation strategies on climate change worldwide. The meaning to hold ICCC is getting more and more important. This conference can alert the creeping disaster. The contribution of all the participants, distinguished guests to this conference would make our world better and progress our scientific knowledge. Sharing the insight into the recent research and the cutting-edge technologies should enhance our ability and it might give us the breakthrough ideas on our sustainability under climate change. ICCC would be fruitful for every participant and be a great chance to approach the scientific solution for our common goals.Faculty of Agriculture of Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, Indonesia is very proud to organize the 8th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC). International Conference on Climate Change has been playing a significant contribution to formulate the strategies to cope with the emerged problems due to the climate change, as well as to support the sustainable development goal achievement. Sebelas Maret University has been seriously taking part to minimize the climate change impact, by promoting environment-friend programs, such as the green campus program and prohibiting the motor-vehicle to enter the campus every month. Sebelas Maret University also realizes that the responsibility of maintaining this earth should be by everyone. Each of us plays a significant contribution to minimize the global warming of this earth. That is why Faculty of Agriculture of Sebelas Maret University organize such events to discuss the findings related the earth-protection.We hope this conference will resulting into valuable recommendations in focusing and improving the natural resources management as well as improving the human's living efficiency to bring the greenhouse gas emission down. We need to produce alternative technologies as the climatic resilience strategies to overcome the key climate-change sensitive pathways, as well as to support the achievements some global goals in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Accordingly, the topic of the 8th ICCC is "Environmental Management towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the Changing Climate”.The 8th ICCC was organized by Faculty of Agriculture, Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia, in collaboration with Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Gifu University, Japan. The 8th ICCC was held at The Asian Institute of Technology Conference Center, Thailand from 17-18 November 2022. The 8th ICCC was conducted in the Hybrid method because travel restrictions are still enforced by some countries to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Besides, providing options for attending the 8th ICCC virtually is more comfortable for participants and presenters with limitedness of budgets.The 8th ICCC 2022 delivers great appreciation to Prof. Dr. Samanhudi, Dean of Faculty of Agriculture, Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia;Professor Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand;and Prof. Dr. Ken Hiramatsu, Dean of United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, ifu University, Japan;for formal support to the conference.Gratitude presented to the invited speakers: Prof. Dr. Avishek Datta from Head of Department of Food, Agriculture, and Bioresources, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand;Prof. Dr. Eric van Hullenbusch from Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France;Dr. Taku M. Saitoh from Gifu University, Japan;Dr. Jauhari Syamsiyah from Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia;and Dr. James MacGregor from Eco-Plannet, Canada.List of Committee of the 8th ICCC 202 is available in this Pdf.

The Use of Green Open Spaces as Climate Adaptation Effort During the Pandemic

Climate change does not only occur in general conditions, but also during a pandemic. Public green open space is seen as part of ecosystem services that play a major role in recovering from climate change, especially during the pandemic. But, higher accessibility to public green open space also means a higher risk of spreading infection due to the greater opportunity for people to meet each other. This study aims to see the use of green open spaces in Surakarta, even in pandemic Covid-19. The spatial correlation between Covid-19 cases and green open space usage will provide an overview of green open space usage in areas that has different risk of covid-19. Because green open space is an infrastructure that has the potential to be utilized by the community to improve health during a pandemic, it is also necessary to anticipate the behaviour of using green open space by the community. Therefore, in this study, the public's perception of using green open space before and after/during the pandemic will also be seen. The results shows that green open space usage in Surakarta decreased during pandemic. But, it is not because of the pandemic, but because of the weather and personal reasons.

Minors Can Have Major Effects: Household Hurricane Preparation Insights from Alabama

While debate about large-scale climate change policy continues, household protective responses to climate-related risk are an increasingly important, potentially less contentious, tool to mitigate some climate impacts. Household actions to prepare for disasters like hurricanes are likely important for personal protection in geographically and socially vulnerable regions with less political appetite for government intervention. To understand social vulnerability in household-level hurricane preparation in this context, residents (n = 915) from the United States Gulf Coast state of Alabama were surveyed about their extreme event experiences, attitudes, and behaviors following the record-breaking 2020 hurricane season. On average, two-thirds of respondents took at least one hurricane preparedness action. Lower levels of preparedness were found for women, and higher levels for households with children, as well as changes in event-related climate change concern, personal harm, and disruption from COVID-19. Race/ethnicity, educational attainment, nor income was related to preparedness. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Migración climática y fronteras militarizadas: seguridad humana, de género y ambiental

En este artículo se aborda la migración climática centroamericana desde un enfoque de seguridad humana, de género y ambiental (seguridad HUGE). Se examinan documentos, reportes gubernamentales, publicaciones de prensa, datos estadísticos internacionales y nacionales, así como entrevistas para establecer interrelaciones complejas entre migración, desastres, pobreza, pandemia y dilema de supervivencia. Las fronteras militarizadas, las presiones del gobierno estadounidense y el crimen organizado transnacional han incrementado los peligros y el costo de la migración indocumentada. ¿Pudiera una reforma migratoria en Estados Unidos superar esta vorágine de migración ilegal y generar desarrollo en el norte de Centroamérica por medio del envío de remesas a las familias que se quedan? El artículo explora la multiculturalidad, la restauración de ecosistemas, la adaptación al cambio climático, el reconocimiento de género y una cultura del cuidado que ofrecería a personas vulnerables de Centroamérica una agenda alternativa de vida en sus lugares de origen.Alternate abstract:This article addresses Central American climate migration from a human, gender, and environmental (HUGE security) approach. It examines documents, government reports, press publications, international and national statistical data, and interviews to establish complex interrelationships between migration, disasters, poverty, pandemic, and survival dilemma. Militarized borders, pressure from the U.S. government, and transnational organized crime have increased the dangers and costs of undocumented migration. Could a U.S. immigration reform overcome this maelstrom of illegal migration and generate development in northern Central America by sending remittances to their families? The article explores multiculturalism. ecosystem restoration, climate change adaptation, gender recognition, and a culture of care that would offer vulnerable people in Central America an alternative livelihood agenda in their country of origin.

Interpretive Structural Modeling: Research Trends, Linkages to Sustainable Development Goals, and Impact of COVID-19

Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is widely used to understand the complex connections between different components. This study presents a bibliometric overview of ISM research, with a focus on its linkages to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the impact of COVID-19. The study analyzed 1988 publications on ISM published between 2012 and 2021, of which 1202 were directly mapped to the SDGs and 59 were related to COVID-19. The study identified key authors, institutions, countries, and journals involved in the research and their linkages to the SDGs. The results showed that ISM research is strongly linked to SDG 12 (on responsible consumption and production) and SDG 9 (on industry, innovation, and infrastructure). We also identified influential SDGs on the basis of centrality measures such as betweenness and eigenvector. The top four countries contributing to ISM publications were India, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The most frequently cited journals were Benchmarking: An International Journal, Sustainability, the Journal of Modelling in Management, and the Journal of Cleaner Production. Four main clusters were identified in the ISM research, including (1) integration with AHP and fuzzy logic for promoting sustainability alignment, (2) ISM-based strategy development for various stakeholders, (3) ISM-based decision-making in various fields, and (4) ISM-based risk evaluation. For the first time, studies that used the ISM approach to understand the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 were identified, and their key findings were discussed. The study also identified several emerging topics for future ISM research, such as blockchain and IoT, environmental management systems, climate change adaptation, smart cities, and humanitarian logistics and their potential linkages to the SDGs.

Preface: Proceedings of The 4th International on Sustainable Agriculture and Environment – SAE 2022

The 4th International on Sustainable Agriculture and Environment – SAE 2022 has been organized by Nong Lam University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with Co-organizers: Jenderal Soedirman University, Indonesia;Okayama University, Japan;and National University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The Conference aims to provide an attractive platform for academics, scientists, researchers, experts, entrepreneurs, and students to express and discuss their interests in the emerging theme focusing on "Innovative Approaches in Agriculture in Adapting to Climate Change”. The Conference included four Keynote sessions and seven Parallel sessions with altogether 72 oral and 74 poster presentations from our honored national and international presenters during the period of 17 to 19 November 2022. Challenges and interventions in the current context affecting agricultural activities and food production and security such as climate change, shrinkage and degradation of land, water shortage, abnormality of weather, and environmental pollution, etc. along with the multifaceted crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic were presented and provide an overview in attempt to maintain sustainable agriculture and environment.We acknowledge our honor sponsors from DSM Nutritional Products Vietnam (DSM), TTC Group, The United States Forest Service in Vietnam (USFS), De Heus Vietnam LLC, Choong Ang Vaccine Laboratories (CAVAC), and Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC) for their financial support and networking collaboration.The current proceedings collect 36 peer-reviewed papers on a wide of topics such as: Adapting agricultural production to climate change, Ecological health, and climate change, Trends and advances in food science and post-harvest technology, Socioeconomics in sustainable agriculture, Innovative technology in agriculture, Emerging issues in agricultural transformation and Recent advances in animal health and animal biosciences. To achieve this fruitful scientific outcome, we sincerely thank committee members, scientists, presenters, authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial assistants for their invaluable contributions. We all together have hard worked in delivering a well-organized conference and do hope it satisfactorily met the expectations. Special thanks go to IOP Publishing.List of Standing Organizing Committee, Organizing Committee, Proceeding Editor Board are available in this pdf.

ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN VIETNAM: INSIGHTS FROM A STRUCTURAL MODEL

Vietnam is increasingly exposed to climate change. The COVID-19 crisis offers an opportunity to push for green investment and climate-resilient adaptation. In this context, the paper uses a DSGE structural model, calibrated to features of the Vietnamese economy, to simulate the macroeconomic trade-offs of investing in resilient infrastructure. Compared to scenarios of a baseline no policy change and additional standard infrastructure spending, the model findings illustrate the long-term benefits of adaptation infrastructure investments on growth and public debt dynamics. Specifically, while adaptation infrastructure is initially slightly costlier during the scale-up period, it can better withstand natural disaster shocks, and over time, would have lower maintenance costs and higher return than conventional infrastructure. Other model scenarios illustrate the trade-offs of different financing sources as well as the benefits of public financial management reforms that improve investment efficiency. © 2021 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.

Extreme Heat and COVID-19 in New York City: An Evaluation of a Large Air Conditioner Distribution Program to Address Compounded Public Health Risks in Summer 2020.

In summer 2020, New York City (NYC) implemented a free air conditioner (AC) distribution program in response to the threats of extreme heat and COVID-19. The program distributed and installed ACs in the homes of nearly 73,000 older, low-income residents of public and private housing. To evaluate the program's impact, survey data were collected from October 2020 to February 2021 via mail and online from 1447 program participants and 902 non-participating low-income NYC adults without AC as a comparison group. Data were examined by calculating frequencies, proportions, and logistic regression models. Participants were 3 times more likely to report staying home during hot weather in summer 2020 compared to non-participants (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 3.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.2, 4.1), with no difference between groups in summer 2019 (AOR = 1.0, CI = 0.8, 1.3). Participants were less likely to report that 2020 hot weather made them feel sick in their homes compared to non-participants (AOR = 0.2, CI = 0.2, 0.3). The program helped participants-low-income residents and primarily people of color-stay home safely during hot weather. These results are relevant for climate change health-adaptation efforts and heat-health interventions.

Housing and energy consumption in Greece. Households' experiences and practices in the context of the energy crisis

This paper investigates the challenges households face in Greece in the context of the current energy crisis. "Energy transition” policies, climate adaptation and mitigation goals, geopolitical tensions and COVID-19 pandemic have raised new stakes for the energy sector. Although the ‘big picture' of the energy crisis is of high importance, it is significant to reflect on the consequences of the rise of energy prices on households. The aim of this paper is to address the impacts of the energy crisis and the crisis management policies on households in Greece. Our intention is to analyze the problems households face with regards to coping with their energy needs at home, investigate how the rise of energy prices has affected living standards and evaluate existing policies. We claim that focusing on households' experiences and practices could contribute to a deeper understanding of energy poverty;a social problem which is expected to expand in the context of "energy transition.” Understanding energy poverty is also important for developing efficient policies, as well as for supporting bottom-up initiatives. The adopted methodology is based on a survey at national level that was implemented through a structured questionnaire, conducted in May 2022.

Healthcare Workers' Resilience Toolkit for Disaster Management and Climate Change Adaptation.

Climate change has been recognised as a multiplier of risk factors affecting public health. Disruptions caused by natural disasters and other climate-driven impacts are placing increasing demands on healthcare systems. These, in turn, impact the wellness and performance of healthcare workers (HCWs) and hinder the accessibility, functionality and safety of healthcare systems. This study explored factors influencing HCWs' disaster management capabilities with the aim of improving their resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of climate change. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen HCWs who dealt with disasters within two hospitals in Queensland, Australia. Analysis of the results identified two significant themes, HCWs' disaster education and HCWs' wellness and needs. The latter comprised five subthemes: HCWs' fear and vulnerability, doubts and uncertainty, competing priorities, resilience and adaptation, and needs assessment. This study developed an 'HCWs Resilience Toolkit', which encourages mindfulness amongst leaders, managers and policymakers about supporting four priority HCWs' needs: 'Wellness', 'Education', 'Resources' and 'Communication'. The authors focused on the 'Education' component to detail recommended training for each of the pre-disaster, mid-disaster and post-disaster phases. The authors conclude the significance of the toolkit, which provides a timely contribution to the healthcare sector amidst ongoing adversity.

Adapting by Their Bootstraps: State and Territorial Public Health Agencies Struggle to Meet the Mounting Challenge of Climate Change

PREPAREDNESS GAPS IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM Concomitantly, the health effects of climate change and the need for public health system engagement are increasingly apparent. The primary federal effort to build state and local climate and health capacity has been the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative, which has funded a handful of jurisdictions to implement its Building Resilience Against Climate Effects framework.8 Through its preparedness mandate, the CDC established this framework to provide guidance for state, territorial, and local health agencies in developing and implementing climate change adaptation activities. A lack of sufficient and sustained investments has forced STHAs to master the art of doing more with less;we can only begin to imagine what these agencies could do to prepare for and respond to the health effects of climate change with investments proportional to the magnitude of the threat. CONCLUSION Climate change is stressing our public health system, which is already on the precipice, by exacerbating health disparities, damaging health care facilities and resources, and stretching personnel and capabilities to their limits.

Investigating Organizational Learning and Adaptations for Improved Disaster Response Towards "Resilient Hospitals:" An Integrative Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: For hospitals, learning from disaster response efforts and adapting organizational practices can improve resilience in dealing with future disruptions. However, amidst global disruptions by climate change, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and other disasters, hospitals' ability to cope continues to be highly variable. Hence, there are increasing calls to improve hospitals' capabilities to grow and adapt towards enhanced resilience. AIM: This study aims two-fold: (1) to characterize the current state of knowledge about how hospitals are gaining knowledge from their responses to disasters, and (2) to explore how this knowledge can be applied to inform organizational practices for hospital resilience. METHOD: This study used Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines for data collection and framework for data analysis, Covidence software, and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and keywords relevant to "hospitals," "learn," "disaster response," and "resilience." The quality appraisal used an adapted version of the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool (MMAT). RESULTS: After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria and quality appraisal, out of the 420 articles retrieved, 22 articles remained for thematic and content analysis. The thematic analysis included the hospital's functional (operational) and physical (structural and non-structural) sections. The content analysis followed nine learning areas (Governance and Leadership, Planning and Risk Assessment, Surveillance and Monitoring, Communication and Network Engagement, Staff Practices and Safety, Equipment and Resources, Facilities and Infrastructure, Novelty and Innovation, and Learning and Evaluation).On applying the Deming cycle, only four studies described a completed learning cycle wherein hospitals adapted their organizational structures using the prior experience and evaluation gained in responding to disaster(s). CONCLUSIONS: There is a gap between hospitals' organizational learning and institutionalized practice. The conceptualized Hybrid Resilience Learning Framework (HRLF) aims to guide the hospitals' decision makers in evaluating organizational resilience and knowledge.In the face of disasters, both the stressful factors and the coping strategies that affect the health care workers (HCWs) should be substantially considered.

Integrating Adaptation to Climate Change into Sustainable Development Policy and Planning

Adaptation to climate change and sustainable development have become core elements of international, European, and national policies and strategies. At worst, adaptation to climate change can trigger negative responses—maladaptation—in terms of raising greenhouse-gas emissions and exacerbating the vulnerability of specific groups of people, which both run counter to sustainable development principles. Thus, the integration of sustainable climate change adaptation objectives into a sustainable development framework can pave the way for planning scenarios, in which resilience intertwines with sustainability. Studies concerning this issue are quite lacking, and methods useful for assessing the relationship ‘adaptation-sustainable development’ are scarcely investigated. In this study, we focus on environmental sustainability and aim at proposing and applying a method for assessing the coherence between climate change adaptation objectives and sustainable development objectives (i.e., national strategic goals) included in the Italian National Adaptation Plan to Climate Change and, respectively, in the National Sustainable Development Strategy. We found that most adaptation objectives appear to be unrelated with national strategic goals, while none of them clearly hinder environmental sustainability, that is, the adaptation objectives are not inclined to promote maladaptation. There is still plenty of room to work on sustainable adaptation objectives to be consistent with sustainable development ones.

Overcoming Barriers to Successful Climate and Health Adaptation Practice: Notes from the Field.

State and local public health agencies are at the forefront of planning and responding to the health challenges of climate hazards but face substantial barriers to effective climate and health adaptation amidst concurrent environmental and public health crises. To ensure successful adaptation, it is necessary to understand and overcome these barriers. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative (CRSCI) provides funding to state and local health departments to anticipate and respond to health impacts from climate change using the Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework. This paper explores the barriers to and enablers of successful adaptation projects among BRACE West CRSCI grantees, including Arizona, California, Oregon, and the city and county of San Francisco. The barriers included competing demands such as the COVID-19 pandemic, dependence on partners with similar challenges, staff and leadership turnover, uncertain and complex impacts on at-risk populations, and inadequate resources. The enablers included effective partnerships, leadership support, dedicated and skilled internal staff, and policy windows enabling institutional change and reprioritization. These findings highlight effective strategies in the field that state and local health departments may use to anticipate potential barriers and establish their work in an environment conducive to successful adaptation.

Buffering Climate Change with Nature

It is increasingly evident that climate sustainability depends not only on societal actions and responses, but also on ecosystem functioning and responses. The capacity of global ecosystems to provide services such as sequestering carbon and regulating hydrology is being strongly reduced both by climate change itself and by unprecedented rates of ecosystem degradation. These services rely on functional aspects of ecosystems that are causally linked—the same ecosystem components that efficiently sequester and store carbon also regulate hydrology by sequestering and storing water. This means that climate change adaptation and mitigation must involve not only preparing for a future with temperature and precipitation anomalies, but also actively minimizing climate hazards and risks by conserving and managing ecosystems and their fundamental supporting and regulating ecosystem services. We summarize general climate–nature feedback processes relating to carbon and water cycling on a broad global scale before focusing on Norway to exemplify the crucial role of ecosystem regulatory services for both carbon sequestration and hydrological processes and the common neglect of this ecosystem–climate link in policy and landscape management. We argue that a key instrument for both climate change mitigation and adaptation policy is to take advantage of the climate buffering and regulative abilities of a well-functioning natural ecosystem. This will enable shared benefits to nature, climate, and human well-being. To meet the global climate and nature crises, we must capitalize on the importance of nature for buffering climate change effects, combat short-term perspectives and the discounting of future costs, and maintain or even strengthen whole-ecosystem functioning at the landscape level. Significance Statement Natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and heaths are key for the cycling and storage of water and carbon. Preserving these systems is essential for climate mitigation and adaptation and will also secure biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Systematic failure to recognize the links between nature and human well-being underlies the current trend of accelerating loss of nature and thereby nature’s ability to buffer climate changes and their impacts. Society needs a new perspective on spatial planning that values nature as a sink and store of carbon and a regulator of hydrological processes, as well as for its biodiversity. We need policies that fully encompass the role of nature in preventing climate-induced disasters, along with many other benefits for human well-being.

Cocreation for Climate Change—Needs for Actions to Vitalize Drivers and Diminish Barriers

This study determines the conditions and provides a recommendation for fostering cocreation for climate change adaptation and mitigation (CCA&M). In postulating that insufficient cocreation by stakeholders in the quadruple helix model is an important factor contributing to the low effectiveness of climate actions in the regions, we have focused our research on identifying real stakeholder engagement in climate action and identifying the needs, barriers, and drivers for strengthening the cocreation process. We identified the needs for action highlighted by stakeholders as having an impact on reducing barriers and stimulating drivers. We treated the identified needs for action as deep leverage points (intent and design) focused on three realms—knowledge, values, and institutions—in which engagement and cocreation can be strengthened and have the potential to increase the effectiveness of climate action taken by stakeholders within our quadruple helix. We recommend knowledge-based cocreation, which puts the importance of climate action in the value system and leads to paradigm reevaluation. The implementation of the identified needs for action requires the support of institutions, whereby they develop standards of cooperation and mechanisms for their implementation as a sustainable framework for stakeholder cooperation. The research has proved how the quadruple helix operates for climate action in the Poznań Agglomeration. We believe that this case study can be a reference point for regions at a similar level of development, and the methods used and results obtained can be applied in similar real contexts to foster local stakeholders in climate action.