Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
A growing scientific evidence reaffirms that slow onset climate events such as desertification, sea level rise and loss of biodiversity will place an increasing number of people at risk of poverty and social marginalization. Establishing national social protection systems aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement could be a key policy approach to address increasing risks from long-term changes to the climate system.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Based on a systematic review of journal articles, books and book chapters, and policy papers, we evaluate possible sources of finance for addressing loss and damage from slow onset climate events in developing countries. We find that most publications explore insurance schemes which are not appropriate for most slow onset events. From this, we determine that only a few sources are sustainable. Levies and taxes are seen as relatively fair, predictable, adequate, transparent, and additional.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Many studies have assessed the concept of geodiversity. Most studies have focused on large spatial scales, ranging from watersheds to landscapes. Recent studies from the Israeli drylands indicate that shrubs and trees growing in low-geodiversity sites experience mass mortality following long-term droughts, whilst those in high-geodiversity sites demonstrate high durability. Our objective was to review the relevance of small-scale geodiversity to the slow onset effects of climate change defined by the UN-FCCC, including land and forest degradation, biodiversity loss, and desertification.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
This paper reviews the evidence on slow-onset events presented in the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), both published in 2019. It analyses how the reports, and recent literature cited in them, deal with the eight types of slow-onset events, specified by the UNFCCC: increasing temperatures, sea level rise, salinization, ocean acidification, glacial retreat, land degradation, desertification and loss of biodiversity.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
This paper explores physical, psychological, social, and institutional vulnerabilities associated with slow-onset events (SoEs) of climate change. Based on review of interdisciplinary research in the context of Pakistan, this paper reviews the relevance of multi-level vulnerabilities and how they exacerbate impacts of SoEs of climate change. The physical vulnerabilities of climate change have been relatively well researched; however, research on the psychological, social, and institutional vulnerabilities and their intersectional associations with SoEs have been rare.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Loss and Damage studies have tended to focus on rapid-onset events with lesser attention to slow-onset events such as drought. Even when discussed, narratives around droughts emphasize implications on rural populations and there remain empirical and conceptual gaps on drought impacts in urban areas. We focus on losses and damages associated with urban drought and water insecurity through a review of interventions and policies in seven Asian countries. We find evidence of urban droughts leading to tangible losses (e.g. groundwater over-extraction, economic impacts) and intangible losses (e.g.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
The association of melting Himalayan glaciers and planetary health is complex. Climate change has accelerated the melting of Himalayan glaciers, with profound impacts on the planetary health realms of the Himalayan region and that now threaten hundreds of millions of people. Using a complex adaptive systems framework based on a systematic literature review, this complexity has been captured and mapped in nine subsystem categories: ecological services, disaster, water security, food security, energy security, livelihood and culture, migration, conflict and public health.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Slow onset events by definition occur gradually and it might be expected that policy-makers as a result pay less attention to them than to immediate risks or ‘shock’ crises. If this is true and what can be done about it are important issues for climate change policy-making, given the gradual nature of many climate related issues.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
This paper advances the literature on multiple knowledge systems, showing how Traditional and Local Knowledge (TLK) systems can collaborate with scientific knowledge to advance understanding of the slow-onset effects of climate change adaptation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Such an approach implies acknowledging the cultural heterogeneity of traditional (e.g. indigenous) knowledge and local knowledge, and how this can link to practical actions to adapt to climate and global change.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Non-economic loss and damage induced by climate change in the Pacific Islands region has been reported as fears of cultural loss, deterioration of vital ecosystem services, and dislocation from ancestral lands, among others. This paper undertakes an in-depth systematic review of literature from the frontlines of the Pacific Islands to ascertain the complexities of non-economic loss and damage from climate change.
