Climate Change in Natural Resources Management
Background
Recent evidence shows that the build up of green house gas in the atmosphere is occurring faster than the most pessimistic scenario being modelled by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This information, reported prior to the COP 13 conference in Bali (2007) and reaffirmed since at COP 16 in Cancun Mexico, has renewed pressure for action to mitigate the impact on the poor who live in vulnerable areas and to take action to reduce and offset these emissions.
There are two broad directions that can be taken to address this risk:
Due to our interest in the rural development aspects of climate change IID undertook a review of the literature on the potential to mitigate climate change through REDD and associated rural development and concluded that
“the potential exists for a ‘one shot contribution’ to combating climate change by removing the accumulated additional carbon in the atmosphere by means of bio sequestration in the tropics over a 50 year period”. (Leake, Flannery and McKenzie July 2007)”
The same review concluded that a ‘silo’ investment in forestry would not be a sustainable path since it did not consider the interests of the people who live in these degraded forest areas. More recent discussion has affirmed the importance of agriculture and rural development to the climate change story.
“Compared to a year ago,” said Gerald Nelson, a senior climate change researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and a theme leader of the Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) program, “agriculture is now an integral part of climate change negotiations, with agricultural adaption needs widely recognized. But we need to get to the next stage. “
As a result of this work, IID formed a Climate Group in 2007, combining skills from the Disaster Risk Science Group , planning and designing mitigation strategies for specific situations, and skills from the Company's core skills in rural development to assist communities to develop skills to take advantage of emerging carbon markets.
This review has also informed our work in the Philippines through an IID director David King and GEA Timbers
In addition, strong and effective working relationships are being maintained with leading public sector and academic institutions that work in the Climate and disaster risk management fields. These include the Climate Research Institute of The University of Adelaide, The University of Adelaide Development Studies course in the School of Social Sciences, the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia (formerly the Australian Geological Survey Organisation - AGSO), Risk Frontiers (the Natural Hazards Research Centre at Macquarie University) and the Centre for Disaster Studies at James Cook University.
By drawing on this very significant skills and knowledge base, IID is able to assemble expert teams and service links tailored to meet the requirements of any Climate Change task involving land based community development, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in the tropics and subtropics.
Recent evidence shows that the build up of green house gas in the atmosphere is occurring faster than the most pessimistic scenario being modelled by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This information, reported prior to the COP 13 conference in Bali (2007) and reaffirmed since at COP 16 in Cancun Mexico, has renewed pressure for action to mitigate the impact on the poor who live in vulnerable areas and to take action to reduce and offset these emissions.
There are two broad directions that can be taken to address this risk:
- Risk assessment and planning for adaptation: i.e. study the specific hazards for specific regions and develop targeted investments to reduce the populations vulnerability to these using a risk science approach. This may typically identify, community awareness building and training, protection of infrastructure and productive assets such as natural resources, and
- Reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and carbon capture for mitigation: i.e. assist communities who live in the degrading forest areas (and now responsible for some emissions through slash and burn agriculture) to improve their livelihoods through sustainable forestry production and improved crop productivity gained through changed forest and soils management practices. The investment for these changes to come through conventional development credits for rural development augmented by carbon, and sometime biodiversity credits.
Due to our interest in the rural development aspects of climate change IID undertook a review of the literature on the potential to mitigate climate change through REDD and associated rural development and concluded that
“the potential exists for a ‘one shot contribution’ to combating climate change by removing the accumulated additional carbon in the atmosphere by means of bio sequestration in the tropics over a 50 year period”. (Leake, Flannery and McKenzie July 2007)”
The same review concluded that a ‘silo’ investment in forestry would not be a sustainable path since it did not consider the interests of the people who live in these degraded forest areas. More recent discussion has affirmed the importance of agriculture and rural development to the climate change story.
“Compared to a year ago,” said Gerald Nelson, a senior climate change researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and a theme leader of the Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) program, “agriculture is now an integral part of climate change negotiations, with agricultural adaption needs widely recognized. But we need to get to the next stage. “
As a result of this work, IID formed a Climate Group in 2007, combining skills from the Disaster Risk Science Group , planning and designing mitigation strategies for specific situations, and skills from the Company's core skills in rural development to assist communities to develop skills to take advantage of emerging carbon markets.
This review has also informed our work in the Philippines through an IID director David King and GEA Timbers
In addition, strong and effective working relationships are being maintained with leading public sector and academic institutions that work in the Climate and disaster risk management fields. These include the Climate Research Institute of The University of Adelaide, The University of Adelaide Development Studies course in the School of Social Sciences, the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia (formerly the Australian Geological Survey Organisation - AGSO), Risk Frontiers (the Natural Hazards Research Centre at Macquarie University) and the Centre for Disaster Studies at James Cook University.
By drawing on this very significant skills and knowledge base, IID is able to assemble expert teams and service links tailored to meet the requirements of any Climate Change task involving land based community development, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in the tropics and subtropics.