Jon Barnett

Karen L. O'Brien

Richard A. Matthew

Bryan McDonald

Experts discuss the risks global environmental change poses for the human security, including disaster and disease, violence, and increasing inequity. In recent years, scholars in international relations and other fields have begun to conceive of security more broadly, moving away from a state-centered concept of national security toward the idea of human security, which emphasizes the individual and human well-being. Viewing global environmental change through the lens of human security connects such problems as melting ice caps and carbon emissions to poverty, vulnerability, equity, and conflict. This book examines the complex social, health, and economic consequences of environmental change across the globe. In chapters that are both academically rigorous and policy relevant, the book discusses the connections of global environmental change to urban poverty, natural disasters (with a case study of Hurricane Katrina), violent conflict (with a study of the decade-long Nepalese civil war), population, gender, and development. The book makes clear the inadequacy of traditional understandings of security and shows how global environmental change is raising new, unavoidable questions of human insecurity, conflict, cooperation, and sustainable development. Contributors W. Neil Adger, Jennifer Bailey, Jon Barnett, Victoria Basolo, Hans Georg Bohle, Mike Brklacich, May Chazan, Chris Cocklin, Geoffrey D. Dabelko, Indra de Soysa, Heather Goldsworthy, Betsy Hartmann, Robin M. Leichenko, Laura Little, Alexander López, Richard A. Matthew, Bryan McDonald, Eric Neumayer, Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, Karen L. O'Brien, Marvin S. Soroos, Bishnu Raj Upreti

Global Environmental Change and Human Security

David Rissik

Jean P. Palutikof

Sarah L. Boulter

The book advances knowledge about climate change adaptation practices through a series of case studies. It presents important evidence about adaptation practices in agriculture, businesses, the coastal zone, community services, disaster management, ecosystems, indigneous populations, and settlements and infrastructure. In addition to 38 case studies across these sectors, the book contains horizon-scoping essays from international experts in adaptation research, including Hallie Eakin, Susanne Moser, Jonathon Overpeck, Bill Solecki, and Gary Yohe. Australia’s social-ecological systems have a long history of adapting to climate variability and change, and in recent decades has been a world-leader in implementing and researching adaptation, making this book of universal relevance to all those working to adapt our environment and societies to climate change.

Applied Studies in Climate Adaptation

John Campbell

First Published in 2010. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Power, Knowledge and the South Pacific

Climate Change and Small Island States

Small Island Developing States are often depicted as being among the most vulnerable of all places to the effects of climate change, and they are a cause c?l?bre of many involved in climate science, politics and the media. Yet while small island developing states are much talked about, the production of both scientific knowledge and policies to protect the rights of these nations and their people has been remarkably slow.This book is the first to apply a critical approach to climate change science and policy processes in the South Pacific region. It shows how groups within politically and scientifically powerful countries appropriate the issue of island vulnerability in ways that do not do justice to the lives of island people. It argues that the ways in which islands and their inhabitants are represented in climate science and politics seldom leads to meaningful responses to assist them to adapt to climate change. Throughout, the authors focus on the hitherto largely ignored social impacts of climate change, and demonstrate that adaptation and mitigation policies cannot be effective without understanding the social systems and values of island societies.

Jon Barnett

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