Browsing by Subject "Vulnerability"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

Open Access
A Climate Change Vulnerability and Risk Assessment for the City of Atlanta, Georgia
(2010-04-28T18:23:36Z) Morsch, Amy
The Southeastern United States will experience several impacts from climate change over the coming decades, including average temperature increases of several degrees, more frequent droughts, and heavier rain and flood events. More intense weather will place stress on Atlanta’s infrastructure, affect planning decisions, and increase demands for already scarce natural and financial resources. The impacts will affect the health of Atlantans and test the strength of the local and regional economy. Understanding the future climate and preparing now will help ensure that the city remains an economically viable, healthy, and enjoyable place to live and work. Twenty-four planning areas in nine sectors that the city can influence were evaluated to determine their vulnerability and risk with regard to climate change. The assessments were designed using guidance from ICLEI’s Adaptation Guidebook and involved dozens of expert interviews, analysis of city reports, and a comprehensive literature review. The results show that air quality, water quality, and energy assurance are the most vulnerable, at-risk planning areas in the City of Atlanta. These areas are crucial to the health of citizens and the economic viability of the city. Increasing their resiliency will require significant coordination with all levels of government and the private sector. Failure to properly prepare these planning areas for climate change could result in substantial costs to the city. Several additional planning areas show significant vulnerability and risk. These include: electricity production and demand, affordable housing, disaster response, heat relief, stormwater management, urban forest management, road and bridge maintenance, and air transport. Analysis of vulnerability and risk by sector resulted in similar findings. The sectors of energy, water, and health will be most impacted by climate change over the coming decades. Improving the resiliency of these sectors may be most effectively achieved through measures that focus on strengthening sectors like ecology, transportation, and land use and development. This study identified recurring barriers that lower the city’s adaptive capacity. Lack of program funding and knowledge of climate change - and the impacts - were pervasive. Short planning horizons and planning efforts based on historical data (or future projections that ignore climate change) are also common and reduce Atlanta’s resiliency. Coordination between several planning areas is strong, but could be increased in others such as heat relief and urban planning. Narrow government mandates, like the flood plain ordinance, can also limit progress towards climate resiliency. In other cases, strict mandates like those stemming from the CSO Consent Decree have been instrumental to project success. The results of this project are intended to inform the next phase of adaptation planning. This involves setting high-level goals for climate resiliency and outlining the adaptation tactics to achieve them. It is recommended that a diverse, knowledgeable committee of local decision makers and stakeholders be tasked with this challenge. A robust adaptation strategy will place Atlanta in the company of other climate proactive cities that have already created comprehensive adaptation plans, like New York City and Chicago.
Open Access
Assessing the Potential Effects of Climate Change on Species in the Cumberland Piedmont Network of the National Park Service
(2012-04-26) Bruno, Christopher; Hartger, Phil; Mendenhall, Laura; Myron, Emily
In this study, we evaluate the climate change vulnerability of a subset of key species found in the Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) of the National Park Service (NPS), an ecologically important and diverse region. We developed a list of species of conservation concern (globally and sub-nationally) within each of the fourteen NPS units in the CUPN. Next, we employed NatureServe’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) in order to determine which of those species may be most vulnerable to climate change, based on each species’ 1) direct exposure to climate change, 2) indirect exposure to climate change, 3) sensitivity, and 4) documented/ modeled response to climate change. CCVI results showed a range of vulnerability scores among taxonomic groups, including high vulnerability for mollusks and low vulnerability for migrant songbirds. Furthermore, we found that species of conservation concern were not necessarily those most vulnerable to climate change. Additionally, we modeled the current and projected habitat suitability in 2050 and 2080 for four case study species, three that were assessed by the CCVI to be vulnerable to climate change and one assessed to be presumed stable. We used the software package MaxEnt (chosen modeling method of NatureServe) and the program BIOMOD, which produces habitat suitability estimates using a variety of different algorithms. We combined the results produced by MaxEnt and BIOMOD to create an ensemble projection for each species. This shows areas where all models predict future suitable habitat. Finally, we examined which of the NPS Units within the CUPN were in danger of losing vulnerable species populations under the climate change scenarios we chose. These models predict that key species may disappear from some parks with climate change. This information can be incorporated into regional management and prioritization strategies that increase the long term viability of these species, as well as help NPS land managers better understand which species of conservation concern are likely to be most affected by climate change.
Open Access
Assessing the Potential Effects of Climate Change on Species in the Cumberland Piedmont Network of the National Park Service
(2012-04-26) Bruno, Christopher; Hartger, Phil; Mendenhall, Laura; Myron, Emily
In this study, we evaluate the climate change vulnerability of a subset of key species found in the Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) of the National Park Service (NPS), an ecologically important and diverse region. We developed a list of species of conservation concern (globally and sub-nationally) within each of the fourteen NPS units in the CUPN. Next, we employed NatureServe’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) in order to determine which of those species may be most vulnerable to climate change, based on each species’ 1) direct exposure to climate change, 2) indirect exposure to climate change, 3) sensitivity, and 4) documented/ modeled response to climate change. CCVI results showed a range of vulnerability scores among taxonomic groups, including high vulnerability for mollusks and low vulnerability for migrant songbirds. Furthermore, we found that species of conservation concern were not necessarily those most vulnerable to climate change. Additionally, we modeled the current and projected habitat suitability in 2050 and 2080 for four case study species, three that were assessed by the CCVI to be vulnerable to climate change and one assessed to be presumed stable. We used the software package MaxEnt (chosen modeling method of NatureServe) and the program BIOMOD, which produces habitat suitability estimates using a variety of different algorithms. We combined the results produced by MaxEnt and BIOMOD to create an ensemble projection for each species. This shows areas where all models predict future suitable habitat. Finally, we examined which of the NPS Units within the CUPN were in danger of losing vulnerable species populations under the climate change scenarios we chose. These models predict that key species may disappear from some parks with climate change. This information can be incorporated into regional management and prioritization strategies that increase the long term viability of these species, as well as help NPS land managers better understand which species of conservation concern are likely to be most affected by climate change.
Open Access
Assessing the Potential Effects of Climate Change on Species in the Cumberland Piedmont Network of the National Park Service
(2012-04-26) Bruno, Christopher; Hartger, Phil; Mendenhall, Laura; Myron, Emily
In this study, we evaluate the climate change vulnerability of a subset of key species found in the Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) of the National Park Service (NPS), an ecologically important and diverse region. We developed a list of species of conservation concern (globally and sub-nationally) within each of the fourteen NPS units in the CUPN. Next, we employed NatureServe’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) in order to determine which of those species may be most vulnerable to climate change, based on each species’ 1) direct exposure to climate change, 2) indirect exposure to climate change, 3) sensitivity, and 4) documented/ modeled response to climate change. CCVI results showed a range of vulnerability scores among taxonomic groups, including high vulnerability for mollusks and low vulnerability for migrant songbirds. Furthermore, we found that species of conservation concern were not necessarily those most vulnerable to climate change. Additionally, we modeled the current and projected habitat suitability in 2050 and 2080 for four case study species, three that were assessed by the CCVI to be vulnerable to climate change and one assessed to be presumed stable. We used the software package MaxEnt (chosen modeling method of NatureServe) and the program BIOMOD, which produces habitat suitability estimates using a variety of different algorithms. We combined the results produced by MaxEnt and BIOMOD to create an ensemble projection for each species. This shows areas where all models predict future suitable habitat. Finally, we examined which of the NPS Units within the CUPN were in danger of losing vulnerable species populations under the climate change scenarios we chose. These models predict that key species may disappear from some parks with climate change. This information can be incorporated into regional management and prioritization strategies that increase the long term viability of these species, as well as help NPS land managers better understand which species of conservation concern are likely to be most affected by climate change.
Open Access
Assessing the Potential Effects of Climate Change on Species in the Cumberland Piedmont Network of the National Park Service
(2012-04-26) Hartger, Phil, Christopher, Laura, Emily Bruno, Mendenhall, Myron
In this study, we evaluate the climate change vulnerability of a subset of key species found in the Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) of the National Park Service (NPS), an ecologically important and diverse region. We developed a list of species of conservation concern (globally and sub-nationally) within each of the fourteen NPS units in the CUPN. Next, we employed NatureServe’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) in order to determine which of those species may be most vulnerable to climate change, based on each species’ 1) direct exposure to climate change, 2) indirect exposure to climate change, 3) sensitivity, and 4) documented/ modeled response to climate change. CCVI results showed a range of vulnerability scores among taxonomic groups, including high vulnerability for mollusks and low vulnerability for migrant songbirds. Furthermore, we found that species of conservation concern were not necessarily those most vulnerable to climate change. Additionally, we modeled the current and projected habitat suitability in 2050 and 2080 for four case study species, three that were assessed by the CCVI to be vulnerable to climate change and one assessed to be presumed stable. We used the software package MaxEnt (chosen modeling method of NatureServe) and the program BIOMOD, which produces habitat suitability estimates using a variety of different algorithms. We combined the results produced by MaxEnt and BIOMOD to create an ensemble projection for each species. This shows areas where all models predict future suitable habitat. Finally, we examined which of the NPS Units within the CUPN were in danger of losing vulnerable species populations under the climate change scenarios we chose. These models predict that key species may disappear from some parks with climate change. This information can be incorporated into regional management and prioritization strategies that increase the long term viability of these species, as well as help NPS land managers better understand which species of conservation concern are likely to be most affected by climate change.
Open Access
Double Standards in Global Health: Medicine, Human Rights Law and Multidrug-Resistant TB Treatment Policy
(Health and human rights) Admay, CA; Thomas Nicholson, TRN; Aaron Shakow, AS; Salmaan Keshavjee, KS
Open Access
Human risk to ocean acidification
(2014-04-22) Doherty, Carolyn
Ocean acidification is a global phenomenon generated from increased anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Increased rates of ocean acidification are projected to drastically alter marine and coastal ecosystems. Human communities are intrinsically linked to ocean acidification, both as the main drivers of the process and as a particularly vulnerable party to its expected effects. As part of a larger project that aims to highlight global hotspots of vulnerability to ocean acidification, this paper explores the concept of characterizing and measuring the socioeconomic, cultural, and political forces that influence human vulnerability. This paper offers a concise overview of vulnerability, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity as they relate to ocean acidification, and provides a comparison of five vulnerability studies to explore commonalities between vulnerability framework methodologies. This paper also provides a detailed review of the collection and initial analysis of variables considered in determining which human communities are most at risk from ocean acidification.
Open Access
The Electoral Politics of Vulnerability and the Incentives to Cast an Economic Vote
(2007-10-16) Singer, Matthew McMinn
The relationship between economic performance and support for the incumbent government varies across voters and electoral contexts. While some of this variation can be explained by factors that make it easier or harder to hold politicians accountable, an additional explanation is that the electoral importance of economic issues varies systematically across groups and contexts. Because issues that are personally important tend to be more easily accessible when voting, we prose that exposure to economic shocks generates higher incentives to place more weight on economic conditions when voting. We test this hypothesis using archived and original survey data from Argentina, Mexico, and Peru. The analysis demonstrates that economic vulnerability enhances the economy's salience. Specifically, poverty generates incentives to cast an egotropic vote while wealth, insecure employment, informal employment, and exclusion from governments welfare programs enhances sociotropic voting because these groups have greater stakes in the national economy. By implication, elections in developing countries with large numbers of vulnerable voters should be more strongly contested over economics despite the weak institutional environment that potentially undermines the ability of voters to hold politicians accountable. Aggregate elections returns and the CSES survey support this proposition and demonstrate that economic voting is substantially more common in Latin American than in Western Europe or North America. Thus variations in economic voting provide opportunities to not only learn about the conditions under which elections can serve as mechanisms of accountability but also a laboratory to model the process of preference formation and the demands voters place on their representatives.
Open Access
The Other's Freedom: Existential Vulnerability in the Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir
(2020) Wallace, Heather
In this project, I define existential vulnerability as the idea that the meaning and value of our actions depends on other people’s responses to us. We depend upon others to make our lives meaningful. Others do this by taking our actions as points of departure for their own projects and goals. I argue that existential vulnerability is a foundational concept for understanding Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy. I show that Beauvoir discovers the idea in Pyrrhus and Cineas, her first philosophical essay, further uses and refines it in her short book, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and finally puts it to work in her most famous text, The Second Sex.
Across her oeuvre, Simone de Beauvoir develops an ethics that integrates freedom and vulnerability. In Pyrrhus and Cineas, Beauvoir teaches us that our existential vulnerability originates not in our own freedom, but in the freedom of others. This vulnerability is painful for us and we desperately try to avoid it, often by minimizing or denying the freedom of others. It is also the basis of a responsibility we have towards others. Our actions create their situations—the background against which they exercise their freedom. In The Ethics of Ambiguity, Beauvoir shows us how we are all both free and vulnerable. Her concept of subject/object ambiguity defines our relationship with others; each of us is both a transcendently free subject and an object of judgment to others. Her ethics demand that we face up to and accept both our own and others’ ambiguity. To value the other’s freedom requires us to accept and choose our own vulnerability. Finally, in The Second Sex, Beauvoir shows us that under patriarchy, woman is the Absolute Other to man. This famous analysis depends on her existential ethics of vulnerability. Women are existentially vulnerable to men because men’s judgments create their situation; but men are also still existentially vulnerable to women, a fact they try to avoid. Beauvoir’s philosophy criticizes those who try to avoid their vulnerability. These critiques are directed at the people in power—at the people who seem at first glance to be the least vulnerable.