Fostering coastal resilience to climate change vulnerability in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon and Uruguay: a cross-country comparison

Abstract

This paper describes a comparative study of four different cases on vulnerability, hazards and adaptive capacity to climate threats in coastal areas and communities in four developing countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, and Uruguay. Coastal areas are vulnerable to sea level rise (SLR), storm surges and flooding due to their (i) exposure, (ii) concentration of settlements, many of which occupied by less advantaged groups, and (iii) the concentration of assets and services seen in these areas. The objective of the paper is twofold: (i) to evaluate current evidence of coastal vulnerability and adaptive capacity, and (ii) to compare adaptation strategies being implemented in a sample of developing countries, focusing on successful ones. The followed approach for the case evaluation is based on (i) documenting observed threats and damages, (ii) using indicators of physical and socioeconomic vulnerability, and adaptive capacity status, and (iii) selecting examples of successful responses. Major conclusions based on crosscase comparison are (a) the studied countries show different vulnerability, adaptive capacity and implementation of responses and (b) early warning systems are key to increase climate resilience. A recommendation is that efforts in adaptation planning in coastal areas should be intensified so as to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities.

An Assessment of the Relationships between Extreme Weather Events, Vulnerability, and the Impacts on Human Wellbeing in Latin America

“…LA countries should develop concerted efforts to identify communities and vulnerable groups whose wellbeing and health is increasingly at risk [ 13 ], because healthy, sustainable communities are built on the foundations of both healthy human populations and healthy natural ecosystems [ 24 ]. To get this goal some of the needed actions are (i) fostering education coupled with broad public information campaigns for undertaking measures to help to address health and social inequalities resulted from climate-risks [ 61 ]; (ii) improving healthcare facilities for handling increased patient volume resulting from EWEs [ 60 , 61 , 62 ]; and, (iii) developing National Adaptation Plans-NAPs [ 2 , 17 , 37 , 38 ].…”

“…An integrated approach to addressing health vulnerability to climate, risk assessment, and climate-disaster preparedness and response [ 1 , 5 , 17 , 50 ] should include: (i) joining resource mobilisation for discussing climate-risks and extreme events [ 5 , 17 ]; (ii) linking DRR and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) for addressing the human health vulnerability to and the risks of CSDs [ 5 , 63 , 64 ]; and, (iii) developing integrated forecasting, early-warning, and climate-related risk-mapping systems of extreme weather events [ 1 , 17 , 37 , 50 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 65 ] and partnerships among diverse stakeholders [ 61 ], e.g., between meteorological and health departments [ 62 ] and with partner agencies within the UN system [ 10 ].…”

“…This index is classed (1–5 quintiles) as very low, low, medium, high, and very high [ 32 ]. HDI is a standard index in studies on the nexus climate adaptation, extreme weather events, sustainable development, and DRR [ 17 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

A multidisciplinary coastal vulnerability assessment for local government focused on ecosystems, Santa Barbara area, California

“…The development of policy-making and long-term climate change adaptation planning based on projections, modeling and monitoring (Filho et al, 2018) is challenging given the uncertainty in rates and thus timing of SLR, the effects of other climatic factors on the evolution of marsh habitats, and surrounding urban and agricultural development that limits adaptation options. Ecological monitoring of rates of SLR and sediment accretion of the marsh surface will be required to inform the timing of adaptation measures, which may involve alterations of surrounding infrastructure to allow wetland habitats to transgress into upland, and/or manipulation of sediment delivery to elevate the marsh surface.…”

A Comparative Analysis of Climate-Risk and Extreme Event-Related Impacts on Well-Being and Health: Policy Implications

“…The impacts of climate change and extreme events are felt across the globe, to different degrees [ 1 ]. Some regions have already experienced costly impacts of extreme events in terms of loss of lives, economic damagethat includes damage to property, infrastructure, agriculture, coastal forests and tourism, and food insecurity and health impacts [ 2 , 3 ]. This is due to the observed changes in the frequency, intensity, and duration of most of these extreme events [ 4 ].…”