Emma L. Tompkins

This important introduction skilfully guides us through the complex mix of scientific, political, social, and environmental issues to examine the manifold threats it poses and explore the possible futures for our world. Focusing on the fact that the "point of no return" may in fact have already been passed, Boyd and Tompkins highlight the urgent need to start actively adapting to our changing climate if we want to avoid complete catastrophe.

Brown, K; Tompkins, EL; Adger, WN (2002) Making Waves. Integrating Coastal Conservation and Development, London: Earthscan, pp1-164.

Coasts are dynamic and restless entities, and define the edge of human habitation. If we desire to conserve the nature of coasts, we must conserve their dynamism – but this is not always easy.

Coastal zones are critical multiple-use resources, under pressure from constant demands from different sources – conservation, economic growth and social welfare. Making Waves identifies the dilemmas of managing conservation and development in coastal areas. It is packed with important and timely information and tools for the management, conservation and assessment of social implications of coastal resource use.

The authors present a variety of methods and techniques that can be used to highlight the trade-offs and promote sustainable decisions among diverse users . Their interdisciplinary analysis draws upon the latest scientific knowledge as well as social science insights on property rights and governance, with cases from the developed and developing world.

The book is important reading for researchers and students in geography, development studies and environmental planning and also for practitioners in natural resource management and coastal zone management.

van Beukering, P; Brander, L; Tompkins, EL; Mackenzie, E (2007) Valuing the environment in small islands. An environmental economics toolkit, Peterborough, UK: H.M. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, pp1-128. doi:http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-4065

Money speaks louder than words. Putting a monetary value on environmental and social impacts usually increases the chance of these impacts being taken into account in decision making. This toolkit provides clear guidance on how the value of the environment in small islands can be estimated and incorporated into planning and development decisions. It explains why you would undertake a study, who should be involved, how to implement the study and how to use the results. It also contains guidance on how to hire external consultants if expertise is not available in-house. It has been designed primarily for government officials and NGOs, although it is also useful for others wanting to estimate the value of ecosystems and ecosystem services.

This toolkit is part of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s ‘Environmental Economics with the Overseas Territories in the Caribbean’ (EEWOC) project. The project aims to build capacity in UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean in using economic tools to help make policies and decisions more sustainable. The development of this toolkit was jointly funded by the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). OTEP is a joint programme of the UK Government Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development to support the implementation of the Environment Charters and environmental management more generally in the UK Overseas Territories. JNCC is the statutory adviser to the UK Government on UK and international nature conservation, including in the UK Overseas Territories.

Executive summary Climate change science has been promoting adaptation measures for some years. The message has been that the climate is changing and people need to be prepared. However, while there has been an increasing investment in the 'science of ...

© The contributors 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-ing, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. ...

This paper develops definitions of adaptation and successful adaptation to climate change, with a view to evaluating adaptations. There is little consensus on the definition of adapting to climate change in existing debates or on the criteria by which adaptation actions can be deemed ...

Knowledge about natural hazard management has increased significantly since Gilbert White's seminal research in 1945, yet people are still badly affected by natural hazards. A key question remains in natural hazards research: why, when all the conditions for effective disaster risk reduction are in place, do some people not take action to reduce their risk of harm? Through a questionnaire-based

The topics of climate change and of what to do about it have been the subject of discussion for over two decades. Much of the focus has been on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the rate and magnitude of changes. Adapting to the impacts of those changes has received much less attention. In recent years, the development assistance community has recognized that climate change poses a stress on economic and social development in poor countries and has turned its attention to addressing climate stress. The US Agency for International Development developed a methodology of working with stakeholders to identify sources of climate related vulnerability and approaches to reducing that vulnerability. The methodology was developed iteratively with several pilot studies looking at vulnerability and adaptation in different sectors and settings.

ABSTRACT This paper provides empirical evidence of agricultural adaptation strategies being adopted in the Mid-Hills regions of Nepal in response to climate change. Farmers were interviewed across four districts and climate change observations were reported, most notably those of increased temperatures and unpredictable precipitation. Agricultural adaptation strategies adopted in response to climate change were varied, with agroforestry and organic farming being the most popular practices. Most adaptation strategies were thought to be development-facing actions to reduce vulnerability, rather than specifically addressing climate change. From this research it is evident that indigenous knowledge, financial support and increased accessibility all play a pivotal role for successful climate change adaptation in the Mid-Hills. This case study provides valuable evidence-based research of autonomous adaptation techniques in a highly climate-vulnerable location of Nepal. Recommendations are made for donors to learn from best-practice and adopt local knowledge when investing in climate change adaptation strategies to most effectively reduce the vulnerability of some of the world's poorest communities.

“Public responses to climate change”. Paper presented at Exeter Conference, 22-24 Sept, 2008 ... Conference paper presented at “Climate change impacts and adaptation: Dangerous rates of change”, Exeter University, 22nd – 24th September, 2008 ... Sustainability Research ...

Abstract Internationally there is growing recognition of the central role of adaptation within climate policy. Most attention focuses on three areas: establishing financial mechanisms within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and,Kyoto Protocol to fund,adaptation; developing appropriate mechanisms to collect these funds; and estimating the expected cost of adaptation. In contrast, relatively little has been said about

The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged. This work is part of the interdisciplinary research programme of the ESRC Research Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) ...

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine how communities in Zanzibar cope with and adapt to multiple-stressors including climate change, and how these responses affect long-term adaptation, mitigation and development (AMD) goals. In particular, we identify the multiple-stressors that affect natural-resource dependent communities in Zanzibar. We then explore how community responses affect long-term development and mitigation goals before we examine the barriers to maximising AMD synergies in community responses. We use the DPSIR (Drivers – Pressures – States – Impacts – Response) as a tool to organise the complex information relating to both the marine and terrestrial SES in Zanzibar. Using data from household surveys and community-level focus groups, we find that responses to stressors resemble coping strategies as they provide short-term relief but in the long-term may negatively affect development goals. Furthermore, responses generate a trade-off between adaptation, mitigation and development. For example, when farmers respond to low productivity by spending longer on the farm, there is a development trade-off as time burdens are increased, and a mitigation trade-off as secondary forest cannot be established. We identify that AMD compatible responses are constrained by resource, regulatory, learning and governance barriers. We conclude that without local climate policy intervention, ‘mal-adaptations’, which threaten both mitigation and development goals, could occur across a range of temporal and spatial scales.