499 research outputs found
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West Africa regional climate risk synthesis (extended) - DfID climate risk analysis to inform DFID's country development diagnostics
No full textThis report provides an analysis of the current and future climate risks for West Africa as well as an analysis of their impacts in the medium- to long-term. This information is aligned with national priorities that can be used to influence the programming of Official Development Assistance (ODA) resources. The synthesis report highlights the areas where ODA resources might need to be focused in the future for climate resilient socio-economic development to occur. This analysis is intended to inform the Country Development Diagnostics (CDD) process by providing information on potential climate risks and impacts and how these might interact with broader development initiatives.
To support Department for International Development (DFID) country offices in their preparation of CDD, DFID has commissioned a team of scientists to outline relevant climate risks and impacts to help build the case for mainstreaming climate change into future planning. The scope of work comprises three components to deliver user-friendly information on climate risks to development in DFID target countries. Regional and National Climate Profiles and Global Impact Indicators have been collated and developed to inform seven Regional Climate Risk Reports for the Middle East and North Africa, East Africa, West Africa, South and Central Africa, South and Central Asia, East and Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. This report summarises the current and future climate risks, provides an overview of relevant impact indicators, and distils these into a qualitative analysis of impacts to address in the medium- to long-term to limit or avoid climate risks to development. This document is intended for DFID internal use only.
This extended report has been written by Hannah Young, Rosalind Cornforth and Celia Petty with additional contributions from Zakari Saley Bana. The extension is based on an original synthesis report (excluding Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) produced by Heather Plumpton, Hannah Young, Rosalind Cornforth, Celia Petty and Bill Finlayson from the Walker Institute
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Impact-based flood early warning for rural livelihoods in Uganda
No full textAnticipatory actions are increasingly being taken before an extreme flood event to reduce the impacts on lives and livelihoods. Local contextualised information is required to support real-time local decisions on where and when to act and what anticipatory actions to take. This study defines an impact-based early warning trigger system that integrates flood forecasts with livelihood information, such as crop calendars, to target anticipatory actions better. We demonstrate the application of this trigger system using a flood case study from the Katakwi District in Uganda. First, we integrate information on the local crop cycles with the flood forecasts to define the impact-based trigger system. Second, we verify the impact-based system using historical flood impact information and then compare it with the existing hazard-based system in the context of humanitarian decisions. Study findings show that the impact-based trigger system has an improved probability of flood detection compared to the hazard-based system. The number of missed events are fewer in the impact-based system while the trigger dates are similar in both systems. In a humanitarian context, the two systems trigger anticipatory actions at the same time. However, the impact-based trigger system can be further investigated in a different context (e.g., for livelihood protection) to assess the value of the local information. The impact-based system could also provide a valuable tool to validate the existing hazard-based system, which builds more confidence in its use in informing anticipatory actions. The study findings should therefore open avenues for further dialogue on what the impact-based trigger system could mean within the broader Forecast-based Action landscape towards building the resilience of at-risk communities
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The utility of impact data in flood forecast verification for anticipatory actions: case studies from Uganda and Kenya
No full textSkilful flood forecasts have the potential to inform preparedness actions across scales, from smallholder farmers through to humanitarian actors, but require verification first to ensure such early warning information is robust. However, verification efforts in data-scarce regions are limited to only a few sparse locations at pre-existing river gauges. Hence, alternative data sources are urgently needed to enhance flood forecast verification to better guide preparedness actions. In this study, we assess the usefulness of less conventional data such as flood impact data for verifying flood forecasts compared with river-gauge observations in Uganda and Kenya. The flood impact data contains semi-quantitative and qualitative information on the location and number of reported flood events derived from five different data repositories (Dartmouth Flood Observatory, DesInventar, Emergency Events Database, GHB, and local) over the 2007–2018 period. In addition, river-gauge observations from stations located within the affected districts and counties are used as a reference for verification of flood forecasts from the Global Flood Awareness System. Our results reveal both the potential and the challenges of using impact data to improve flood forecast verification in data-scarce regions. From these, we provide a set of recommendations for using impact data to support anticipatory action planning
Towards a community-led approach to improve the design of early warning systems and anticipatory action for flood risk preparedness
No full textRebecca Graham with Rosalind and Keith Slater at the 2013 Campus Author Reception
No full textpermission grantedRebecca Graham, CIO and Chief Librarian, with Rosalind and Keith Slater (emeritus) with his plaque taken at the Campus Author Recognition Program annual reception, November 7, 2013.The University of Guelph Librar
Anna Cora Mowatt as Rosalind
No full textEngraving of Anna Cora Mowatt as Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie was an author, playwright, public reader, and actres
Anna Cora Mowatt as Rosalind
No full textEngraving of Anna Cora Mowatt as Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It. 'Tis he; slink by, & note him.' Act 5, Sc.2. Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie was an author, playwright, public reader, and actres
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African rainfall variability: science and society
No full textThe Sahel-Soudano zone that spans North Africa, from Senegal to Ethiopia, has experienced pronounced climatic variability (and conflicts) for millennia. This home to 250 million people—one quarter of Africa’s population—is a fragile transition zone in environmental and human terms. From south-to-north, rainfall decreases from around 30 inches per year on average to essentially nothing. Back-to-back contrasting rain years (deficits in 2011, floods in 2012) left over 18 million people in the West African Sahel threatened by food shortages between 2012 and 2013, highlighting yet again the strong the dependence between livelihoods on rainfall in the region. Ironically (tragically, even), the stakeholders within the Sahel have less access to, and therefore use less, instrumental rainfall information for planning and management than almost anywhere else in the world. Furthermore, short-term weather and seasonal climate forecasting have limited skill for West Africa. Whilst many of the National Hydrological and Meteorological agencies are making impressive efforts to produce tailored climate forecasts for their stakeholders, most appear to be country specific.
Recognizing these constraints, this Special Issue presents the latest understanding of African rainfall variability and on-going efforts to translate this into useable information through knowledge co-production and dissemination, to assure content relevance and accuracy for intended purposes. Stakeholders must establish practical innovations to anticipate impending crises and work collaboratively across the region to share information and strengthen supporting infrastructure. Within this framework, timely access to user-relevant climate information, access to relevant and reliable forecasts, and the ability of stakeholders to act on that information through effective strategic partnerships will prove the difference between coping proactively with emerging climate challenges and perpetuating the cycle of climate triggers and crisis
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Overview of the West African monsoon 2011
No full textAlthough the 2011 West African monsoon (WAM) season was, overall, near normal, rainfall was patchy. The irregularity of the rainfall during the crucial July-August-September (JAS) season proved difficult to predict - highlighting the significant challenges we continue to face for this region. The vagaries of the rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa have profound and often dire effects on African society and economy. To reduce the vulnerability of African communities to variations in the strength of the WAM, the scientific community needs to improve the reliability of forecasts so as to enable forward planning, and national governments need to adopt coordinated policies in order to increase their capacity to cope with extended periods of water shortages due to drought. With the launch of the Africa Climate Exchange (Afclix), the UK and African climate communies are working with both the humanitarian sector and policy-makers to channel the latest climate science into policy. Such policies have the potential to build resilience and in-country capacity for climate compatible development in sub-Saharan Africa. The emphasis is on ‘feet on the (African) ground’ mechanisms of knowledge-sharing activities at the science-policy interface
Rosalind Krauss: between modernism and post-medium
No full textRosalind Krauss: Between Modernism and Post-Medium’ is a response to an essay, ‘Automat, Automatic, Automatism: Rosalind Krauss and Stanley Cavell on Photography and the Photographically Dependent Arts’, by Irish aesthetic philosopher Diarmuid Costello criticising the prominent American art critic and historian Rosalind Krauss for her notion of “post-medium” art. Costello objects to the fact that in Krauss’ theorisation a particular post-medium can in principle be practised by only one artist and thus does not allow the comparative judgement and sense of artistic or historical development that the notion of medium implies. This essay by contrast contends both that Krauss’ notion of post-medium does allow comparison and that in the very notion of medium on which Costello relies there is a certain moment of non-comparison, of a particular author or artist making something absolutely novel and unprecedented. Indeed, it suggests that these two qualities of the medium cannot be separated and necessarily imply each other. The author does this with reference to the work of the American “ordinary language” philosopher Stanley Cavell, on whom Krauss draws for her theorisation of the post-medium. Also included is an interview with Krauss herself that raises a number of these matters
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