GCAP Blog

Bringing innovation to practice in adapting to climate change.
Jun
14

Adaptation Academy Alumni Feature: Alvaro Fonseca

Alvaro Fonseca (photo owner)

In this small blog series, we want to give room to some of GCAP's Adaptation Academy graduates, to highlight their professional development in the fie...
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938 Hits
Sep
26

A Visual Record of Climate Change

AC bridge

In recent weeks, Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria have generated heartbreaking images of widespread destruction, bringing into sharp focus the devastating power of nature and man’s tenuous place in the world. While the global call to combat climate change gains momentum, the visual record of these storms’ impacts on communities fosters a visceral and profound sense of urgency.

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1072 Hits
Oct
30

Climate Adaptation strategies in the Peruvian Andes

Climate Adaptation strategies in the Peruvian Andes
At this summer's Oxford Adaptation Academy, Dr Carmen Lacambra led participants through a detailed case study of the responses to climate change within Colombia.  An exciting publication has just appeared demonstrating similar issues and solutions in the regional partner, Peru. Graham Wilson NB Image source: "Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 4.0" Orlowsky B, et al (2016) Science in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation: Case Studies from the Peruvian Andes in "Climate Change Adaptation Strategies – An Upstream-downstream Perspective" (eds Salzmann N et al) pp 41-58.  Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-40773-9_3 Abstract Within the context of the Climate Change Adaptation Program (PACC), a number of scientific investigations on water resources, natural disasters and perceptions by local people highlight adaptation needs in the regions of Cusco and Apurímac in Peru, considering past, present-day and future climate conditions. This chapter compiles their findings and attempts a systematic evaluation with respect to their contributions to climate change adaptation. The studies consistently find aggravating water scarcity during the dry season (April to September) due to projected precipitation decreases and reduced storage capacity of shrinking glaciers. Impacts include below-capacity hydropower generation and increased crop failure risks. For natural disasters, database inconsistencies prevent a detection of trends. While the natural science studies have produced a new and more comprehensive understanding of the target regions, their implications for society have hardly been investigated anthropologically. One of the few social science studies emphasizes that climate change is only one out of many determinants of rural livelihoods in the target regions, which have not been addressed scientifically yet. We thereby find an imbalance of available scientific knowledge regarding natural vs. social sciences. Overcoming such imbalance would allow for a more comprehensive integration of scientific findings into design and implementation of adaptation measures within the local context. About us Established in 2010, GCAP (http://climateadaptation.cc) ranks among the top 10 leading climate think tanks globally, providing knowledge services related to national adaptation investment and finance, climate economics, climate adaptation strategy and planning and climate risk screening.  A world class organisation, we support managers holding over $1 billion in funds.  Our flagship, Oxford Adaptation Academy (http://www.climateadaptation.cc/our-work/adaptation-academy), is a unique incubator for leadership and innovation within the field of climate adaptation. Dr Graham Wilson leads the personal development and leadership strand of the Adaptation Academy.  With a background in ethology and behavioural science, he is an Executive, Leadership and Political Confidant, Tutor in Psychology and Counselling with the University of Oxford, and Co-Director of the Oxford Adaptation Academy.  His research interests include coaching and visual anthropology.  [LinkedIn = http://tinyurl.com/drgwli] 
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1476 Hits
Oct
30

Climate Resilience and Fisheries - a large scale ban may be the only solution

Climate Resilience and Fisheries - a large scale ban may be the only solution
We're seeing a growing number of analyses of the relevance and importance of climate resilience in specific industries.  An interesting paper appeared in Fish and Fisheries in August 2016, outlining the authors' conclusions about the need for a large scale ban on high seas fisheries to move from stock management that aims for sustainability to one that aims to achieve resilience. Graham Wilson Image © 2016 Dr Graham Wilson (This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.)  Cheung, W. W. L., Jones, M. C., Lam, V. W. Y., D Miller, D., Ota, Y., Teh, L. and Sumaila, U. R. (2016), Transform high seas management to build climate resilience in marine seafood supply. Fish Fish. doi:10.1111/faf.12177 Abstract Climate change is projected to redistribute fisheries resources, resulting in tropical regions suffering decreases in seafood production. While sustainably managing marine ecosystems contributes to building climate resilience, these solutions require transformation of ocean governance. Recent studies and international initiatives suggest that conserving high seas biodiversity and fish stocks will have ecological and economic benefits; however, implications for seafood security under climate change have not been examined. Here, we apply global-scale mechanistic species distribution models to 30 major straddling fish stocks to show that transforming high seas fisheries governance could increase resilience to climate change impacts. By closing the high seas to fishing or cooperatively managing its fisheries, we project that catches in exclusive economic zones (EEZs) would likely increase by around 10% by 2050 relative to 2000 under climate change (representative concentration pathway 4.5 and 8.5), compensating for the expected losses (around −6%) from ‘business-as-usual’. Specifically, high seas closure increases the resilience of fish stocks, as indicated by a mean species abundance index, by 30% in EEZs. We suggest that improving high seas fisheries governance would increase the resilience of coastal countries to climate change. About us Established in 2010, GCAP (http://climateadaptation.cc) ranks among the top 10 leading climate think tanks globally, providing knowledge services related to national adaptation investment and finance, climate economics, climate adaptation strategy and planning and climate risk screening.  A world class organisation, we support managers holding over $1 billion in funds.  Our flagship, Oxford Adaptation Academy (http://www.climateadaptation.cc/our-work/adaptation-academy), is a unique incubator for leadership and innovation within the field of climate adaptation. Dr Graham Wilson leads the personal development and leadership strand of the Adaptation Academy.  With a background in ethology and behavioural science, he is an Executive, Leadership and Political Confidant, Tutor in Psychology and Counselling with the University of Oxford, and Co-Director of the Oxford Adaptation Academy.  His research interests include coaching and visual anthropology.  [LinkedIn = http://tinyurl.com/drgwli]  
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1342 Hits
Aug
17

Oxford Adaptation Academy Leadership Definitions

Oxford Adaptation Academy Leadership Definitions



Graham Wilson facilitated an inspiring 'Self-Leadership' session in Week 1 of the Oxford Adaptation Academy. Check out the 3 participant definitions below:

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3914 Hits

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