Climate Adaptation

Decision Models

We are developing a set of decision analysis models aimed at understanding, and simulating, the decision process for response to climate variation among resource managers like farmers, ranchers, conservationists and others. Decision analysis can: (1) Help analysts and decision-makers recognize the structure, trade-offs, and likely outcomes of a range of choices made under uncertainty; (2) Provide tools for testing how sensitive decisions are to climate variation, to improved information, or to down-side risks; (3) Suggest optimum, robust, or least-regret decisions. Read more ...

Interactions of Drought and Climate Adaptation (IDCA) for Urban Water

Municipalities have responded in various ways to past droughts, enacting a variety of policies to cope with temporary shortages in water supply. These measures have been largely successful at reducing short-term demand during drought events, as well as constraining the long-term per capita consumption of water even as population grows. Now, though, water systems also face the likelihood of long-term climate change, raising a fundamental question: have previous responses to short-term drought events led to more resilient urban water systems across climate time scales?
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Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre Internship Program

This program seeks to improve climate change communication and adaptation decision-making in response to climate variability and change within the humanitarian sector. It connects humanitarian practitioners from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre [RC/RC CC] an affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [IFRC] with science-policy graduate student researchers at the University of Colorado. Read more ...

Successful Adaptation to Climate Change: Linking Science and Policy in a Rapidly Changing World

What does successful adaptation look like? This is a question we are frequently asked by planners, policy makers and other professionals charged with the task of developing and implementing adaptation strategies. While adaptation is increasingly recognized as an important climate risk management strategy, and on-the-ground adaptation planning activity is becoming more common-place, there is no clear guidance as to what success would look like, what to aim for and how to judge progress. This edited volume (Susanne Moser and Maxwell Boykoff) makes significant progress toward unpacking the question of successful adaptation, offering both scientifically informed and practice-relevant answers from various sectors and regions of the world . Read more ...

Understanding the Drivers of Adaptation at the Municipal Level in CO, WY and UT

Lisa Dilling is co-leading this WWA-funded project to investigate why some local decision makers choose to adapt to climate-related stress and risk while others do not. Our idea is to systematically investigate the conditions under which local decision-makers in cities and large towns in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming decide to adapt (or not) to increased climate-related risk and hazards.
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