Climate resilience and its implications for China

doi:10.12006/j.issn.1673-1719.2018.144

Abstract

Abstract:

With the awareness of global climate change and its possible consequences for humanity, climate resilience has become a key concept in our efforts to deal with the challenges induced by climate change. This paper describes and discusses the essences of the climate resilience concept and other existing key concepts that are closely linked to it with a focus on their interlinkages. Based on this theoretical discussion and a systematic assessment of the historical evolution of the resilience concept, a framework to implement climate resilience is presented. Although climate resilience entails different aspects for actors and priorities for different sectors and/or at different levels/scales, the generic nature of the framework should be useful for practices aiming at achieving climate resilience for different levels/scales/sectors. Finally, taking extreme climate resilience as an example, we further illustrate the application of the framework through reviewing the report entitled Resilience to Extreme Weather released by The Royal Society and analyzing the management framework of China’s response to extreme weather and climate disasters.

Key words: Resilience, Climate change, Disaster risk, Adaptation, Sustainability

Deliang CHEN,Da-He QIN,Cun-De XIAO,Bo SU. Climate resilience and its implications for China[J]. Climate Change Research, 2019, 15(2): 167-177.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Regime shifts under the climate change shock illustrated through ball-and-cup diagrams. (The light-grey ball at left represents the state of pre-shock system and the valleys represent regimes. In (a), the ball is in a valley, or regime, but an extreme weather shock can still push the ball, representing the system, into an alternative regime. In (b), a climate change in underlying processes has changed the dynamics of the system, in which one of the regimes has vanished). Consequently, the system changes and shifts into an alternative regime (Modified from [17])

Fig. 2 Resilience as a dynamic response to a shock, adopted from [18]

Fig. 3 Evolution of sustainability concept. (a) the three interacting cycles, (b) the three embedding cycles

Fig. 4 Adaptation and mitigation are our decisions to do something about climate change, adopted from [26]

Fig. 5 A generic framework for implementation of climate resilience actions

Fig. 6 China constructing framework on disaster reduction and emergency response capacity in the context of climate change, adopted from [40]

References

[1]	Folke C . Resilience (republished)[J]. Ecology & Society, 2016,21(4). DOI: 10.5751/ES-09088-210444
[2]	Holling C S . Resilience and stability of ecological systems[J]. Annual Review of Ecology & Systematics, 1973,4(4):1-23
[3]	Vayda A P , McCay B J. New directions in ecology and ecological anthropology[J]. Annual Review of Anthropology, 1975,4(1):293-306
[4]	Folke C, Hahn T, Olsson P , et al. Adaptive governance of social-ecological systems[J]. Annual Review of Environment & Resources, 2005,30(30):441-473
[5]	Béné C, Wood R G, Newsham A , et al. Resilience: new utopia or new tyranny? reflection about the potentials and limits of the concept of resilience in relation to vulnerability reduction programmes[J]. Ids Working Papers, 2013,2012(405):1-61
[6]	Rockefeller Foundation . Rebound: building a more resilient world[M]. New York: Rockefeller Foundation, 2013
[7]	Thompson I, Mackey B , McNulty S, et al. Forest resilience, biodiversity, and climate change. a synjournal of the biodiversity/resilience/stability relationship in forest ecosystems[J]. Cbd Technical, 2009,43:1-67
[8]	秦大河 . 气候变化科学概论[M]. 北京: 科学出版社, 2018
[9]	IPCC. Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007
[10]	IPCC. Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014
[11]	Nelson D R, Adger W N, Brown K. Adaptation to environmental change: contributions of a resilience framework [J]. Social Science Electronic Publishing, 2007,32(32). DOI: 10.1146/annurev.energy.32.051807.090348
[12]	Folke C, Carpenter S R, Walker B , et al. Resilience thinking: integrating resilience, adaptability and transformability[J]. Ecology & Society, 2010,15(4):299-305
[13]	Royal Society . Resilience to extreme weather [R]. Royal Society, 2014
[14]	Flood R L, Carson E R. Dealing with complexity: an introduction to the theory and application of systems science [M]. New York: Plenum Press, 1993
[15]	Lansing J S . Complex adaptive systems[J]. Annual Review of Anthropology, 2003,32(4):183-204
[16]	Lade S J, Levin S A, Schlüter M . Regime shifts in a social-ecological system[J]. Theoretical Ecology, 2013,6(3):359-372
[17]	Arctic Council . Arctic resilience report[M]. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2016
[18]	Rice J B, Sheffi Y . A supply chain view of the resilient enterprise[J]. Mit Sloan Management Review, 2005,47(1):41-48
[19]	Dakos V , Carpenter S R, van Nes E H, et al. Resilience indicators: prospects and limitations for early warnings of regime shifts[J]. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2015,370(1659). DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0263
[20]	Folke C . Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses[J]. Global Environmental Change, 2006,16(3):253-267
[21]	Tompkins E L, Adger W N . Does adaptive management of natural resources enhance resilience to climate change?[J]. Ecology & Society, 2004,9(2):1-14
[22]	World Commission on Environment and Development. Our common future [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987
[23]	Waite M . SURF framework for a sustainable economy[J]. Journal of Sustainability Science & Management, 2013,3(3):25-40
[24]	Anderies J M, Folke C, Walker B , et al. Aligning key concepts for global change policy: robustness, resilience, and sustainability[J]. Ecology & Society, 2013,18(2):344-365
[25]	Smit B, Wandel J . Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability[J]. Global Environmental Change, 2006,16(3):282-292
[26]	IPCC. Summary for policymakers: managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012: 3-21
[27]	Keim M E . Building human resilience: the role of public health preparedness and response as an adaptation to climate change[J]. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2008,35(5):508-516
[28]	Cannon T . Reducing people’s vulnerability to natural hazards: communities and resilience[J]. Wider Working Paper, 2008,34
[29]	Tschakert P, Dietrich K A . Anticipatory learning for climate change adaptation and resilience[J]. Ecology & Society, 2010,15(2):299-305
[30]	Malhi Y, Roberts J T, Betts R A , et al. Climate change, deforestation, and the fate of the Amazon[J]. Science, 2008,319(5860):169-172
[31]	Coaffee J . Towards next-generation urban resilience in planning practice: from securitization to integrated place making[J]. Planning Practice & Research, 2013,28(3):323-339
[32]	Stephen T, Marcus M . A framework for urban climate resilience[J]. Climate & Development, 2012,4(4):311-326
[33]	Roberts J T . The international dimension of climate justice and the need for international adaptation funding[J]. Environmental Justice, 2009,2(4):185-190
[34]	Satterthwaite D . The political underpinnings of cities’ accumulated resilience to climate change[J]. Environment & Urbanization, 2013,25(2):381-391
[35]	Mcmichael A J, Woodruff R E, Hales S . Climate change and human health: present and future risks[J]. Lancet, 2006,367(9513):859-869
[36]	Zhou H, Wang J, Wan J , et al. Resilience to natural hazards: a geographic perspective[J]. Nat Hazards, 2010,53:21-41. DOI: 10.1007/s11069-009-9407-y
[37]	Zhou H, Wang X, Wang J . A way to sustainability: perspective of resilience and adaptation to disaster[J]. Sustainability, 2016,8:737. DOI: 10.3390/su8080737
[38]	Lebel L, Anderies J M, Campbell B , et al. Governance and the capacity to manage resilience in regional social-ecological systems[J]. Ecology & Society, 2006,11(1):1599-1604
[39]	Satterthwaite D, Huq S, Reid H , et al. Adapting to climate change in urban areas: the possibilities and constraints in low- and middle-income nations[M]. 2007. DOI: 10.4324/9781849770361
[40]	秦大河, 张建云, 闪淳昌 , 等. 中国极端天气气候事件和灾害风险管理与适应国家评估报告[M]. 北京: 科学出版社, 2015
[41]	Chen D, Walther A, Moberg A , et al. European trend Atlas of extreme temperature and precipitation records[M]. Berlin: Springer Netherlands, 2015
[42]	IPCC. Climate change 2013: the physical science basis [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013