Developing a method for addressing vulnerability to climate change and climate change impact management: To index or not to index?

Organized by Germanwatch
Venue: InWent, Bonn

• Introduction
• Programme + Download of Presentations

Introduction

Unfortunately, it takes a catastrophe such as the Elbe-Flood of 2002 or this summer's heat wave to demonstrate the urgent need for action on climate change and its consequences. During such incidents, special reports inform the public about the catastrophe and how it might be related to climate change. But how can we regularly monitor and report on climate change, its consequences and its special implications for developing countries? How can we raise public awareness and create political pressure? A good example for such a reporting system is Transparency International's Corruption Index which regularly brings the topic to public attention and creates an enormous pressure on countries to take action.

In the field of climate change, detailed international analysis and regular public relations work, which use brief and illustrative international intelligence, are lacking in terms of vulnerability assessment and climate change impact management.

This workshop, therefore, is directed towards the creation of a method/ means for awareness raising on climate change impact management. It does not claim pure research or the creation of a new index at first hand. First priority is given to the question of which form of representation would be ideal and which data already exists that can be succintly brought to the public and be effectively used for the political discussion regarding our motivation (see below).

Setting up a ranking or an index on climate change impact management or vulnerability which encompasses complex phenomena such as exposure, resilience and adaptation is not a trivial task. We are aware that by reducing complex information to certain indicators there is always a loss of information and a certain degree of arbitrariness. At times such an index is therefore questionable, especially from a scientific point of view. At the same time, a reduction of complexity is necessary for public relations, the media and education. The Gross National Product, for example, a widely used and accepted index, represents an extreme reduction of information while at the same time making existing information manageable and communicable. Our aim, therefore, is to find a form of representation which summarizes the information as much as possible and presents as much information as is needed for our purposes.

Motivation:

We want:

• to create political pressure and urge action on adaptation/ climate change impact management, esp. in developing (but also in other relevant) countries;
• to create political pressure to set up responsibility instruments (e.g. insurance or a European climate damage fund); and
• to create a means that allows us and the media to report regularly on climate change issues and thus create awareness on complex issues such as vulnerability and adaptation. Such a  publication is intended to be of importance on a global scale.
• to create political pressure and urge action on the reduction of greenhouse gases (energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies etc.) in accordance with the precautionary principle, esp. in industrialized (but also in other relevant) countries;

a) Which data and which research already existing or underway, can be succinctly brought to public attention and be used effectively in political discussion, furthering our aims?
b) Which form of vulnerability representation would be ideal? To index or not to index?
c) When, how, for whom and with whom should a certain form of representation be published? (brainstorming)
 

Programme + Download of Presentations
 

9:00	Arrival, Coffee, Tea
9:15	Introductory Remarks	Britta Horstmann, Germanwatch
9:30 - 12:15	Part A
	Country Vulnerability Profiles and their relevance to decision makers >> Presentation [PDF, 200KB]	Nick Brooks,  University of East Anglia
	Vulnerability/ Risk measures regarding sea-level rise and their relevance to decision makers	Robert Nicholls,  University of Southhampton
	Security Diagrams and their relevance to decision makers >> Presentation [PDF, 800KB]	Dörthe Krömker,  University of Kassel
	Developing a global map on financial vulnerability >> Presentation [PDF, 200KB]	Reinhard Mechler, IIASA
13:15 - 15:45	Part B
	Which form of representation would be ideal in order to create public awareness and political pressure - a scientific point of view >> Presentation [PDF, 600KB]	Richard Klein,  Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
14:20 - 15:00	Which form of representation would be ideal in order to create public awareness and political pressure - a political point of view	Bill Hare, Greenpeace Int./ PIK (via videoconference)
	Which form of representation would be ideal in order to create public awareness and political pressure - a public point of view >> Presentation [PDF, 330KB]	Harald Heinrichs,  Research Centre Jülich
16:00 - 17:45	Part C
	Learning from the Corruption Index - Impacts and Drawbacks	Hans-Jörg Elshorst, Transparency International
	Final Discussion: Prospects of creating a climate change impact management index or country ranking How to raise awareness on cc vulnerability?

 

The project is supported by the  Federal Ministry for Economic  Cooperation and Development
This web page was supported by the  Church Development Service (EED / ABP)