Jan 10th, 2013
By Climate Himalaya
ACCC: The Adapting to Climate Change in China project is designed to develop and share internationally China’s experience of integrating climate change adaptation into the development process, in order to reduce China and other countries’ vulnerability to climate change.
The project aims to improve global knowledge on the assessment of climate impacts and risks, develop practical approaches to climate change adaptation and share the experience with other countries of China’s enhanced resilience to the impacts of climate change through integrated development and adaptation policies.
Background
China is very vulnerable to climate change, having a per capita water resource only 25% of the world average and a large proportion of the population still dependent on agriculture. Historically the costs (in economic and social terms) of climate extreme events have been substantial; future climate change is likely to increase these costs as the frequency and intensity of hazards such as floods, droughts and coastal storms change. In addition, continued warming (China has already experienced roughly 0.5 degree warming since the 1950s) and sea level rise will alter the distribution of natural, agricultural and other pests and diseases, coastal flooding zones, natural vegetation and biodiversity, etc. creating challenges to effective and sustainable planning and management across many sectors of China’s economy.
Whilst China has fully embraced the challenge of fossil fuel use, energy efficiency and energy use intensity in the 12th 5 Year Plan, adaptation and the linkage between impacts, adaptation and decision making processes is a new and emerging area. This requires strategic development of approaches and methodologies appropriate to Chinese circumstances. ACCC aims to support China’s response to the challenge of adapting to a changing climate by contributing to the development of a national and provincial level adaptation programme.
The work undertaken in China is of global importance. Given the vast size of the country, the variety of its ecosystems and complexity of climate change impacts, the solutions and approaches developed in China by the ACCC Partners will contribute to global knowledge on how to adapt to climate change, and provide crucial experiences for other developing countries of how to do this alongside reducing poverty and effectively developing.
How We Work
ACCC focuses on bringing together the essential ingredients for an effective response to the current and future impacts of climate change. This means bridging the gap between communities; an ambitious collaborative programme integrating government and research, national and sub national planning, development and climate change, social and physical science.
We work with government departments, key national research institutes, provincial partners, international researchers and practitioners and a programme management office based in Beijing.
The work is conducted through teams of interdisciplinary researchers, to fully encompass the social, economic and environmental factors at play. Research activities and outputs are coordinated through the project management office.
ACCC supports a website, regular progress meetings, capacity building workshops and outreach through various channels including publications, international conferences and Chinese policy fora.
2009 – 2012 Research Undertaken in China
2009 – 2010 Capacity Building Phase: Activity in China
2010 – 2013 South-South Phase: Sharing Knowledge Globally
Developing Climate Science in China
To effectively plan for and prosper in a World facing climate change, we rely on highly advanced science to inform policy-makers and practitioners on the best course of action and the reality of how countries and environments will change. The ACCC project is providing the vital information needed through:
developing models and simulations to show the current and expected climate in China, and what the impacts will be on key industries, water resources and disaster risk;
preparing detailed provincial level maps and statistics of changes under a range of scenarios out to 2050, so that policy-makers have at their fingertips information that is relevant by area and timeframe;
using and comparing different climate models to better understand uncertainties in China’s future climate; communicating audience-relevant information to the research community, government departments and other stakeholders, including international sharing of experiences, research results and new methods.
Assessing Impacts, Risk and Vulnerability
Similar climate change impacts do not necessarily have the same risk of harm in different places. A drought in a well-developed or previously fertile area will have very different consequences to a drought in an area facing poverty or perennial water shortage. So to protect people and places from harm, it is not enough to solely look at climate impacts and hazards. We need to understand the risk of harm by combining knowledge of the assessment of hazards and physical impacts with an assessment of the vulnerability of the people or in a particular place. Equipped with this knowledge, we might not be able to prevent a hazard like drought, but we can still reduce the overall risk of harm by using adaptive measures to reduce the vulnerability to the hazard. The ACCC project does this by:
developing research methods to assess the vulnerability of key sectors in each of three case study provinces (Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Guangdong).
producing impact, risk and vulnerability assessments for the key sectors in China so that policy-makers can prioritise, weigh up and respond to the overall picture. developing a methodology to integrate risk assessment of key climate challenges into provincial level planning processes.
Key research findings on Health and Climate Change in China: http://www.ccadaptation.org.cn/resources/Health.pdf Link: http://www.ccadaptation.org.cn/en/about-us
