In semi-arid regions, a global temperature rise of 1.5℃ (and each interval of 0.5℃ thereafter) will have progressively severe local impacts. In this video we describe how average local temperatures increasing faster than the global average (and rising more with each interval of global increase), and intensifying climate extremes and changing rainfall patterns, mean that semi-arid regions will experience declining crop yields, shifts in water availability, compromised health of people and livestock, and additional pressures to livelihoods. Affected countries have growing evidence available to argue for emissions reductions in line with a 1.5℃ warming target, as proposed in the Paris Agreement, and at the same time push for adopting climate-resilient development pathways that acknowledge the threats of increasing temperatures and their associated impacts.
With a strong focus on understanding the factors that enhance or diminish people's vulnerability and wellbeing, and the responses they take to deal with both climatic and non-climatic stressors, ASSAR focused on the most marginalised. In particular, we sought to shift the adaptation narrative from centering mainly on infrastructural, technical solutions to forefronting and addressing some of the barriers posed by power structures, patriarchal norms and governance disconnects.
Theatre of the Oppressed is a powerful tool for bringing alternative voices into the climate change arena. Brendon Bosworth and Daniel Morchain write about theatre's potential to humanise climate change and promote solutions that put people first.
The role of aspirations in shaping adaptation choices is seldom discussed in climate change studies, but understanding aspirations can give insights into why people are adapting or not.
The release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) special report on 1.5°C marks a critical point in climate negotiations, especially for climate change 'hotspots' like Botswana and Namibia in southern Africa, writes ASSAR's principal investigator, Mark New.
Being a hydrometeorologist, I was always inclined towards the technical side of research, but my work with ASSAR (and WOTR) has taught me to connect non-technical aspects (mapping of vulnerability, frameworks of adaptation, policy planning) with technical aspects (processing, downscaling and using projections data), writes Aradhana Yaduvanshi, researcher, Watershed Organisation Trust.
This brief summarises key messages emerging from research from the CMIP5 multi-model archive to analyse projected temperature and rainfall changes in Africa and India at 1.5°C and 2.0°C.