Narratives of ice loss: New approaches to shrinking glaciers and climate change adaptation

Moulton, Holly; Carey, Mark; Huggel, Christian; Motschmann, Alina

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.06.011

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…4.7), with natural scientists generally driving this research and only at times involving social science or humanities researchers (Harrison et al, 2018;Huggel et al, 2020a;Stuart-Smith et al, 2021) Identified challenges -Better consideration and appreciation of cultural and spiritual values of glacier lakes and high-mountain environments and local and indigenous knowledge in GLOF research (Lambert and Scott, 2019;Abdel-Fattah et al, 2021;Matti and Ögmundardóttir, 2021;Haeberli and Drenkhan, 2022) -More sustained, detailed work needed to understand diverse and intersecting drivers of risk and vulnerabilities in communities (Matti et al, 2022b;see Sect. 4.6) to reveal how societal variables making diverse populations vulnerable overall intertwine with GLOF risks (Carey et al, 2020) -The politics and cultures of GLOF risk management and responses are only partially understood and analysed (Moulton et al, 2021) -Linking GLOF occurrence patterns with anthropogenic climate change signal (Roe et al, 2021;see Sect. 4.7) Proposed ways forward -Recognition and empowerment of (often powerful) local communities and indigenous knowledge (Mercer et al, 2010;Kelman et al, 2012;Carey et al, 2021;see Sect.…”

Section: Glofs and Human Dimension Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research on GLOFs has been rapidly growing in recent 2 decades (Emmer, 2018), driven in part by the urgent need to improve understanding trends in GLOF occurrence under climate change and its links to retreating glaciers and the formation of thousands of new lakes globally (Clague and O'Connor, 2015;Harrison et al, 2018;Shugar et al, 2020). At the same time increasing urbanization, land and water demand, migration, mountain tourism, and other socioeconomic and human-related forces exacerbate human exposure and raise vulnerabilities to GLOFs, especially in low-income countries such as Peru or Nepal (Carey, 2010;Sherry et al, 2018;Motschmann et al, 2020a;Sherpa et al, 2020;Carey et al, 2021). However, possible synergies and trade-offs between climate change adaptation (Moulton et al, 2021;Aggarwal et al, 2021), sustainable water use and management (Drenkhan et al, 2019;Haeberli and Drenkhan, 2022), hydropower generation (Schwanghart et al, 2016;Li et al, 2022), glacier protection (Anacona et al, 2018), and GLOF hazard mitigation are still under discussion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Progress and challenges in glacial lake outburst flood research (2017–2021): a research community perspective

Emmer

Allen

Carey

et al. 2022

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are among the most concerning consequences of retreating glaciers in mountain ranges worldwide. GLOFs have attracted significant attention amongst scientists and practitioners in the past 2 decades, with particular interest in the physical drivers and mechanisms of GLOF hazard and in socioeconomic and other human-related developments that affect vulnerabilities to GLOF events. This increased research focus on GLOFs is reflected in the gradually increasing number of papers published annually. This study offers an overview of recent GLOF research by analysing 594 peer-reviewed GLOF studies published between 2017 and 2021 (Web of Science and Scopus databases), reviewing the content and geographical focus as well as other characteristics of GLOF studies. This review is complemented with perspectives from the first GLOF conference (7–9 July 2021, online) where a global GLOF research community of major mountain regions gathered to discuss the current state of the art of integrated GLOF research. Therefore, representatives from 17 countries identified and elaborated trends and challenges and proposed possible ways forward to navigate future GLOF research, in four thematic areas: (i) understanding GLOFs – timing and processes; (ii) modelling GLOFs and GLOF process chains; (iii) GLOF risk management, prevention and warning; and (iv) human dimensions of GLOFs and GLOF attribution to climate change.

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Section: Glofs and Human Dimension Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress and challenges in glacial lake outburst flood research (2017–2021): a research community perspective

Emmer

Allen

Carey

et al. 2022

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

Self Cite

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“…Mountain areas contribute a relatively small share in food production exports, but they provide a significant amount of subsistence-oriented and local/regional agricultural production from crops and livestock, and also can contribute important runoff to lowland irrigated agriculture (Biemans et al, 2019;Viviroli et al, 2020). Large irrigation and export-oriented agriculture projects are developing in lowland regions (e.g., along the coast of Peru projects like Chinecas and Chavimochic; Bury et al, 2013;Moulton et al, 2021;Vuille et al, 2018), which have created the largest hydrologic demand for agriculture over the past two decades (Bury et al, 2013). Therefore, changes in water provision influence both large scale agricultural production and smallholder agriculture and livelihood, which political and economic factors further exacerbate.…”

Section: Environmental Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meanwhile local and ancestral livelihoods such as agropastoralism or tourism are facing many challenges from cryosphere loss, climatic extremes, external actors, and social tensions (Postigo et al, 2008;Sherry et al, 2018). Therefore, questions of equity, climate justice, power relations, and marginalization are also emerging and need great attention in view of future human adaptation to glacier retreat (Moulton et al, 2021;Skarbø & Vandermolen, 2014). Most resilience studies have until recently emphasized the ecological dimensions and scientific approaches to the biophysical systems, with a lack of attention to social contingency, including power relations, resource conflicts, and cultural factors (Carey et al, 2021).…”

Section: Loci Of Multiscale Multiactor Interactions and Inequitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…External forces-such as energy production, resource extraction (Bury, 2015), market and political pressures (Montaña et al, 2016;Sietz & Feola, 2016), and shifts in water governance (Rasmussen, 2016a)-prevent local adaptation actions and exacerbate the direct effect of glacier shrinkage. Power imbalances are also a limiting factor to local adaptation, favoring the unequal distribution of natural resources between actors and altering risk and vulnerability assessment (Moulton et al, 2021).…”

Section: Loci Of Multiscale Multiactor Interactions and Inequitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The need for stewardship of lands exposed by deglaciation from climate change

Zimmer

Beach

Klein

et al. 2021

WIREs Climate Change

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Alpine glaciers worldwide will lose most of their volume by the end of the 21st century, placing alpine ecosystems and human populations at risk. The new lands that emerge from retreating glaciers provide a host of challenges for ecological and human adaptation to climate change. In these novel proglacial landscapes, ecological succession and natural hazards interplay with local agriculture, hydroelectric production, mining activities, and tourism. Research has emphasized the importance of understanding adaptation around socio‐environmental systems, but regional and global management efforts that support local initiatives and connect novel proglacial landscapes to ecological, social, and cultural conservation opportunities are rare and nascent. The characteristics of these emerging lands reflect the nexus of alpine ecosystems with socio‐political histories. Often overlooked in glacial‐influenced systems are the interdependencies, feedbacks, and tradeoffs between these biophysical systems and local populations. There is no coordinated strategy to manage and anticipate these shifting dynamics, while affirming local practices and contexts. There is an opportunity to initiate a new conversation and co‐create a governance structure around these novel landscapes and develop a new framework suitable to the Anthropocene era. This article first synthesizes the rapid socio‐environmental changes that are occurring in proglacial landscapes. Second, we consider the need for integrating “bottom‐up” with “top‐down” approaches for the sustainable management of proglacial landscapes. Finally, we propose establishing a transdisciplinary initiative with policy‐related goals to further dialogues around the governance and sustainable management of proglacial landscapes. We call for increased cooperation between actors, sectors, and regions, favoring multiscale and integrated approaches. This article is categorized under: Climate, Ecology, and Conservation > Conservation Strategies

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The Promise of Resistance: A New Lens for Climate Change Adaptation Research and Practice

Mills‐Novoa,

Mikulewicz

2024

WIREs Climate Change

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Over the years, thousands of climate change adaptation projects have been implemented globally. While there has been substantial scholarship on the extent and nature of adaptation efforts, fewer studies have examined why and how adaptation projects are being resisted. An analysis of resistance to adaptation offers critical insights to scholars and practitioners by recognizing the contentious nature of adaptation pathways and highlighting alternative visions for adaptation. Drawing on 20 case studies identified through a systematic review of the literature, we identify nine insights for research and practice. First, there is little literature on resistance to adaptation, suggesting that it is being underreported. Second, resistance to adaptation is not an anomaly, spanning sectors, actors, and geographies. Third, resistance to adaptation initiatives often has little to do with climate change skepticism. Fourth, the modes and outcomes of resistance are creative and diverse. Fifth, the state plays a critical, but not uniform, role in adaptation and thus resistance. Sixth, formal participation mechanisms can accommodate, neutralize, or facilitate resistance to adaptation. Seventh, the diverse goals of resistance reflect the multiplicity of imagined adaptation futures. Eighth, resistance is generative of material outcomes and novel subjectivities. Ninth, resistance can be costly, fracturing, and ineffective. This review highlights the need to further investigate resistance to climate change adaptation, which should be seen as a site of political struggle between different conceptions of what adaptation is and should be. It also provides insights for identifying maladaptation and pathways toward more emancipative forms of adaptation.

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Narratives of ice loss: New approaches to shrinking glaciers and climate change adaptation

Cited by 17 publications

References 42 publications

Progress and challenges in glacial lake outburst flood research (2017–2021): a research community perspective

Progress and challenges in glacial lake outburst flood research (2017–2021): a research community perspective

The need for stewardship of lands exposed by deglaciation from climate change

The Promise of Resistance: A New Lens for Climate Change Adaptation Research and Practice

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