Why Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change Must Be Grounded in Sound Biodiversity Science

Seddon, Nathalie; Turner, Beth; Berry, Pam; Chausson, Alexandre

doi:10.20944/preprints201812.0077.v1

Cited by 13 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Formalising a linkage between gilded and safe-development traps matters because their effects likely compound each other nonlinearly, such that disaster risk only increases and disaster-risk reduction becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. "Safe development" maladaptation in hazard-prone coastal zones is especially topical because of the kinds of projects typically supported by climate-finance programmes for climate-change adaptation, per the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Sovacool, 2011;Donner et al, 2011;Seddon et al, 2020). Even…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The disaster trap: cyclones, tourism, colonial legacies, and the systemic feedbacks exacerbating disaster risk

Lazarus¹

2022

Preprint

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The long, open-ended period of recovery from a disaster event is the phase of a disaster that the interdisciplinary field of disaster studies struggles to understand. In the process of rebuilding, places do not simply reset -they transform, often in ways that confound any reduction of disaster risk, instead making people and settings more vulnerable to future hazard events.Reducing disaster risk is regarded as a global priority, but policies intended to reduce disaster risk have been largely ineffective. This obduracy represents a grand challenge in disaster studies.Here, I propose that the correlated trends of runaway economic costs of disaster events, growing social inequity, environmental degradation, and resistance to policy intervention in disaster settings are hallmark indicators of a system trap -a dynamic in which self-reinforcing feedbacks drive a system toward an undesirable and seemingly inescapable state, with negative consequences that tend to amplify each other over time. I offer that these trends in disaster settings are the collective expression of an especially powerful and distinct kind of system trap, which here I term the "disaster trap" -a new theoretical concept to help explain and address runaway disaster risk. I suggest that disaster traps are likely strongest in tourism-dominated coastal settings with high exposure to tropical cyclones and colonial histories of racial capitalism, which I explore with an empirical illustration from Antigua & Barbuda. Formalising a linkage between gilded and safe-development traps matters because their effects likely compound each other nonlinearly, such that disaster risk only increases and disaster risk reduction becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. Addressing traps requires understanding them as dynamic systems, described as fundamentally and completely as possible -their components, mechanisms, drivers, and structure -in order to reveal when and where interventions might be most effective at reducing disaster risk.

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Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The disaster trap: cyclones, tourism, colonial legacies, and the systemic feedbacks exacerbating disaster risk

Lazarus¹

2022

Preprint

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“…NbS can potentially provide 37% of the mitigation needed to meet the Paris Agreement (IPBES, 2019). However, this figure may also be overestimated as its success is highly dependent on many factors, including governance and financing capacity (Griscom et al, 2020;Seddon et al, 2020).…”

Section: Gaps In Addressing Agricultural Production and Food Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of COVID-19 on progress in the UN Conventions on biodiversity and climate change

Ortiz

Leon²,

Torres³

et al. 2021

Glob. Sustain.

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2020 was to be a landmark year for setting targets to stop biodiversity loss and prevent dangerous climate change. However, COVID-19 has caused delays to the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the 26 th COP of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Negotiations on the Global Biodiversity Framework and the second submission of Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement were due to take place at these COPs. There is uncertainty as to how the COVID-19 disruption will affect the negotiations, whether parties will pursue more ambitious actions or take a weaker stance on issues. Our policy analysis shows there are broad opportunities for climate and biodiversity frameworks to better respond to COVID-19, by viewing future pandemics, biodiversity loss,

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“…For example, rising temperatures can alter forest stability (e.g. through wildfires), thus affecting the capacity to store carbon (Anderegg et al, 2020 [62] ). Similarly, between 70 to 90% of coral reefs would disappear if global surface temperatures increased by Report on Climate Change and Land (IPCC, 2019 [27] )have advocated for the use of NbS to address climate change.…”

Section: Practical Limitations Of Nature-based Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, between 70 to 90% of coral reefs would disappear if global surface temperatures increased by Report on Climate Change and Land (IPCC, 2019 [27] )have advocated for the use of NbS to address climate change. In addition, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently issued a global standard for NbS that aims to "increase demand for NbS while safeguarding people and nature" (IUCN, 2020 [62] ). Building on this momentum, NbS have been identified as a key priority of the discussions for the G20 Climate Stewardship Working Group under the G20 Saudi Presidency in 2020 and the United Kingdom is putting them at the heart of the COP26 to be held in 2021.…”

Section: Practical Limitations Of Nature-based Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strengthening adaptation-mitigation linkages for a low-carbon, climate-resilient future

2021

OECD Environment Policy Papers

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Why Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change Must Be Grounded in Sound Biodiversity Science

Cited by 13 publications

References 12 publications

The disaster trap: cyclones, tourism, colonial legacies, and the systemic feedbacks exacerbating disaster risk

The disaster trap: cyclones, tourism, colonial legacies, and the systemic feedbacks exacerbating disaster risk

Implications of COVID-19 on progress in the UN Conventions on biodiversity and climate change

Strengthening adaptation-mitigation linkages for a low-carbon, climate-resilient future

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