Work package 3: Climate impacts and disaster risk reduction
The objective of Work package 3 is collaborative work between UK and Brazilian institutions to carry out climate impacts research to help underpin the development of climate services directed to risk reduction of natural disasters.
Work package 3 aims to improve the translation of information on climate variability and change in extremes into impacts and the subsequent communication of this information. The goal of this project is to build climate science capability to help deliver climate services for disaster risk reduction.
The Brazilian National Centre for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters (CEMADEN) works with pre- and during disaster aspects, including monitoring weather and climate conditions and geomorphologic aspects that could potentially trigger natural disasters. Many of the disasters in Brazil are water related: landslides, floods, flash floods and drought. The focus of CSSP Brazil will be around developing understanding and capability in order to support disaster risk reduction.
This Work package links strongly to outputs in capability and modelling in Work package 2: Climate Modelling, and has useful synergies with Work package 1 in the development of land surface modelling. It will draw on seasonal forecasting of extremes and also longer-scale projections of climate change and changes in variability for impacts studies and vulnerability assessments for adaptation options. Improved understanding of the role of land surface processes in droughts and floods will have mutual benefits with carbon cycle modelling.
In this topic we will improve understanding of natural disasters associated with climate variability and change and develop tools to apply disaster risk reduction. Common areas of interest include hydrological and agricultural impacts, and ecosystem services.
- Development and improvement of impacts metrics to be applied across timescales from seasons to centuries. Specific interest areas include water availability, energy supply, flooding - both flash floods/landslides - drought and disturbances such as fire and blow-downs
- Enhancing capability of early warning systems for climate-related natural disasters
- Development of dissemination and communication pathways, including data access and visualisation.
- Attribution of climate events such as the current drought and water crisis in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo
- Attribution to global change or regional drivers such as land-use change
Work package 3 would help develop scientific capability to underpin early warning and alerts to the Civil Defence and the population in the short term, and in the longer term benefit policymaking on managing climate extremes and risk of natural disasters, international development and contingency planning for disaster relief and humanitarian aid.