Description:    Socio-economic and climatic stresses affect local communities’ vulnerability to flooding. Better incorporation of socio-economic stress in local vulnerability assessments is important when planning for climate adaptation. This is rarely done due to insufficient understanding of their interaction, in both theory and practice. The omission leads to critical weaknesses in local adaptation strategies. This study analyses how socio-economic stress interact with climatic stress and shape local vulnerability to flooding, and how such stress can be more efficiently managed within local government organisations. A framework containing potential stresses was developed and applied to investigate how socio-economic stress affected exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity in two case studies, using interview and group exercise transcripts. Cases consisted of major development projects in two Swedish municipalities, Gothenburg and Lilla Edet. The cases were similarly exposed to climatic stress but differed in socio-economic context, and previous professional climate change experience. Fierce foreign competition and market structure were seen as the two most significant socio-economic stresses influencing local vulnerability to flooding through shaping the ‘local’ worldview. In falling order sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity were seen to be influenced by the socio-economic stresses. Two approaches to efficiently incorporate climatic and socio-economic stress in local management are proposed: shifting the focus of vulnerability assessments towards future sensitivity of people and settlements, rather than on the current infrastructure’s sensitivity, would facilitate their use in planning and by ‘mainstreaming’ adaptation into long-term strategic planning vulnerability would be more dynamically addressed and periodically revised. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s11027-011-9337-3 Authors Mattias Hjerpe, Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research and Water and Environmental Studies - Department for Thematic Studies, Linköping University, Nya Kåkenhus, SE-601 74 Norrköping, Sweden Erik Glaas, Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research and Water and Environmental Studies - Department for Thematic Studies, Linköping University, Nya Kåkenhus, SE-601 74 Norrköping, Sweden Journal Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change Online ISSN 1573-1596 Print ISSN 1381-2386

Description:    Qingjiang River, the second largest tributary of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, has taken on the important tasks for power generation and flood control in Hubei Province. The Qingjiang River watershed has a subtropical monsoon climate and, as a result, has dramatic diversity in its water resources. Recently, global warming and climate change have seriously affected the Qingjiang watershed’s integrated water resources management. In this article, general circulation model (GCM) and watershed hydrological models were applied to analyze the impacts of climate change on future runoff of Qingjiang Watershed. To couple the scale difference between GCM and watershed hydrological models, a statistical downscaling method based on the smooth support vector machine was used to downscale the GCM’s large-scale output. With the downscaled precipitation and evaporation, the Xin-anjiang hydrological model and HBV model were applied to predict the future runoff of Qingjiang Watershed under A2 and B2 scenarios. The preformance of the one-way coupling approach in simulating the hydrological impact of climate change in the Qingjiang watershed is evaluated, and the change trend of the future runoff of Qingjiang Watershed under the impacts of climate change is presented and discussed. Content Type Journal Article Category Original paper Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s00477-011-0524-2 Authors Hua Chen, State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China Tiantian Xiang, School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China Xing Zhou, School of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China Chong-Yu Xu, State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China Journal Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment Online ISSN 1436-3259 Print ISSN 1436-3240

Description:    This article explores how the causes and impacts of a flood event as perceived by local people shape immediate responses and future mitigation efforts in mountainous northwest Vietnam. Local flood perception is contrasted with scientific perspectives to determine whether a singular flood event will trigger adjustments in mitigation strategies in an otherwise rarely flood-affected area. We present findings from interdisciplinary research drawing on both socioeconomic and biophysical data. Evidence suggests that individual farmers’ willingness to engage in flood mitigation is curbed by the common perception that flooding is caused by the interplay of a bundle of external factors, with climatic factors and water management failures being the most prominent ones. Most farmers did not link the severity of flooding to existing land use systems, thus underlining the lack of a sense of personal responsibility among farmers for flood mitigation measures. We conclude that local governments cannot depend on there being a sufficient degree of intrinsic motivation among farmers to make them implement soil conservation techniques to mitigate future flooding. Policy makers will need to design measures to raise farmers’ awareness of the complex interplay between land use and hydrology and to enhance collective action in soil conservation by providing appropriate incentives and implementing coherent long-term strategies. Content Type Journal Article Category Original Paper Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9992-4 Authors Iven Schad, Department of Social Sciences in Agriculture, Agricultural Communication and Extension, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Petra Schmitter, Department of Plant Production and Agro-Ecology in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Camille Saint-Macary, Department of Rural Development and Policy, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Andreas Neef, Resource Governance and Participatory Development, Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Marc Lamers, Department of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Biogeophysics Section, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany La Nguyen, Department of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Biogeophysics Section, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Thomas Hilger, Department of Plant Production and Agro-Ecology in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Volker Hoffmann, Department of Social Sciences in Agriculture, Agricultural Communication and Extension, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X