Interactive Map Showcases Climatic, Environmental, and Social Research

The Climate Change Adaptation Knowledge and Mitigation Network (AKMN) is "a platform for accessing and sharing current agricultural adaptation and mitigation knowledge". The AKMN website features an ESRI powered map that showcases interdisciplinary research on agricultural and food systems research related to climate change adaptation. In addition to the future implications, the importance of this research can be seen in the present, especially given the current events in Africa. Visit the links above for more!

What Countries are Prepared for Climate Change?

The Global Adaptation Institute's Global Adaptation Index (GaIn) "summarizes a country's Vulnerability to climate change and other global challenges on the one hand and its Readiness to improve resilience on the other hand". How prepared is your country for climate change? According to the Global Adaptation Institute, if your country is one that is going to be profoundly affected by a changing climate, then odds are it is not prepared. According to this matrix, the countries who are most vulnerable are the least ready to adapt.

European countries are concentrated at the top of the rankings of the GaIn index in addition to Australia (#4), New Zealand (#5) and the United States (#8). The Global Adaptation Institute used a variety of literature to create this index. For more follow this link!

Cities Are Sources of Concerns and Solutions for Climate Change Adaptation

The September (2011) Scientific American features a special issue on cities.

Today, CNN's website prominently displayed this opinion piece by Reiner de Graaf, Partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. De Graaf reminds the reader of how unequal development affects sustainable development and adaptation to climate change. For example, he cites that three of fastest growing urban regions in the world, Kabul, Dhaka and Nairobi, have been impacted by environmental hazards. In addition, of the 27 cities predicted to have over 10 million inhabitants by 2020, 21 will be located in the developing world. De Graaf concludes that "...it could well take an ecological equivalent to the U.N. Security Council... to create the realpolitik that climate change will inevitably have to become subject to."

This may paint a bleak picture, however there are many working to improve the urban environment. This interactive image from Scientific American shows some of the environmental solutions being implemented in cities around the (developed) world. Scientific American is devoting its September issue to improving the cityscape- check it out! For more on finding a road to sustainable cities, read this recent blog post from Charles Wolfe in the Huffington Post.