[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6402\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003ECommunities should provide critical input into next global climate report \u2013 Dr Debra Roberts\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou are co-chair of what is known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II, which looks at adaptation to climate change, but what does adaptation actually mean?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-bg-bluelightest tw-p-12 tw-my-12 tw--mx-16\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3 class=\u0022tw-font-sans tw-font-bold tw-text-blue tw-uppercase tw-text-lg tw-mb-8\u0022\u003EThe Issue\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-inline-block tw-w-1\/6 tw-h-1 tw-bg-blue tw-mb-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EIn December last year, world governments agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels at the COP21 climate conference in Paris. This agreement followed the release of the UN IPCC\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ipcc.ch\/report\/ar5\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EFifth Assessment Report\u003C\/a\u003E, the world\u2019s most in-depth climate study, which concluded that climate change was almost certainly caused by humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENow researchers are preparing the ground for the Sixth Assessment Report. The synopsis is due to be published in 2022, just ahead of a global stocktake of nations\u0027 pledged climate actions scheduled for 2023.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECOP21 also called on the IPCC to look at what would be required to keep global warming to within 1.5 degrees. The IPCC is preparing a report looking at this issue, which is scheduled for publication in 2018, just ahead of international talks to help implement the decisions taken in Paris termed the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theroadthroughparis.org\/events-to-watch\/2018-unfccc-facilitative-dialogue\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EFacilitative Dialogue\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018When we refer to adaptation, for the most part people are talking about human responses to climate change. If you look at it about 10 years ago the assumption was still that we could mitigate our way out of the climate change problem. We now realise that that is no longer the case, and that we are already committed to a certain level of climate change because of the amount of greenhouse gas that has already been emitted to the atmosphere.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018With mitigation you have got a recipe book that is globally applicable. Reduce and remove the greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and you deal with the problem. Whereas for adaptation there is no global recipe book and that is the real challenge for the science of adaptation as it is so context specific.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat kind of research do we need for the IPCC\u0027s next assessment report looking at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Cspan\u003Estate of scientific, technical and socioeconomic knowledge on climate change\u003C\/span\u003E?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Hoesung Lee (chair of the IPCC) has promoted the idea of a solutions-focused assessment and I think that is where the research needs to begin shifting. But if adaptation responses don\u2019t fit into a recipe book format and are locally specific, then the high-level aggregated research which usually feeds into the IPCC assessments is not going to be well-placed to capture the key adaptation messages.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cspan\u003E\u2018\u003C\/span\u003EWhat we probably need to do to begin addressing this challenge is to begin upscaling the work done on case studies in order to assemble the empirical evidence and better understand local issues. The urban authors of the last assessment cycle\u0026nbsp;have just produced a book, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Cities-Finite-Planet-transformative-responses\/dp\/1138184101\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECities on a Finite Planet\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E: towards transformative responses to climate change\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, which documents nine detailed city case studies in order to contribute to this process.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Future Earth (the new global environmental change research initiative) is promoting the importance of co-design and co-production in research. This approach offers the opportunity for practitioners on the ground to be part of the research process by contributing to defining the problem and helping capture local experiences.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow can you get citizens involved?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018One of the things we are talking about within the IPCC in relation to communications is how to encourage a broader range of inputs into the scoping processes involved in the sixth assessment. There is an increasing recognition of the need to hear a multitude of voices and to take those views into consideration while assessing the literature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The more voices you hear, obviously the greater chance you have of providing an assessment that is responsive to the most important societal concerns, you get better triangulation (on the problems that need to be addressed) with real world concerns.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECan you give a concrete example of the kinds of things you can learn by expanding the range of inputs?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018If I look at my own city of Durban in South Africa, we have two forms of governance, we have the typical city hall form of governance that you might find in a New York or a Rotterdam, but we also have traditional leaders who control a significant portion of our city. There is no way that I, because of the cultural diversity in our city, can have a full knowledge of the cultural impact of decisions around land use in the more traditional settings. It is very important to hear those traditional voices because I would make assumptions that are not grounded in cultural experiences and values.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are the common issues that people in cities around the world face in terms of adaptation?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I think the baseline is the provision of basic infrastructure, as that enhances adaptive capacity. You have got to meet basic needs and improve wellbeing as part of the adaptation process. Obviously, the greatest infrastructural deficit exists in the cities of the global south. At the same time, the cities of the global north are facing ageing infrastructure, so they are facing a set of decisions about how to replace their existing infrastructure in a way that is responsive to the climate change challenge. If you look at it over the next decade or so, we are going to double our capital infrastructure spend from USD 10 trillion to USD 20 trillion. So that is an enormous opportunity to bend that curve (of the direction of climate change) from a mitigation and adaption point of view.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat for you is the most pressing issue now in terms of adaptation?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018For me it\u0027s cities, and that\u2019s not only because I work in a city, it\u2019s because they are the one global-scale opportunity to effect transformative change in our development path. We\u2019ve got no choice but to address the needs of cities as we are living through the most rapid period of urbanisation in our species\u2019 history. Cities are our largest social-ecological system, they concentrate people, power, economies and financial flows.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018There is an increasing recognition of the need to hear a multitude of voices.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Debra Roberts, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Unless we tie the climate change response to the (uplift) of the growing number of poor and vulnerable in our cities, we\u2019ve got a real problem. We have got that opportunity now because, as I say, the majority of the cities in the global south are being built as we speak, but it is a one-off opportunity. We have to act now. The problem is that, up until now, the debate around climate change hasn\u2019t fully embraced the urban (context).\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow do you go about tying together climate response and reducing poverty?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There is a lot of good work (done on this) but there may be the need for some big transformative and structural changes and I think that is why we have seen the growing momentum emerging around issues such as the green economy. We have to ask ourselves, is there a different economic path which can deliver wellbeing to all? Because that is ultimately what we are after. I think if we begin to look at our cities in a new way there is that potential to effect that sort of transformative change.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-jwcgnyhz21ywiexsnju-gegskqxt9udolw3mhwi3rkg\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-jwcGnyHz21YwiEXsNjU-GEGSKQXT9udoLw3mhwI3rkg\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]