Closing the Loop: climate science, development practice and policy interactions in dryland agro-ecological systems

Date: 5 Oct 2010
Speaker(s): Andy Dougill, Claire Quinn, Elisabeth Simelton
Venue: University of Leeds

The literature on drought, livelihoods and poverty suggested that dryland people are especially vulnerable to climate change.

However, assessing vulnerability and sharing lessons between regions has proven difficult.

The seminar reflected on a structured, multi-scale, interdisciplinary vulnerability assessment of six dryland regions.

Studies adopt different levels of quantification to assess:

• The added value provided by dynamic systems modelling;
• The challenges of developing locally appropriate scenarios of socio-economic, political and environmental change;
• Interrelated scales of vulnerability analysis; and
• The appropriateness of conceptual frameworks for vulnerability assessment.

This presentation reflected on the challenges of assessing vulnerability to inform debates on the integration of climate science and development planning.