Research & Publications

Abstract In recent years, the world has faced a rapid rise in humanitarian needs and an increasing risk of famine. Given the potential threats posed by conflict, climate change, economic shocks, and other issues, it is important to be prepared for the possibility of new crises in the future. Drawing on key informant interviews and a literature review, this paper assesses the state of the art in famine prevention, examining a range of technical and political approaches and analysing emerging lessons. Based on the findings, it identifies five levels of famine prevention: (i) averting famine; (ii) anticipating famine; (iii) reducing famine risks; (iv) altering famine risks; and (v) preventing famine risks. The paper argues that the current focus only partially addresses a relatively narrow set of levels. It concludes that a more comprehensive approach that engages all five levels simultaneously could contribute to a global famine prevention framework for the twenty-first century and beyond.

Abstract Urban in-migration, high birth rates and unchecked development are driving the continued growth of African cities. Much of this urbanization occurs in informal settlements, where unplanned growth exacerbates the impacts of climate hazards. Our paper explores the challenges faced by urban planners seeking to address climate change threats in African cities. Focusing on Addis Ababa, we conduct a robust policy analysis of urban government response. Our main finding is that Addis Ababa's environmental challenges are primarily a result of urban development and inadequate planning and policy enforcement. Environmental challenges are exacerbated by rapidly intensifying climate impacts, but not driven by them. Improved city-level policy responses can potentially mitigate many of Addis Ababa's current environmental challenges and prepare the city to weather future ones. We highlight four areas of policy weakness: (1) ineffective or absent policies concerning green space; (2) the exclusion of informal settlements from ongoing resilience planning efforts; (3) limited public trust and transparency; and (4) a lack of coordination across the multiple agencies in Addis charged with planning. Holistic, multi-stakeholder planning is inhibited by a lack of collaboration, limited stakeholder participation, and a reluctance to engage in productive dialogue. Resolving all four issues will only occur with sustained increases in social trust, expertise, governance capacity and capital.

Abstract As the world races to decarbonize power systems to mitigate climate change, the body of research analyzing paths to zero emissions electricity grids has substantially grown. Although studies typically include commercially available technologies, few of them consider offshore wind and wave energy as contenders in future zero-emissions grids. Here, we model with high geographic resolution both offshore wind and wave energy as independent technologies with the possibility of collocation in a power system capacity expansion model of the Western Interconnection with zero emissions by 2050. In this work, we identify cost targets for offshore wind and wave energy to become cost effective, calculate a 17% reduction in total installed capacity by 2050 when offshore wind and wave energy are fully deployed, and show how curtailment, generation, and transmission change as offshore wind and wave energy deployment increase.

Abstract The eBook editions of this book are available as open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.