Module 2.1: Understanding risk and impact

Wildfire risks are only one of the risks we face in a climate changed future. In this next video lecture, we explore why it is important for professionals thinking about adaptation to understand how climate change is resulting in changing climate statistics, and the influence of those changes on the assessment of future climate risks and their impacts.

To do this, we return to the global environment to explore the trends in weather and climate catastrophes and the projected changes in climate extremes based on low and high emission scenarios. We will explore climate change scenarios for BC, and some of the findings from the recent climate risk assessment for our province.

With climate change comes the need to focus attention not only on understanding and planning for individual risks, such as wildfires, but also on compound risks — where two or more events can co-occur and interact. In this way, climate change is influencing not only the nature of the risks we face, but also how practitioners will need to adapt their planning and decision making to account for compound and complex scenarios involving multiple environmental and social factors and uncertainty.

Video attribution: “Climate Change Adaptation Fundamentals – Module 2.1: Understanding risk and impact” by Stewart Cohen, Climate Change Fundamentals, Adaptation Learning Network is licensed under CC BY 4.0. The images used in the slides in the video are not CC BY.