University of MelbourneMelbourne Sustainable Society Institute

Climate change poses risks to the things people value - such as our health, homes, environment and our way of life. Vulnerability refers to the potential loss or damage to these things we value. Vulnerability to climate change is not equally distributed. Factors such as class, gender, the nature of livelihoods, and location all determine who is at risk and the potential losses they may experience. Research into vulnerability involves understanding changes in both social and ecological systems, although more often than not it is social processes that are the most powerful causes of vulnerability.

Actions taken to avoid potential damages and losses from climate change are called adaptations. There is a difference, however, between what could be done to reduce vulnerability, and what can be done. The difference is the capacity of individuals, groups and sectors to implement adaptation. This adaptive capacity is a function of many things, including the ability to pay for adaptation, how well society can steer the adaptation process and how legitimate that process is. Adaptive capacity also depends on whether there is awareness about climate change or information about how to adapt, how well people and institutions network and bond with each other, and the availability and quality of infrastructure and technology.

There will be limits to what adaptation can achieve, and these limits will be determined by how much the climate changes in the future. Therefore the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions are reduced is critical for adaptation to be effective: the higher the emissions, the more rapid and severe the warming, and the less likely it is that adaptation can avoid damage and losses to things that people and societies value.

 

Researchers at Melbourne University are engaged in research on vulnerability and adaptation to climate change on many fronts, and in many places.

 

Related Publications

See publications related to this topic.

 

Grants and Projects

2009-2012
ARC Linkage Grant: LP0989573
Robust prediction and decision strategies for managing extinction risks under climate change
Chief Investigator: Dr Brendan Wintle, Botany
Other researchers: MA McCarthy, Botany; Dr DA Keith; Dr MR Kearney; Prof MA Burgman; Dr RJ Elith; Dr TD Auld; Prof MF Hutchinson; Prof LA Hughes

2009
Project 5.04
Applications of Collaborative Virtual Environments
Professor Ian Bishop, Project Leader
Dr Christian Stock, Research Fellow
Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information

2009
Visualising Climate Change Scenarios for South-Eastern Victoria
Funding: Department of Primary Industry
Professor Ian Bishop, Geomatics

2008
Climate Change and Community Engagement - report for the Department of Planning and Community Development, Victorian Government
Report authors: Prof. John Wiseman, The McCaughey Centre
Ms Jess Fritze, Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS)
Ms Lara Williamson, Population Health
The McCaughey Centre and the Melbourne School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, in collaboration with VCOSS and the Council on the Ageing, Victoria

2007
United States Institute of Peace grant
Livelihoods, land and poverty in post-conflict East Timor
Professor Simon Batterbury, Centre for Environmental Programs
with Prof. Marcia Langton, Population Health;  Dr Lisa Palmer, Resource Management and Geography; Dr Thomas Reuter, Social and Environmental Enquiry; Mr Balthasar Kehi, Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics
In collaboration with the Universidade da Paz, Dili

2006
Impacts of climate change on remote Indigenous communities in Northern Australia
CRSS: University of Melbourne-CSIRO Collaborative Research Program
Professor Simon Batterbury, Office for Environmental Programs, and Donna Green (UNSW)

 

Links and Multimedia

The McCaughey Centre
http://www.mccaugheycentre.unimelb.edu.au/research/current/climate_chang...

Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI)
‘Applications of Collaborative Virtual Environments’
http://www.crcsi.com.au/pages/project.aspx?projectid=98

Spatial Information Exploration and Visualisation Environment (SIEVE)
‘Visions Video Podcast: VR Climate Change’
http://visions.unimelb.edu.au/episode/52

http://www.eresearch.edu.au/stock2008
Christian Stock: Visualising Climate Change in an Immersive Virtual Environment

Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC)
http://www.vicosc.unimelb.edu.au

National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF)
http://www.nccarf.edu.au/home

Australasian Research Centre for the Governance and Management of Urban Transport (GAMUT)
http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/gamut/

Australian Centre for Science, Innovation and Society (ACSIS)
http://www.acsis.unimelb.edu.au/

Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology (ARCUE)
http://arcue.botany.unimelb.edu.au/

Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures
http://www.eng.unimelb.edu.au/research/centres/irrigationfutures/

Environmental Stress and Adaptation Research Program
http://cesar.org.au/

Audio Podcast: The Effects of Climate Change on Biodiversity
Professor Ary Hoffmann (Genetics/Zoology, CESAR) and Dr Michael Kearney (Zoology), with host Dr Shane Huntington
http://upclose.unimelb.edu.au/episode/195

Australian Grains FACE (Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment Array)
http://www.jcci.unimelb.edu.au/FACE/FACEOutline.htm

Little Stringybark Creek Project (A/Prof. Chris Walsh, Project co-leader)
http://www.urbanstreams.unimelb.edu.au/