Managed retreat for climate change adaptation in coastal megacities: A comparison of policy and practice in Manila and Vancouver.

'Managed retreat' is gaining considerable attention as part of megacities' climate change adaptation and resilience enhancement toolkits, and as a policy option for disaster risk reduction in coastal regions. The overarching objective of managed retreat is to reduce the exposure of people and assets to flooding, storm surges and sea level rise by retreating from these threats in a planned fashion. Managed retreat is one of four main options covered in the 'PARA' (protect/accommodate/retreat/avoid) framework explained in this paper, which can be used to enhance resilience in coastal megacities. In this paper, qualitative research methods were used to collect primary data on the feasibility of using managed retreat for two case study coastal megacities: Manila, Philippines, and Vancouver, Canada. Both case studies review the risk context of each city, local climate change adaptation/disaster risk reduction (CCA/DRR) policies linked to managed retreat, examples of managed retreat practice, and barriers to managed retreat identified through primary or secondary data analysis. Comparisons between the two cases are then carried out, and similarities and differences are highlighted. The paper concludes by suggesting possible means by which barriers to managed retreat might be overcome.

Towards guidelines for post-disaster vulnerability reduction in informal settlements.

Although the development community has long recognised that securing land tenure and improving housing design can benefit significantly informal settlement residents, there is little research on these issues in communities exposed to natural disasters and hazards. Informal settlements often are located on land left vacant because of inherent risks, such as floodplains, and there is a long history worldwide of disasters affecting informal settlements. This research tackles the following questions: how can informal settlement vulnerabilities be reduced in a post-disaster setting?; and what are the key issues to address in post-disaster reconstruction? The main purpose of the paper is to develop a set of initial guidelines for post-disaster risk reduction in informal settlements, stressing connections to tenure and housing/community design in the reconstruction process. The paper examines disaster and reconstruction responses in two disaster-affected regions-Jimani, Dominican Republic, and Vargas State, Venezuela-where informal settlements have been hit particularly hard.

Illegal wildlife trade and other organised crime: A scoping review.

The global illegal wildlife trade has been anecdotally linked to other serious crimes, such as fraud, corruption, and money laundering, as well as the cross-border trafficking of drugs, arms, counterfeit goods, and persons. As research on this topic is scarce and sporadic, we conducted a scoping literature review to gather information across multiple disciplines and evidence types on crime convergences in the illegal wildlife trade. We reviewed 150 papers published between 2000 and 2020. We found that the illegal trade in many of the most frequently trafficked species have reportedly converged with numerous other serious and organised crimes, most commonly drug trafficking. Convergences can occur in a variety of ways, although the diversification of organised crime groups, parallel trafficking of contraband, and use of enabling crimes (such as corruption and violence) were the most frequently described. Possible explanations for our results and future research directions are discussed.

An international scoping review of rangers' precarious employment conditions.

Protecting wildlife and other natural resources requires engaging and empowering local communities, ensuring compliance with rules, and ongoing monitoring and research. At the frontline of these efforts are rangers. Despite their critical role in maintaining the integrity of parks and protected areas, rangers across the world are exposed to precarious employment conditions and hazardous work environments. We conducted an international scoping review to understand which employment and working conditions are examined in the context of the ranger occupation and to assess whether the concept of precarious employment is used in the conservation, criminological, and environmental sustainability literature on rangers. We reviewed publications from Web of Knowledge, Scopus, ProQuest, and Medline, and grey literature for relevant English language articles published between 2000 and 2021. Our findings are based on the analysis of 98 included studies. We found that the most commonly discussed aspect of rangers' employment and working conditions was the hazardous social and physical work environment, although this was often accompanied by severe income inadequacy, employment insecurity, and a lack of social security, regulatory support, and workplace rights. Such employment and working conditions can cause adverse impacts on rangers' mental and physical health, well-being, and safety, and are also detrimental to their ability to adequately protect biodiversity. We conclude by outlining the need for sustainable solutions and additional research based on established conceptualizations of the precarious employment concept and other related concepts. Lastly, we suggest that governments should acknowledge the importance of rangers through their recognition as essential workers and provide greater support to improve their employment conditions. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10669-022-09845-3.

Tsunami survivors' perspectives on vulnerability and vulnerability reduction: evidence from Koh Phi Phi Don and Khao Lak, Thailand.

This paper presents the results of primary research with 40 survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in two communities: Khao Lak (n=20) and Koh Phi Phi Don (n=20), Thailand. It traces tsunami survivors' perceptions of vulnerability, determines whether residents felt that the tsunami affected different communities differently, identifies the populations and sub-community groups that survivors distinguished as being more vulnerable than others, highlights community-generated ideas about vulnerability reduction, and pinpoints a range of additional vulnerability reduction actions. Tsunami survivors most consistently identified the 'most vulnerable' community sub-populations as women, children, the elderly, foreigners, and the poor. In Khao Lak, however, respondents added 'Burmese migrants' to this list, whereas in Koh Phi Phi Don, they added 'Thai Muslims'. Results suggest that the two case study communities, both small, coastal, tourism-dominated communities no more than 100 kilometres apart, have differing vulnerable sub-groups and environmental vulnerabilities, requiring different post-disaster vulnerability reduction efforts.

Implementing China's circular economy concept at the regional level: a review of progress in Dalian, China.

The circular economy (CE) concept was introduced in China to address environmental degradation and resource scarcity associated with rapid economic development. Chosen as a demonstration city, Dalian has implemented the CE strategy as a means of conserving water, materials, energy and land. This paper outlines some of the regional CE initiatives that have been successful to date in Dalian, including those focusing on conserving energy and water resources and others focusing on reduced industrial emissions. The paper details the approach used in implementing the CE concept in Dalian, tracing the foci and goals of the program, and the sectoral approach used to implement a CE. Although Dalian municipality has achieved many successes in implementing a CE, our paper identifies several challenges that, until recently, have held back complete implementation. These include: the lack of incentives for older industries to 'green' their operations, the lack of financial support to expand the CE concept, and a broad-based need for heightened public awareness and participation in CE initiatives. Our paper then identifies several responses by Dalian municipality to overcome these challenges, including pricing and tax reforms that serve as conservation incentives, the provision of financial support for CE promotion through budget reorganization, and the organization of CE training programs. Our paper concludes that, although CE initiatives have been successful in Dalian, more is possible and more is needed before Dalian can be designated a true 'eco-city'. The approach used by Dalian can provide guidance for other Chinese cities, although it is recognized that each city must tailor its own approach for differing contexts and conditions.

Introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles: prospects and challenges for Malaysia's transition to a low-carbon economy.

Alternative energy policies targeting the adoption of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) could have significant positive impacts on Malaysia's ability to meet both its carbon reduction goal and its energy security needs. The transport sector generally contributes heavily to carbon emissions, and is also difficult to decarbonize because of the costs associated with many greener options. This study explores the possibility of decarbonizing the Malaysian transport sector by promoting the use of hydrogen vehicles, and analyzes the adoption challenges and economic obstacles (especially public acceptance) associated with introducing HFCVs. This study contends that the adoption challenges of this new technology can be overcome through the use of development strategies outlined. This study also addresses the regulatory framework that Malaysia (and other countries) might use to overcome common policy adoption challenges of HFCVs.

Changing patterns of motor vehicle collision risk during winter storms: A new look at a pervasive problem.

Past research has shown that winter precipitation is an important environmental factor that increases the frequency of motor vehicle collisions that cause personal injury and property damage. Questions remain about the magnitude of winter storm effects on collision occurrence, changes in risk over time, and the role of driver behaviour in conjunction with other factors (e.g., winter maintenance by road authorities) as it affects exposure and sensitivity to hazardous conditions. In response, a matched-pair, retrospective cohort method was used to estimate injury and non-injury collision risks for a mid-sized urban community based on a new definition of winter storm events that, relative to previous studies, captures a greater portion of time during which drivers respond to hazardous weather and road surface conditions. Winter storm definition criteria were applied to weather radar imagery and traditional surface station observations in a unique manner to classify and characterize a set of 196 variable-length storm events in terms of precipitation type and amount, visibility, temperature profile, presence of government-issued warnings, location, and temporal factors. Injury and non-injury collisions increased by 66 and 137 percent, respectively, during winter storms relative to dry weather conditions. Although these increases were higher than findings from similar studies of winter precipitation events conducted over the same timeframe (i.e., 2002-2016), they were found to have declined by a statistically significant amount over the course of the study period and disproportionately to collisions in general. Understanding why this is occurring, and then attributing improvements to specific winter road safety interventions and behavioural adjustments, is a key focus for future research and for informing future risk-mitigating investments.

Greening government procurement in developing countries: building capacity in China.

With increasing environmental issues and depleting resources, the effective application of green government procurement (GGP) is urgently needed and potentially can have greater impacts in the developing world rather than in the developed world. Such an approach can help promote the general goal of sustainable development and address environmental issues through purchasing and facilitating the use of environmentally friendly services and products. This paper addresses this issue by employing a case study on China. We first trace the development of the GGP concept, its spread to Asian countries, and a number of approaches used to expand GGP adoption. We then review current practices in China on GGP, and analyze and identify some of the current barriers and problems in promoting green procurement in the Chinese governmental sector. We finally seek to identify possible appropriate capacity-building solutions, in order to facilitate the application of GGP in China.