Impact Assessment and Application in Response to Climate Change

The Special Symposium on Climate Change and Impact Assessment held at the World Bank was hosted by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) at Washington, D.C. Experts talked about the impact of climate change on projects. They went further to discuss impact assessment and how it can be applied to responding to climate change and understanding associated risks. Ken Markowitz, the Managing Director for INECE commented on the topic.

 

Speaking on a panel on “National Governments: Climate Change and EIA – Beyond North America,” Mr. Markowitz discussed the risks of noncompliance with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) requirements. Several countries have ventured to develop guidelines to integrate climate change factors into project level environmental assessment. Noncompliance with EIA terms could negate the value of assessments.

 

Climate change is likely to affect biological resource productivity and ecosystems, change the pattern of infectious disease emergence and spread in the environment, and increase costs due to weather pattern changes (in transportation, tourism, and other infrastructure. As a result, improvement and adaptation procedures need to be discussed in projects, policies and programs at all geographic levels.

 

The symposium’s aim is to highlight guidelines and examples to design projects and operate/manage the areas affected by changes in weather pattern or water availability due to climate change, such as hydroelectric and other energy facilities, tourism facilities, water supply and wastewater treatment projects, irrigation projects, coastal projects, roads and other transport, and other facilities.

 

The application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Cumulative Effects Assessment is also included in the symposium’s topics.

 

Another symposium was held in October in Denmark.

 

John Wiley and Sons Ltd released a new book "Modelling the Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources".

Comprehending climate, water resource models and hydrological and geological models, as well as their interlinked relationships is necessary to assess (quantitative) the impact of climate change on the availability of water and managing water resources. The book is a platform for experts over the world delivering their stance on each of these factors. The subject matter is rather complex when viewed from the outside; however, in this book, each chapter is crisp and clear containing necessary information. Case studies are included in the book at the end. These contain real-life examples to introduce the potential problems and necessary actions in the assessment of climate change impact on water availability.