The Climate and Health Interdisciplinary Research Programme (CHIRP) at Leeds is based in the Priestly International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds. CHIRP@LEEDS is a joint collaboration across the climate and global health themes, and partners the Leeds School of Earth and Environment, and the Leeds Institute for Health Sciences, including the Nuffield Centre for Global Health and Development. Led by Professor Lea Berrang-Ford, the programme integrates interdisciplinary expertise across Leeds faculties, including strengths in public health, epidemiology, medicine, engineering, climate science, nutrition, and geography.
The Pacific Standard recently named former lab member Jamie Lundine one of their top 30 thinkers under 30. Jamie in 2012 co-founded the Nairobi based company Spatial Collective, which uses geospatial analysis to track trends in crime and violence, unemployment and job creation, to crowdsource crisis information, and to figure out how hundreds of schools are performing.
Her work has been getting noticed—among the awards Lundine’s Spatial Collective has received is a Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations Award and funding from the World Bank. Congrats Jamie! Labbé, J., Ford, J.D., Berrang-Ford, L., Donnelly, B., Lwasa, S., Namanya, D.B., Twesigomwe, S., Harper, S.L., and the IHACC Research Team. 2015. Find PDF here. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change.
Abstract: Vulnerability to the health impacts of climate change will be shaped by the existing burden of ill- health and is expected to be highest in poor and socio-economically marginalized populations. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, is considered a highly vulnerable region. This paper analyses the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of rural Bakiga communities in southwestern Uganda to climate-sensitive health risks. The objectives were threefold: i) identify key climate-sensitive, community-identified health priorities; ii) describe and characterize determinants of sensitivity to these health priorities at the individual, community and regional levels; and iii) assess the adaptive capacity of Bakiga. Data collection employed a combination of individual and key informant interviews, biographies, future storylines, and Photovoice. Three key health risks were identified by the study communities (malaria, food insecurity, and gastrointestinal illnesses) – all affected by local climatic and environmental conditions, livelihoods, land use changes, and socio-economic conditions. Adaptation within these communities is dependent on their capacity to reduce sensitivities to identified health challenges among the potential of increasing exposures. Crop diversification, reducing deforestation, expanding of livestock rearing, transfer of traditional knowledge, and access to affordable health services are among potential strategies identified. We demonstrate significant existing vulnerabilities to present day climate-related health risks and highlight the importance of non-climatic processes and local conditions in creating sensitivity to health risks. Our place-based understanding is useful to inform interventions or policies aimed to reduce exposure and sensitivity and support adaptive capacity as the conditions these communities face are consistent with many other sub-Saharan African countries. TRAC3 and CCARG members Dr. James Ford, Dr. Lea Berrang Ford, Malcolm Araos, Stephanie Austin, Melanie Flynn and Jolène Labbé will be presenting their research on adaptation tracking to the Ouranos consortium Wednesday April 8th. Dr. Lea Berrang Ford will discuss the questions “Are we adapting to climate change?”, “Can we track adaptation?” and “What does adaptation ‘look’ like?”. Malcolm Araos and Stephanie Austin will discuss their research tracking adaptation in urban areas globally and in the health sector in Canadian jurisdictions. Melanie Flynn and Jolène Labbé will present their upcoming research projects on adaptation to climate change in Nunavut.
Ouranos, a consortium on regional climatology and adaptation to climate change, was created in 2001 as a joint initiative by the Quebec government, Hydro-Québec and Environment Canada, with the financial support of Valorisation-Recherche-Québec. Their vision is to provide Quebec and all of Canada with an organization capable of meshing climate science with the adaptation needs of society. |