Author(s): A. S. Kiem; D. C. Verdon-Kidd
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Hydroclimatology; Climate variability; Climate change; Adaptation; Uncertainty
Abstract: There is currently a distinct gap between what climate science can provide and information that is needed to robustly adapt to climate variability and/or change. Improved understanding of interactions between the various hydroclimatic drivers is required to quantify current and future climate related risk and also, importantly, the level of uncertainty surrounding those risk estimates. Is it sensible to continue funding studies that simply take climate model outputs, which we know are flawed, and via factoring or some other approach use these climate model outputs to obtain climate change impacted scenarios? Further, is it wise to then make management, strategic planning, and infrastructure development decisions based on ‘blind faith' in the outputs of such studies? Other possibilities, besides relying purely on climate model outputs, do exist for quantifying risks associated with climate variability and/or change. How these alternate approaches can be used to inform robust adaptation strategies will be discussed.
Year: 2011