A group of international scientists, including a team from the University of Southampton, have today published their research arguing that current assessments of climate change risks need to take into account what is already being experienced rather than rely only on modelled predictions.
Most current climate models take a “top down” approach by projecting changes such as rising sea levels and changing rainfall patterns, then use these projections to inform strategies that local communities in vulnerable regions can use to adapt. By contrast the researchers have carried out a “bottom up” approach which studies how communities in the regions most at risk have responded to past and present changing conditions and believe that a combination of both approaches is needed to create the most sustainable adaption strategies.
The research team was led by Decclan Conway of Grantham Research Institute at LSE and the team included Professor Rob Nicholls and Dr Sally Brown of the University of Southampton.
Read more at University of Southampton