Using visuals to spark climate change adaptation
There is ample evidence that adapting to climate change is a necessary step at all levels of governance, including local municipalities. Yet, wide acceptance of adaptation measures has not been adopted.
Why? What are some of the barriers to adaptation?
One of the main obstacles is a general lack of understanding of how climate change impacts communities at a local level.
Read this open access paper on the FACETS website.
This perspective argues that visualizations, such as photographs and interactive maps, can be key players in helping communicate some of the changes already happening on the ground. Visualizations have been used in many disciplines to help people understand their current situation and better connect with their surroundings.
An increased awareness of local impacts of climate change with the use of visualization tools may lead to increased engagement in the adaptation process and buy-in for adaptation efforts.
We draw on different climatic and nonclimatic (or human activities) factors that impact coastline change in a community on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, Canada. Using historical aerial photographs, we not only calculated the rate at which the coastline eroded over the last 84 years, but also visualized which areas were more vulnerable to erosion.
To better illustrate the changes that have occurred over time along the shorelines, we invited residents to submit their historical photographs, which were matched with present photographs. This visualization combined with the mapping tool on GIS (geographic information system) allows for better visual connections for residents.
This combination of air and land-based visualizations can be a powerful tool to explain how changes occur and why, fueling a discussion on defining solutions or strategies on how to adapt to long-term impacts of climatic and environmental changes.
Read the paper — Visualizations as a tool to increase community engagement in climate change adaptation decision-making. By Meredith DeCock-Caspell and Liette Vasseur.
