Climate challenges, vulnerabilities, and food security

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Nelson, Margaret C, Ingram, Scott E, Dugmore, Andrew J, Streeter, Richard, Peeples, Matthew A, McGovern, Thomas H, Hegmon, Michelle, Arneborg, Jette, Kintigh, Keith W, Brewington, Seth, Spielmann, Katherine A, Simpson, Ian, Strawhacker, Colleen, Comeau, Laura E L, Torvinen, Andrea, Madsen, Christian K, Hambrecht, George, Smiarowski, Konrad
• Other Authors: Arizona State University, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Edinburgh, University of St Andrews, City University of New York, National Museum of Denmark, NS Management and Support, University of Colorado Boulder, Transport for London, University of Maryland, orcid:0000-0003-2447-7877
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: National Academy of Sciences 2016
• Subjects: vulnerability; climate challenge; disaster management; prehistory; history; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/26982; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1506494113; http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/26982/1/Simpson_Proceedings_of_the_National_Academy_of_Sciences_2016.pdf

This paper identifies rare climate challenges in the long-term history of seven areas, three in the subpolar North Atlantic Islands and four in the arid-to-semiarid deserts of the US Southwest. For each case, the vulnerability to food shortage before the climate challenge is quantified based on eight variables encompassing both environmental and social domains. These data are used to evaluate the relationship between the “weight” of vulnerability before a climate challenge and the nature of social change and food security following a challenge. The outcome of this work is directly applicable to debates about disaster management policy.