Walker Update - 21st June 2021

Welcome to the Walker Update, bringing you up to speed with the latest developments from the Walker Institute and the wider climate resilience field. In this edition, we’re highlighting a new paper, pointing you to a great blog post and webinar, and encouraging you to #ShareYourStripes!  

One community:

• A new paper, written by members of the Walker team and our partners from across the University of Reading and beyond, has been published in the latest volume of Climate and Development. The paper, ‘Storylines for decision-making: climate and food security in Namibia’ shows how developing a range of plausible climate futures can be a useful way of providing decision-makers with actionable information even in complex systems where data is sparse.
• Walker Institute Director, Prof Ros Cornforth, recently presented at the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2021. Ros spoke about the World Climate Research Programme’s ‘My Climate Risk’ lighthouse activity, which is co-chaired by UoR’s Prof Ted Shepherd. Ros discussed the need for climate scientists to foster long-term, interdisciplinary partnerships to allow climate risk assessments to begin from a detailed understanding of the local context and the decisions that need to be made (the ‘vulnerability first’ approach) rather than from climate scenarios (the ‘predict then act’ model).

Committed to making a meaningful difference in people’s lives: 

• Have you seen the blog post by Dr Heather Plumpton on value-based decision making (click HERE)? Heather recaps a recent OECD workshop on how to approach loss and damage caused by climate change, and highlights how certain people’s values can be incorporated –   intentionally or otherwise – into climate research and action. But whose values are included and whose are excluded, and how do we get this right? Read Heather’s article to find out!
• Our friends and partners at Farmer’s Voice Radio recently ran a great webinar on ‘The importance of the farmer’s voice in smallholder supply chains’. The webinar included speakers and panellists from businesses, community groups and farmers themselves, and highlighted the importance of listening to and empowering supplier communities in order to create sustainable supply chains. The hour-long event was recorded and is available to watch HERE.

By shaping a climate resilient future together:

• Did you know that today is #ShowYourStripes Day 2021? People from across the globe are sharing images of ‘Warming Stripes’, originally developed by Prof Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading, showing how the climate has changed in the country or area in which they live. You can download your Warming Stripes by visiting showyourstripes.info.

What happened across the world this week?
Please click on this link to access the Global Hazards Weekly Bulletin produced by Prof Virginia Murray and her team at PHE. It contains a weekly summary of global hazards, including recent developments of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Last week's bulletin can be found here.


With warm regards on the Northern Hemisphere’s longest day of the year.
 
The Walker Institute Team