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© 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.Tropical cyclones (TCs) have devastating impacts and are responsible for significant damage. Consequently, for TC-induced direct economic loss (DEL) attribution all factors associated with risk (i.e. hazard, exposure and vulnerability) must be examined. This research quantifies the relationship between TC-induced DELs and maximum wind speed, asset value and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita using a regression model with TC records from 2000 to 2015 for China's mainland area. The coefficient of the maximum wind speed term indicates that a doubling of the maximum wind speed increases DELs by 225% [97%, 435%] when the other two variables are held constant. The coefficient of the asset value term indicates that a doubling of asset value exposed to TCs increases DELs by 79% [58%, 103%]; thus, if hazard and vulnerability are assumed to be constant in the future, then a dramatic escalation in TC-induced DELs will occur given the increase in asset value, suggesting that TC-prone areas with rapid urbanization and wealth accumulation will inevitably be subject to higher risk. Reducing the asset value exposure via land-use planning, for example, is important for decreasing TC risk. The coefficient of GDP per capita term indicates that a doubling in GDP per capita could decrease DELs by 54% [39%, 66%]. Because accumulated assets constantly increase people's demand for improved security, stakeholders must invest in risk identification, early warning systems, emergency management and other effective prevention measures with increasing income to reduce vulnerability. This research aims to quantitatively connect TC risk (expected DELs, specifically) to physical and socioeconomic drivers and emphasizes how human dimensions could contribute to TC risk. Moreover, the model can be used to estimate TC risk under climate change and future socioeconomic development in the context of China.

Significant advancements have been made in examining the relationship between economic development and disaster losses at the global and national scales, but very little research has been done at the sub-national level, especially in China. Based on socioeconomic and disaster impact data from 31 provinces (municipalities, and autonomous regions) in China from 1990 to 2010, ordinary least squares regression was used to determine the relationship between socioeconomic development and effects of natural disasters. Results showed that economic development played a distinct role in mitigating disaster damages in the whole China and its eastern, central and western regions. There existed a U-shaped relationship between economic growth and disaster losses in the whole China and its eastern region, and an inverted-U nonlinearity linkage in its central and western areas. These findings further confirmed the existence of a nonlinear relationship between economic development and disaster losses. Economic growth had played a more important role in mitigating disaster losses in the central region of China than that in the western one. Further investigations demonstrated that as economic develops, there were fewer deaths caused by natural hazards in whole China and all its three regions. The combination of the lower level of education, higher unemployment rate and greater gross dependence ratio has contributed to the increase in death toll caused by natural disasters, but this trend could be partly offset by wealth growth.

Climate change is already increasing the severity of extreme weather events such as with rainfall during hurricanes. But little research to date investigates if, and to what extent, there are social inequalities in climate change-attributed extreme weather event impacts. Here, we use climate change attribution science paired with hydrological flood models to estimate climate change-attributed flood depths and damages during Hurricane Harvey in Harris County, Texas. Using detailed land-parcel and census tract socio-economic data, we then describe the socio-spatial characteristics associated with these climate change-induced impacts. We show that 30 to 50% of the flooded properties would not have flooded without climate change. Climate change-attributed impacts were particularly felt in Latina/x/o neighborhoods, and especially so in Latina/x/o neighborhoods that were low-income and among those located outside of FEMA's 100-year floodplain. Our focus is thus on climate justice challenges that not only concern future climate change-induced risks, but are already affecting vulnerable populations disproportionately now.

Socio-hydrology has become an important platform for discussion and exchange in current water research. A key challenge is the integration of the social into socio-hydrological logic. To date, most...

Kosten-Nutzen-Analysen im Hochwassermanagement verwenden zur Beurteilung von Schutzkonzepten meist den physischen Schaden als Hauptkriterium. Dies kann zu einer ungleichen raumlichen Entwicklung fuhren, da in strukturschwachen Gemeinden meist weit geringere monetare Werte gefahrdet sind als in verdichteten Siedlungszentren. Der folgende Beitrag zeigt den Zusammenhang zwischen sozialer Gerechtigkeit und Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse und schlagt vor, wie strukturschwache Gemeinden besser in einem neuen Konzept der Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse abgebildet werden konnten, indem im Entscheidungsprozess soziale und psychologische Merkmale der Betroffenen mitberucksichtigt werden. Diese Erweiterung fuhrt dazu, dass insbesondere Gemeinden in strukturschwachen Gebieten die Moglichkeit haben, einen Hochwasserschutz rascher umzusetzen. Mit diesem Beitrag mochten wir nicht nur die Bedeutung der sozialen und psychologischen Indikatoren im Hochwassermanagement aufzeigen, sondern auch, wie der Entscheidungsprozess in Zukunft gerechter gestaltet werden kann.

Abstract Objective Despite Canada being an important energy producer, not all Canadians can access or afford adequate levels of energy services at home to meet their needs, maintain healthy indoor temperatures, and live a decent life—a situation known as energy poverty. Depending on the measure, 6–19% of Canadian households face energy poverty. Health risks associated with energy poverty are documented in countries with milder climates. This study explores, for the first time in the Canadian context, the association between energy poverty and health. Methods Cross-sectional data are from the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey. Analyses are conducted on a sample weighted to represent 14 million Canadian households. The associations between expenditure-based and self-reported measures of energy poverty and self-rated general and mental health were assessed using logistic regression models, adjusted for potential confounding variables. Results The odds of rating one’s general (OR: 1.48; 95%CI: 1.29, 1.70) and mental (OR: 1.21; 1.04, 1.41) health as poor are significantly higher for Canadian adults in households with a high share of energy expenditure to income. The likelihood of poor general and mental health was significantly higher for those dissatisfied with the energy efficiency of their dwelling, and with their ability to maintain a comfortable temperature both in the winter and in the summer. Conclusion Exposure to energy poverty is associated with significantly increased likelihood of poor general and mental health. Given the high proportion of Canadian households facing energy poverty, with demonstrated implications for population health, tackling energy poverty is essential for an equitable energy transition and for climate resilience. , Résumé Objectif Bien que le Canada soit un important producteur d’énergie, entre 6 % et 19 % des ménages canadiens, selon la mesure retenue, sont en précarité énergétique, une situation qui survient lorsqu’un ménage n’a pas les moyens ou l’accès à des services énergétiques résidentiels adéquats pour maintenir une température ambiante confortable, répondre à ses besoins et vivre dans la dignité. Les risques socio-sanitaires associés à la précarité énergétique sont documentés dans des pays au climat tempéré. Cette étude explore, pour la première fois dans le contexte canadien, l’association entre la précarité énergétique et la santé. Méthodes Les données transversales proviennent de l’Enquête canadienne sur le logement de 2018. Les associations entre différentes mesures de précarité énergétique (mesures basées sur les dépenses des ménages et auto-rapportées) et la santé générale et mentale perçue sont estimées à l’aide de modèles de régression logistique ajustés pour des variables de confusion potentielles. Les analyses sont réalisées sur un échantillon pondéré pour représenter 14 millions de ménages. Résultats Les probabilités de déclarer une mauvaise santé générale (OR : 1,48; IC95% : 1,29-1,70) et mentale (OR : 1,21; 1,04-1,41) sont significativement plus élevées pour les adultes canadiens dont le ménage consacre une part importante de son revenu aux coûts énergétiques. Elles sont aussi significativement plus élevées pour ceux qui déclarent être insatisfaits avec l’efficacité énergétique de leur logement et de leur capacité à maintenir une température confortable en hiver et en été. Conclusion Vivre en situation de précarité énergétique est associée à des probabilités accrues de déclarer une mauvaise santé générale et mentale chez les adultes canadiens. En raison de la proportion élevée de ménages canadiens confrontés à la précarité énergétique et des effets socio-sanitaires que cette situation engendre, lutter contre la précarité énergétique est essentiel pour une transition énergétique équitable et pour la résilience climatique.

La notion d’acceptabilité sociale est devenue incontournable dans plusieurs secteurs de l’action publique. Au coeur des grands projets d’aménagement et d’urbanisme, énergétiques, d’extraction des ressources, ou qui concernent l’environnement en général, cette nouvelle norme publique apparaît comme un traceur de changements importants en matière de décision tant sur le plan substantif que processuel. Comment comprendre cette notion ? Comment l’étudier et quelle trajectoire a-t-elle connu au Québec ? Dans cet article nous proposons dans un premier temps un cadre théorique pour étudier cet objet : l’approche par les instruments d’action publique, en la considérant comme un instrument de type normatif visant à favoriser la coordination, la coopération et la prévisibilité dans un environnement complexe, par la recherche d’un ajustement négocié sur des bases scientifiques et politiques. Nous présentons ensuite les principales composantes pour bien définir l’acceptabilité sociale. Enfin nous proposons d’étudier la trajectoire de cette norme sur plus de 40 ans au Québec à travers l’étude des rapports du Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement, le Chantier sur l’acceptabilité sociale (2014-2015) et deux jugements des tribunaux (Cour supérieure du Québec en 2017 et Cour d’appel du Québec en 2020). Nous constatons une montée en importance de l’acceptabilité sociale au cours des décennies, pour devenir le critère ultime de décision en plus de s’institutionnaliser jusqu’à être confirmée dans sa portée juridique et pouvant apparaître comme le chaînon manquant entre démocratie participative et démocratie représentative. , The notion of social acceptability has become unavoidable in many areas of public policy. At the heart of major planning and urban planning projects, energy, resource extraction, or the environment in general, this new public standard appears to be a tracer of significant decision-making changes, both substantive and procedural. How is this notion understood? How can it be studied and what was its trajectory in Quebec? We first propose a theoretical framework for studying this object, that is, the approach by public policy instruments as a normative instrument aimed at promoting coordination, cooperation, and predictability in a complex environment, through the search for a negotiated adjustment based on scientific and political grounds. We then present the main components for a definition of social acceptability. Finally, we propose to study the trajectory of this standard over more than forty years in Quebec through the study of the reports of the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment, the governmental workshop on social acceptability (2014-2015), and two court judgments (2017 and 2020). We found an increase in importance of social acceptability over the decades, to the point of becoming the ultimate criterion of decision and institutionalizing, and being confirmed in its legal scope; it may appear to be the missing link between participatory democracy and representative democracy.

Abstract In a rapidly changing world, what is today an unprecedented extreme may soon become the norm. As a result, extreme‐related disasters are expected to become more frequent and intense. This will have widespread socio‐economic consequences and affect the ability of different societal groups to recover from and adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions. Therefore, there is the need to decipher the relation between genesis of unprecedented events, accumulation and distribution of risk, and recovery trajectories across different societal groups. Here, we develop an analytical approach to unravel the complexity of future extremes and multiscalar societal responses—from households to national governments and from immediate impacts to longer term recovery. This requires creating new forms of knowledge that integrate analyses of the past—that is, structural causes and political processes of risk accumulation and differentiated recovery trajectories—with plausible scenarios of future environmental extremes grounded in the event‐specific literature. We specifically seek to combine the physical characteristics of the extremes with examinations of how culture, politics, power, and policy visions shape societal responses to unprecedented events, and interpret the events as social‐environmental extremes. This new approach, at the nexus between social and natural sciences, has the concrete advantage of providing an impact‐focused vision of future social‐environmental risks, beyond what is achievable within conventional disciplinary boundaries. In this paper, we focus on extreme flooding events and the societal responses they elicit. However, our approach is flexible and applicable to a wide range of extreme events. We see it as the first building block of a new field of research, allowing for novel and integrated theoretical explanations and forecasting of social‐environmental extremes. , Key Points We conceptualize unprecedented extremes as social‐environmental processes shaped by institutional, political, and economic change As social‐environmental extremes become more frequent, there is an urgency to unravel their genesis and the possible societal responses This approach is the first building block of a new field of research in social‐environmental extreme event forecasts , Plain Language Summary The world is seeing increases in a range of extreme events, and this increase may continue or even accelerate in the future, due to anthropogenic climate change. Furthermore, it is often those who are already vulnerable that experience the biggest impacts from these extremes. Yet, there is little understanding of the possible societal responses to unprecedented events. This underscores the urgency of creating innovative approaches to develop plausible scenarios of societal responses and, in turn, mitigate hazards and reduce vulnerability and exposure to extreme events. In this commentary, we develop a truly interdisciplinary conceptual approach to better understand how different societal groups might interact with and respond to future unprecedented extreme events. We combine social science theories describing how different societal groups are affected by, and recover from, extreme events with projections from the literature identifying plausible areas at risk of unprecedented occurrences and local analyses of past extreme events. We see this as the first building block of a new field of research in forecasting social‐environmental extremes that could support governments, civil protection agencies, and civil society organizations to ensure a fairer, improved response to future events.

Flood resilience (resilient flood risk management), which has been repeatedly demanded, can be achieved through the phases of the risk management cycle. There is a vast body of literature on adaptation, disaster risk reduction measures, and effectiveness of prevention, seen through the lens of postdisaster recovery, but oftentimes the existing literature seems to underestimate the impact of financial flood recovery schemes on resilient recovery of individual households in particular. This contribution focuses on how financial schemes for flood damage compensations—their sources, design, and timing—shape the resilience of recovery of individual households. It discusses the dilemma of recovery of whether recovery schemes should be used strategically to increase resilience, or rather serve early restoration needs, equality access issues, and so on. This contribution seeks to unify the current fragmented academic debate on household resilient recovery by focusing on the ambiguous role of financial recovery schemes. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Value of Water.

Background: Past research shows that psychosocial stress and distress predict sedentary behavior and physical activity, but few studies focus on pregnant women. Our objective was to analyze relationships between psychosocial stress and distress with sedentary behavior and physical activity among pregnant women in Canada. Methods: We analyzed objectively-measured sedentary behavior and physical activity at 16–18, 24–26, and 32–24 weeks pregnancy in a sociodemographically diverse cohort of 70 women in Montreal, Canada. Participants completed the Perceived Stress Questionnaire and wore an accelerometer for 3 days that quantified sitting time and steps per day. We used univariate general linear models to analyze relationships between perceived stress with sedentary behavior and physical activity at each evaluation. To assess generalizability, we analyzed relationships between psychological distress with self-reported leisure-time sedentary behavior and daily energy expenditure in transportation and leisure physical activities among a sample representative of 166,095 women in the Canadian Community Health Survey. Results: In the Montreal cohort, we observed a positive association between perceived stress and sitting time, with small to moderate effect sizes (partial η2 = 0.08–0.16). We observed negative relationships between perceived stress and steps per day at the first two evaluations only, with small to moderate effect sizes (partial η2 = 0.08–0.11). Relationships for sedentary behavior were similar in the nationwide sample, but with smaller effect sizes (partial η2 = 0.02). There were no relationships between distress and physical activity in the nationwide sample. Conclusion: Psychosocial stress represents one risk factor for sedentarity, with relationships evident throughout pregnancy and at the population level. Relationships with physical activity are less consistent, but stress might represent a risk factor for low physical activity in early to mid-pregnancy. Results might guide the development of more comprehensive interventions targeting stress, sedentarity, and physical activity. In particular, integrating psychosocial health into interventions to reduce sedentarity, and including concrete guidelines on sedentary behavior in psychosocial health interventions, might be prioritized.

Afin de mieux comprendre la distribution géographique des facilitateurs et des obstacles à la participation sociale des Québécois âgés, cette étude visait à documenter l’Indice du potentiel de participation sociale (IPPS) selon les zones métropolitaines, urbaines et rurales. Des analyses de données secondaires, dont l’Enquête transversale sur la santé des collectivités canadiennes, ont permis de développer et de cartographier un indice composé de facteurs environnementaux associés à la participation sociale, pondérés par une analyse factorielle. En zones métropolitaines, l’IPPS était supérieur au centre qu’en périphérie, compte tenu d’une concentration accrue d’aînés et des transports. Bien qu’atténuée, la configuration était similaire en zones urbaines. En zone rurale, un IPPS élevé était associé à une concentration d’aînés et un accès aux ressources accru, sans configuration spatiale. Pour favoriser la participation sociale, l’IPPS soutient que les transports et l’accès aux ressources doivent respectivement être améliorés en périphérie des métropoles et en zone rurale., AbstractTo better understand the geographic distribution of facilitators of, and barriers to, social participation among older Quebecers, this study aimed to document the Social Participation Potential Index (SPPI; Indice du potentiel de participation sociale) in metropolitan, urban and rural areas. Secondary data analyses, including the Canadian Community Health Survey, were used to develop and map a composite index of environmental factors associated with social participation, weighted by factor analysis. In metropolitan areas, the SPPI was higher in the center than in the periphery, due to an increased concentration of seniors and transportation. Although reduced, the pattern was similar in urban areas. In rural areas, a higher SPPI was associated with an increased concentration of older adults and access to resources, showing no spatial pattern. To promote social participation, the SPPI suggests that transportation and access to resources must be improved in the periphery of metropolitan areas and in rural areas, respectively.