Adaptation and Decision Support via Risk Management Through Local Burning Embers (ARISE)
In Austria and elsewhere, extreme events are expected to exhibit changes in severity, frequency, and duration in the future, while the number and value of assets and infrastructure is on the rise. This changing climate and socioeconomic drivers of risk will cause significant changes in risk landscapes both worldwide and in Austria, and will have a strong bearing on future decision making at all scales. What is needed are options that reduce risk to an acceptable level and finance residual risk via integrated, iterative, and forward looking risk management approaches.
The Austrian Climate Research Program (ACRP) supported ARISE project aims to develop a decision support system for climate-sensitive iterative risk management as a key approach to adaptation in Austria. Using the concept of “Burning Embers – Reasons for Concern” from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change downscaled to a local level, the project attempts to bridge gaps between global initiatives on climate change and disaster risk reduction and subnational risk management and adaptation, supporting the building of resilience and adaptation capacity. In collaboration with the city of Lienz, Austria, a framework and scenarios leading to the development of localized burning ember diagrams have been developed, along with a catalogue of adaptation measures for local stakeholders.
The project addresses the following key questions:
- What are the main research, policy, and implementation gaps in disaster risk reduction for climate change adaptation, relevant for adaptation efforts at the local level in Austria?
- How can global “Burning Embers – Reasons for Concern” be adapted to the local level in Austria to serve as a decision-support in adaptive and iterative risk management? In which ways do the five global Reasons for Concern need to be altered to meet local requirements?
