Coupled Human-Landscape Systems: Risk & Resilience

Projects

Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks

The Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks is a joint research initiative between the University of Bern’s Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research and La Mobilière. The main focuses of its research are hail, flooding and storms, the processes involved in each of these phenomena and the damage that each one causes. The Mobiliar Lab’s work lies at the crossroads between theory and practice, with the aim of achieving results that will benefit the general public. Support for this venture is part of La Mobilière Cooperative’s social responsibility commitment.

Team: Margreth Keiler (Supervisor of the following two), Nele Rindsfüsler (PhD candidate at University Bern), Tsolmongerel Papilloud (PhD candidate at University Bern)

Link to project website: https://www.mobiliarlab.unibe.ch/

2nd Austrian Assessment Report on Climate Change (AAR2) (UIBK)

The aim of the AAR2 is to survey the state of knowledge on climate change in Austria and its consequences, as well as to identify mitigation potentials and strategies, adaptation options and transformation paths. Gaps in knowledge are to be closed in the sense of a climate-neutral society and the status report is to be published in summer 2025. The project is based on the processes of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and is relevant for the implementation of the 13. SDG (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts). Over the next three years, more than 120 scientists will work together on the new, comprehensive climate report for Austria.This project is funded by the Climate and Energy Fund as part of the 14th Austrian Climate Research Programme.

AAR2-Team at UIBK: Margreth Keiler (Co-Chair, Project Management), Anika Donner (Technical Support Unit), Eva-Maria Hummel (Technical Support Unit)

Link to project website: https://aar2.ccca.ac.at/

Side effects of research in natural hazard and disaster risk studies: Analyzing impacts on involved actors - fwf (UIBK)

The interest in participatory and transdisciplinary approaches in research has increased significantly in recent years. Particularly in countries of the Global South, the involvement of non-academic actors in research on natural hazards and disaster risk is seen as promising strategy: On the one hand to solve data issues, while on the other hand to raise awareness and build knowledge among the participants. While there are some studies on the (supposedly) positive effects of participation in scientific research processes, possible negative consequences for the actors involved are often ignored. In addition, the field of natural hazards and risk research increasingly deals with traumatic topics, which makes the way how research is conducted and how actors are involved in it all the more important. This research project investigates how participation in scientific research on natural hazards and disaster risk creates impacts - intended and unintended - and for whom. Using the example of glacial lake outburst floods in the Himalayas, the project will analyze (1) the effects of participation in research processes for non-academic actors; (2) how academic actors negotiate research relationships in the field of natural hazards and risk research; and (3) what factors influence the willingness of non-academic actors to participate in scientific research in the context of natural hazards.

Project Management: Eva Posch (Hertha-Firnberg-Program)

Link to website: https://www.uibk.ac.at/geographie/personal/posch/

CAUTION

Landslides in high-alpine environments – climate change impacts, exposure, and policy implications (IGF)

Landslides rank among the most widespread natural hazards in the Alps and are characterised by a complex combination of geological, hydrogeological, geomechanical and meteorological processes. They occur in a wide variety of geological and structural settings, and as a response to various loading and triggering processes. In the European Alps, landslides at all scales are of particular significance in mountainous countries and cause fatalities and considerable loss each year. With progressing climate warming meteorological factors affecting landslides are projected to change, in magnitude dependent on the emission scenario. However, the resulting change in landslide hazards and associated impacts, such as loss, exposure and vulnerability are still poorly understood. The project CAUTION has been designed to close this knowledge gap. CAUTION addresses areas of interest such as social aspects of climate change and adaptation policies, and communication of climate change for the 14th ACRP call. This project is funded by the Klima+Energie Fonds.

CAUTION Team at IGF: Margreth Keiler and Annemarie Polderman.

Link to project website: https://caution.at/

EMERGENCE

Interdependencies between exposure dynamics, hazard mitigation measures and climate triggers affecting torrential loss events

Duration: January 2024 – December 2026 (36 months)

EMERGENCE Team at IGF: Margreth Keiler , Andrea Mayer, Annemarie Polderman

Project coordinator: Geosphere Austria, Department for Climate Impact Research

Project partner: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences

Project website: https://www.emergence.at/en/

In recent decades, losses from natural hazard have increased in European mountain regions. While there is a scientific consensus that climate change is increasing the magnitude and frequency of many hazard triggers, other reasons underlying loss dynamics remain poorly understood. EMERGENCE contributes to closing these gaps by analysing the spatio-temporal dynamics of triggers of torrential loss events and their interdependencies with the resilience of mountain societies in Austria.

EMERGENCE aims at (1) establishing physioclimatic subregions of Austria; (2) deriving region-specific weather patterns triggering torrential loss events; (3) assessing the dynamics of exposure (elements at risk) and mitigation (protective structures); (4) analysing occurrence patterns of torrential flooding on a catchment level, allowing for an assessment of the main risk drivers and their interdependencies with torrential loss events; and (5) mapping resilience patterns and pathways based on a coupled human-landscape model to unveil dynamic relationships within and between human and natural systems.

Overall, EMERGENCE contributes to the question of how transdisciplinary knowledge creation on triggers of torrential loss events and their interdependencies enables us to understand interactions and feedbacks leading to landform losses and the changing resilience of mountain communities. The insights gained can be incorporated into adaptation strategies in line with stakeholder needs.

This project is funded by the Klima+Energie Fonds (ACRP - Austrian Climate Research Programme, 15th Call).