News in Japan - August

USA

Adaptation to climate risks: Political affiliation matters. Study takes into account perceptions of New York City residents after Superstorm Sandy A new study reveals that those who affiliate with the Democratic Party have different views than those who vote Republican on the following issues: the likelihood of floods occurring, adopting protection measures, and expectations of disaster relief from the government. Key findings:

• Democrats' perception of their probability of experiencing flood damage is significantly higher than Republicans'. They are also more likely to expect climate change to increase the flood risk they face in the future.
• Democrats are also more likely to invest in individual flood protection measures.
• Less than half of Democrats and a third of Republicans trust the government to address the flood risk posed in their area of residence.
• 50% more Democrats than Republicans in the study expect to receive federal disaster relief after a major flood.

Interestingly, given the above, the researchers find no difference in flood insurance adoption.

Hurricanes are worse, but experience, gender and politics determine if you believe it Despite ample evidence that Atlantic hurricanes are getting stronger, research found that people's view of future storm threat is based on their hurricane experience, gender and political affiliation. This could affect how policymakers and scientists communicate the increasing deadliness of hurricanes as a result of climate change.

For those displaced in historic Louisiana floods, an uncertain future

Other

New meta-analysis shows engineered hard shorelines are a threat to ecosystems (global)  Hardened shorelines reduce species diversity, abundance. "Biodiversity was 23% lower along shorelines with seawalls when compared with that of natural shorelines," observed the authors. Moreover, Gittman and her colleagues noted that overall organism abundance was 45% lower in seawalled areas. One potentially encouraging finding was that biological diversity and the abundance of organisms were not demonstrably altered by other forms of shoreline hardening, such as riprap and breakwaters. The authors report that "some shore-protection structures may serve as surrogate habitats for native epibiota where natural hard substrates, such as oyster reefs and mussel beds, have been lost to overharvest, erosion, and poor water quality." However, Gittman and her colleagues caution that such structures may enable invasive species or have other unintended consequences.

Flooding and drought in opposing mountain ranges

Geological data provide support for legendary Chinese flood

A film about flooding, and what we can do now (UK)