IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v5y2013i4p1461-1479d24656.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adaptation to and Recovery from Global Catastrophe

Author

Listed:
  • Timothy M. Maher

    (Global Catastrophic Risk Institute, P.O. Box 85561, Seattle, WA 98145-1561, USA
    Bard College Center for Environmental Policy, 30 Campus Rd, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000, USA)

  • Seth D. Baum

    (Global Catastrophic Risk Institute, P.O. Box 85561, Seattle, WA 98145-1561, USA)

Abstract

Global catastrophes, such as nuclear war, pandemics and ecological collapse threaten the sustainability of human civilization. To date, most work on global catastrophes has focused on preventing the catastrophes, neglecting what happens to any catastrophe survivors. To address this gap in the literature, this paper discusses adaptation to and recovery from global catastrophe. The paper begins by discussing the importance of global catastrophe adaptation and recovery, noting that successful adaptation/recovery could have value on even astronomical scales. The paper then discusses how the adaptation/recovery could proceed and makes connections to several lines of research. Research on resilience theory is considered in detail and used to develop a new method for analyzing the environmental and social stressors that global catastrophe survivors would face. This method can help identify options for increasing survivor resilience and promoting successful adaptation and recovery. A key point is that survivors may exist in small isolated communities disconnected from global trade and, thus, must be able to survive and rebuild on their own. Understanding the conditions facing isolated survivors can help promote successful adaptation and recovery. That said, the processes of global catastrophe adaptation and recovery are highly complex and uncertain; further research would be of great value.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy M. Maher & Seth D. Baum, 2013. "Adaptation to and Recovery from Global Catastrophe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:4:p:1461-1479:d:24656
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/4/1461/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/5/4/1461/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Pahl-Wostl, 2007. "Transitions towards adaptive management of water facing climate and global change," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 49-62, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heather McMillen & Lindsay K. Campbell & Erika S. Svendsen & Renae Reynolds, 2016. "Recognizing Stewardship Practices as Indicators of Social Resilience: In Living Memorials and in a Community Garden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-26, August.
    2. Seth D. Baum & David C. Denkenberger & Joshua M. Pearce & Alan Robock & Richelle Winkler, 2015. "Resilience to global food supply catastrophes," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 301-313, June.
    3. Christos A. Kontovas & Krishna Sooprayen, 2020. "Maritime Cargo Prioritisation during a Prolonged Pandemic Lockdown Using an Integrated TOPSIS-Knapsack Technique: A Case Study on Small Island Developing States—The Rodrigues Island," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Piero Mella & Michela Pellicelli, 2017. "How Myopia Archetypes Lead to Non-Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Seth D. Baum, 2015. "Risk and resilience for unknown, unquantifiable, systemic, and unlikely/catastrophic threats," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 229-236, June.
    6. Roman Trötschel & Marie van Treek & Caroline Heydenbluth & Kai Zhang & Johann M. Majer, 2022. "From Claiming to Creating Value: The Psychology of Negotiations on Common Resource Dilemmas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-26, April.
    7. Matt Boyd & Nick Wilson, 2020. "The Prioritization of Island Nations as Refuges from Extreme Pandemics," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(2), pages 227-239, February.
    8. Seth D. Baum, 2018. "Uncertain human consequences in asteroid risk analysis and the global catastrophe threshold," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 94(2), pages 759-775, November.
    9. Seth D. Baum, 2019. "Risk–Risk Tradeoff Analysis of Nuclear Explosives for Asteroid Deflection," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(11), pages 2427-2442, November.
    10. Owen Cotton‐Barratt & Max Daniel & Anders Sandberg, 2020. "Defence in Depth Against Human Extinction: Prevention, Response, Resilience, and Why They All Matter," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(3), pages 271-282, May.
    11. Seth D. Baum, 2023. "Assessing natural global catastrophic risks," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 115(3), pages 2699-2719, February.
    12. Baum, Seth D. & Handoh, Itsuki C., 2014. "Integrating the planetary boundaries and global catastrophic risk paradigms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 13-21.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joon Sik Kim & Peter W. J. Batey & Yanting Fan & Sheng Zhong, 2021. "Embracing integrated watershed revitalization in Suzhou, China: learning from global case studies," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 565-595, June.
    2. T. D. Pol & S. Gabbert & H.-P. Weikard & E. C. Ierland & E. M. T. Hendrix, 2017. "A Minimax Regret Analysis of Flood Risk Management Strategies Under Climate Change Uncertainty and Emerging Information," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 68(4), pages 1087-1109, December.
    3. Joon Sik Kim & Peter W. J. Batey, 2021. "Integrated watershed revitalization: the experience of the Mersey Basin Campaign," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 531-563, June.
    4. Wiwandari Handayani & S. P. Dewi & Bintang Septiarani, 2023. "Toward adaptive water governance: An examination on stakeholders engagement and interactions in Semarang City, Indonesia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 1914-1943, February.
    5. Masoud Yazdanpanah & Michael Thompson & Dariush Hayati & Gholam Hosein Zamani, 2013. "A new enemy at the gate: Tackling Iran’s water super-crisis by way of a transition from government to governance," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 13(3), pages 177-194, July.
    6. G. Raadgever & E. Mostert & N. Giesen, 2012. "Learning from Collaborative Research in Water Management Practice," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(11), pages 3251-3266, September.
    7. J. Doummar & M. Massoud & R. Khoury & M. Khawlie, 2009. "Optimal Water Resources Management: Case of Lower Litani River, Lebanon," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(11), pages 2343-2360, September.
    8. Alaerts, G.J., 2020. "Adaptive policy implementation: Process and impact of Indonesia’s national irrigation reform 1999–2018," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    9. Gerardo Benito & Rick Rohde & Mary Seely & Christoph Külls & Ofer Dahan & Yehouda Enzel & Simon Todd & Blanca Botero & Efrat Morin & Tamir Grodek & Carole Roberts, 2010. "Management of Alluvial Aquifers in Two Southern African Ephemeral Rivers: Implications for IWRM," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(4), pages 641-667, March.
    10. Majid Rahimi & Mehdi Ghorbani & Hossein Azadi, 2023. "Structural characteristics of governmental and non-governmental institutions network: case of water governance system in Kor River basin in Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 7029-7045, July.
    11. Abby Lindsay, 2018. "Social learning as an adaptive measure to prepare for climate change impacts on water provision in Peru," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(4), pages 477-487, December.
    12. Rust, Steven & Silberberg, Ben & Turner, Emma & Sharp, Basil, 2020. "Investigating the value of keeping options open for water infrastructure in the Lower Hunter, New South Wales," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Dedeurwaerdere, Tom & Polard, Audrey & Melindi-Ghidi, Paolo, 2015. "The role of network bridging organisations in compensation payments for agri-environmental services under the EU Common Agricultural Policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 24-38.
    14. Regina Lafuente & Ernesto Ganuza & Pilar Paneque, 2020. "Social Resistance to the Hydrological Transition in Southern Spain: Public Support for the Building of New Reservoirs," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Andre Ferreira & Ramesh Teegavarapu, 2012. "Optimal and Adaptive Operation of a Hydropower System with Unit Commitment and Water Quality Constraints," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(3), pages 707-732, February.
    16. Coughlan de Perez, Erin & Stephens, Elisabeth & van Aalst, Maarten & Bazo, Juan & Fournier-Tombs, Eleonore & Funk, Sebastian & Hess, Jeremy J. & Ranger, Nicola & Lowe, Rachel, 2022. "Epidemiological versus meteorological forecasts: Best practice for linking models to policymaking," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 521-526.
    17. Zefi Dimadama & Dimitrios Zikos, 2010. "Social Networks as Trojan Horses to Challenge the Dominance of Existing Hierarchies: Knowledge and Learning in the Water Governance of Volos, Greece," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(14), pages 3853-3870, November.
    18. Marjolijn Haasnoot & Hans Middelkoop & Astrid Offermans & Eelco Beek & Willem Deursen, 2012. "Exploring pathways for sustainable water management in river deltas in a changing environment," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 795-819, December.
    19. Louis Lebel & Jianchu Xu & Ram Bastakoti & Amrita Lamba, 2010. "Pursuits of adaptiveness in the shared rivers of Monsoon Asia," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 355-375, December.
    20. Mehdi Ketabchy, 2021. "Investigating the Impacts of the Political System Components in Iran on the Existing Water Bankruptcy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:4:p:1461-1479:d:24656. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.