Cargando…

Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning

Climate change poses multiple risks to the population of Lima, the largest city and capital of Peru, located on the Pacific coast in a desert ecosystem. These risks include increased water scarcity, increased heat, and the introduction and emergence of vector-borne and other climate sensitive diseas...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Siña, Mariella, Wood, Rachel C., Saldarriaga, Enrique, Lawler, Joshua, Zunt, Joseph, Garcia, Patricia, Cárcamo, César
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4725729/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26808087
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147201
_version_ 1782411673763577856
author Siña, Mariella
Wood, Rachel C.
Saldarriaga, Enrique
Lawler, Joshua
Zunt, Joseph
Garcia, Patricia
Cárcamo, César
author_facet Siña, Mariella
Wood, Rachel C.
Saldarriaga, Enrique
Lawler, Joshua
Zunt, Joseph
Garcia, Patricia
Cárcamo, César
author_sort Siña, Mariella
collection PubMed
description Climate change poses multiple risks to the population of Lima, the largest city and capital of Peru, located on the Pacific coast in a desert ecosystem. These risks include increased water scarcity, increased heat, and the introduction and emergence of vector-borne and other climate sensitive diseases. To respond to these threats, it is necessary for the government, at every level, to adopt more mitigation and adaptation strategies. Here, focus groups were conducted with representatives from five Lima municipalities to determine priorities, perception of climate change, and decision-making processes for implementing projects within each municipality. These factors can affect the ability and desire of a community to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The results show that climate change and other environmental factors are of relatively low priority, whereas public safety and water and sanitation services are of highest concern. Perhaps most importantly, climate change is not well understood among the municipalities. Participants had trouble distinguishing climate change from other environmental issues and did not fully understand its causes and effects. Greater understanding of what climate change is and why it is important is necessary for it to become a priority for the municipalities. Different aspects of increased climate change awareness seem to be connected to having experienced extreme weather events, whether related or not to climate change, and to higher socioeconomic status.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4725729
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-47257292016-02-03 Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning Siña, Mariella Wood, Rachel C. Saldarriaga, Enrique Lawler, Joshua Zunt, Joseph Garcia, Patricia Cárcamo, César PLoS One Research Article Climate change poses multiple risks to the population of Lima, the largest city and capital of Peru, located on the Pacific coast in a desert ecosystem. These risks include increased water scarcity, increased heat, and the introduction and emergence of vector-borne and other climate sensitive diseases. To respond to these threats, it is necessary for the government, at every level, to adopt more mitigation and adaptation strategies. Here, focus groups were conducted with representatives from five Lima municipalities to determine priorities, perception of climate change, and decision-making processes for implementing projects within each municipality. These factors can affect the ability and desire of a community to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. The results show that climate change and other environmental factors are of relatively low priority, whereas public safety and water and sanitation services are of highest concern. Perhaps most importantly, climate change is not well understood among the municipalities. Participants had trouble distinguishing climate change from other environmental issues and did not fully understand its causes and effects. Greater understanding of what climate change is and why it is important is necessary for it to become a priority for the municipalities. Different aspects of increased climate change awareness seem to be connected to having experienced extreme weather events, whether related or not to climate change, and to higher socioeconomic status. Public Library of Science 2016-01-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4725729/ /pubmed/26808087 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147201 Text en © 2016 Siña et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Siña, Mariella
Wood, Rachel C.
Saldarriaga, Enrique
Lawler, Joshua
Zunt, Joseph
Garcia, Patricia
Cárcamo, César
Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning
title Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning
title_full Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning
title_fullStr Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning
title_full_unstemmed Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning
title_short Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning
title_sort understanding perceptions of climate change, priorities, and decision-making among municipalities in lima, peru to better inform adaptation and mitigation planning
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4725729/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26808087
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147201
work_keys_str_mv AT sinamariella understandingperceptionsofclimatechangeprioritiesanddecisionmakingamongmunicipalitiesinlimaperutobetterinformadaptationandmitigationplanning
AT woodrachelc understandingperceptionsofclimatechangeprioritiesanddecisionmakingamongmunicipalitiesinlimaperutobetterinformadaptationandmitigationplanning
AT saldarriagaenrique understandingperceptionsofclimatechangeprioritiesanddecisionmakingamongmunicipalitiesinlimaperutobetterinformadaptationandmitigationplanning
AT lawlerjoshua understandingperceptionsofclimatechangeprioritiesanddecisionmakingamongmunicipalitiesinlimaperutobetterinformadaptationandmitigationplanning
AT zuntjoseph understandingperceptionsofclimatechangeprioritiesanddecisionmakingamongmunicipalitiesinlimaperutobetterinformadaptationandmitigationplanning
AT garciapatricia understandingperceptionsofclimatechangeprioritiesanddecisionmakingamongmunicipalitiesinlimaperutobetterinformadaptationandmitigationplanning
AT carcamocesar understandingperceptionsofclimatechangeprioritiesanddecisionmakingamongmunicipalitiesinlimaperutobetterinformadaptationandmitigationplanning