countries. They then proceed to develop a set of indicators of climate vulnerability, both general to climate change and specific to individual climate hazards such as floods, drought, heatwaves and sea level rise. Many of these indicators, which have inputs derived from demographic, human and social capital and built environment information, can be calculated all or in part from census data. As a result, they can be mapped at the neighborhood level and joined with a range of other spatial data. In Chapter 5, Deborah Balk and colleagues take on the process of joining census data with other critical climate information using geographic information systems (GIS). They suggest that the processing of census data in National Statistical Offices (NSOs) has historically been oriented to larger administrative boundaries: the country as a whole, provinces and sometimes municipalities. Climate hazards, however, operate on entirely different scales – sometimes smaller, sometimes larger, always cutting across administrative boundaries. Census data need to be processed in reference to the geography of climate hazards, which is far more widely possible in light of the major advances in GIS infrastructure made in the buildup to and implementation of the 2010 round of censuses. The chapter reviews data types and critical choices that need to be made in the processing of census data for geographic use, as well as with joining these data to information on climate exposure like low elevation coastal zones. Part of broader efforts to develop a guide for NSOs on census data for climate adaptation analysis, this chapter can help NSOs deliver the right data products to other parts of government that are developing climate adaptation solutions. The authors also identify some significant gaps in the capacity of NSOs that need to be addressed in order for countries to maximize use of the data at their disposal. The final chapter in this section, Chapter 6 by Landy Sanchez and Regina Fuchs, makes the case for the integration of survey data into climate adaptation efforts. Survey data provide much more detailed information than censuses, often at much more frequent intervals; however, their major shortcoming relative to census data is that they do not provide direct results for small geographic areas. This chapter examines the Income and Expenditure Household Surveys (IEHS), using data from Brazil, India, Indonesia and Mexico, for information useful in understanding climate vulnerability and adaptive capacity. It then uses the techniques for survey sampling to apply the results of the IEHS and other similar surveys to geographic extents. It concludes by examining modeling processes that allow survey data to be combined with other types of data, including from the census, for a variety of purposes from emissions modeling to improving small area estimation of vulnerability.
The Planning and Practice of Adaptation Adaptation efforts under the threat of global climate change continue to need significant guidance, and the final section of this book demonstrates how bringing population concepts, data and practices together can help to make these efforts more proactive and effective. In Chapter 7, Daniel Schensul and colleagues provide a concrete example of how census data can help to strengthen adaptive capacity and reduce vulnerability even in countries considered as least-developed and most vulnerable. Their case study combines i n t ro d uct i o n
Demography and Climate Change-text.indd 19
xix
1/25/13 1:59 PM