Workshop on Climate Change
Risk Assessments
Climate Change Impacts Research Group
Background on the Research
Program
•  Last summer, a group of 15 SFU researchers
received funding from the CTEF (Community
Trust Endowment Fund) administered by VP
Research at SFU to conduct a 5-year research
program entitled "Secondary Effects of
Climate Change on Human and Ecosystem
Health: A Risk-Based Approach".
Research Team
•  The research spans the physical,
biological, health and social sciences,
resource and environmental management,
communication, and computing science.
•  It brings together a group of researchers
with expertise in climate, water, air quality,
disease, ecology, human health, risk
analysis, emergency preparedness, and
visualization.
15 Researchers – 15 Very
different areas of expertise
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Diana Allen – Earth Sciences – project leader and groundwater hydrologist
Gwenn Flowers – Earth Sciences - glaciologist
Tim Takaro – Health Sciences – physician-scientist – environmental health
Randall Peterman – REM – fisheries risk assessment and management
Karen Kohfeld – REM - climate-related biogeochemical feedbacks
Ryan Allen - Health Sciences –air pollution exposure assessment.
Peter Anderson - Communication –mitigate disasters/emergency communications.
Charmaine Dean - Statistics and Actuarial Sciences –advanced statistical methods.
Frank Gobas - REM - ecological and human health risks of chemical pollutants.
Craig Janes - Health Sciences - climate change, vector-borne disease, vulnerability to hazards
Duncan Knowler - REM – ecological/environmental economics.
Ken Lertzman, Professor, REM – impacts of climate on forest ecology.
Torsten Möller - Computing Science –visualization and computer graphics
John Reynolds – Biological Sciences – biodiversity and ecosystem conservation.
Robert Woodbury - SIAT, Surrey - interactive computer applications for complex data sets.
Goals of the Research Program
•  Building on previous research in British Columbia (BC) and abroad,
the research team will investigate the secondary effects of climate
change on human health and ecosystem health.
•  We will use risk-assessment approaches to evaluate various riskmanagement options for dealing with the problems arising from
climate change.
–  (a) improve the reliability of estimates of human-health and environmental risks
("risk assessments") associated with climate change
–  (b) improve understanding of those risks in order to reduce their impacts by
identifying causal mechanisms and mitigation measures
–  (c) assist stakeholders and decision makers in using results of risk assessments
("risk management").
•  We will develop novel computer visualization techniques for support
of knowledge translation activities that will enable use of our results
by policy-makers and other stakeholders.
Obj. 1: Better understand sources of
uncertainties/risks
Obj. 2: Improve
methods to estimate
risks
Obj. 3: Improve
methods to
manage risks
To develop a risk assessment framework
for climate change we identified several
research objectives
Obj. 1: Better understand sources of
uncertainties/risks
Obj. 2: Improve
methods to estimate
risks
Obj. 3: Improve
methods to
manage risks
Comparisons
- Workshops
- Review paper
Obj. 1: Better understand sources of
uncertainties/risks
Obj. 2: Improve
methods to estimate
risks
Research projects
- Extend existing projects
- Start new projects
Obj. 3: Improve
methods to
manage risks
Comparisons
- Workshops
- Review paper
Obj. 1: Better understand sources of
uncertainties/risks
Obj. 2: Improve
methods to estimate
risks
Research projects
- Extend existing projects
- Start new projects
Obj. 3: Improve
methods to
manage risks
Comparisons
- Workshops
- Review paper
Develop and apply visualization
methods
- For researchers (obj. 1 and 2)
- For decision makers & the
public (obj. 3)
Step 1
•  As a first step to being able to meet these
objectives, a preliminary review of different
risk assessment methods was undertaken
for each discipline.
•  Randall Peterman will speak to the results.
Synthesis of risk assessment methods
1. Human health
- Diseases
- Pollutants
4. Mitigation of
human disasters
- Emergency
communications
Overlap of
methods
2. Ecosystem health
- Water quantity/quality
- Fisheries science
- Forest science
- Conservation science
3. Environmental
toxicology
Workshop Objective
•  The main objective of this workshop is to
develop a "common framework" for risk
assessments within the context of climate
change that can be used across the
individual CTEF projects.
Synthesis of risk assessment methods
1. Human health
- Diseases
- Pollutants
4. Mitigation of
human disasters
- Emergency
communications
Overlap of
methods
after our
project!
2. Ecosystem health
- Water quantity/quality
- Fisheries science
- Forest science
- Conservation science
3. Environmental
toxicology
Format for Workshop –
until 3pm
1. Familiarize everyone with broad characteristics of risk assessment
methods in different fields.
2. Show the research team how their own research relates to risk
assessment and risk management.
3. Provide five examples of past research projects that use risk
assessment methods in human health, environmental toxicology,
groundwater-surface water interaction, ecological conservation, and
economics.
4. Provide examples of applying relevant visualization methods to
complex data sets with uncertainties to get us thinking about this
topic prior to the workshop in the spring.
Format for Workshop –
after 3pm
1.  Project researchers will participate
2.  Conduct a brain-storming session that will lead us to “the common
framework” for risk assessment
3.  Develop a work plan for next 12 months
4.  Assign tasks