Innovative EPA climate policy analysis
Dr Danny Marks and Dr Darren Clarke are breaking new ground with a research project analysing climate policy. The EPA funded project examines potential barriers to climate adaptation progress in Ireland.
Marks and Clarke are using political economy analysis to examine the barriers that impede adaptation policy. It will make a specific focus on those sectors exposed to water-related risks, and identify opportunities for policy reform and implementation, which is a novel approach to the subject.
Dr Mark’s research in general examines the inequalities exposed by the advance of climate change in urban environments. Two recent of his research papers have used political ecology, an approach that critically interrogates how and why economic structures and power relations drive environmental change.
“It is estimated that 55% of the global population live in urban areas and, according to UN projections, the global urban population is expected to reach 68% or 6.5 billion by 2050. Consequently, a higher concentration of people and assets are located in cities and will be exposed to climate-related disasters when they occur. Poor urban planning and governance in many developing countries have weakened their resilience to these risks.”
Focusing on Bangkok, Marks has examined the disproportionate effects of extreme heat on poorer communities, and the impact of coastal erosion and wastewater intrusion on aquaculture farmer’s livelihoods using a political ecology approach.