IIASA prominent demographers Raya Muttarak and Wolfgang Lutz are co-organizing and debating on climate feedback on population trends at the webinar in association with the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) and the European Association for Population Studies (EAPS).
The prominent contribution of demography in the field of climate change is in understanding how current and future population size, distribution and composition drive climate changing carbon emissions. More recently, the interest in population dynamics in climate change research has also extended to identification of vulnerable populations and their locations. Whilst much research progress has been made, there is no scientific consensus regarding the direction and the extent to which climate change will influence population dynamics i.e. fertility, mortality and migration.
With the global temperatures on course of rising for a 2 to 5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, the assumption that there will be no climate feedback on demographic processes needs to be challenged.
This seminar therefore aims to assess the climate feedback on population trends by considering:
- The direction and the extent to which climate change influences fertility, mortality and migration – the three demographic components underlying population change
- Spatial and demographic heterogeneity in the climate impact on demographic outcomes
- Mechanisms through which climate change influence fertility, mortality and migration
Webinar Organizers
- Susana B. Adamo - Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute at Columbia University
- Raya Muttarak - International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) & Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital
- Alex de Sherbinin - Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Debaters
- Kathryn Grace - University of Minnesota, Chair of PERN on climate change impact on fertility
- Clark Gray - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on climate change impact on migration
- Joan Ballester - Barcelona Institute for Global Health on the early adaptation response to climate change in the area of human health, and implications on future mortality
- Wolfgang Lutz - Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, OeAW, University of Vienna) on population projections and forecasting
- Landy Sánchez - Center for Demographic, Urban and Environmental Studies, El Colegio de Mexico on applications of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways in forecasting the impact of climate change on population dynamics