Professor Liza Jabbour
Professor in Business Economics
Dr Jabbour's main research focuses on how firm productivity shapes international strategies.
Adaptation and resilience: withstanding the impact of climate change
Climate change, driven by human activity, poses an urgent global threat.
Withstanding the impact of climate change
As COP30 approaches, Izzi Davies-Friend talks with Dr. Liza Jabbour about how we can strengthen communities and ecosystems in the face of climate change. Their conversation highlights the importance of biodiversity, water governance, and sustainable land use in building resilience.
The shared objective outlined in the Paris Agreement is to enhance adaptive capacity and strengthen resilience against climate change, aiming to keep global warming under 2°C while pursuing efforts to stay within 1.5°C. Achieving this requires national assessments that prioritise vulnerable people, places, and ecosystems—particularly in developing countries. Effective monitoring and evaluation are essential to track progress and learn from adaptation efforts. At the same time, economic diversification and sustainable resource management are key to building resilience in socioeconomic and ecological systems. Developed nations should provide financial assistance to help developing countries adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.
The University of Birmingham’s research focuses on understanding, predicting, and mitigating climate impacts through a nuanced analysis of regional and sectoral impacts in four key areas: health, adaptation, food security, and governance. Collaborative efforts are crucial to addressing the climate crisis—ensuring the protection of life, the resilience of critical infrastructure and the security of our food systems.
Findings from the Global Stocktake show that we are not on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. While many countries have developed National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), implementation varies, causing a disconnect between national strategies and local action. Tools like the UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment help identify vulnerable groups, but many countries lack the resources and technical capacity to carry out similar assessments. International frameworks like the Green Climate Fund provide support, but funding is often inadequate and hard to access.
Policy Recommendations
UK national
Biodiversity
- Conserve and restore biodiversity by expanding and connecting protected areas.
- Restore degraded ecosystems to enhance carbon capture and flood management.
- Strengthen pollution control with stricter regulations on persistent pollutants.
- Invest in research/commercial ventures using trees to remove atmospheric methane.
Water
- Enhance predictive modelling of climate-related hazards like floods and droughts.
Infrastructure
- Develop and integrate sensing technologies within infrastructure to ensure smart and resilient systems.
- Work with regulators to deploy emerging technologies like tunnelling and robotics.
Food
- Shift consumption patterns towards healthy diets - reducing meat consumption and moving away from carbon intensive foods.
- Improve access to healthy and affordable food for the vulnerable and food insecure.
International
Biodiversity
- Accelerate tree planting to restore ecosystems and improve community lives, whilst absorbing methane and boosting reforestation efforts
- Integrating biodiversity gains into climate action plans to maximise the effectiveness of climate mitigation and adaptation efforts
Water
- Engage local communities in managing water networks and developing early warning systems for floods and drought
Infrastructure
- Develop master plans for sustainable use of subsurface space, which is often congested and poorly managed
Food
- Strengthen and diversify food markets and supply chains.
- Increase public funding for sustainable farming practices.
- Support vulnerable countries and small enterprises with accessible financing and insurance.
- Promote inclusive food systems governance- creating equitable access to policymakers.
These recommendations are based on research led by experts at the University of Birmingham including:
Professor Vincent Gauci
Birmingham Professorial Fellow
Professor Gauci investigates how the biosphere interacts with the atmosphere.
Professor Nicole Metje
Professor of Infrastructure Monitoring
Professor Metje Nicole is a global expert in sensor technologies for infrastructure monitoring.
Professor Luisa Orsini
Luisa is Professor of Evolutionary Systems Biology and Environmental Omics and Deputy Director of CERJ, the Centre for Environmental Research and Justice. She is Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Alan Turing Fellow, Guest Professor at Robust Nature, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, Co-founder and CEO of Daphne Water Solutions Limited, Founder and CTO of EnVision BioSequencing and BioComputing and Director of the Daphnia facility.
Professor Orsini is a pioneer at the intersection of biodiversity science and artificial intelligence.
Dr Merisa Thompson
Associate Professor of Gender and Development
Dr Thompson explores gender, power, and justice in global food systems.
Dr Xilin Xia
Associate Professor in Resilience Engineering
Dr Xia's researches computational modelling of natural hazards and their impacts.