Integrating value systems and place-based characteristics into climate risk assessments

By primarily centring on biophysical and socio-economic factors, climate risk assessments tend to overlook local stakeholders’ understandings, definitions and conceptions of climate risks. This research seeks to better understand how value systems and place-based characteristics influence how people define, represent and prioritise specific climate risks; and how these aspects can be brought together and harmonized to enhance the legitimacy of climate risk assessments.

We scrutinized the results of ten climate risk assessments focusing on urban warming, heatwaves, droughts and floods that were co-developed in a participatory process with local stakeholders in 6 demonstration regions in Europe engaged in the EU-project VALORADA. We assembled an analytical framework oriented by the literature on places-based approaches to vulnerability and values-based assessment of vulnerability.

We find that the definition and prioritisation of climate risks is associated with values such as Sustainability, Protection, Safety, Freedom, Identity, Social Justice, Fairness, Cooperation, Empathy, and Accountability. Our research also identified conflicts in values linked to the management of scarce resources (water); also, conflicts between environmental conservation and economic development; as well as the imperative of economic development linked to tourism and the resulting increasing risk of wildfires. Building on previous literature and based on our observations, we argue that the identification, definition and prioritisation of climate risks extend beyond biophysical aspects or existential threats, and it is also influenced by core values that underpin society. We conclude by suggesting that place-based, and value approaches provide a better understanding of how localities represent climate risks. Shedding light on this can enhance the legitimacy of climate risk assessments.