Guoyi Han - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Guoyi Han

A persistent challenge in disaster risk reduction (DRR) is that development, crucial for reducing... more A persistent challenge in disaster risk reduction (DRR) is that development, crucial for reducing vulnerability to disaster risks, can exacerbate the risks because poorly thought out decisions put people and property in harm’s way. Disasters, in turn, can destroy many years’ worth of development investments. Furthermore, post-disaster redevelopment often rebuilds vulnerability and continues the vicious cycle. While progress in reducing the loss of life from natural hazards in some countries has been made, economic losses, particularly those related to extensive risks in low and middle-income countries, continue to increase globally.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 2011

With more than 60 percent of China's 1.34 billion population, about 50 percent of its most produc... more With more than 60 percent of China's 1.34 billion population, about 50 percent of its most productive arable land, and the world's second largest and rapidly growing national GDP exposed to flooding of various kinds, China has an intractable flood problem. Envisioning potential impacts of climate change and continued intensification of floodplain development driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization, it is very likely that China will see a continued increase of exposure to floods this century. This overview article outlines and discusses fundamental dilemmas, plausible pathways, and key options for managing future flood risks in China in the context of rapid socioeconomic transition and climate change. Fundamental dilemmas are the embedded difficult trade-off choices, from balancing economic development with flood vulnerability reduction, to coordination and cooperation among increasingly diverse actors and across scales. Among plausible pathways, this article argues that a resilience strategy for managing flood risk is desirable. It would require human adjustment to flood, not by aiming for full protection and control but by adjusting our use of floodplains, integrating and experimenting with a wide range of flood risk management options, so that a dynamic balance is maintained between exposure and coping capacity and flood risk is contained at an acceptable level. Embracing variability and uncertainty lies at the heart of such a flood resilience centered paradigm. Reducing the flood toll cannot be had without trade-offs in economic development, food production, and agricultural productivity.

PLOS ONE

As countries underwent the initiation, peak, post-peak, and early vaccination stages of COVID-19,... more As countries underwent the initiation, peak, post-peak, and early vaccination stages of COVID-19, the changing risk perception, coping behaviors and corresponding psychological stress experienced by the public over time was rarely reported. We conducted a national scale panel study using social-psychological data collected from 5,983 questionnaires to investigate the interactions between anxiety level, risk perception and coping behavior during different stages of COVID-19 in China. We found that sustained perceiving worries of being infected, first due to domestic and then global pandemic, contributed to the persistent high proportion of respondents with anxiety disorders which even gradually increased over time (56.1% during initiation to 60.4% during early vaccination). Gender was the strongest predictor of anxiety at all stages, with females having less confidence in COVID-19 control and always suffering from much higher anxiety levels than males even during the post peak stage....

The limitations of existing understanding point to the need for a variety of efforts to improve a... more The limitations of existing understanding point to the need for a variety of efforts to improve assessment and identify measures to reduce vulnerability. These include the need for a robust and consensual conceptual framework for vulnerability analysis, improved analysis of the human driving forces of vulnerability as well as stresses, clarification of the overlaps and interactions between poverty and vulnerability, the tracking of sequences of stresses and perturbations that produce cumulative vulnerability, the role of institutions in creating and mitigating vulnerability, the need to fill gaps in the knowledge base of global patterns of vulnerability, improved assessment methods and tools, and the need for interventions aimed at reducing vulnerability.

<www.CurrentChineseAffairs.org>

common approach between disaster

Climatic conditions are important basis for people’s living and development and also crucial infl... more Climatic conditions are important basis for people’s living and development and also crucial influencing factors for sustainable development of economy and society. The climate shows obvious diversity features in space and time. Therefore, since creation of human on the earth, they live with climate diversity and influence each other. Many archaeological records and written historical records show that impact of climate on human always exists. However, mutual influence degree between climate and human and their activities is different in various space and time scales. Since industrial revolution, impact of human on climate gradually increases, which expands from local scale to global scale in space. Besides, the impact on climatic change speed has never been found in the past 400, 000 years. The whole world feels that risks affecting coexistence of human and climate are increasing, which deviates from the goal for people living in harmony with nature when pursuing “harmony with peop...

Sustainability, 2020

As concerns around water scarcity and energy security increase, so too has interest in the connec... more As concerns around water scarcity and energy security increase, so too has interest in the connections between these resources, through a concept called the water–energy nexus. Efforts to improve the integration of water and energy management and to understand their cross-sector relevance are growing. In particular, this paper develops a better empirical understanding on the extent to which governance settings hinder and/or enable policy coherence between the water and energy sectors through a comparative analysis of two case studies, namely, Los Angeles County, California, the United States, and the city of Beijing, China. This paper examines the extent to which the institutional context enables policy coordination within (vertically) and between (horizontally) the water and energy sectors in Beijing and Los Angeles. To do so, we propose a framework for analyzing policy integration for the water energy nexus based on environmental policy integration (EPI). The results highlight the...

Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 2009

China is undergoing modernization at a scale and speed the world has never witnessed. As climate ... more China is undergoing modernization at a scale and speed the world has never witnessed. As climate change increasingly dominates the global agenda, China faces the challenge of shaping a new growth path in a climate-constrained world. The paper argues that China's current climate and energy policy is, at best, a “repackaging” of existing energy and environmental strategies with co-benefits for the mitigation of climate change. Nevertheless, even though policies are not climate-change driven, the quick (rhetorical) endorsement of low-carbon development and the strong momentum of green technologies indicate that political ambitions are in favour of finding a more sustainable development pathway. A new growth path would, however, require a fundamental shift, with development and energy strategies being set within climate security constraints. The eventual success of this new path remains uncertain.

IHDP-Integrated Risk Governance Project Series, 2012

Natural hazards triggered disasters are products of both natural variability and human–environmen... more Natural hazards triggered disasters are products of both natural variability and human–environment interactions. Natural disasters are thus inherently linked to resilience and development of the coupled human–environment systems. While natural disasters have always been part of the human history, our relationship with natural disasters has been profoundly changing as humans becoming an increasingly powerful force influencing both the hazards and our vulnerability to them.

To achieve sustainable development, understanding of the impact of global environmental change on... more To achieve sustainable development, understanding of the impact of global environmental change on natural resources and the frequency, intensity, and spatial-temporal patterns of all kinds of hazards should be advanced. In recent years, severe losses of human lives and property have been caused by very large-scale natural hazards all over the world, such as the freezing rain and snowstorm disaster in China in 2008, Typhoon Sidr in Bangladesh in 2007, and Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005. Strengthening the study on integrated disaster risk governance has become a pressing issue of sustainable development. Supported by the Chinese National Committee for the International Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change (CNC-IHDP), its Working Group for Risk Governance proposed to the IHDP in 2006 to launch a new international research project on integrated risk governance (IRG) in the context of global environmental change. The IRG-Project was accepted by the IHDP Scientific Committee as a pilot science project in 2008 and was approved in 2010 as a full IHDP core science project under the Strategic Plan 2007-2015. The research foci of this international science project will be on the issues of science, technology, and management of integrated disaster risk governance based on case comparisons around the world, in order to advance the theories and methodologies of integrated disaster risk governance and to improve the practices of integrated disaster reduction in the real world.

Disasters, 2006

Over the past few decades, four distinct and largely independent research and policy communities-... more Over the past few decades, four distinct and largely independent research and policy communities-disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, environmental management and poverty reduction-have been actively engaged in reducing socioeconomic vulnerability to natural hazards. However, despite the significant efforts of these communities, the vulnerability of many individuals and communities to natural hazards continues to increase considerably. In particular, it is hydrometeorological hazards that affect an increasing number of people and cause increasingly large economic losses. Arising from the realisation that these four communities have been largely working in isolation and enjoyed only limited success in reducing vulnerability, there is an emerging perceived need to strengthen significantly collaboration and to facilitate learning and information exchange between them. This article examines key communalities and differences between the climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction communities, and proposes three exercises that would help to structure a multi-community dialogue and learning process.

sei-international.org, 2005

... Blank page Page 3. Linking Water Scarcity to Population Movements: From Global Models toLocal... more ... Blank page Page 3. Linking Water Scarcity to Population Movements: From Global Models toLocal Experiences i Linking Water Scarcity to Population Movements: ... Page 5. Linking WaterScarcity to Population Movements: From Global Models to Local Experiences iii Contents ...

Planning for energy security In the early 2000s, it became obvious that the supercharged growth o... more Planning for energy security In the early 2000s, it became obvious that the supercharged growth of the Chinese economy had reached a level at which keeping up with energy demand would increasingly pose serious challenges. Realising that energy, climate change mitigation, and economic development are tightly interlinked, the Chinese government developed an ambitious set of energysecurity and climate-related policies as a cornerstone of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).

In the context of urban Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Water Sanitation and Health (WASH) servi... more In the context of urban Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Water Sanitation and Health (WASH) services, we examine the two very different sides of private-public interaction. On the one hand, the impact of disconnected private and public sector investments and the ensuing increased vulnerabilities and health risks, mostly impacting on poor communities. On the other hand, the potentials for novel and effective private-public partnerships (PPPs) that reduce disaster risk and build resilience. This study is a literature review using empirical evidence from case studies, from which we construct a conceptual model explaining the building of WASH vulnerability and disaster risk reduction. We identify building blocks (access, siting, mitigation/adaptation and sharing) which work over different scales. Using social learning as conceptual lens, this paper then explores the potential for potential novel and effective mechanisms to trigger and influence a collaborative process between private and public actors, which could build resilience to disasters.

Rare earth minerals have become a strategic resource. Although they are unfamiliar to many, rare ... more Rare earth minerals have become a strategic resource. Although they are unfamiliar to many, rare earths are essential in a range of common electronic applications and clean and green technologies.1 A mix of global and national interests intersect, and often conflict, around rare earths in ways that are likely to be seen with other resources as global power relationships shift and the world enters a new period of resource scarcity.

Progress on disaster risk reduction is often restricted by its failure to acknowledge how develop... more Progress on disaster risk reduction is often restricted by its failure to acknowledge how development processes can act as the root causes of disasters. Addressing the underlying drivers of risk inherent in the failures of development and DRR requires actions that challenge existing structures, power relations, vested interests, and dominant narratives that persist within systems and maintain and perpetuate poverty, inequality, and marginalization – a transformation of the current DRR approach.