Welcome to SSCCRN
The Social Science Climate Change Research Network (SSCCRN) aims to address the social contexts of climate change and build understandings of how
societies and individuals can respond to the scientific predictions.
The SSCCRN aims to overcome these obstacles through the following methods:
- formal and informal training
- applied research programs
- postgraduate supervision and research
- internships
- information exchange (seminars, workshops, site development)
- staff exchange
Rationale:
Climate change is a global problem that affects everyone. Science has established that climate change is real and that its impacts are going be far
reaching. Impacts include global warming, sea level rise, changes in snow melt regimes, hydrological cycles, and biodiversity decline amongst many others.
Socially and economically the effects of climate change could be catastrophic. For example, it is estimated that in the next ten years alone, there will be
up to 40 million environmental refugees as a result of climate change. Flooding will displace millions, and changes in crop regimes cause famine and
poverty world wide.
There is an urgent need for societies to address climate change issue. Responses include both mitigation and adaptation measures. The costs of addressing
climate change however are likely to fall disproportionately on local government, industries, communities, and workers.
Responding to these changes will require more than good science, but the development of institutional strategies and political solutions that address the
social, cultural and economic factors that profoundly influence how a problem of this magnitude can be resolved at local levels.
In this context, there is a clear need to build the capacity of social scientists to conduct research and policy analysis on climate change. There is an
urgent need also for researchers to find ways of working with industry, government and communities to build programs with real life and useful outcomes.
