Unchain
Unpacking climate impact CHAINs. A new generation of action – and user-oriented climate change risk assessments (Unchain)
Unchain is an international research project about analyzing local climate risk together with the local inhabitants at the site. Western Norway Research Institute is leading the project, which has participants from several European countries.
The full project title of the Unchain project is Unpacking climate impact chains. A new generation of action- and user-oriented climate change risk assessments. In the years to come, climate change will continue to affect nature and society in various ways. This creates a number of undesirable climate risks, ranging from the increased risk of flooding in the cities to the fact that drinking water in the tap more often makes people ill due to increased run-off.
Risk can in most cases be reduced through various forms of adaptation measures. Traditionally, researchers and other "experts" have analyzed climate risk, but in Unchain, researchers and so-called "users" - people from outside academia - must work together to develop new methods for analyzing climate risk. The benefit is that one can pay more attention to local knowledge. The goal is that such a method in the next round will make it easier to design effective climate adaptation measures.
Other institutes in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden and France also participates. The Norwegian part of the research is funded by the Research Council of Norway. The total budget for the project is NOK 20 million. The work will begin in September 2019 and will last for three years.