Publications by authors named "Patrick Nunn"

A proportion of the Australian public remains sceptical about the reality of climate change, its causes, impacts and the need for mitigatory action. To date, scepticism research largely focuses on factors highly resistant to change, particularly socio-demographic and value factors. This mixed-methods study investigated whether more malleable psychological factors: locus of control; information processing style; and anti-reflexivity, predicted climate change scepticism above and beyond socio-demographic and value factors.

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Water scarcity is a global challenge, yet existing responses are failing to cope with current shocks and stressors, including those attributable to climate change. In sub-Saharan Africa, the impacts of water scarcity threaten livelihoods and wellbeing across the continent and are driving a broad range of adaptive responses. This paper describes trends of water scarcity for Africa and outlines climate impacts on key water-related sectors on food systems, cities, livelihoods and wellbeing, conflict and security, economies, and ecosystems.

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Background: Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have health care systems with a limited capacity to deal with pandemics, making them especially vulnerable to the economic and social impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This paper examines the introduction, transmission, and incidence of COVID-19 into Pacific SIDS.

Methods: Calculate the rate of transmission (the average number of new cases per day between the first recorded case and the most recent day) and connectivity (daily direct flights to the leading airport in each selected island group) using flight history and COVID-19 transmission data.

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The resettlement of communities has occurred throughout time from a variety of drivers. More recently, relocation from climate change impacts has emerged in policy frameworks and on-the-ground initiatives. While there are few case studies of climate-induced relocation globally, this is expected to increase in the future.

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The Green Climate Fund, donors, governments and non-governmental organisations, among others, are pouring vast amounts of financial and human capital into community-based adaptation across the developing world. The underlying premise is that the world's majority-who have the minority of financial capital-are living on the margins and are the most vulnerable and at risk from climate change. Such a reality, coupled with a deficit understanding of the majority world, is resulting in significant implications for how the 'adaptation industry' (those that fund, design and implement projects) go about their work.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Bourewa site in Fiji, from the later Vuda Phase, is investigated for dietary patterns and movement during a time of ecological stress and political change, focusing on burials from 750-150 BP.
  • Analysis of isotopes (δ(13) C, δ(15) N, (87) Sr/(86) Sr) of 25 individuals revealed adults primarily consumed low trophic marine foods, while childhood diets included higher trophic terrestrial options.
  • The findings indicate that the Bourewa community relied heavily on marine resources due to possible difficulties in accessing terrestrial foods, and the complexities of childhood diet are influenced by cultural factors and limited historical documentation.
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We have carried out a thorough mineralogical analysis of 16 pottery samples from the Lapita site of Bourwera in Fiji, using micromorphological techniques with optical and polarising microscopes. While the overall mineralogy of all of the samples is similar the samples clearly divide into two groups, namely those with or without the mineral calcite. Our findings are backed up by chemical analysis using SEM-EDX and FTIR.

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