Climate change is often discussed in terms of being beneficial for agriculture in Northern European. The projected longer growing season, sufficient precipitation and higher mean temperature are expected to result in increased production possibilities in Northern Europe. Various climate- and policy related factors, however, limit these opportunities. Climate adaptation is therefore needed both in terms of reducing vulnerability but also in taking advantage of an increased production potential.
Vulnerability assessments and geovisualization
Research on vulnerability theory is under constant development. There are many definitions and conceptualizations and that has resulted in many various methods for analysing vulnerability. In my research, I analyse and develop vulnerability assessment methods in order to get a better understanding of the factors that contributes to climate vulnerability in Nordic agriculture. Geographic visualization, geovisualization, is useful when representing and analysing spatial data and is therefore useful for vulnerability assessments containing spatially explicit information. Geovisualization is, in my research, used in a tool to interactively assess vulnerabilities instead of giving static index. With geovisualization, spatial multi-dimensional data can be represented and this opens up for discussion on complex problems such as climate vulnerability. If geovisualization contributes to discussion and increases understanding of the climate vulnerability problem it may facilitate knowledge on needed adaptation response actions.
