In this UVic Economics Seminar Jonathan Proctor (UBC, https://www.jonathanproctor.org/) will presenting his paper “Identifying climate-vulnerable populations using satellite imagery” on October 24th from 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (in BEC 363).
UVic students and faculty from other departments are welcome to join!
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Abstract: Understanding how climate hazards like extreme heat, drought, and flooding influence human wellbeing is critical for preparing societies for extreme weather and climate change. Yet empirical estimates of how vulnerability to climate hazards differs across space is limited by both a lack of knowledge about and data on determinants of climate vulnerability. Here, we leverage the rich and diverse information within high-resolution optical satellite imagery to predict local climate vulnerability in the U.S. and globally. Including imagery information into empirical models of how temperature and moisture influence agricultural productivity, how temperature influences human mortality and how flood depth damages buildings, reveals substantial local differences in climate vulnerability and resilience and improves predictions of historic and future damages from climate hazards.