Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse Activity

What climate trajectories and destinations are actually safe, and for whom? Which ones are unsafe and why? This Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse theme brings together interdisciplinary communities to determine pathways and “landings” that preserve habitability, well-being, and food security. We explore potential approaches to identify societal adaptation limits and changes that must be avoided. Additionally, pathways need to consider how to protect global biodiversity and natural ecosystem functioning, as well as indigenous people and cultures. This may involve finding a common framework for defining and measuring safety, giving attention to how various communities are individually affected, and should consider interactions between SDGs, adaptation, and mitigation measures, including geoengineering.

Expected Outcomes:

  • Exploration of diverse approaches to future scenarios that are more relevant outside the climate sphere.
  • Further dialogue on understanding and constraining individual risks, and assigning overall levels of risk to different potential future pathways.
  • Integrate Safe Landing Climates Lighthouse activities in the context of adaptation and resilience strategies across communities and ecosystems, and the impact of these and mitigation actions on SDGs, both regionally and globally.

This effort will draw on results from the other four Safe Landing Climates themes and WCRP activities more broadly. The lighthouse team is also interacting with teams from the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), consulting on how to go beyond AR6 and make a step-change in our integrated understanding of the risks associated with climate change, rather than a continued focus on siloed risks.

Working Group:

Neil Harris (Lead) Cranfield University, UK UK
Lisa Miller (Lead) Institute of Ocean Sciences/Fisheries and Oceans Canada Canada
Peter Alexander University of Edinburgh UK
Ayansina Ayanlade Obafemi Awolowo University Nigeria
Marco J. Cabrerizo University of Vigo and Centro de Investigación Mariña Spain
Mauricio Domínguez-Aguilar Autonomous University of Yucatan Mexico
Felix Donkor University of Education Winneba Ghana
Luke Harrington University of Waikato New Zealand
Natasha Kuruppu Asian Development Bank/Curtin University Malaysia Philippines
Urooj Raja Loyola University Chicago USA
Kevin Reed Stony Brook University USA


Contact: Narelle van der Wel - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.