(Cascading) Impacts

Definition

Cascading impacts are those in which the impact of a physical event or the development of an initial technological or human failure generates a sequence of events in human subsystems that results in physical, social or economic disruption.

Thus, an initial impact can trigger other phenomena that lead to consequences with significant magnitudes.

Source

IPCC (2022). Annex II: Glossary [Möller, V, J.B.R. Matthews, R. van Diemen, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.)]. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. In Press. Modified from Pescaroli, G., & Alexander, D. (2015). A definition of cascading disasters and cascading effects: Going beyond the “toppling dominos” metaphor. Planet@ risk, 3(1), 58-67.

Available at https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/

See also: Disaster Impact

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