scholarly journals Defining Climate-Smart Forestry

2021 ◽  
pp. 35-58
Author(s):  
Andrew Weatherall ◽  
Gert-Jan Nabuurs ◽  
Violeta Velikova ◽  
Giovanni Santopuoli ◽  
Bożydar Neroj ◽  
...  

AbstractClimate-Smart Forestry (CSF) is a developing concept to help policymakers and practitioners develop focused forestry governance and management to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Within the EU COST Action CA15226, CLIMO (Climate-Smart Forestry in Mountain Regions), a CSF definition was developed considering three main pillars: (1) adaptation to climate change, (2) mitigation of climate change, and (3) the social dimension. Climate mitigation occurs through carbon (C) sequestration by trees, C storage in vegetation and soils, and C substitution by wood. However, present and future climate mitigation depends on the adaptation of trees, woods, and forests to adapt to climate change, which is also driven by societal change.Criteria and Indicators (C & I) can be used to assess the climate smartness of forestry in different conditions, and over time. A suite of C & I that quantify the climate smartness of forestry practices has been developed by experts as guidelines for CSF. This chapter charts the development of this definition, presents initial feedback from forest managers across Europe, and discusses other gaps and uncertainties, as well as potential future perspectives for the further evolution of this concept.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 20200038
Author(s):  
Tamara Jane Zelikova

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) represents a suite of pathways to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change. The importance of CDR has expanded in recent years as emission reductions are not at pace to meet climate goals. This CDR-themed issue brings together diverse perspectives in order to identify opportunities to integrate across CDR disciplines, create a more holistic research agenda and inform how CDR is deployed. The individual papers within the issue discuss engineered and nature-based CDR approaches as well as the broader social and behavioural dimensions of CDR development and deployment. Here, I summarize the main take-aways from these individual papers and present a path for integrating key lessons across disciplines to ensure CDR is scaled equitably and sustainably to deliver on its climate mitigation promise.


Climate Law ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 279-319
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Richardson

Climate change has multifaceted aesthetic dimensions of legal significance. Global warming alters the aesthetic properties of nature, and further aesthetic changes are precipitated by climate mitigation and adaptation responses of impacted societies. The social and political struggles to influence climate change law are also influenced by aesthetics, as environmental activists and artists collaborate to influence public opinion, while conversely the business sector through its marketing and other aesthetic communications tries to persuade consumers of its climate-friendly practices to forestall serious action on global warming. This article distils and analyses these patterns in forging a novel account of the role of aesthetics in climate change law and policy, and it makes conclusions on how this field of law should consider aesthetic values through ‘curatorial’ guidance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 416-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renato J. Orsato ◽  
José Guilherme Ferraz de Campos ◽  
Simone R. Barakat

The literature discussing social learning for Anticipatory Adaptation to Climate Change (AACC) has largely been developed at the societal level of analysis. However, how private companies build resilience and reduce damage to their private goods remains underexplored. Since climate change involves high levels of uncertainty and complexity, companies seeking to proactively adapt to climate change are required to search for specific and nontraditional knowledge. In order to contribute to this discussion, we investigated how a community of practice promotes social learning for AACC. We access the social learning emerging from the community of practice by developing a framework that can also be applied to other complex problems faced by companies. We found evidence of the centrality of social learning for the development of strategies and practices addressing grand corporate challenges, such as AACC. The results contribute to both the literature of social learning and the practice of sustainability management.


Author(s):  
Clara Inés Pardo Martínez ◽  
William H. Alfonso P.

Purpose This research analyses and evaluates the trends and perspectives of climate change in Colombia. This study aims to understand the main ideas and concepts of climate change in five regions of the country by analysing attitudes and values, information habits, institutionalism and the social appropriation of science and technology. Design/methodology/approach The research study involved a focus group technique. Ten focus groups in five regions of the country, including rural regions, were administered. The selection of cities and municipalities in this study took into account vulnerability scenarios based on the two criteria of temperature and precipitation for the 2011-2040 period. Findings The participants of the focus groups believe that climate change began 10 years ago and that human activities have caused climate change. The main effects of climate change are believed to be droughts and floods that have appeared in the past several years and have negatively impacted agricultural activities and the quality of life of the population. Moreover, the participants believe that it is important to design and apply adequate measures to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Originality/value This study makes an important contribution to the extant climate change literature by identifying and categorising the main ideas and knowledge on this issue from the perspective of the population in Colombia. In developing countries with high climate change vulnerability, it is especially important to analyse this issue to determine relevant official policy instruments that could promote adequate actions and instruments to prevent, adapt to and mitigate climate change.


2021 ◽  
Vol 244 ◽  
pp. 06011
Author(s):  
Zinaida Ivanova ◽  
Michael Eichner

The authors of the article are raising current issues related to climate change and global warming. Not all the countries are responding to these processes the same way and undertake joint complex efforts to mitigate climate change impacts. The authors have analyzed the existing legislations and actions for adaptation to climate change in the EU and separate European countries. “Covenant of Mayors”, ADAPT program, Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe are considered in detail. Informational and awareness-raising work of state and educational entities is one of the main necessary actions to mitigate climate change negative impacts. The article presents the results of the opinion poll made by the European Social Survey, “Russian Public Opinion Research Center” (JSC “VCIOM”) and the investigations of German State Development Bank KfW on how citizens perceive climate change processes, their sense of personal responsibility and personal reaction. Also a brief review of educational programs of builders, urban developers and architects in European and Russian universities is added to the article. The conclusion of the authors is as such: it is necessary to intensify legislative measures for adaptation of cities to climate change, the stronger control of the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and coordinated actions in one region are needed. It is necessary to pay careful attention to climatic education of the students – future builders and urban developers.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sikstus Gusli ◽  
Sri Sumeni ◽  
Riyami Sabodin ◽  
Ikram Hadi Muqfi ◽  
Mustakim Nur ◽  
...  

Belowground roles of agroforestry in climate change mitigation (C storage) and adaptation (reduced vulnerability to drought) are less obvious than easy-to-measure aspects aboveground. Documentation on these roles is lacking. We quantified the organic C concentration (Corg) and soil physical properties in a mountainous landscape in Sulawesi (Indonesia) for five land cover types: secondary forest (SF), multistrata cocoa–based agroforestry (CAF) aged 4–5 years (CAF4), 10–12 years (CAF10), 17–34 years (CAF17), and multistrata (mixed fruit and timber) agroforest (MAF45) aged 45–68 years. With four replicate plots per cover type, we measured five pools of C-stock according to IPCC guidelines, soil bulk density (BD), macro porosity (MP), hydraulic conductivity (Ks), and available water capacity of the soil (AWC). The highest C-stock, in SF, was around 320 Mg ha−1, the lowest, 74 Mg ha−1, was in CAF4, with the older agroforestry systems being intermediate with 120 to 150 Mg ha−1. Soil compaction after forest conversion led to increased BD and reduced MP, Ks, and AWC. Older agroforestry partly recovered buffering: AWC per m of rooted soil profile increased by 5.7 mm per unit (g kg−1) increase of Corg. The restored AWC can support about a week’s worth of evapotranspiration without rain, assisting in climate change adaptation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Nyaradzo Dhliwayo ◽  
Nelson Chanza ◽  
Anton De Wit

There is now considerable interest to understand how local communities experiencing climatic risks can benefit from climate change responses. As this agenda unfolds, there is need to understand the impact of climate-related interventions from the perspective of local populations targeted by such projects. Existing assessment approaches tend to concentrate on the environmental and economic impacts of projects that minimise greenhouse gas emissions. This study assesses the social aspect of a domestic biogas project that was intended to address the twin challenges of poverty and climate change in Sogwala village, Zimbabwe. A three-tier methodological execution process was adopted, involving field reconnaissance, household survey and key informant interviews. The focus was on measuring the social dimension of the changes brought about by the project, from the experiences of participating households. With a consciousness of assessment challenges associated with community projects, social capital parameters were used to assess the project’s contribution to the social well-being of the villagers. Overall, results show that the biogas project has the potential to facilitate social development through improved trust and social networks. Despite the contested climatic benefits associated with small-scale household biogas digesters, projects of this nature can enhance community relationships and networks, upon which other development interventions can be operationalised.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Urban ◽  
Davina Vačkářová ◽  
Tomas Badura

Adaptation and mitigation are both essential components of strategies that aim to decrease risks associated with climate change. A number of existing studies, however, suggest that the two might be negatively affecting each other – climate adaptation might decrease mitigation efforts and vice versa. We have examined these effects in five experimental studies carried out in four countries (total N = 4,800) and have used Bayesian analysis to evaluate the strength of empirical support for such effects. We did not find any evidence that compensation between climate mitigation and adaptation takes place. On the contrary, we found some evidence, albeit rather weak, that prior focus on adaptation measures increases the subsequent tendency to engage in mitigation behavior; this effect is likely to be driven by an increase in worry about the impacts of climate change that results from a prior focus on climate adaptation. If anything, offering adaptation options may increase the tendency to mitigate climate change.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammcise Apply ◽  
Francklin Benjamin ◽  
Lucainson Raymond ◽  
Daphnée Michel ◽  
Daphenide St Louis ◽  
...  

Faced with the threats posed by climate change to global public health in the 21st century, the island of Haiti has a duty to inform the population and disseminate knowledge on the health consequences of the phenomenon. The effects of climate change are imminent for the country. In terms of health, the consequences will particularly accentuate the prevalence of endemic diseases, water-borne and infectious pathologies, malnutrition and undernourishment. Also, information on this issue must be widely disseminated through environmental and health education in order to raise awareness in the population and encourage them to modify their daily lifestyles through mitigation and adaptation. Previous work on strategies for popularizing scientific knowledge has shown that culture and poverty constitute obstacles to changes in behavior favoring mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The study of the Social Representations of the populations or social groups concerned makes it possible to discarded them.. From this point of view, this article questions and analyzes the social representations of vector pathologies including Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika among the residents of Jalousie, one of the vulnerable neighborhoods of the Metropolitan Region of Port-au-Prince (MRPP - Haiti). This work highlights the link established by the population of Jalousie between climate change and the transmission of the vector-borne diseases mentioned. It does this by considering elements of Haitian popular knowledge likely to build understanding that combines the prevention and symptomatology of these pathologies with knowledge of public hygiene and supernatural phenomena. The survey carried out on a representative sample of 121 residents of the Jalousie district, a slum area of MRPP, shows that vector-borne diseases are assimilated with epidemics and their transmission due to changes in the seasons (temperature change: hot weather, rainy weather in Haiti).


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