Climate Change Modeling for Ecosystem Services in Western Himalayan District: A Methodological Approach Towards Sustainability Science

Forest and climate change in the inner-Alpine dry region of Visp Over the past decades, observed increases in temperature have been particularly pronounced in mountain regions. If this trend should continue in the 21st Century, frequency and intensity of droughts will increase, and will pose major challenges for forest management. Under current conditions drought-related tree mortality is already an important factor of forest ecosystems in dry inner-Alpine valleys. Here we assess the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to climate change and evaluate alternative forest management strategies in the Visp region. We integrate data from forest monitoring plots, field experiments and dynamic forests models to evaluate how the forest ecosystem services timber production, protection against natural hazards, carbon storage and biodiver-sity will be impacted. Our results suggest that at dry low elevation sites the drought tolerance of native tree species will be exceeded so that in the longer term a transition to more drought-adapted species should be considered. At medium elevations, drought and insect disturbances as by bark beetles are projected to be important for forest development, while at high elevations forests are projected to expand and grow better. All of the ecosystem services that we considered are projected to be impacted by changing forest conditions, with the specific impacts often being elevation-dependent. In the medium term, forest management that aims to increase the resilience of forests to drought can help maintain forest ecosystem services temporarily. However, our results suggest that relatively rigid management interventions are required to achieve significant effects. By using a combination of environmental monitoring, field experiments and modeling, we are able to gain insight into how forest ecosystem, and the services they provide, will respond to future changes.

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Climate change assessment impacts on the coastal area of Maliakos Gulf, Greece

Journal of Water and Climate Change ◽

10.2166/wcc.2019.209 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 1235-1249 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. Mentzafou ◽

A. Conides ◽

E. Dimitriou

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Economic Development ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Coastal Area ◽

Economic Value ◽

Wetland Loss ◽

Mitigation Planning ◽

Socio Economic Development ◽

Climate Change Assessment ◽

Adaptation And Mitigation

Abstract Coastal ecosystems are linked to socio-economic development, but simultaneously, are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change and sea level rise (SLR). Within this scope, detailed topographic data resources of Spercheios River and Maliakos Gulf coastal area in Greece, combined with information concerning the economic value of the most important sectors of the area (wetland services, land property, infrastructure, income) were employed, so as to examine the impacts of three SLR scenarios, compiled based on the most recent regional projections reviewed. Based on the results, in the case of 0.3 m, 0.6 m and 1.0 m SLR, the terrestrial zone to be lost was estimated to be 6.2 km2, 18.9 km2 and 31.1 km2, respectively. For each scenario examined, wetlands comprise 68%, 41% and 39% of the total area lost, respectively, reflecting their sensitivity to even small SLR. The total economic impact of SLR was estimated to be 75.4 × 106 €, 161.7 × 106 € and 510.7 × 106 € for each scenario, respectively (3.5%, 7.5% and 23.7% of the gross domestic product of the area), 19%, 17% and 8% of which can be attributed to wetland loss. The consequences of SLR to the ecosystem services provided are indisputable, while adaptation and mitigation planning is required.

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Interrogating Climate Adaptation Financing in Zimbabwe: Proposed Direction

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126517 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6517

Author(s):

Innocent Chirisa ◽

Trynos Gumbo ◽

Veronica N. Gundu-Jakarasi ◽

Washington Zhakata ◽

Thomas Karakadzai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Developing Countries ◽

Climate Adaptation ◽

Global Climate ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Infrastructure Development ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Coastal Zones ◽

Resource Base

Reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing the long-term coping capacities of rural or urban settlements to negative climate change impacts have become urgent issues in developing countries. Developing countries do not have the means to cope with climate hazards and their economies are highly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and coastal zones. Like most countries in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe suffers from climate-induced disasters. Therefore, this study maps critical aspects required for setting up a strong financial foundation for sustainable climate adaptation in Zimbabwe. It discusses the frameworks required for sustainable climate adaptation finance and suggests the direction for success in leveraging global climate financing towards building a low-carbon and climate-resilient Zimbabwe. The study involved a document review and analysis and stakeholder consultation methodological approach. The findings revealed that Zimbabwe has been significantly dependent on global finance mechanisms to mitigate the effects of climate change as its domestic finance mechanisms have not been fully explored. Results revealed the importance of partnership models between the state, individuals, civil society organisations, and agencies. Local financing institutions such as the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) have been set up. This operates a Climate Finance Facility (GFF), providing a domestic financial resource base. A climate change bill is also under formulation through government efforts. However, numerous barriers limit the adoption of adaptation practices, services, and technologies at the scale required. The absence of finance increases the vulnerability of local settlements (rural or urban) to extreme weather events leading to loss of life and property and compromised adaptive capacity. Therefore, the study recommends an adaptation financing framework aligned to different sectoral policies that can leverage diverse opportunities such as blended climate financing. The framework must foster synergies for improved impact and implementation of climate change adaptation initiatives for the country.

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Analysing the Impact of Climate Change on Hydrological Ecosystem Services in Laguna del Sauce (Uruguay) Using the SWAT Model and Remote Sensing Data

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13102014 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 2014

Author(s):

Celina Aznarez ◽

Patricia Jimeno-Sáez ◽

Adrián López-Ballesteros ◽

Juan Pablo Pacheco ◽

Javier Senent-Aparicio

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Remote Sensing ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Water Resources ◽

Swat Model ◽

Remote Sensing Data ◽

Erosion Control ◽

Sensing Data ◽

Extreme Precipitation Events ◽

The Impact

Assessing how climate change will affect hydrological ecosystem services (HES) provision is necessary for long-term planning and requires local comprehensive climate information. In this study, we used SWAT to evaluate the impacts on four HES, natural hazard protection, erosion control regulation and water supply and flow regulation for the Laguna del Sauce catchment in Uruguay. We used downscaled CMIP-5 global climate models for Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 projections. We calibrated and validated our SWAT model for the periods 2005–2009 and 2010–2013 based on remote sensed ET data. Monthly NSE and R2 values for calibration and validation were 0.74, 0.64 and 0.79, 0.84, respectively. Our results suggest that climate change will likely negatively affect the water resources of the Laguna del Sauce catchment, especially in the RCP 8.5 scenario. In all RCP scenarios, the catchment is likely to experience a wetting trend, higher temperatures, seasonality shifts and an increase in extreme precipitation events, particularly in frequency and magnitude. This will likely affect water quality provision through runoff and sediment yield inputs, reducing the erosion control HES and likely aggravating eutrophication. Although the amount of water will increase, changes to the hydrological cycle might jeopardize the stability of freshwater supplies and HES on which many people in the south-eastern region of Uruguay depend. Despite streamflow monitoring capacities need to be enhanced to reduce the uncertainty of model results, our findings provide valuable insights for water resources planning in the study area. Hence, water management and monitoring capacities need to be enhanced to reduce the potential negative climate change impacts on HES. The methodological approach presented here, based on satellite ET data can be replicated and adapted to any other place in the world since we employed open-access software and remote sensing data for all the phases of hydrological modelling and HES provision assessment.

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Investigating the impacts of climate change on ecosystem services in UK agro-ecosystems: An application of the DPSIR framework

Land Use Policy ◽

10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105394 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 105 ◽

pp. 105394

Author(s):

Ellen D. Moss ◽

Darren M. Evans ◽

Jonathan P. Atkins

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Dpsir Framework ◽

Impacts Of Climate Change

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The Effects of Biotic and Abiotic Factors on the Community Dynamics in a Mountain Subtropical Forest

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12040427 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 427

Author(s):

Tianyang Zhou ◽

Jiaxin Zhang ◽

Yunzhi Qin ◽

Mingxi Jiang ◽

Xiujuan Qiao

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Forest Dynamics ◽

Community Dynamics ◽

Abiotic Factors ◽

Subtropical Forest ◽

Above Ground Biomass ◽

Short Term ◽

Forest Ecosystem Services ◽

Number Of Individuals

From supporting wood production to mitigating climate change, forest ecosystem services are crucial to the well-being of humans. Understanding the mechanisms that drive forest dynamics can help us infer how to maintain forest ecosystem services and how to improve predictions of forest dynamics under climate change. Despite the growing number of studies exploring above ground biomass (AGB) dynamics, questions of dynamics in biodiversity and in number of individuals still remain unclear. Here, we first explored the patterns of community dynamics in different aspects (i.e., AGB, density and biodiversity) based on short-term (five years) data from a 25-ha permanent plot in a subtropical forest in central China. Second, we examined the relationships between community dynamics and biodiversity and functional traits. Third, we identified the key factors affecting different aspects of community dynamics and quantified their relative contributions. We found that in the short term (five years), net above ground biomass change (ΔAGB) and biodiversity increased, while the number of individuals decreased. Resource-conservation traits enhanced the ΔAGB and reduced the loss in individuals, while the resource-acquisition traits had the opposite effect. Furthermore, the community structure contributed the most to ΔAGB; topographic variables and soil nutrients contributed the most to the number of individuals; demographic process contributed the most to biodiversity. Our results indicate that biotic factors mostly affected the community dynamics of ΔAGB and biodiversity, while the number of individuals was mainly shaped by abiotic factors. Our work highlighted that the factors influencing different aspects of community dynamics vary. Therefore, forest management practices should be formulated according to a specific protective purpose.

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Iberian Halophytes as Agroecological Solutions for Degraded Lands and Biosaline Agriculture

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13021005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 1005

Author(s):

Bernardo Duarte ◽

Isabel Caçador

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Fatty Acids ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Essential Fatty Acids ◽

Soil Health ◽

Mediterranean Area ◽

Agricultural Products ◽

Animal Nutrition ◽

Adverse Conditions ◽

Green Solution

Research on biosaline agriculture has been increasing worldwide in recent years. In this respect, the Iberian halophyte diversity present a high-value ecological solution to be implemented for biosaline-based agroecosystems. The research on these halophytic species has been increasing worldwide and, in the recent years, especially in terms saline agriculture adaptation, osmophysiology and nutraceutical potential, highlighting the importance and potential of these species in terms of agrosolutions. The Mediterranean area has high biodiversity in terms of endemic halophytic vegetation (ca. 62 species), providing an alternative pool of potential new agricultural products to be cultivated in adverse conditions. Besides being highly diverse, most of these species are endemic and present a perennial life cycle with several applications in terms of food, forage, nutraceutical, feedstock and remediation. More specifically, the Iberian halophytic flora shows potential as resources of essential fatty acids, minerals and antioxidants—all very important for human and animal nutrition. Alongside the establishment of halophyte agroecological solutions is the provision of key ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and soil rehabilitation. Moreover, halophyte-based ecosystems provide additional recognized ecosystem services, beyond the final product production, by improving soil health, ecosystem biodiversity and storing large amounts of carbon, thereby increasing the ecosystem resilience to climate change and offering a green solution against climate change.

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Dryland Degradation and Expansion: Implications for Mexican Policies from the Earth System Perspective

Environmental Policy and Law ◽

10.3233/epl-201024 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Gabriel Lopez Porras

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Science Policy ◽

Land Degradation ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

Large Scale ◽

Earth System ◽

Sustainable Land Management ◽

System Perspective ◽

The Earth

Despite international efforts to stop dryland degradation and expansion, current dryland pathways are predicted to result in large-scale migration, growing poverty and famine, and increasing climate change, land degradation, conflicts and water scarcity. Earth system science has played a key role in analysing dryland problems, and has been even incorporated in global assessments such as the ones made by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. However, policies addressing dryland degradation, like the ‘Mexican programme for the promotion of sustainable land management’, do not embrace an Earth system perspective, so they do not consider the complexity and non-linearity that underlie dryland problems. By exploring how this Mexican programme could integrate the Earth system perspective, this paper discusses how ’Earth system’ policies could better address dryland degradation and expansion in the Anthropocene.

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Envisaged transfer projects: New technologies in the water sustainability

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1466 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Naseer Ahmed Abbasi ◽

Xiangzhou Xu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

New Technologies ◽

Global Climate ◽

Water Shortage ◽

Environmental Aspects ◽

Water Shortages ◽

The World

Abstracts: Influenced by global climate change, water shortages and other extreme weather, water scarcity in the world is an alarming sign. This article provides evidences regarding the Tunnel and Tianhe project&#8217;s feasibility and their technical, financial, political, socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Such as how to utilize the water vapour in the air and to build a 1000 km long tunnel project to fulfill the goal of solving water shortage in China. The projects are promising to solve the problem of water, food and drought in the country. In addition, the telecoupling framework helps to effectively understand and manage ecosystem services, as well as the different challenges associated with them. Such efforts can help find the ways for proper utilization of water resources and means of regulation.Key words: Sustainability; water shortage; transfer project

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