scholarly journals Precipitation downscaling under climate change: Recent developments to bridge the gap between dynamical models and the end user

2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Maraun ◽  
F. Wetterhall ◽  
A. M. Ireson ◽  
R. E. Chandler ◽  
E. J. Kendon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
End User ◽  
Dynamical Models ◽  
Recent Developments

scholarly journals Advances in Cereal Crop Genomics for Resilience under Climate Change

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 502
Author(s):  
Tinashe Zenda ◽  
Songtao Liu ◽  
Anyi Dong ◽  
Huijun Duan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Gene Editing ◽  
Agronomic Traits ◽  
Cereal Crops ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Plant Genomics ◽  
Crop Species ◽  
Underutilized Species ◽  
Recent Developments

Adapting to climate change, providing sufficient human food and nutritional needs, and securing sufficient energy supplies will call for a radical transformation from the current conventional adaptation approaches to more broad-based and transformative alternatives. This entails diversifying the agricultural system and boosting productivity of major cereal crops through development of climate-resilient cultivars that can sustainably maintain higher yields under climate change conditions, expanding our focus to crop wild relatives, and better exploitation of underutilized crop species. This is facilitated by the recent developments in plant genomics, such as advances in genome sequencing, assembly, and annotation, as well as gene editing technologies, which have increased the availability of high-quality reference genomes for various model and non-model plant species. This has necessitated genomics-assisted breeding of crops, including underutilized species, consequently broadening genetic variation of the available germplasm; improving the discovery of novel alleles controlling important agronomic traits; and enhancing creation of new crop cultivars with improved tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and superior nutritive quality. Here, therefore, we summarize these recent developments in plant genomics and their application, with particular reference to cereal crops (including underutilized species). Particularly, we discuss genome sequencing approaches, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and genome-wide association (GWAS) studies, directed mutagenesis, plant non-coding RNAs, precise gene editing technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9, and complementation of crop genotyping by crop phenotyping. We then conclude by providing an outlook that, as we step into the future, high-throughput phenotyping, pan-genomics, transposable elements analysis, and machine learning hold much promise for crop improvements related to climate resilience and nutritional superiority.

scholarly journals Urban Climates and Climate Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 411-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valéry Masson ◽  
Aude Lemonsu ◽  
Julia Hidalgo ◽  
James Voogt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Regional Climate Modeling ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Urban Climatology ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Global Agenda

Cities are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather episodes, which are expected to increase with climate change. Cities also influence their own local climate, for example, through the relative warming known as the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This review discusses urban climate features (even in complex terrain) and processes. We then present state-of-the-art methodologies on the generalization of a common urban neighborhood classification for UHI studies, as well as recent developments in observation systems and crowdsourcing approaches. We discuss new modeling paradigms pertinent to climate impact studies, with a focus on building energetics and urban vegetation. In combination with regional climate modeling, new methods benefit the variety of climate scenarios and models to provide pertinent information at urban scale. Finally, this article presents how recent research in urban climatology contributes to the global agenda on cities and climate change.

scholarly journals Resilient retfærdighed?

2018 ◽  
pp. 157-171
Author(s):  
Stefan Gaarsmand Jacobsen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
System Change ◽  
Climate Justice ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Political Decisions ◽  
Scientific Framework

This article uses the idea of resilience as a point of departure for analysing some contemporary challenges to the climate justice movement posed by social-ecological sciences. Climate justice activists are increasingly rallying for a system-change, demanding fundamental changes to political bureaucracy and the economy, which would put ecology, biodiversity and climate change first for all future political decisions. Since the concept of resilience has taken up a central role in recent developments in ecological sciences, it has also become part of the activist debate. The article’s main argument is that the scientific framework behind resilience is not politically neutral and that this framework tends to weaken the activist’s demands for a just transition and place more emphasis on technical and bureaucratic processes.

The intractability of loss and damage issues in climate negotiations

Soundings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (78) ◽  
pp. 38-49
Author(s):  
Md Fahad Hossain ◽  
Saleemul Huq ◽  
Mizan R. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Climate Regime ◽  
Climate Negotiations ◽  
Loss And Damage ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Issues

The impacts of human-induced climate change are manifested through losses and damages incurred due to the increasing frequency and intensity of climatic disasters all over the world. Low-income countries who have contributed the least in causing climate change, and have low financial capability, are the worst victims of this. However, since the inception of the international climate regime under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), loss and damage has been a politically charged issue. It took about two decades of pushing by the vulnerable developing countries for the agenda to formally anchor in the climate negotiations text. This was further solidified through establishment of the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) and inclusion of stand-alone Article 8 on loss and damage in the Paris Agreement. Its institutionalisation has only done the groundwork of addressing loss and damage however - the key issue of finance for loss and damage and other matters has remained largely unresolved to date – particularly since Article 8 does not have any provision for finance. This has been due to the climate change-causing wealthy developed nations' utter disregard for their formal obligations in the climate regime as well as their moral obligation. In this article, we tease out the central controversies that underpin the intractability of this agenda at the negotiations of the UNFCCC. We begin by giving a walk-through of the concept and history of loss and damage in the climate regime. Then we present a brief account of losses and damages occurring in the face of rising temperature, and highlight the key issues of contention, focusing on the more recent developments. Finally, we conclude by suggesting some way forward for the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP26) taking place in Glasgow, UK in November 2021.

A new chapter in the UN climate change negotiations? First steps under the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action

Climate Law ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kati Kulovesi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Climate Change Negotiations ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
The Road ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Recent Developments

This article discusses recent developments in the UN climate change negotiations in light of the Bonn Climate Change Conference in May 2012. It highlights the Bonn meeting as the first opportunity to assess the influence on the UNFCCC process of the Durban Package and the new Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. It argues that the main impression from the Bonn meeting is that the Durban outcome has indeed affected the dynamics of the UNFCCC negotiations and holds potential for far-reaching changes. Provided that all goes well, the combination of new bodies and processes created in Cancun and Durban, the forthcoming Fifth Assessment Report by the IPCC, and the likely public pressure following its release could open a new chapter in the UNFCCC process and lead to a more effective multilateral response to the climate change challenge. Still, the combination of a palpable rift within G-77/China and traditional divides between developed and developing countries on issues such as finance and technology means that the road ahead is likely to be a difficult one.

scholarly journals Conservation in the face of climate change: recent developments

F1000Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Lawler ◽  
James Watson ◽  
Edward Game
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Extinction Risk ◽  
New States ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
The Face ◽  
Extinction Risk Assessment ◽  
Basic Approaches ◽  
Conservation Plans ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

An increased understanding of the current and potential future impacts of climate change has significantly influenced conservation in practice in recent years. Climate change has necessitated a shift toward longer planning time horizons, moving baselines, and evolving conservation goals and targets. This shift has resulted in new perspectives on, and changes in, the basic approaches practitioners use to conserve biodiversity. Restoration, spatial planning and reserve selection, connectivity modelling, extinction risk assessment, and species translocations have all been reimagined in the face of climate change. Restoration is being conducted with a new acceptance of uncertainty and an understanding that goals will need to shift through time. New conservation targets, such as geophysical settings and climatic refugia, are being incorporated into conservation plans. Risk assessments have begun to consider the potentially synergistic impacts of climate change and other threats. Assisted colonization has gained acceptance in recent years as a viable and necessary conservation tool. This evolution has paralleled a larger trend in conservation—a shift toward conservation actions that benefit both people and nature. As we look forward, it is clear that more change is on the horizon. To protect biodiversity and essential ecosystem services, conservation will need to anticipate the human response to climate change and to focus not only on resistance and resilience but on transitions to new states and new ecosystems.

Towards a resilient perspective in building conservation

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Luciani ◽  
Davide Del Curto
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Sustainable Building ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Building Conservation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the cross-fertilisation process between the concept of resilience and building conservation. The authors discuss how the conservation field can address new issues posed by climate change and whether the concept of resilience plays a role within the framework of sustainable building conservation. Design/methodology/approach Starting from the use of resilience as a “travelling concept”, different interpretations of the term emerging from different fields are compared and interrelated in order to understand how this concept can impact future research in building conservation. Findings In addition to summarising recent developments in conservation theory with a special focus on how sustainability has influenced the field, this work also suggests some lines of research where resilience could foster interdisciplinary approaches to building conservation and presents some controversial outcomes. Originality/value The paper raises a discussion on how the concept of resilience could renew the field of building conservation, helping contemporary society to address the challenges of climate change.

scholarly journals Arctic Futures–Future Arctics?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 9420
Author(s):  
Oran R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
The Future ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The One ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Socioeconomic Consequences

Is the Arctic sufficiently distinctive and uniform to justify adopting a holistic perspective in thinking about the future of the region? Or do we need to acknowledge that the Arctic encompasses a number of different subregions whose futures may diverge more or less profoundly? In the aftermath of the Cold War, a view of the Arctic as a distinctive region with a policy agenda of its own arose in many quarters and played a prominent role in shaping initiatives such as the launching of the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy in 1991 and the creation of the Arctic Council in 1996. Yet not everyone found this perspective persuasive at the time, and more recent developments have raised new questions about the usefulness of this perspective as a basis for thinking about the future of the Arctic. As a result, some observers take the view that we need to think more about future Arctics than about Arctic futures. Yet, today, climate change provides a central thread tying together multiple perspectives on the Arctic. The dramatic onset of climate change has turned the Arctic into the frontline with regard to the challenges of adapting to a changing biophysical setting. Ironically, the impacts of climate change also have increased the accessibility of massive reserves of hydrocarbons located in the Arctic, contributing to a feedback loop accelerating climate change. This means that the future of the Arctic will reflect the interplay between efforts to address the biophysical and socioeconomic consequences of climate change on the one hand and the influence of the driving forces underlying the political economy of energy development on the other.

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