Droughts, floods and freshwater ecosystems: evaluating climate change impacts and developing adaptation strategies

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Aldous ◽  
James Fitzsimons ◽  
Brian Richter ◽  
Leslie Bach
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia

Climate change is expected to have significant impacts on hydrologic regimes and freshwater ecosystems, and yet few basins have adequate numerical models to guide the development of freshwater climate adaptation strategies. Such strategies can build on existing freshwater conservation activities, and incorporate predicted climate change impacts. We illustrate this concept with three case studies. In the Upper Klamath Basin of the western USA, a shift in land management practices would buffer this landscape from a declining snowpack. In the Murray–Darling Basin of south-eastern Australia, identifying the requirements of flood-dependent natural values would better inform the delivery of environmental water in response to reduced runoff and less water. In the Savannah Basin of the south-eastern USA, dam managers are considering technological and engineering upgrades in response to more severe floods and droughts, which would also improve the implementation of recommended environmental flows. Even though the three case studies are in different landscapes, they all contain significant freshwater biodiversity values. These values are threatened by water allocation problems that will be exacerbated by climate change, and yet all provide opportunities for the development of effective climate adaptation strategies.

Mapping change in key soil properties due to climate change over south-eastern Australia

Soil Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Gray ◽  
Thomas F. A. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Carbon Accounting ◽  
Depth Interval ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Climate change will lead to altered soil conditions that will impact on plant growth in both agricultural and native ecosystems. Additionally, changes in soil carbon storage will influence carbon accounting schemes that may play a role in climate change mitigation programs. We applied a digital soil mapping approach to examine and map (at 100-m resolution) potential changes in three important soil properties – soil organic carbon (SOC), pH and sum-of-bases (common macro-nutrients) – resulting from projected climate change over south-eastern Australia until ~2070. Four global climate models were downscaled with three regional models to give 12 climate models, which were used to derive changes for the three properties across the province, at 0–30 and 30–100 cm depth intervals. The SOC stocks were projected to decline over the province, while pH and sum-of-bases were projected to increase; however, the extent of change varied throughout the province and with different climate models. The average changes primarily reflected the complex interplay of changing temperatures and rainfall throughout the province. The changes were also influenced by the operating environmental conditions, with a uniform pattern of change particularly demonstrated for SOC over 36 combinations of current climate, parent material and land use. For example, the mean decline of SOC predicted for the upper depth interval was 15.6 Mg ha–1 for wet–mafic–native vegetation regimes but only 3.1 Mg ha–1 for dry–highly siliceous–cropping regimes. The predicted changes reflected only those attributable to the projected climate change and did not consider the influence of ongoing and changing land management practices.

Changing windows of opportunity: past and future climate-driven shifts in temporal persistence of kingfish (Seriola lalandi) oceanographic habitat within south-eastern Australian bioregions

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis Champion ◽  
Alistair J. Hobday ◽  
Xuebin Zhang ◽  
Gretta T. Pecl ◽  
Sean R. Tracey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Habitat Persistence ◽  
Temporal Persistence ◽  
Seriola Lalandi

Climate-driven shifts in species distributions are occurring rapidly within marine systems and are predicted to continue under climate change. To effectively adapt, marine resource users require information relevant to their activities at decision-making timescales. We model oceanographic habitat suitability for kingfish (Seriola lalandi) from south-eastern Australia using multiple environmental variables at monthly time steps over the period 1996–2040. Habitat predictions were used to quantify the temporal persistence (months per year) of suitable oceanographic habitat within six coastal bioregions. A decline in temporal habitat persistence is predicted for the northernmost (equatorward) bioregion, whereas increases are predicted for the three southernmost (poleward) bioregions. We suggest that temporal habitat persistence is an important metric for climate change adaptation because it provides fishery-relevant information. Our methods demonstrate how novel metrics relevant to climate adaptation can be derived from predictions of species’ environmental habitats, and are appropriate for the management of fisheries resources and protection of high conservation value species under future climate change.

scholarly journals Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Approaches for Outdoor Recreation

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 7030
Author(s):  
Daniel O’Toole ◽  
Leslie A. Brandt ◽  
Maria K. Janowiak ◽  
Kristen M. Schmitt ◽  
P. Danielle Shannon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
User Preferences ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Stepping Stones

Climate change will alter opportunities and demand for outdoor recreation through altered winter weather conditions and season length, climate-driven changes in user preferences, and damage to recreational infrastructure, among other factors. To ensure that outdoor recreation remains sustainable in the face of these challenges, natural resource managers may need to adapt their recreation management. One of the major challenges of adapting recreation to climate change is translating broad concepts into specific, tangible actions. Using a combination of in-depth interviews of recreational managers and a review of peer-reviewed literature and government reports, we developed a synthesis of impacts, strategies, and approaches, and a tiered structure that organizes this information. Six broad climate adaptation strategies and 25 more specific approaches were identified and organized into a “recreation menu”. The recreation menu was tested with two national forests in the US in multi-day workshops designed to integrate these concepts into real-world projects that were at the beginning stages of the planning process. We found that the recreation menu was broad yet specific enough to be applied to recreation-focused projects with different objectives and climate change impacts. These strategies and approaches serve as stepping stones to enable natural resource and recreation managers to translate broad concepts into targeted and prescriptive actions for implementing adaptation.

Climate change impacts on river basin and freshwater ecosystems: some observations on challenges and emerging solutions

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avi Ostfeld ◽  
Stefano Barchiesi ◽  
Matthijs Bonte ◽  
Carol R. Collier ◽  
Katharine Cross ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
River Basin Management ◽  
Freshwater Ecosystems ◽  
Delaware River ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Okavango River

Despite uncertainty pertaining to methods, assumptions and input data of climate change models, most models point towards a trend of an increasing frequency of flooding and drought events. How these changes reflect water management decisions and what can be done to minimize climate change impacts remains unclear. This paper summarizes and extends the workshop outcomes on ‘Climate Change Impacts on Watershed Management: Challenges and Emerging Solutions’ held at the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, Montréal, 2010, hosted by the IWA Watershed and River Basin Management Specialist Group. The paper discusses climate change impacts on water management of freshwater ecosystems and river basins, and illustrates these with three case studies. It is demonstrated through the case studies that engagement of relevant stakeholders is needed early in the process of building environmental flows and climate change decision-making tools, to result in greater buy-in to decisions made, create new partnerships, and help build stronger water management institutions. New alliances are then created between water managers, policy makers, community members, and scientists. This has been highlighted by the demonstration of the Pangani integrated environmental flow assessment, through the Okavango River Basin case study, and in the more participatory governance approach proposed for the Delaware River Basin.

scholarly journals Conceptualization and management of disasters and climate change events in Africa: a review

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Ihinegbu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Adaptive Planning ◽  
Hazard Management ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
To Come ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThe concepts of disasters, hazards and climatic events are well established, showing disciplinary-based perspectives. Globally, efforts have been made to come to a common understanding of these concepts; however, there remains a gap in the conceptualizations of these concepts in Africa, the hub of climate change impacts. This paper identified and characterized the understanding, management practices and limitations of disasters/climate change studies in Africa. This study employed a multi-level review process that resulted in the selection of 170 peer-reviewed articles for study. Findings revealed that the majority of the studies were tied to case studies both in the southern region of Africa and the country of South Africa. Findings also revealed that the 'natural disaster' narrative, which excludes the influence of humans in triggering these events, dominated the studies. This was complemented by the dominance of single-hazard narrative and disaster/hazard management measures that promote the prediction and modeling of nature and disasters. Further, it identified limitations in disaster and hazard studies in Africa such as the lack of synthesis of case studies, lack of adaptive planning, lack of state capacities, research-policy gaps among others. It was recommended that research on climate hazards should explore multi-hazards/disasters, demand driven, give more attention to underrepresented disciplines and capture future dynamics in the employed methodologies.

scholarly journals Agricultural adaptation strategies to climate change impacts in Africa: a review

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
OM Akinnagbe ◽  
IJ Irohibe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Cropping Pattern ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Adaptation ◽  
Resistant Varieties

Climate change is expected to intensify existing problems and create new combinations of risks, particularly in Africa. The situation is made worst due to factor such as widespread poverty, over dependence on rain fed agriculture, inequitable land distribution, limited access to capital and technology, inadequate public infrastructure, such as roads, long term weather forecasts and inadequate research and extension. By lessening the severity of key damages to the agricultural sector, adaptation is the key defensive measure. Adaptation to climate change involves changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. This paper reviews agricultural adaptation strategies employed by farmers in various countries in Africa in cushioning the effects of climate change. The common agricultural adaptation strategies used by farmers were the use of drought resistant varieties of crops, crop diversification, changes in cropping pattern and calendar of planting, conserving soil moisture through appropriate tillage methods, improving irrigation efficiency, and afforestation and agro-forestry. The paper concluded that improving and strengthening human capital through education, outreach programmes, extension services at all levels will improve capacity to adapt to climate change impact. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v39i3.21984 Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 39(3): 407-418, September 2014

Corrigendum to: Mapping change in key soil properties due to climate change over south-eastern Australia

Soil Research ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 805
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Gray ◽  
Thomas F. A. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Carbon Accounting ◽  
Depth Interval ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
South Eastern Australia

Climate change will lead to altered soil conditions that will impact on plant growth in both agricultural and native ecosystems. Additionally, changes in soil carbon storage will influence carbon accounting schemes that may play a role in climate change mitigation programs. We applied a digital soil mapping approach to examine and map (at 100-m resolution) potential changes in three important soil properties – soil organic carbon (SOC), pH and sum-of-bases (common macro-nutrients) – resulting from projected climate change over south-eastern Australia until ~2070. Four global climate models were downscaled with three regional models to give 12 climate models, which were used to derive changes for the three properties across the province, at 0–30 and 30–100 cm depth intervals. The SOC stocks were projected to decline over the province, while pH and sum-of-bases were projected to increase; however, the extent of change varied throughout the province and with different climate models. The average changes primarily reflected the complex interplay of changing temperatures and rainfall throughout the province. The changes were also influenced by the operating environmental conditions, with a uniform pattern of change particularly demonstrated for SOC over 36 combinations of current climate, parent material and land use. For example, the mean decline of SOC predicted for the upper depth interval was 15.6 Mg ha–1 for wet–mafic–native vegetation regimes but only 3.1 Mg ha–1 for dry–highly siliceous–cropping regimes. The predicted changes reflected only those attributable to the projected climate change and did not consider the influence of ongoing and changing land management practices.

scholarly journals Compatibility of Climate Adaptation Strategies with Livelihood Vulnerability Patterns: The Case of Fars Province, Iran

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samane Ghazali ◽  
Hossein Azadi ◽  
Mansoor Zibaei
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Risk Exposure ◽  
Fars Province ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
Pastoral Households ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Abstract Pastoralists’ livelihood on natural rangelands are constantly influenced by the destructive impacts of climate change. While the phenomenon of climate change continues on a widespread scale, it is expected to put more pressure on unfavorable rangelands and pastoral households whose livelihood source is only based on pastoralism activity. Thus, it is vital to reduce livelihood vulnerability of pastoralists to climate change impacts through appropriate adaptation strategies. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to specify the compatibility of adaptation strategies adopted by pastoralists with their livelihood vulnerability patterns. The evaluation was based on a spatial survey that was conducted with a random sample of 393 Iranian pastoralists distributed in the counties of Eghlid, Sepidan, and Shiraz in the northern Fars province. The results showed that pastoralists were commonly vulnerable in terms of the high-risk exposure and low adaptive capacity. About 27 livelihood vulnerability patterns were detected using data mining based on the relationships among the sub-components of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation in 3 counties. The scores of the livelihood vulnerability were high in most of the livelihood vulnerability patterns. Only 4 patterns obtained the relatively low vulnerability scores through accurate decisions on adopting the appropriate set of adaptation strategies. According to the low compatibility of adaptation strategies with the corresponding vulnerability patterns, the results of this study can assist pastoralists to adopt appropriate adaptation strategies and thus, decrease livelihood vulnerability to climate change. In this regard, it is suggested that pastoralists in each vulnerability pattern adopt appropriate adaptation strategies according to their vulnerability sub-components.

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