scholarly journals Climate change impacts on the terrestrial biodiversity and carbon stocks of Oceania.

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant W Wardell-Johnson ◽  
Gunnar Keppel ◽  
Julianne Sander
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Carbon Stocks ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Terrestrial Biodiversity

We review the threats from anthropogenic climate change to the terrestrial biodiversity of Oceania, and quantify decline in carbon stocks. Oceania’s rich terrestrial biodiversity is facing unprecedented threats through the interaction of pervasive environmental threats (deforestation and degradation; introduced and invasive species; fragmentation) and the effects of anthropogenic climate change (sea level rise; altered rainfall patterns and increased fire frequency; temperature rises and increased storm severity, extreme weather events and abrupt system changes). All nine of Oceania’s terrestrial biomes harbour ecosystems and habitat types that are highly vulnerable under climate change, posing an immense conservation challenge. Current policies and management practices are inadequate and the need for new legislation and economic mechanisms is clear, despite powerful interests committed to limiting progress. Mitigation can be achieved by increasing the effectiveness of the protected area network, by maintaining and effectively managing existing carbon stocks and biodiversity, and by reforestation to sequester atmospheric carbon. A price on carbon emissions may encourage less carbon-intensive energy use while simultaneously encouraging reforestation on long-cleared land, and reducing degradation of native forests. However, realizing these changes will require societal change, and depend on input and collaboration from multiple stakeholders to devise and engage in shared, responsible management.

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.

Nature-Based Solutions to face climate change adaptation and mitigation in Mediterranean watersheds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Itxaso Ruiz ◽  
María José Sanz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Sustainable Rural Development ◽  
Adaptation And Mitigation

<p>Rural areas of the Mediterranean watersheds face great environmental challenges, where climate change impacts the water cycle, the soil, and biodiversity, which are often priority issues for adaptation. These, have been aggravated by historical land management practices trends. In this context, we propose Nature Based Solutions (NBS) in the form of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) actions at the watershed scale to achieve climate change adaptation and mitigation while promoting other ecosystem services.</p><p>SLM actions are local adaptation practices that promote sustainable rural development. Thus, we seek the combination of several actions to achieve regional (watershed scale) more integrated approaches. With this study, we aim at proving that NBS, and thus SLM, is a successful tool for alleviating climate change impacts (i.e. water scarcity, enhanced erosion, biodiversity decline) while promoting the role of land in mitigation and enhancing biodiversity in the rural Mediterranean areas.</p><p>For this, we propose a novel conceptualization of SLM actions that moves from their local application and evaluation to the regional more systemic approaches through their combination. Results show synergies in the atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, allow for the upscaling of SLM through systemic approaches and point at direct contributions to several Sustainable Development Goals.</p>

scholarly journals Projecting Climate Change Impacts on Mediterranean Finfish Production: A Case Study in Greece.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orestis Stavrakidis-Zachou ◽  
Konstadia Lika ◽  
Panagiotis Anastasiadis ◽  
Nikos Papandroulakis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Mediterranean Country ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Finfish aquaculture in the Mediterranean Sea faces increasing challenges due to climate change while potential adaptation requires a robust assessment of the arising threats and opportunities. This paper presents an approach developed to investigate effects of climate drivers on Greek aquaculture, a representative Mediterranean country with a leading role in the sector. Using a farm level approach, Dynamic Energy Budget models for European seabass and meagre were developed and environmental forcing was used to simulate changes in production and farm profitability under IPCC scenarios RCP45 and RCP85. The effects of temperature and extreme weather events at the individual and farm level were considered along with that of husbandry parameters such as stocking timing, market size, and farm location (inshore, offshore) for nine regions. The simulations suggest that at the individual level fish may benefit from warmer temperatures in the future in terms of growth, thus reaching commercial sizes faster, while the husbandry parameters may have as large an effect on growth as the projected shifts in climatic cues. However, this benefit will be largely offset by the adverse effects of extreme weather events at the population level. Such events will be more frequent in the future and, depending on the intensity one assigns to them, they could cause losses in biomass and farm profits that range from mild to detrimental for the industry. Overall, these results provide quantification of some of the potential threats for an important aquaculture sector while suggesting possibilities to benefit from emerging opportunities. Therefore, they could contribute to improving the sector’s readiness for tackling important challenges in the future.

Anthropogenic climate change detected in natural and human systems of the world’s mountains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Huggel ◽  
Simon K. Allen ◽  
Indra D. Bhatt ◽  
Rithodi Chakraborty ◽  
Fabian Drenkhan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Mountain Regions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mountain Systems ◽  
Human Systems

<p>Mountains cover about a quarter of the Earth’s land surface and are home to or serve a substantial fraction of the global population with essential ecosystem services, in particular water, food, energy, and recreation. While mountain systems are expected to be highly exposed to climate change, we currently lack a comprehensive global picture of the extent to which environmental and human systems in mountain regions have been affected by recent anthropogenic climate change.</p><p>Here we undertake an unprecedented effort to detect observed impacts of climate change in mountains regions across all continents. We follow the approach implemented in the IPCC 5<sup>th</sup> Assessment Report (AR5) and follow-up research where we consider whether a natural or human system has changed beyond its baseline behavior in the absence of climate change, and then attribute the observed change to different drivers, including anthropogenic climate change. We apply an extensive review of peer-reviewed and grey literature and identify more than 300 samples of impacts (aggregate and case studies). We show that a wide range of natural and human systems in mountains have been affected by climate change, including the cryosphere, the water cycle and water resources, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, energy production, infrastructure, agriculture, health, migration, tourism, community and cultural values and disasters. Our assessment documents that climate change impacts are observed in mountain regions on all continents. However, the explicit distinction of different drivers contributing to or determining an observed change is often highly challenging; particularly due to widespread data scarcity in mountain regions. In that context, we were also able to document a high amount of impacts in previously under-reported continents such as Africa and South America. In particular, we have been able to include a substantial number of place-based insights from local/indigenous communities representing important alternative worldviews.</p><p>The role of human influence in observed climate changes is evaluated using data from multiple gridded observational climate products and global climate models. We find that anthropogenic climate change has a clear and discernable fingerprint in changing natural and human mountain systems across the globe. In the cryosphere, ecosystems, water resources and tourism the contribution of anthropogenic climate change to observed changes is significant, showing the sensitivity of these systems to current and future climate change. Furthermore, our analysis reveals the need to consider the plurality of knowledge systems through which climate change impacts are being understood in mountain regions. Such attempts at inclusivity, which addresses issues of representation and justice, should be deemed necessary in exploring climate change impacts.</p>

scholarly journals Consequences of Climate Change Impacts and Incidences of Extreme Weather Events in Relation to Crop Production in Bhutan

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngawang Chhogyel ◽  
Lalit Kumar ◽  
Yadunath Bajgai
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Crop Damage ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Cropping Pattern ◽  
The People ◽  
Weather Events

Being a country in the Himalayas, Bhutan is highly prone to the vagaries of weather events that affect agricultural production and the subsequent livelihood of the people. To identify the main issues that affect crop production and the decisions of farmers, a survey was conducted in three different agro-ecosystems in Bhutan. Our key findings indicate that farming and the decisions of farmers were largely affected by different climatic and non-climatic factors. These were in descending order of importance: irrigation availability > farm labour > crop seasonality > crop damage (climatic) > land holding > crop damage (wildlife) > crop damage (diseases and pests). The most important consequences of climate change impacts were the drying of irrigation sources (4.35) and crop losses due to weather events (4.10), whereas land fallowing, the occurrence of flood and soil erosion, weed pressure and changes in cropping pattern (with mean ratings of 2.53–3.03) experienced lesser consequences. The extreme weather events, such as untimely rains, drought and windstorms, were rated as the ‘most common’ to ‘common’ occurrences, thus inflicting a crop loss of 1–19%. These confirm our hearsay knowledge that extreme weather events have major consequences on irrigation water, which is said to be either drying or getting smaller in comparison to the past. Therefore, Bhutan must step up its on-ground farmer-support system towards improving the country’s food production, whilst embracing climate smart farm technologies for adapting to the impacts of change.

scholarly journals Erratum: Corrigendum: Influence of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Planetary Wave Resonance and Extreme Weather Events

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Mann ◽  
Stefan Rahmstorf ◽  
Kai Kornhuber ◽  
Byron A. Steinman ◽  
Sonya K. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Planetary Wave ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Wave Resonance

scholarly journals Climatic Changes, Water Systems, and Adaptation Challenges in Shawi Communities in the Peruvian Amazon

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola A. Torres-Slimming ◽  
Carlee J. Wright ◽  
Guillermo Lancha ◽  
Cesar P. Carcamo ◽  
Patricia J. Garcia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Peruvian Amazon ◽  
Weather Changes

Climate change impacts on water systems have consequences for Indigenous communities. We documented climatic changes on water systems observed by Indigenous Shawi and resultant impacts on health and livelihoods, and explored adaptation options and challenges in partnership with two Indigenous Shawi communities in the Peruvian Amazon. Qualitative data were collected via PhotoVoice, interviews, focus group discussions, and transect walks, and analyzed using a constant comparative method and thematic analysis. Quantitative data were collected via a household survey and analyzed descriptively. Households observed seasonal weather changes over time (n = 50; 78%), which had already impacted their family and community (n = 43; 86%), such as more intense rainfall resulting in flooding (n = 29; 58%). Interviewees also described deforestation impacts on the nearby river, which were exacerbated by climate-related changes, including increased water temperatures (warmer weather, exacerbated by fewer trees for shading) and increased erosion and turbidity (increased rainfall, exacerbated by riverbank instability due to deforestation). No households reported community-level response plans for extreme weather events, and most did not expect government assistance when such events occurred. This study documents how Indigenous peoples are experiencing climatic impacts on water systems, and highlights how non-climatic drivers, such as deforestation, exacerbate climate change impacts on water systems and community livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon.

scholarly journals Spatial Assessment of Damage Vulnerability to Storms Based on the Analysis of Historical Damage Cost Data in the Korean Peninsula

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 6051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun Il Choi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Korean Peninsula ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Risk Indicator ◽  
Damage Cost ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Spatial Assessment

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports, climate variability and changes increase the possibility of extreme weather events causing climate-related hazards and the risk of natural disasters. A storm is one of the most common and serious natural hazards that pose significant human and economic damage costs worldwide. The Korean Peninsula is also at persistent risk of hydro-meteorological disasters induced by rainstorms and typhoons due to geomorphological features and climate change impacts. This study has, therefore, proposed the damage vulnerability index for a spatial assessment of the damage vulnerability to storms, based on the IPCC’s vulnerability assessment concept. The damage vulnerability index is aggregated from the potential indicator for the potential damage targets, estimated by the population and major facility densities, and the risk indicator for the expected damage risk, estimated by the risk analysis for integrating both frequency and severity of human and economic damage cost records. The damage vulnerability index can assess regions vulnerable to the disaster damage induced by rainstorms, typhoons, and both, respectively, over the 231 administrative districts in the Republic of Korea. It is expected that the proposed damage vulnerability index can provide realistic and practical information on sustainable damage mitigation plans for the nationwide administrative districts against storm-induced disasters.

scholarly journals Coastal Communities and Climate Change: A Case Study in Gujarat, India

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anil Kumar Roy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Coastal Communities ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Coping Capacity ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Indian Cities

Developing countries are highly vulnerable to climate change [1,2]. They have less coping capacity to deal with its negative impacts. India is one of the most vulnerable countries in South Asia. It urgently requires adaptation and mitigation measures to cope with possible impacts arising from extreme weather events due to climate change. Indian cities, particularly the coastal ones, are at a comparatively greater risk as their population is likely to grow rapidly and may reach 500 million over the next 50 years [3]. The assessment of climate change impacts and adaptability both at the macro region and micro levels is necessary to create effective mitigation policies

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