scholarly journals The effect of climate change on depression in urban areas of western Iran

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Abbasi

Abstract Objective Human is accustomed to climatic conditions of the environment where they are born and live throughout their lifetime. The aim of this study is to examine mood swings and depression caused by sudden climate changes that have not yet given the humans a chance to adapt. Results Our results showed that depression could be affected by climate change and as a result, the behavior of climatic elements and trends has damaged mental health in the western regions of Iran. By investigating the trends and changes of climatic time series and their relationship with the rate of depression in urban areas of western Iran, it can be said that climate change is probably a mental health challenge for urban populations. Climate change is an important and worrying issue that makes the life difficult. Rapid climate changes in western Iran including rising air temperature, changes in precipitation, its regime, changes cloudiness and the amount of sunlight have a negative effects on health. The results showed that type of increasing or decreasing trend, as well as different climatic elements in various seasons did not have the same effect on the rate of depression in the studied areas.

Author(s):  
V. V. Hrynchak

The decision about writing this article was made after familiarization with the "Brief Climatic Essay of Dnepropetrovsk City (prepared based on observations of 1886 – 1937)" written by the Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Weather Department of the Hydrometeorological Service A. N. Mikhailov. The guide has a very interesting fate: in 1943 it was taken by the Nazis from Dnipropetrovsk and in 1948 it returned from Berlin back to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological and Environmental Directorate of the USSR, as evidenced by a respective entry on the Essay's second page. Having these invaluable materials and data of long-term weather observations in Dnipro city we decided to analyze climate changes in Dnipropetrovsk region. The article presents two 50-year periods, 1886-1937 and 1961-2015, as examples. Series of observations have a uniform and representative character because they were conducted using the same methodology and results processing. We compared two main characteristics of climate: air temperature and precipitation. The article describes changes of average annual temperature values and absolute temperature values. It specifies the shift of seasons' dates and change of seasons' duration. We studied the changes of annual precipitation and peculiarities of their seasonable distribution. Apart from that peculiarities of monthly rainfall fluctuations and their heterogeneity were specified. Since Dnipro city is located in the center of the region the identified tendencies mainly reflect changes of climatic conditions within the entire Dnipropetrovsk region.


2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1665) ◽  
pp. 20130561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomit Paz

West Nile virus (WNV), the most widely distributed virus of the encephalitic flaviviruses, is a vector-borne pathogen of global importance. The transmission cycle exists in rural and urban areas where the virus infects birds, humans, horses and other mammals. Multiple factors impact the transmission and distribution of WNV, related to the dynamics and interactions between pathogen, vector, vertebrate hosts and environment. Hence, among other drivers, weather conditions have direct and indirect influences on vector competence (the ability to acquire, maintain and transmit the virus), on the vector population dynamic and on the virus replication rate within the mosquito, which are mostly weather dependent. The importance of climatic factors (temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and winds) as drivers in WNV epidemiology is increasing under conditions of climate change. Indeed, recent changes in climatic conditions, particularly increased ambient temperature and fluctuations in rainfall amounts, contributed to the maintenance (endemization process) of WNV in various locations in southern Europe, western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, the Canadian Prairies, parts of the USA and Australia. As predictions show that the current trends are expected to continue, for better preparedness, any assessment of future transmission of WNV should take into consideration the impacts of climate change.


Author(s):  
Dasaraden Mauree ◽  
Silvia Coccolo ◽  
Dasun Perera ◽  
Vahid Nik ◽  
Jean-Louis Scartezzini ◽  
...  

Building more energy efficient and sustainable urban areas that will both mitigate the effect of climate change and adapt for the future climate, requires the development new tools and methods that can help urban planners, architect and communities achieve this goal. In the current study, we designed a workflow that links different methodologies developed separately, to derive the energy consumption of a university school campus for the future. Three different scenarios for typical future years (2039, 2069, 2099) were run as well as a renovation scenario (Minergie-P). We analyse the impact of climate change on the heating and cooling demand of the buildings and determined the relevance of the accounting of the local climate in this particular context. The results from the simulations showed that in the future there will a constant decrease in the heating demand while for the cooling demand there will be a significant increase. It was further demonstrated that when the local climate was taken into account there was an even higher rise in the cooling demand but also that the proposed renovations were not sufficient to design resilient buildings. We then discuss the implication of this work on the simulation of building energy consumption at the neighbourhood scale and the impact of future local climate on energy system design. We finally give a few perspective regarding improved urban design and possible pathways for the future urban areas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xindi Zhang ◽  
Yixin Zhang ◽  
Jun Zhai

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to tremendous impacts on human lives and society, which are not only because of negative effects on people's mental health due to isolation policies and physical distance for mitigating the spread of SARS-CoV-2, but also because the incident post-acute sequelae of the coronavirus will cause mental disorders. A green environment is a health resource, which cannot only benefit human physical and mental health, but also increases biodiversity, contributes to flood mitigation, and cools urban areas. A home garden, as a kind of small green space, can provide ecosystem services with eco-healing functions in reducing mental stress during the isolation period of the COVID-19 pandemic through the garden itself and physical activities in it. Such an eco-healing approach within a mini-therapeutic landscape can also benefit biodiversity by enhancing plant diversity in residence and increasing biodiversity at a large scale. In this article, we propose a conceptual framework describing a home garden as “ecological medicine” with healing functions to improve mental health, as well as indirectly enhancing urban biodiversity. A home garden, as a mini-type of green landscape with biodiversity content, allows people to get close with nature so that it can promote comfortable and natural feelings during the pandemic. Furthermore, such an eco-healing home garden approach benefiting urban biodiversity can meet the challenges in maintaining environmental and mental health in post COVID-19 pandemic recovery, as well as preparing unknown next-surge risks with potential isolation regulations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54/55 (54/55) ◽  
pp. 55-64
Author(s):  
Darija Bilandžija ◽  
Silvija Martinčić

One highly important segment of agricultural production is the agroecological condition of a given area, including climatic conditions, which have been changing recently. Croatia belongs to a climate zone also known as a climate hot spot, characterised by a pronounced sensitivity to climate change. In order to determine if the climate has changed in the Osijek area, climatic elements and agroclimatic indicators were analysed for a referent period (1961∑1990) and a recent period (1991∑2018). The analysis shows that the climate has changed in the recent period as compared to the referent period. The identified climate changes manifest in higher mean air temperatures, higher precipitation amount, increased actual evapotranspiration and prolonged vegetation periods in the recent period. Furthermore, hydrothermal condition analysis shows that the ten warmest years and vegetation periods in the studied 58-year period were within the past 26 years. Due to the identified climate change and the assumption that the climate will continue to change in the future, adaptation and mitigation measures will have to be applied in agricultural production. For a more reliable assessment of agroclimatic conditions at certain area, it is recommended to analyse other climatic elements as well, such as the number of consecutive dry or rainy days above the critical precipitation threshold, wind, solar radiation, insolation, etc.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 037-050
Author(s):  
Sami Ali Metwally ◽  
Bedour Helmy Abou-Leila

Background: Desertification exacerbated and raised by climate change and represents one of the greatest environmental challenges of our times. Also, Desertification and climate change are an old phenomenon has not been a threat to life people, in the past so as to provide the natural ecological balance back then, but because of the range of the factors, we will recall it. The desertification and climate changes has started to worsen and its negative effects have increased at all levels, Economic, social and development. Trees, woody shrubs and ornamental plants represent an ever-important group in that they are the raw source for many important industries such as the manufacture of wood, food and medicine, health care (alternative medicine) and as windbreaks, and they play an important role in improving the environment, especially in light of the current climate changes. Main body: During recent years, the interest in planting woody trees and ornamental plants has increased, and its role has remained confined to a narrow range. It's important and fundamental role as a primary locomotive in combating desertification, sand encroachment and sand dunes, resisting successive climate changes, improving the environment and protecting it from pollution, as well as its prominent role in addressing the big problems that result from The movement of sand dunes and their threat to industrial and residential facilities, roads, farms,.... etc. Conclusion: The role of plants, trees, green areas are combating desertification and climate change, these trees does not depend on protecting farms only, but extending them to protecting urban communities and new cities from sand, which may lead to completely covering homes and establishments, but also to destroy the entire infrastructure (roads, tunnels, electricity, irrigation lines, railways ... It also plays a role in protecting the beaches and coastal areas from the high waves.


Author(s):  
Tiago Castro Silva ◽  
Lara Gomes Côrtes ◽  
Marinez Ferreira de Siqueira

Protected areas act as pillars on which conservation strategies are built. Besides human activities, global climate changes are an additional concern to species’ conservation. In northeastern Brazil, climate change should lead to a replacement of the current native vegetation by semi-desert vegetation. This study evaluates whether the protected areas of the Caatinga can contribute to the maintenance of suitable climatic conditions for endangered birds over time in the face of global climate changes and land cover change. We used ecological niche models as input layers in a spatial prioritization program, in which stability indices were used to weight the targets. Results predicted that most taxa (18) will have their suitability lowered in the future, and all taxa (23) will have their ecological niche geographically displaced. However, our results showed that the Caatinga’s protected areas system integrated with a set of priority areas can maintain suitable climatic conditions for endangered birds in the face of climate change and land cover change. On average, Caatinga’s protected areas system could protect climatic stability areas at least 1.7 times greater than the scenarios without it. This reinforces the importance of protected areas as a biodiversity conservation strategy. 
  


2021 ◽  
Vol 899 (1) ◽  
pp. 012018
Author(s):  
D Apostolopoulou ◽  
S Tsoka

Abstract Extreme thermal conditions and heat waves, as a result of global warming, have increased in recent years. Especially in the Mediterranean area, cities face higher temperatures during summer months which severely affect thermal comfort and citizens’ well-being. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the role of urban greenery as a mitigation strategy and focuses on its effect towards the improvement of the urban microclimate and thermal comfort under extreme summer conditions. To this aim, a typical square, located in Athens, Greece, has been chosen as a case study. The microclimatic conditions are evaluated for its present state and after an increase of 20% of soil surface and 30% of trees, while both current (i.e., 2020) and future summer climatic conditions (for the year 2060) are examined. It was also proposed that all the soil surfaces would be covered in grass. The potential air temperature, mean radiant temperature and surface temperature are analysed by simulation means, using the ENVI-met microclimate simulation tool. The results of this study showed that increasing the vegetation ratio inside the study area contributes to considerably lower surface temperatures, while a significant reduction on mean radiant and air temperature at the pedestrian level is also achieved, forming better microclimate conditions. Urban greenery is an important factor for healthy and resilient cities. Its presence can provide lower temperatures in the pedestrian level during summer months, reforming the microclimate. The outcomes of this study can be used by urban planners and stakeholders to improve environmentally urban areas, mitigate the results of climate change, and create resilient cities.


10.26458/1833 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 43-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camelia SURUGIU ◽  
Marius SURUGIU ◽  
Raluca MAZILESCU ◽  
Anca CRISTEA ◽  
Ileana MARGINEAN

This paper is focused on the analysis of the impact of climate change on the households from rural Romania. Climate change may have an impact on different sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, food industry, energy sector, tourism, etc. Also, the impact is felt by households. In rural regions of Romania, the households are already facing various risks, related to lack of income, and also related to ageing population. This study aimed to underline how rural people relate to the climatic conditions with emphasis on the trend of major change in the various aspects of the weather, sources used to find information on climate change, reliability level of the climate change information provided by various sources, the possibility to adopt measures to tackle the effects of climate change, and so on. A number of 100 copies of the questionnaire were distributed among households in a rural area of Dâmbovița County, Romania - Petrești commune - in April, 2018, with the main purpose to test it. The respondents were selected randomly. Poor households are vulnerable to climate change because low income cannot provide a satisfactory degree of access to services needed in the protection against threats. Various adaptation strategies may be used by households confronted with negative effects of climate change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-55
Author(s):  
Gheorghe Duca ◽  
Maria Nedealcov ◽  
Serghei Travin ◽  
Viorica Gladchi

Abstract The actual period marred by the global warming requires expanding our knowledge on the regional particularities of climate changes manifestations as consequences of global climatic changes. It was stated that within the limits of Republic of Moldova’s territory the pace of warming is much more accelerated than the global one. These consequences, in their turn, had led to the increase in degree of evaporation of surface waters, which had conditioned the doubling of still water’s pollution in the region (Lake Beleu). We consider that the obtained results could contribute to the adequate management of water resources in the new climatic conditions.


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