Estimating soil organic carbon stocks under commercial forestry using topo-climate variables in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Commercial forests are expanding globally, with great potential to absorb carbon and mitigate climate change. However, whereas the role of natural forests in carbon sequestration has been widely investigated, there is a paucity in the literature on the role of commercial forests in carbon assimilation. Hence, understanding the role of commercial forests in carbon storage is essential for quantifying local, regional or global carbon balances, which is valuable for climate change mitigation. Soil carbon is known to be the largest pool within any forest landscape, and is controlled by a wide range of physical and climatic factors. However, the relationship between soil organic carbon (SOC) and topo-climatic variables controlling its distribution within commercial forests is still poorly understood. Due to the limitations encountered in traditional systems of SOC determination, particularly at large spatial extents, geospatial techniques have recently emerged as a viable alternative for mapping soil properties. Therefore, this study sought to map SOC stocks variability within the commercial forest landscape, using landscape topo-climatic variables. A total of 81 soil samples was analysed for SOC concentrations and 31 topographic and climatic variables were used as predictors to SOC variability. To reduce multicollinearity, these variables were reduced to 11 using stepwise backward elimination and the maximum entropy (Maxent) algorithm was used for regression analysis to determine the relationship between SOC and the selected topo-climatic variables. Good accuracies were obtained for both training (area under the curve = 0.906) and test (area under the curve = 0.885) data sets, and demonstrate the effectiveness of selected topo-climatic variables and the Maxent algorithm in predicting SOC stocks. This study provides a framework for monitoring the status of soil carbon in commercial forest compartments and provides a viable approach for local, national or regional carbon accounting – valuable for climate change mitigation.

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Climate change mitigation readiness in the transport sector: a psychological science perspective

Management of Environmental Quality An International Journal ◽

10.1108/meq-09-2020-0205 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Sheila Namagembe

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Social Norms ◽

Psychological Factors ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Content Type ◽

Mediating Role ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship ◽

Change Mitigation

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of social norms on climate change mitigation readiness, the mediating role of environmental purchasing intentions and attitudes on the relationship between social norms and climate change mitigation readiness.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from transport facility operators and managers of shipping firms and bus transport firms. The SPSS software and covariance-based software (CB-SEM) were used to obtain results on the impact of social norms on climate change mitigation readiness, the mediating role of environmental purchasing intentions on the relationship between social norms and climate change mitigation readiness, and the mediating role of attitudes on the relationship between social norms and climate change mitigation readiness.FindingsThe findings indicated that social norms influenced climate change mitigation readiness, while both attitudes and environmental purchasing intentions partially mediated the relationship between social norms and climate change mitigation readiness.Research limitations/implicationsThe study mainly focused on transport facility operators and managers of shipping firms and bus firms eliminating other participants in the transport sector. Further, the research focused on majorly three psychological factors that included social norms, intentions and attitudes leaving out other psychological factors.Originality/valueClimate change mitigation is a major issue of concern to policy makers and researchers. Much of the focus is placed on mitigation strategies with the passengers and private vehicle owners as the major target. Other research focuses on reducing the impact of climate change outcomes through introduction of cleaner technologies. However, issues concerning the role of psychological factors in enhancing climate change mitigation readiness have not been given significant attention.

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Investigating the effects of environmental patents and climate change mitigation technologies on sustainable economic growth in the Middle East

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies ◽

10.1093/ijlct/ctab007 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sadegh Abedi ◽

Mehrnaz Moeenian

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Economic Growth ◽

Middle East ◽

Climate Change Mitigation ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Middle East Countries ◽

Sustainable Economic Growth ◽

Change Mitigation

Abstract Sustainable economic growth and identifying factors affecting it are among the important issues which have always received attention from researchers of different countries. Accordingly, one of the factors affecting economic growth, which has received attention from researchers in the developed countries over recent years, is the issue of environmental technologies that enter the economic cycle of other countries after being patented through technology transfer. The current research investigated the role of the environment-related patents and the effects of the patented technological innovations compatible with climate change mitigation on the economic growth and development in the Middle East countries within a specific time period. The required data were gathered from the valid global databases, including Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank and have been analyzed using multi-linear regression methods and econometric models with Eviews 10 software. The obtained results with 95% confidence level show that the environmental patents (β = 0.02) and environment management (β = 0.04) and technologies related to the climate change mitigation (β = 0.02) have a significant positive impact on the sustainable economic development and growth rate in the studied countries. Such a study helps innovators and policymakers in policy decisions related to sustainable development programs from the perspective of environmentally friendly technologies by demonstrating the role of patents in three important environmental areas, namely environmental management, water-related adaptation and climate change mitigation, as one of the factors influencing sustainable economic growth.

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