scholarly journals Meteorological disasters in Slovenian forests - how to approach the restoration in our specific conditions

2015 ◽  
pp. 85-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurij Marence

In recent years, forests are exposed to various meteorological disasters. The climate change and warming of atmosphere cause more intensive and frequent occurrences in the atmosphere. This is also reflected in Slovenian forests - in particular in the form of windthrow, snow-damage, landslides and avalanches, and in 2014 a catastrophic ice storm. Some forecasts indicate that the future will bring more of this kind of disasters. The ice storm in the last year stroke the land the most in history, in particular in terms of damaged trees and areas. According to the available data, the damaged quantities of trees represent more than a two years planned annual cut in Slovenian forests, while about a half of the country was affected. The majority of the damaged wood comes from private forests. The remedying of such extensive meteorological disasters is demanding, dangerous and prolonged - it is also hindered by the specific ownership structure of the forest land in Slovenia and its average size. 75% of all forest have private owners, and this land is fragmented with a large number of forest holders. An average forest land is only 2.3 ha per individual owner. In these conditions, the following questions have to be answered: who, how and in what time is it possible to remedy the caused damage? What is the current quality of wood which was damaged in many ways in the meteorological disaster? Is it possible to use more modern felling technologies and wood transports from the forest in so fragmented private land?

2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (8) ◽  
pp. 232-234
Author(s):  
Patrik Fouvy

The history of the forests in canton Geneva, having led to these being disconnected from productive functions, provides a symptomatic demonstration that the services provided by the forest eco-system are common goods. Having no hope of financial returns in the near future and faced with increasing social demands, the state has invested in the purchase of forest land, financed projects for forest regeneration and improvement of biological diversity and developed infrastructures for visitors. In doing this the state as a public body takes on the provision of services in the public interest. But the further funding for this and for expenses for the private forests, which must be taken into account, are not secured for the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swoyambhu M. Amatya ◽  
Prakash Lamsal

 This paper reviews and analyses the present status of private forests and tenure administration in light of existing legal, policy, and regulatory frameworks in Nepal. Additionally, the present status of private forests, as well as the scenarios of timber harvesting, transportation, marketing, and their administration are thoroughly revised. Provisions regarding forests and trees on private land and their basis are examined and implications are articulated for potential policy improvements for enhanced tenure security. It is shown that robust national-level policies and legal frameworks exist, and that there is an increasing trend of timber flows to markets from private forests over the past five years. However, there is still skepticism, mistrust and fear amongst private forest owners, saw millers, and forest administration that prevents the full use of the bundle of rights that legal and policy provisions have promised. An unusually slow pace of private forest registration, lengthy and multi stage processes for obtaining harvesting and transportation permits, and official bans on important commercial species, among others, are found to be the factors that most hinder the private forest owners’ and tree growers’ interests, and their rights and obligations with respect to the management and use of their private forest resources. It is concluded that a simplified permitting process along with programmatic support would promote and help to grow private forestry and that Nepal’s experience and lessons learned from community forest implementation would be a great asset to move towards this end. Connecting community forest user groups for organised and cooperative action, and mobilising their institutional strength and accumulated funds for pro-farmer technical and regulatory support would allow farmers to intensify tree plantations and forest management. Further steps are required to convince policymakers and secure necessary budgetary support to this end..


Author(s):  
Patricia Nayna Schwerdtle ◽  
Kate Baernighausen ◽  
Sayeda Karim ◽  
Tauheed Syed Raihan ◽  
Samiya Selim ◽  
...  

Background: Climate change influences patterns of human mobility and health outcomes. While much of the climate change and migration discourse is invested in quantitative predictions and debates about whether migration is adaptive or maladaptive, less attention has been paid to the voices of the people moving in the context of climate change with a focus on their health and wellbeing. This qualitative research aims to amplify the voices of migrants themselves to add nuance to dominant migration narratives and to shed light on the real-life challenges migrants face in meeting their health needs in the context of climate change. Methods: We conducted 58 semi-structured in-depth interviews with migrants purposefully selected for having moved from rural Bhola, southern Bangladesh to an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis under the philosophical underpinnings of phenomenology. Coding was conducted using NVivo Pro 12. Findings: We identified two overarching themes in the thematic analysis: Firstly, we identified the theme “A risk exchange: Exchanging climate change and health risks at origin and destination”. Rather than describing a “net positive” or “net negative” outcome in terms of migration in the context of climate change, migrants described an exchange of hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities at origin with those at destination, which challenged their capacity to adapt. This theme included several sub-themes—income and employment factors, changing food environment, shelter and water sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) conditions, and social capital. The second overarching theme was “A changing health and healthcare environment”. This theme also included several sub-themes—changing physical and mental health status and a changing healthcare environment encompassing quality of care and barriers to accessing healthcare. Migrants described physical and mental health concerns and connected these experiences with their new environment. These two overarching themes were prevalent across the dataset, although each participant experienced and expressed them uniquely. Conclusion: Migrants who move in the context of climate change face a range of diverse health risks at the origin, en route, and at the destination. Migrating individuals, households, and communities undertake a risk exchange when they decide to move, which has diverse positive and negative consequences for their health and wellbeing. Along with changing health determinants is a changing healthcare environment where migrants face different choices, barriers, and quality of care. A more migrant-centric perspective as described in this paper could strengthen migration, climate, and health governance. Policymakers, urban planners, city corporations, and health practitioners should integrate the risk exchange into practice and policies.


Author(s):  
Arja Rautio ◽  
Natalia Kukarenko ◽  
Lena Maria Nilsson ◽  
Birgitta Evengard

Climate change in the Arctic affects both environmental, animal, and human health, as well as human wellbeing and societal development. Women and men, and girls and boys are affected differently. Sex-disaggregated data collection is increasingly carried out as a routine in human health research and in healthcare analysis. This study involved a literature review and used a case study design to analyze gender differences in the roles and responsibilities of men and women residing in the Arctic. The theoretical background for gender-analysis is here described together with examples from the Russian Arctic and a literature search. We conclude that a broader gender-analysis of sex-disaggregated data followed by actions is a question of human rights and also of economic benefits for societies at large and of the quality of services as in the health care.


2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 1025-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben O. Sonnenborg ◽  
Klaus Hinsby ◽  
Lieke van Roosmalen ◽  
Simon Stisen

2012 ◽  
Vol 174-177 ◽  
pp. 2222-2225
Author(s):  
Fei Lv ◽  
Yuan Sheng Guo

In recent years, climate change has been getting more serious. How to mitigate and adapt to climate change has caught the concerns of governments and academia. Firstly, this article briefly addresses the causes of climate change and its impacts, and then analyzes the link between climate change and urban settlements and the impacts of climate change to urban settlements in winter city. Finally, according to the Characteristics of winter city, the paper presents some optimization strategies of urban residential quarter in winter city addressing climate change including reducing carbon emissions, ensuring settlements security and guiding residents to public participation. Reducing urban settlements carbon emissions includes improving internal functions, combing the internal transportation system, optimizing the green mode and applying special techniques. Protecting the safety of urban settlements includes improving emergency response system, strengthening the vertical and horizontal connection and optimizing the layout of public space. Guiding residents to public participation includes establishing the information banks of urban settlements addressing to climate change and improving the quality of the residents.


Author(s):  
Adela Salas-Ruiz ◽  
Andrea A Eras-Almeida ◽  
Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero ◽  
Alberto Sanz-Cobena ◽  
Susana Muñoz-Hernández ◽  
...  

Abstract More than 26 million people are recognized globally as refugees and have been forced to flee from their home countries because of poverty, human rights violations, natural disasters, climate change, and other social and political conflicts. What is more, most host communities are usually poor and face social and economic crises. This is why supporting integration between refugees and host communities is imperative at the global humanitarian context. Thereby, this research presents the NAUTIA (Need Assessment under a Technological Interdisciplinary Approach) methodology, an innovative mixed-method approach designed by the Platform on Refugees of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The main objective of NAUTIA is to identify the basic needs of refugees and locals to improve their quality of life through interdisciplinary and inclusive intervention proposals based on technology. The methodology was applied in the permanent Shimelba Refugee Camp (Ethiopia), where energy, shelter, and food security solutions have resulted essential to improve the living conditions of both population groups. The results are useful for researchers, stakeholders, and practitioners from the humanitarian sector as they provide a more innovative and comprehensive way to support the unprecedented global human mobility there is nowadays.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Engström ◽  
Cesar Azorin-Molina ◽  
Lennart Wern ◽  
Sverker Hellström ◽  
Christophe Sturm ◽  
...  

<p>Here we present the progress of the first work package (WP1) of the project “Assessing centennial wind speed variability from a historical weather data rescue project in Sweden” (WINDGUST), funded by FORMAS – A Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (ref. 2019-00509); previously introduced in EGU2019-17792-1 and EGU2020-3491. In a global climate change, one of the major uncertainties on the causes driving the climate variability of winds (i.e., the “stilling” phenomenon and the recent “recovery” since the 2010s) is mainly due to short availability (i.e., since the 1960s) and low quality of observed wind records as stated by the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).</p><p>The WINDGUST is a joint initiative between the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) and the University of Gothenburg aimed at filling the key gap of short availability and low quality of wind datasets, and improve the limited knowledge on the causes driving wind speed variability in a changing climate across Sweden.</p><p>During 2020, we worked in WP1 to rescue historical wind speed series available in the old weather archives at SMHI for the 1920s-1930s. In the process we followed the “Guidelines on Best Practices for Climate Data Rescue” of the World Meteorological Organization. Our protocol consisted on: (i) designing a template for digitization; (ii) digitizing papers by an imaging process based on scanning and photographs; and (iii) typing numbers of wind speed data into the template. We will report the advances and current status, challenges and experiences learned during the development of WP1. Until new year 2020/2021 eight out of thirteen selected stations spanning over the years 1925 to 1948 have been scanned and digitized by three staff members of SMHI during 1,660 manhours.</p>


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