scholarly journals Assessing climate risk to support urban forests in a changing climate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez ◽  
Paul Rymer ◽  
Sally Power ◽  
David Barton ◽  
Paloma Cariñanos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Urban Forests ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Species Selection ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Species Vulnerability ◽  
Tree Dieback

The management of urban forests is a key element of resilience planning in cities across the globe. Urban forests provide ecosystem services as well as other nature-based solutions to 4.2 billion people living in cities. However, to continue to do so effectively, urban forests need to be able to thrive in an increasingly changing climate. Trees in cities are vulnerable to extreme heat and drought events, which are predicted to increase in frequency and severity under climate change. Knowledge of species’ vulnerability to climate change, therefore, is crucial to ensure provision of desired ecosystem benefits, improve species selection, maintain tree growth and reduce tree mortality, dieback and stress in urban forests. Yet, systematic assessments of causes of tree dieback and mortality in urban environments are rare. We reviewed the state of knowledge of tree mortality in urban forests globally, finding very few frameworks that enable detection of climate change impacts on urban forests and no long-term studies assessing climate change as a direct driver of urban tree dieback and mortality. The effects of climate change on urban forests remain poorly understood and quantified, constraining the ability of governments to incorporate climate change resilience into urban forestry planning.

scholarly journals Risks and opportunities for a Swiss hydropower company in a changing climate

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsti Hakala ◽  
Nans Addor ◽  
Thibault Gobbe ◽  
Johann Ruffieux ◽  
Jan Seibert
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Volume Distribution ◽  
Impact Studies ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Low Flows

Abstract. Anticipating and adapting to climate change impacts on water resources requires a detailed understanding of future hydroclimatic changes and of stakeholders' vulnerability to these changes. However, climate change impact studies are often conducted at a spatial scale that is too coarse to capture the specificity of individual catchments, and more importantly, the changes they focus on are not necessarily the changes most critical to stakeholders. While recent studies have combined hydrological and electricity market modeling, they tend to aggregate all climate impacts by focusing solely on reservoir profitability, and thereby provide limited insights into climate change adaptation. Here, we collaborated with Groupe E, a hydropower company operating several reservoirs in the Swiss pre-Alps and worked with them to produce hydroclimatic projections tailored to support their upcoming water concession negotiations. We started by identifying the vulnerabilities of their activities to climate change and then together chose streamflow and energy indices to characterize the associated risks. We provided Groupe E with figures showing the projected climate change impacts, which were refined over several meetings. The selected indices enabled us to simultaneously assess a variety of impacts induced by changes on i) the seasonal water volume distribution, ii) low flows, iii) high flows, and iv) energy demand. We were hence able to identify key opportunities (e.g., the future increase of reservoir inflow in winter, when electricity prices are historically high) and risks (e.g., the expected increase of consecutive days of low flows in summer and fall, which is likely to make it more difficult to meet residual flow requirements). This study highlights that the hydrological opportunities and risks associated with reservoir management in a changing climate depend on a range of factors beyond those covered by traditional impact studies. We also illustrate the importance of identifying stakeholder needs and using them to inform the production of climate impact projections. Our user-centered approach is transferable to other impact modeling studies, in the field of water resources and beyond.

Changing Climate, Changing Terrain: The Stasis Metaphor and the Climate Crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 004728162096698
Author(s):  
Shelton Weech
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rhetorical Analysis ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Technical Communicators ◽  
Issue Definition ◽  
Climate Crisis

Rhetorical theory has frequently relied on metaphors of place and positioning as heuristics to build better arguments. This article utilizes one such metaphor, that of stasis theory, as a method by which we might change the terrain of the conversation surrounding the climate crisis. As an example, the author does a rhetorical analysis of a recent agricultural report from the Indiana Climate Change Impacts Assessment and finds that, rather than using traditional questions of conjecture and quality, the authors of the report focus on questions of procedure and definition to reframe the discussion surrounding the climate crisis. Drawing from the rhetoric in this report, the author suggests that technical communicators might similarly produce more fruitful conversations around the climate crisis if they focus on what to do (procedure) and redefining the crisis as a local issue (definition).

scholarly journals MICROFINANCE AND CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS: THE CASE OF AGROAMIGO IN BRAZIL

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAFAEL MAGNUS BARBOSA MOSER ◽  
LAURO GONZALEZ
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Change Initiatives ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Empirical Contribution

ABSTRACTThis paper reports an empirical case study on the interface between microfinance and climate change actions. Climate change, which until recently seemed a luxury for the microfinance sector, now appears to be crucial for its future. For their low adaptive capacity, the millions of microfinance clients worldwide happen to be the most vulnerable to a changing climate. However, such an arena is still blurred from an academic viewpoint, and inexistent among Brazilian academia. Therefore, by investigating Brazil’s largest rural MFI, Agroamigo, we aim at providing an empirical contribution to green microfinance. The main conclusion is that, albeit Agroamigo offers important links to climate change initiatives, it will need to take better account of specific vulnerabilities and risks to protect its portfolio and clients better from climate change impacts.

scholarly journals Hurricane effects on climate-adaptive silviculture treatments to longleaf pine woodland in southwestern Georgia, USA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth W Bigelow ◽  
Christopher E Looney ◽  
Jeffery B Cannon
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Functional Groups ◽  
Longleaf Pine ◽  
Stand Density ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Species Selection ◽  
Destructive Effect ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Density Reduction ◽  
Resistant Species

Abstract The Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) network tests silvicultural treatments to promote ‘resistance’ or ‘resilience’ to climate change or speed ‘transition’ to new forest types. Based on projected increases in air temperatures and within-season dry periods in southeastern USA, we installed resistance, resilience and transition treatments involving species selection and varied intensities of density reduction, plus an untreated control, in mixed longleaf pine-hardwood woodland in southwest Georgia USA. Within a year of treatment a tropical cyclone, Hurricane Michael, exposed the site to the unforeseen climatic stress of >44-m s−1 winds. We measured inventory plots post-cyclone and compared the data to pre-storm and pre-treatment values. We analysed stand density index (metric SDI, species maximum value = 1000), stand complexity index (SCI), composition and individual tree characteristics. The ASCC treatments decreased both SDI (from 220 to 124 in the transition treatment) and SCI. The cyclone did not greatly decrease SDI (mean decrease 4.5 per cent) and decreased SCI only in the Controls. Xeric hardwoods were more prone to damage than other functional groups, and ordination showed that the cyclone shifted species composition to greater longleaf pine dominance. Taller trees were more likely to be damaged, except in the resilience treatment, which had a relatively large representation of shorter, more easily damaged xeric hardwoods. The open canopy of the longleaf-hardwood woodland, only 22 per cent of maximum SDI before treatment, evidently fostered wind-firmness, thereby limiting the destructive effect of the cyclone. The sensitivity of xeric hardwoods to hurricane damage suggests that there may be a trade-off between wind tolerance and drought tolerance among functional groups. Maintaining a mixture of drought and wind-resistant species, as in the resilience treatments, may provide broader insurance against multiple climate change impacts in longleaf pine and other forested systems dominated by a single foundation species.

Assessing the vulnerability of urban forests to climate change

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ordóñez ◽  
P.N. Duinker
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forests ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Species Selection ◽  
General Notion ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Climate Vulnerability

Climate adaptation is being embraced by many municipalities worldwide. An element of this is the planting and protection of urban trees. However, the fact that climate change will also have an impact on urban trees has been largely overlooked. We argue that climate vulnerability assessments are necessary for addressing climate adaptation in urban forests and contribute to successful climate adaptation in cities. We review and integrate the literature on climate vulnerability and urban forests to explore how the general notion of urban forest vulnerability to climate change can be developed into an operational framework for undertaking a vulnerability assessment. The framework characterizes climate exposure, impact, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, as well as nonclimatic drivers and factors, in urban forests. The most important themes in this discussion include urban tree species selection and diversity, naturalization, resource access, social awareness and engagement, budget and economic valuation, liability issues, and governance structures. Climate change vulnerability assessments help us understand how and why urban forests are vulnerable to climate change, identify future areas for research, and determine what adaptation measures could be included in urban forest management. These assessments help bring climate change to the forefront of the decision-making process and contribute to successful urban adaptation to climate change.

Urban wind resource assessment in changing climate: Case study

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Djordje Romanic ◽  
Ashkan Rasouli ◽  
Horia Hangan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Wind Energy ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Wind Resource Assessment ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Energy Maps ◽  
Wind Resource ◽  
The City

Urban wind resource assessment in changing climate has not been studied so far. This study presents a methodology for microscale numerical modelling of urban wind resource assessment in changing climate. The methodology is applied for a specific urban development in the city of Toronto, ON, Canada. It is shown that the speed of the southwest winds, that is, the most frequent winds increased for .8 m s−1 in the period from 1948 to 2015. The generated wind energy maps are used to estimate the influences of climate change on the available wind energy. It is shown that the geometry of irregularly spaced and located obstacles in urban environments has to be taken into consideration when performing studies on urban wind resource assessment in changing climate. In the analysed urban environment, peak speeds are more affected by climate change than the mean speeds.

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