scholarly journals Perceptions of Public Officers Towards the Effects of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services: A Case-Study From Northern Portugal

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Sofia Vaz ◽  
Marisa Graça ◽  
Cláudia Carvalho-Santos ◽  
Eva Pinto ◽  
Joana R. Vicente ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
Common View ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Territorial Planning ◽  
Social Ecological

How institutional stakeholders perceive the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES) under distinct contexts determines which planning actions are deemed priority or not. Public officers play a crucial role in social-ecological management and decision-making processes, but there is a paucity of research exploring their perceptions on ES supply and demand under a changing climate. We address this gap through an exploratory study that analyses the views of public officers on the potential impacts of climate-change related drivers on multiple ES in a major administrative region from Portugal (EU NUTS 3). We combined qualitative spatial data from participatory maps and semi-quantitative answers from questionnaire-based surveys with 22 officers from public institutions contributing to territorial planning. Contrary to other similar studies, public officers shared a common view on the importance of ES. This view aligns with scientific projections on how a changing climate is expected to influence ES in the region over the next decade. In agreement with other observations in Mediterranean regions, the most perceivably valued ES concerned tangible socio-economic benefits (e.g., periurban agriculture and wine production). Surprisingly, despite the region’s potential for cultural ES, and considering the impacts that climate change may hold on them, recreation and tourism did not seem to be embedded in the officers’ views. We explore the implications of our findings for territorial planning and social-ecological adaptation, considering that the way stakeholders manage the territory in response to climate change depends on the extent to which they are aware and expect to experience climatic consequences in the future.

scholarly journals How Can Sustainable Agriculture Increase Climate Resilience? A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel El Chami
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Relevant Article ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Climate Resilience

In the last few decades, a great deal has been written on the use of sustainable agriculture to improve the resilience of ecosystem services to climate change. However, no tangible and systematic evidence exists on how this agriculture would participate in alleviating impacts on vulnerable rural communities. This paper provides a narrative systematic review (SR) integrated with a bibliometric analysis and a concept network analysis to determine how, in this changing climate, sustainable agriculture can increase the resilience of agrosystems. Our search ranged from the date of the first relevant article until the end of 2018.

scholarly journals Recreational and Nature-Based Tourism as a Cultural Ecosystem Service. Assessment and Mapping in a Rural-Urban Gradient of Central Spain

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz ◽  
Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui ◽  
María F. Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Urban Gradient ◽  
Social Ecological

Land management focused from the social-ecological perspective of ecosystem services should consider cultural services in decision-making processes. Nature-based tourism offers a great potential for landscape conservation, local development and the well-being of human populations. However, the subjectivity of recreational ecosystem services has meant a clear impediment to assessing and mapping them. In this study, an integrated numerical spatial method is developed, which quantifies the supply and demand of recreational ecosystem services and allows mapping their spatial correspondence along a rural-urban gradient. The procedure also allows quantifying the influence of the landscape structure and the presence of protected areas on the degree of coupling between supply of recreational ecosystem services and demand for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism and reveals that protected areas are hotspots of recreational ecosystem services. The results obtained highlight the usefulness of the methodological procedure developed as a tool for sustainable land planning and management from an integrative social-ecological approach.

scholarly journals Research Priorities for Coastal Geoscience and Engineering: A Collaborative Exercise in Priority Setting From Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah E. Power ◽  
Andrew W. M. Pomeroy ◽  
Michael A. Kinsela ◽  
Thomas P. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Priority Setting ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Coastal Development ◽  
Coastal Hazards ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Proactive Management ◽  
Priority Setting Exercise

We present the result of a collaborative priority setting exercise to identify emerging issues and priorities in coastal geoscience and engineering (CGE). We use a ranking process to quantify the criticality of each priority from the perspective of Australian CGE researchers and practitioners. 74 activities were identified across seven categories: Data Collection and Collation, Coastal Dynamics and Processes, Modelling, Engineering Solutions, Coastal Hazards and Climate Change, Communication and Collaboration, and Infrastructure, Innovation, and Funding. We found consistent and unanimous support for the vast majority of priorities identified by the CGE community, with 91% of priorities being allocated a score of ≥ 3 out of 5 (i.e., above average levels of support) by ≥ 75% of respondents. Data Collection and Collation priorities received the highest average score, significantly higher than four of the other six categories, with Coastal Hazards and Climate Change the second ranked category and Engineering Solutions the lowest scoring category. Of the 74 priorities identified, 11 received unified and strong support across the CGE community and indicate a critical need for: additional coastal data collection including topographic and bathymetric, hydrodynamic, oceanographic, and remotely sensed data; improved data compilation and access; improved understanding of extreme events and the quantification of future impacts of climate change on nearshore dynamics and coastal development; enhanced quantification of shoreline change and coastal inundation processes; and, additional funding to support CGE research and applications to mitigate and manage coastal hazards. The outcomes of this priority setting exercise can be applied to guide policy development and decision-making in Australia and jurisdictions elsewhere. Further, the research and application needs identified here will contribute to addressing key practical challenges identified at a national level. CGE research plays a critical role in identifying and enabling social, environmental, and economic benefits through the proactive management of coastal hazard impacts and informed planning to mitigate the potential impacts of growing coastal risk, particularly in a changing climate. The prevalence and commonalities of the challenges faced by coastal communities globally due to increasing pressures from coastal hazards in a changing climate suggest that our findings will be applicable to other settings.

Agroecosystems' resilience and social-ecological vulnerability index to climate change in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

2020 ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
Kelvine C. Shirima ◽  
Claude G. Mung'ong'o
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Agronomic Practices ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Ecological Vulnerability ◽  
Agricultural Yield

Abstract The concept of resilience has gained momentum during the current climate change era. Resilience is said to be the measure of the amount of change the system can undergo while still retaining the same controls on function and structure. Taking into account the effects of changing climate, the term resilience has been used to assess the vulnerability of social-ecological systems. Most agroecosystem studies have focused on dryland ecosystems and this prompted the need to shift concern on to mountainous ecosystems whose susceptibility to climate change is not adequately addressed. This chapter assesses the resilience of maize-coffee-banana agroecosystems on the southern slope of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Also, it assesses agronomic practices and the social-economic status of farmers and computes a social-ecological vulnerability index for the ecosystem. The study depicts variation of agronomic practices with altitude due to microclimatic differences, terrain and soil characteristics that determine the type of crops and their farming system which have both positive and negative implications. Climatic shocks (e.g. drought frequency, floods and below average rains) were found to have an impact on agricultural yield. Social-economic indicators (e.g. the number of household dependants, social safety nets, off-farm contribution, possession of land title, usage of wood for cooking energy and access to extension services) have also shown a significant influence on household vulnerability to changing climate which may later affect the agroecosystem productivity as these parameters are associated with the natural environment. Indicators chosen for the vulnerability index depict slight variations of vulnerability altitude wise, except for the mid-lower zone which appears to be more vulnerable.

Wald und Klimawandel in der inneralpinen Trockenregion Visp

2012 ◽  
Vol 163 (12) ◽  
pp. 481-492
Author(s):  
Andreas Rigling ◽  
Ché Elkin ◽  
Matthias Dobbertin ◽  
Britta Eilmann ◽  
Arnaud Giuggiola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Forest Ecosystem ◽  
Bark Beetles ◽  
Forest Ecosystems ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Forest Monitoring ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Forest Ecosystem Services

Forest and climate change in the inner-Alpine dry region of Visp Over the past decades, observed increases in temperature have been particularly pronounced in mountain regions. If this trend should continue in the 21st Century, frequency and intensity of droughts will increase, and will pose major challenges for forest management. Under current conditions drought-related tree mortality is already an important factor of forest ecosystems in dry inner-Alpine valleys. Here we assess the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to climate change and evaluate alternative forest management strategies in the Visp region. We integrate data from forest monitoring plots, field experiments and dynamic forests models to evaluate how the forest ecosystem services timber production, protection against natural hazards, carbon storage and biodiver-sity will be impacted. Our results suggest that at dry low elevation sites the drought tolerance of native tree species will be exceeded so that in the longer term a transition to more drought-adapted species should be considered. At medium elevations, drought and insect disturbances as by bark beetles are projected to be important for forest development, while at high elevations forests are projected to expand and grow better. All of the ecosystem services that we considered are projected to be impacted by changing forest conditions, with the specific impacts often being elevation-dependent. In the medium term, forest management that aims to increase the resilience of forests to drought can help maintain forest ecosystem services temporarily. However, our results suggest that relatively rigid management interventions are required to achieve significant effects. By using a combination of environmental monitoring, field experiments and modeling, we are able to gain insight into how forest ecosystem, and the services they provide, will respond to future changes.

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