scholarly journals The Green Infrastructure in Cities as A Tool for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: Slovakian and Polish Experiences

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Belčáková ◽  
Małgorzata Świąder ◽  
Małgorzata Bartyna-Zielińska

Climate change could be seen as a 21st century phenomenon. This topic has been taken up equally by professionals as well as the general public. Adaptation and mitigation actions are needed, especially in cities where the concentration of population and an increased demand for resources (e.g., water, food, land) are expected in the coming years. Already, 400 cities have been declared to be in a “climate emergency” state. There are no longer any doubts that current environmental state requires actions and solutions for both the alarming climate situation and urban quality life development. If such action is not going to be taken, the environmental state will deteriorate. One possible solution could be the use of green infrastructure. This research compares approaches to green areas and green infrastructure development in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Wrocław (Poland). A comparison was made for projects realized between 2013 and 2018—i.e., since the publication of the European Union (EU) Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change in 2013. The research presents an overview of delivered projects regarding land use. The overview, which is supported by a density map of implemented green projects, verifies whether the new greenery fits and fills in the existing natural areas. Secondly, the green projects were analyzed according to years and land use types using Tableau software. Moreover, the legislation of climate adaptation mechanisms and practical aspects of green infrastructure implementation are shown. Finally, actions concerning the greening of the cities were categorized into practical, educational, and participatory ones, and the potential of green infrastructure as a positive landscape, micro-climate, health, and aesthetic influence was examined.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Antoine Versini ◽  
Daniel Schertzer ◽  
Mathilde Loury

<p>Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) appear as some relevant alternatives to mitigate the consequences of climate change. For this reason, they are promoted for the implementation of the national plan for adaptation to climate change (PNACC) in France, in line with the Paris Agreement, the strategy of the European Union for adaptation to climate change and the French national strategy for biodiversity.</p><p>Nevertheless, this ambitious goal of democratizing NBS poses some institutional and technical challenges because many obstacles remain to their implementation. Overcoming these shortcomings is the objective of the LIFE integrated project called ARTISAN (Achieving Resiliency by Triggering Implementation of nature-based Solutions for climate Adaptation at a National scale). Coordinated by the French Biodiversity Office (OFB), its consortium regroups several local authorities, technical, research and education institutes.</p><p>For this purpose, ARTISAN is creating a framework promoting the implementation of NBS by improving scientific and technical knowledge about them, then by developing and disseminating relevant tools for project leaders (for the design, sizing, implementation and evaluation of ecosystem performance).</p><p>To demonstrate that NBS can respond to a diversity of climatic, ecological and institutional contexts, 10 pilot sites will be monitored in metropolitan and overseas France. The concerned issues are for example the reduction of urban heat island by the de-waterproofing of the public space, the limitation of the impact of cyclonic episodes on the urbanized coastline overseas by promoting the restoration of the mangrove, and the decrease of agricultural water stress during the low flow period by the hydromorphological restoration of wetlands. These pilot sites will serve to develop, improve and validate operational tools, methods and trainings devoted to practitioners.</p>


2021 ◽  

The volume presents a summary of the latest scientific conference on urban and regional planning which took place at the Technical University Berlin. The conference addressed current demands in regional and urban land use planning with regard to ‘Climate protection and climate adaptation’. The addition of the "climate protection clause" to the overall objectives of urban land use planning in section 1 (5) sentence 2 BauGB in the 2011 amendment to the Climate Protection Act has contributed to a clear programmatic upgrading of the concerns of climate protection and adaptation to climate change in urban land use planning. This direct approach to the objectives of urban land use planning not only emphasised the urban development dimension of climate protection and adaptation to climate change, but also gave a first noticeable impetus to the preparation, amendment and supplementation of urban development plans. With contributions by Dr. Stephan Wagner, Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Stephan Mitschang, Mareike Schnorr, Christine Schimpfermann, Dr.-Ing. Tim Schwarz, Dr. Petra Overwien, Michael Bongartz, Martin Orth, Prof. Dr. Olaf Reidt, Dr. Jörg Beckmann, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Söfker, Prof. Dr. jur. Christian-W. Otto, Prof. Dr. Alexander Schink and Dr. Andreas Decker.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Fanan UJOH ◽  
Patrick Samson Udama ENECHE ◽  
Micah Ekwutosi OBIEGBU

Infrastructural development is considered one of the key steps towards economic advancement and prosperity, although the ecological basis of such intent is often not enshrined in the policies of governments, especially in most developing nations. Thus, infrastructural development has further increased fragmentation of ecologically-rich landscapes, causing biodiversity losses, reduced specie richness and diversity and climate change. Hence, the need for green infrastructure development. This study made use of Geographic Information System (GIS) tool to explore areas with high Ecological Connectivity Index (ECI) that could (easily) support green infrastructure development in Kaduna State in the face of climate change impacts which is already ravaging the region. Kaduna State land use/cover map and Aster GDTM elevation data were acquired, processed and analyzed using ArcGIS 10.5 software. A spatial model was developed that made use of the combination of elevation, slope and land use/cover data of the State via Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) to reveal potentially viable and ecologically-rich areas of the State and the most efficient links between such areas. A total distance of 878 kilometers of potential ecological corridors in the study area were mapped and therefore, serve as a base to be considered in embarking on a state-wide green wall infrastructure development program by Kaduna State government. It is however recommended that Kaduna State as well as other state governments, particularly in northern Nigeria, ought to roll-out phased green infrastructure investment program(s), adopt the use of shrubs and trees in building green walls and to localize all the gains of the continental-wide Green Wall initiative as this will further reduce the threats of climate change in the region. The study also recommended the inclusion of other landscape variables/descriptors (e.g. road proximity, soil properties, cultural setting of local communities, etc.) into building a more comprehensive model to strengthen the accuracy of the map and the model presented in this study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6517
Author(s):  
Innocent Chirisa ◽  
Trynos Gumbo ◽  
Veronica N. Gundu-Jakarasi ◽  
Washington Zhakata ◽  
Thomas Karakadzai ◽  
...  

Reducing vulnerability to climate change and enhancing the long-term coping capacities of rural or urban settlements to negative climate change impacts have become urgent issues in developing countries. Developing countries do not have the means to cope with climate hazards and their economies are highly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, and coastal zones. Like most countries in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe suffers from climate-induced disasters. Therefore, this study maps critical aspects required for setting up a strong financial foundation for sustainable climate adaptation in Zimbabwe. It discusses the frameworks required for sustainable climate adaptation finance and suggests the direction for success in leveraging global climate financing towards building a low-carbon and climate-resilient Zimbabwe. The study involved a document review and analysis and stakeholder consultation methodological approach. The findings revealed that Zimbabwe has been significantly dependent on global finance mechanisms to mitigate the effects of climate change as its domestic finance mechanisms have not been fully explored. Results revealed the importance of partnership models between the state, individuals, civil society organisations, and agencies. Local financing institutions such as the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ) have been set up. This operates a Climate Finance Facility (GFF), providing a domestic financial resource base. A climate change bill is also under formulation through government efforts. However, numerous barriers limit the adoption of adaptation practices, services, and technologies at the scale required. The absence of finance increases the vulnerability of local settlements (rural or urban) to extreme weather events leading to loss of life and property and compromised adaptive capacity. Therefore, the study recommends an adaptation financing framework aligned to different sectoral policies that can leverage diverse opportunities such as blended climate financing. The framework must foster synergies for improved impact and implementation of climate change adaptation initiatives for the country.


Author(s):  
Rod J. Snowdon ◽  
Benjamin Wittkop ◽  
Tsu-Wei Chen ◽  
Andreas Stahl

AbstractMajor global crops in high-yielding, temperate cropping regions are facing increasing threats from the impact of climate change, particularly from drought and heat at critical developmental timepoints during the crop lifecycle. Research to address this concern is frequently focused on attempts to identify exotic genetic diversity showing pronounced stress tolerance or avoidance, to elucidate and introgress the responsible genetic factors or to discover underlying genes as a basis for targeted genetic modification. Although such approaches are occasionally successful in imparting a positive effect on performance in specific stress environments, for example through modulation of root depth, major-gene modifications of plant architecture or function tend to be highly context-dependent. In contrast, long-term genetic gain through conventional breeding has incrementally increased yields of modern crops through accumulation of beneficial, small-effect variants which also confer yield stability via stress adaptation. Here we reflect on retrospective breeding progress in major crops and the impact of long-term, conventional breeding on climate adaptation and yield stability under abiotic stress constraints. Looking forward, we outline how new approaches might complement conventional breeding to maintain and accelerate breeding progress, despite the challenges of climate change, as a prerequisite to sustainable future crop productivity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 899-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nithya Natarajan ◽  
Katherine Brickell ◽  
Laurie Parsons

An emerging body of work has critiqued the concept of climate adaptation, highlighting the structural constraints impeding marginalised communities across the Global South from being able to adapt. This article builds on such work through analysis of debt-bonded brick workers in Cambodia, formerly small farmers. It argues that the detrimental impacts of climate change experienced by farmers-turned-workers across the rural – urban divide is due to their precarity. In doing so, this article draws on a conceptualisation of precarity which recognises it as emerging from the specific political economy of Cambodia, and as something that is neither new, nor confined to conditions of labour alone. As such, in looking to precarity as a means of conceptualising the relations of power which shape impacts of climate change, we advance a ‘climate precarity’ lens as a means of understanding how adaptation to climate change is an issue of power, rooted in a specific geographical context, and mobile over the rural–urban divide.


2020 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 07004
Author(s):  
Magdalena Tyszer ◽  
Slávka Gałaś

In the last years, the European Union has developed and set a several environmental policies whose imposes an obligation on Member States to implement specific actions, including incorporating climate change considerations into SEA and EIA processes. One of major environmental challenges facing most developing countries is that of global climate change. The aim of the research was to obtain a comprehensive review of existing SEA and EIA practical approaches for renewable energy installations in the aspect of adaptation to climate change with specific reference to Polish projects. Both SEA and EIA procedures implemented in Poland and other countries was introduced with the intent of factoring in potential risk to the environment by future large-scale project developments such as the construction of power plants, roads, or dams. The paper consist the initial recognition of available data of the current experience and level of implementation climate change impact and adaptions into local procedures. Preliminary results suggest that the additional funding should be given for climate change adaptation in the energy sector, especially in renewable energy projects, as well as specific interventions for climate-adapted energy systems should be targeted in order to fill the gap in RES sector and spur sustainable energy development.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Möckel ◽  
Wolfgang Köck

The article discusses the most significant legal problems facing the makers of conservation policy in the European Union and in Germany in adapting biodiversity to climate change. In the introduction, we give an overview of the possible consequences of climate change for species and landscapes and propose a number of adaptation measures. We then analyse and discuss three issues relating to the policy instruments of European and German environmental law: 1. the problems associated with protected areas in terms of justification and flexibility; 2. the need for more biotope networks, especially in agriculturally dominated landscapes; and 3. the potential and shortcomings of regional and local planning instruments.


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