scholarly journals What Is the Future of the Lower Mekong Basin Struggling against Human Activities? A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Meur Mathieu ◽  
Vo Le Phu ◽  
Gratiot Nicolas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
International Consultation ◽  
The World ◽  
Lower Mekong Basin ◽  
Negative Impacts

The Mekong River (MR) is recognized the 12th biggest rivers in the world. The Mekong watershed is the biggest one in Southeast Asia (795,000 km2), is densely populated (70 million people), is considered as the most productive one in Southeast Asia and is economically essential to the region. However, nowadays, the Lower Mekong River (LMR) and its delta are facing several emerging and critical anthropogenic stressors (dams construction, climate change, water poor quality, delta sinking). This review attempts to: (i) present the Mekong regional characteristics (geography, topological settings, climatic conditions, hydrology, demographic features and the anthropogenic activities), (ii) present the different factors that endanger the LMR, including the dam’s impacts, the climate change, the delta subsidence, and the degradation of the water quality, (iii) make comparison with different big rivers around the world and (iv) promote future decisions in order to minimize the negative impacts and seek for a trajectory that assures well-being and sustainability. International consultation and cooperation leading to sustainable management is now of a pivotal importance to try to avoid the deterioration of the LMR and its delta.

scholarly journals Effects of climate change on environmental sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 01005
Author(s):  
Manuela Tvaronavičienė
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Industrial Pollution ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
The World

Adaptation strategies to the climate change include measures that can be taken to take account of the new climatic conditions. This paper aims at assessing the effects of climate change on environmental sustainability. This sustainability constitutes a major problem in many countries and regions around the world that experience industrial pollution, degradation of land as well as natural disasters caused by the global warming. The paper shows that adaptation strategies are often parallel strategies that can be integrated simultaneously with the management of natural resources. They can make resources more efficient and resilient to climate change. The paper shows that reducing the carbon footprint by more than 50 percent by 2030 and eliminating it by 2050 might be a viable solution how to tackle the climate change and support the environmental sustainability.

scholarly journals The potential current distribution of the coypu (Myocastor coypus) in Europe and climate change induced shifts in the near future

NeoBiota ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 129-160
Author(s):  
Anna Schertler ◽  
Wolfgang Rabitsch ◽  
Dietmar Moser ◽  
Johannes Wessely ◽  
Franz Essl
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Current Distribution ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Grid Cells ◽  
Myocastor Coypus ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Management Recommendations

The coypu (Myocastor coypus) is a semi-aquatic rodent native to South America which has become invasive in Europe and other parts of the world. Although recently listed as species of European Union concern in the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation, an analysis of the current European occurrence and of its potential current and future distribution was missing yet. We collected 24,232 coypu records (corresponding to 25,534 grid cells at 5 × 5 km) between 1980 and 2018 from a range of sources and 28 European countries and analysed them spatiotemporally, categorising them into persistence levels. Using logistic regression, we constructed consensus predictions across all persistence levels to depict the potential current distribution of the coypu in Europe and its change under four different climate scenarios for 2041–2060. From all presence grid cells, 45.5% showed at least early signs of establishment (records temporally covering a minimum of one generation length, i.e. 5 years), whereas 9.8% were considered as containing established populations (i.e. three generation lengths of continuous coverage). The mean temperature of the warmest quarter (bio10), mean diurnal temperature range (bio2) and the minimum temperature of the coldest month (bio6) were the most important of the analysed predictors. In total, 42.9% of the study area are classified as suitable under current climatic conditions, of which 72.6% are to current knowledge yet unoccupied; therefore, we show that the coypu has, by far, not yet reached all potentially suitable regions in Europe. Those cover most of temperate Europe (Atlantic, Continental and Pannonian biogeographic region), as well as the coastal regions of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. A comparison of the suitable and occupied areas showed that none of the affected countries has reached saturation by now. Under climate change scenarios, suitable areas will slightly shift towards Northern regions, while a general decrease in suitability is predicted for Southern and Central Europe (overall decrease of suitable areas 2–8% depending on the scenario). Nevertheless, most regions that are currently suitable for coypus are likely to be so in the future. We highlight the need to further investigate upper temperature limits in order to properly interpret future climatic suitability for the coypu in Southern Europe. Based on our results, we identify regions that are most at risk for future invasions and provide management recommendations. We hope that this study will help to improve the allocation of efforts for future coypu research and contribute to harmonised management, which is essential to reduce negative impacts of the coypu and to prevent further spread in Europe.

DATA ANALYTICS FOR CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 2150005
Author(s):  
STAVROS DEMERTZIS ◽  
VASILIKI DEMERTZI ◽  
KONSTANTINOS DEMERTZIS
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Atmospheric Science ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Rivers And Lakes ◽  
Atmospheric Concentrations

Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. Under these conditions, air pollution is likely to reach levels that create undesirable living conditions. Anthropogenic activities, such as industry, release large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, increasing the atmospheric concentrations of these gases, thus significantly enhancing the greenhouse effect, which has the effect of increasing air heat and thus the speedup of climate change. The use of sophisticated data analysis methods to identify the causes of extreme pollutant values, the correlation of these values with the general climatic conditions and the general malfunctions that can be caused by prolonged air pollution can give a clear picture of current and future climate change. This paper presents a thorough study of preprocessing steps of data analytics and the appropriate big data architectures that are appropriate for the research study of Climate Change and Atmospheric Science.

Consequentialism as an Intergenerational Ethic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Mulgan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Intergenerational Justice ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
The World ◽  
Comparative Advantages ◽  
Intergenerational Ethics ◽  
Human Extinction

Consequentialist morality is about making the world a better place—by promoting value and producing valuable outcomes. Consequentialist ethics competes with non-consequentialist alternatives where values are to be honored or instantiated rather than promoted and/or where morality is based on rules, virtues, or rights rather than values. Consequentialism’s main rivals in intergenerational ethics are contract-based theories. This chapter first argues that consequentialism has significant comparative advantages over its contract-based rivals, especially in relation to non-identity, the absence of reciprocity, and the need for flexibility and radical critique. These advantages outweigh the challenges facing any consequentialist intergenerational ethics—including cluelessness, counterintuitive demands, and puzzles of aggregation. The chapter then explores many varieties of contemporary consequentialism, arguing that the best consequentialist approach to intergenerational justice is agnostic, moderate, collective consequentialism. Different possible futures—including futures broken by climate change or transformed by new technologies—present new ethical challenges that consequentialism has the flexibility to address. Collective consequentialism can also resolve long-standing debates about the aggregation of well-being. The chapter ends by asking how consequentialist intergenerational ethics might evaluate threats of human extinction, incorporate the value of nonhuman nature, and motivate its potentially extreme demands.

scholarly journals Globalization and Biodiversity Conservation Problems: Polycentric REDD+ Solutions

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mwangi Githiru ◽  
Josephine Njambuya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Great Chance ◽  
Free Rider Problem ◽  
The Face ◽  
Negative Impacts

Protected areas are considered the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation, but face multiple problems in delivering this core objective. The growing trend of framing biodiversity and protected area values in terms of ecosystem services and human well-being may not always lead to biodiversity conservation. Although globalization is often spoken about in terms of its adverse effects to the environment and biodiversity, it also heralds unprecedented and previously inaccessible opportunities linked to ecosystem services. Biodiversity and related ecosystem services are amongst the common goods hardest hit by globalization. Yet, interconnectedness between people, institutions, and governments offers a great chance for globalization to play a role in ameliorating some of the negative impacts. Employing a polycentric governance approach to overcome the free-rider problem of unsustainable use of common goods, we argue here that REDD+, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) climate change mitigation scheme, could be harnessed to boost biodiversity conservation in the face of increasing globalization, both within classic and novel protected areas. We believe this offers a timely example of how an increasingly globalized world connects hitherto isolated peoples, with the ability to channel feelings and forces for biodiversity conservation. Through the global voluntary carbon market, REDD+ can enable and empower, on the one hand, rural communities in developing countries contribute to mitigation of a global problem, and on the other, individuals or societies in the West to help save species they may never see, yet feel emotionally connected to.

scholarly journals Education for Sustainable Development as Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation: A Literature Review

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna Lou E. Neri
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Keywords Education

The World Health Organization (2003) stated that there is growing evidence that changes in the global climate will have profound effects on the well-being of citizens in countries throughout the world. The “business as usual” frame of mind in dealing with this phenomenon is no longer feasible. Rather, there is a great need for a “sense of urgency” to empower and actively involve every individual to adapt and to mitigate the worsening of climate change. A great number of studies show that the leadership of the educational system in developed countries for more than 2 decades has been successful in promoting environmental sustainability. Some of these studies are reviewed and documented in this paper so that vulnerable countries may learn and benchmark from their experiences. Keywords - Education, sustainable development, climate change

scholarly journals The Cambodian Mekong floodplain under the future development plans and climate change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sokchhay Heng ◽  
Alexander Horton ◽  
Panha Hok ◽  
Sarit Chung ◽  
Jorma Koponen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
Cumulative Impact Assessment ◽  
Lower Mekong Basin ◽  
Negative Impacts

Abstract. Water infrastructure development is crucial for driving economic growth in the developing countries of the Mekong. Yet it may also alter existing hydrological and flood conditions, with serious implications for water management, agricultural production and ecosystem services, especially in the floodplain regions. Our current understanding of the hydrological and flood pattern changes associated with infrastructural development still contain several knowledge gaps, such as the consideration of overlooked prospective drivers, and the interactions between multiple drivers. This research attempts to conduct a cumulative impact assessment of flood changes in the Cambodian part of the Mekong floodplains. The developmental activity of six central sectors (hydropower, irrigation, navigation, flood protection, agricultural land use and water use) as well as climate change were considered in our modelling analysis. Our results show that the monthly, sub-seasonal, and seasonal hydrological regimes will be subject to substantial alterations under the 2020 planned development scenario, and even larger alterations under the 2040 planned development scenario. The degree of hydrological alteration under the 2040 planned development is somewhat counteracted by the effect of climate change, as well as the removal of mainstream dams in the Lower Mekong Basin and hydropower mitigation investments. The likely impact of decreasing water discharge in the early wet season (up to −34 %) will pose a critical challenge to rice production, whereas the likely increase in water discharge in the mid-dry season (up to +54 %) indicates improved water availability for coping with drought stresses and sustaining environmental flow. At the same time, these changes would have drastic impacts on total flood extent, which is projected to decline up to −18 %, having potentially negative impacts on floodplain productivity whilst at the same time reducing the flood risk to the area. Our findings urge the timely establishment of adaptation and mitigation strategies to manage such future environmental alterations in a sustainable manner.

scholarly journals A review of the techniques for mitigating the effects of smoke taint in wine production

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ysadora A. Mirabelli-Montan ◽  
Matteo Marangon ◽  
Antonio Graça ◽  
Christine M. Mayr Marangon ◽  
Kerry L. Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fermentation Process ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Volatile Phenols ◽  
Wine Production ◽  
The World ◽  
Single Method ◽  
Negative Impacts

Smoke taint has become a prominent issue for the global wine industry as climate change continues to impact the length and extremity of fire seasons around the world. When grapevines are exposed to smoke, their leaves and fruit can adsorb volatile smoke compounds (for example, volatile phenols such as guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol, o-, m- and p-cresol, and syringol), which can initially be detected in free (aglycone) forms but are rapidly converted to glycoconjugate forms due to glycosylation. During the fermentation process, these glycoconjugates can be broken down, releasing volatile phenols that contribute undesirable sensory characteristics to the resultant wine (i.e. smokey and ashy attributes). Several methods have been evaluated, both viticultural measures and winemaking techniques, for mitigating and/or remediating the negative effects of grapevine smoke exposure. While there is currently no single method that universally solves the problem of smoke taint, this paper outlines the tools available that can help to minimize the negative impacts of smoke taint (Figure 1).

scholarly journals Problemele combaterii dăunătorilor la culturile agricole în spații protejate

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Lungu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Powdery Mildew ◽  
Aphis Gossypii ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Thrips Tabaci ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
Lecanicillium Longisporum

Climate change is becoming increasingly unpredictable as the climate dries up, protected areas grown with vegetables are growing every day, but farmers in this area are facing a number of problems, including pests of green cucumber lice (Aphis gossypii), the common thrips. (Thrips tabaci), the common red spider (Tetranychus urticae). Scientists around the world are conducting studies to propose solutions. The use of material that allows the passage of a larger amount of UV rays inhibits the development of aphid colonies. The dual application of Lecanicillium longisporum for the simultaneous suppression of green lice of cucumbers and powdery mildew has been demonstrated. Beauveria bassiana preparations are highly effective against tripe. For a future assured with high quality vegetables, it is necessary to develop as diverse methods as possible to control pests, so that each farmer can choose the method that suits him, both technologically and economically. The methods should be applicable in the most diverse areas of the earth. We must learn to model not only favorable climatic conditions but to create a healthy and viable ecosystem, so the greenhouses will generate profit for the farmer, fresh and tasty products for us.

scholarly journals Rock anchoring in Karimun Jawa, Indonesia: Ecological impacts and management implications

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 242 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Maynard ◽  
K. R. N. Anthony ◽  
S. Afatta ◽  
L. F. Anggraini ◽  
D. Haryanti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Coastal Development ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The World

Coral reefs everywhere are under increasing pressure from a suite of stressors. Recently, threats associated with climate change have been brought closer into focus and now dominate discussions and debate relating to the coral reef crisis (Hughes et al. 2003, Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007). Indeed, mitigating local stressors on coral reefs has been given less priority and publicity than the global need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Interestingly though, recent surveys demonstrate that most reef scientists agree that coral reefs are under greater threat from impacts associated with human population growth, coastal development, and overfishing than from global climate change (Kleypas and Eakin 2007). This is especially true for the reefs in SE Asia and the Pacific, which make up the bulk of the reefs in the world (Bryant et al. 1998). In these areas, regulations to ensure that anthropogenic activities near and on coral reefs are conducted sustainably, such as development, sanitation, fishing and even tourism; either do not exist or are rarely enforced due to a lack of resources. Here, we present one such example from Indonesia, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, a country where over 60% of the population relies in some way on marine resources.

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