Climate Change and Its Impacts on Oases Ecosystem in Morocco

Today, the international community agrees that climate change is one of the most important threats to the equilibrium of ecosystems. For its part, Morocco is not immune to this phenomenon because of climatic disturbances that the country has known for several years. Moroccan oases are among the most affected ecosystems by climate change, which has resulted in reduced yields of agricultural production, poverty, and deterioration of natural resources. The reports showed that in Morocco the area of palm groves has been significantly reduced during the last decades resulting from the upsurge of drought phenomena, soil salinity, and the spread of “Bayoud.” Therefore, the deterioration of the socio-economic and environmental importance of the date palm is well established. Aware of these issues, many actions have been initiated by the Moroccan government to preserve this ecosystem. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of how climate change affects different levels of oases ecosystem in Morocco and to propose sustainable strategies to limit degradation of this vulnerable area.

RESILIENCE DURING THE HEALTH EMERGENCY IN RESIDENTS OF AN UNATTENDED POPULATION IN NORTH LIMA

Resilience is a way of acquiring skills that allow to face situations that compromise its health well-being during the coronavirus pandemic. The research objective is to determine the resilience during the coronavirus pandemic in residents of a vulnerable area of North Lima. The results show the resilience of the residents of a vulnerable area of North Lima, where 13 (1%) have a low resilience level, 413 (30.8%) have medium resilience level and 917 (68.2%) high resilience level. It is concluded that strategies should be promoted on how to maintain mental health at home during the COVID19 pandemic.

Potential distribution of water in Malang city based on Multitemporal Sentinel 2A image data

Malang City is one of the cities in East Java with the status of a second-level city, with Surabaya City as the first-level city. Malang City also has various advantages that can attract many people outside the city to live in Malang City. As time goes by, Malang City experiences an increase in built-up land area, which is considered to be the cause of increased flooding in Malang City. This study attempted to identify the areas vulnerable to potential inundation (flooding) using several influencing variables, consisting of data on land cover, slope, land altitude, intensity of rainfall, and NDWI. This study employed the SMCE (Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation) method to obtain data on the distribution of potential areas for rainwater puddles (floods) in Malang City. Based on the analysis results, most of Malang City in 2019 is dominated by areas categorized as vulnerable with a percentage of 71% or an area of 7,827.21 hectares. At the same time, the remaining 29%, or an area of 3,130.10 hectares, is an area included in the safe category from potential puddles. The percentage of this vulnerable area, when compared to 2014, increased by 6%.

Development and Verification of the Effectiveness of a Fine Dust Reduction Planting Model for Socially Vulnerable Area

Creating a green infrastructure that is effective for reducing fine dust is a significant challenge for urban landscape planners. In this study, a fine dust reduction planting model that can be applied to socially vulnerable area was developed, and its effects were verified. Using PM10, PM2.5, temperature, relative humidity, wind direction, and wind speed measured for approximately one year, the changes in the concentration of fine dust according to the weather conditions were investigated. As a result of the analysis, there was a significant difference in the concentration of fine dust inside and outside the planting zone (p < 0.05). In addition, there is a significant difference between the fine dust reduction effect of the multilayered planting model and the single planting model (p < 0.05). The paper’s main findings are as follows: (1) When the green cover rate is over 50%, the concentration of fine dust is lower than that outside the planting zones. (2) Multilayered planting zones are more effective in reducing the concentration of fine dust than single-structured planting zones. (3) Multilayered planting zones reduce the concentration of fine dust by changing the microclimate. The results of this study can be used as basic data for small urban planting design to reduce fine dust for children’s health in socially vulnerable areas.

Bangladesh's vulnerability to cyclonic coastal flooding

In the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, covering most of Bangladesh, more than 165 million people live in low-lying coasts facing major extreme climatic events, such as cyclones. This article reviews the current scientific literature publications (2007–2020) in order to define vulnerability in the context of coastal Bangladesh facing cyclonic flooding. Based on this review, a new metric, called socio-spatial vulnerability index (SSVI), is defined as function of both the probability of the cyclonic flood hazard and the sensitivity of delta inhabitants. The main result shows that the districts of Shariatpur, Chandpur and Barisal situated in the tidal floodplain of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, are in the fourth quartile, i.e. highest category. These districts are very densely populated (from 870 up to 1400 inhabitants/km2) and exposed to inundation hazards, and host a large number of vulnerability factors. Finally, the delta's mouth was identified as a very vulnerable area to cyclonic flooding.