Russian climate aims at risk from pushback or inaction

Significance They include a commitment to reach net zero by 2060, which President Vladimir Putin announced ahead of the COP26 conference, and a new government strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Impacts Russia will continue to lobby for nuclear energy to be an accepted technology within the global climate agenda. Despite the possible benefits of a warming climate, Russian farmers face immediate challenges from floods and droughts. The strategy's citation of a clean hydrogen industry demonstrates the government's ambition in this area.

Mechanisms and possibilities for the emergence of extreme floods in arid zones (Tiznit plain - Morocco): ميكانزمات واحتمالات نشأة الفيضانات المتطرفة بالمناطق الجافة (سهل تزنيت - المغرب)

In Morocco, the dynamics of change in rainfall patterns have been underway for decades. It is characterized by increasingly frequent and violent hydrological and climatic events (floods and droughts). This work aims to study the peculiarities and mechanisms of the appearance of floods in the watershed of the Oudodou wadi (Province of Tiznit - southwestern Morocco) and conduct a frequency analysis of the extreme hydrological events associated with floods to estimate their probabilities and their return periods. In addition to the diagnosis of natural factors in the area studied and their relationship to the emergence of floods, the methodological approach adopted is divided into two stages. The first, known as historical, is based on the study of 8 flooding cases (1942 - 2014) and the delimitation of threatened areas through the representations of residents. The second step focused on analyzing the frequencies of extreme hydrological events to determine their severity and return periods. Analysis of the results showed that flood thresholds are always associated with the strength and concentration of rainfall, giving them a sudden behavior like summer floods. To guide the interventions of actors in the field, the areas threatened by flooding have been identified according to their degrees of severity. The recurrence of the flows was modeled using the GAMMA law which makes it possible to estimate the probability of occurrence of extreme events (floods) and the instantaneous flows corresponding to the return periods of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 years. Biannual and five-year hydrological events correspond to instantaneous flows of 120 and 331 m3/s, while exceptional or even very exceptional cases have a return period of more than 50 and 100 years and correspond to instantaneous flows of 912 and 1035 m3/s.

Floods and droughts in association with cold and warm ENSO events and related circulation features

For the Indian subcontinent. the occurrence of floods and droughts is closely linked with the summer monsoon activity. The phenomenon of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been established to be one of the major teleconnections of Indian Summer Monsoon. Also the relationship between the circulation features and summer monsoon activity is well documented in the literature. The interaction of F.NSO with monsoon system was known to the seasonal forecasters in India from the days of G. Walker. Northland (1953) summarising these results has remarked that ‘Monsoon has a prolonged influence on the global weather rather than global weather parameters influencing the monsoon’. 1990-94 was a prolonged period of warm ENSO producing weather anomalies in different regions of the globe. Yet during the same period all India rainfall was very close to normal and in fact. 1994 was a year of abundant rainfall for India. The aim of the study is to examine some of these features more critically. It is observed that ENSO has a modifying effect on the regional scale circulation pattern and possible interactions and/or phase-Locking with the planetary scale circulation pattern. which results into the occurrence or non-occurrence of an extreme event. Also, a qualitative analysis is carried for a period 1960-90 to assess how far the mid-season rainfall deficiency is made up at the end of the season. It is observed that even during drought years, the mid-season rainfall deficiency is made up at the end of the season for a considerable percentage of the total number of cases.

UniFHy v0.1: A community framework for the terrestrial water cycle in Python

Land surface, hydrological, and groundwater modelling communities all have expertise in simulating the hydrological processes at play in the land system, but these communities have largely remained distinct with limited collaboration between disciplines. In order to address key societal questions regarding the future availability of water resources and the intensity of extreme events such as floods and droughts in a changing climate, these communities must build on the strengths of one another. The development of a common modelling infrastructure, a framework, can contribute to stimulating cross-fertilisation between them. By allowing (parts of) their existing models to be coupled together, improved land system models can be built to better understand and simulate the terrestrial hydrological cycle. This paper presents a Python implementation of such a framework named the Unified Framework for Hydrology (unifhy). The framework aims to provide the technical infrastructure required to couple models, taking into account the specific needs of a land system model. Its conceptual design and technical capabilities are outlined first, before its usage and useful characteristics are demonstrated through case studies. The limitations of the current framework and necessary future developments are finally presented as a road map for later versions and/or other implementations of the framework.

How Local People Use Their Indigenous Knowledge to Respond to Floods and Droughts: A Case Study of Tonle Sap Lake Community, Cambodia

<p>This thesis investigates the impacts of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region and examines to what extent the local communities’ indigenous knowledge (IK) is used to deal with floods and droughts. The thesis begins by exploring the Tonle Sap Lake communities’ perceptions of climate change, especially floods and droughts and their impacts on local livelihoods. It then examines how the communities have used their IK to develop livelihood adaptation methods to cope with floods and droughts. To conduct this study, a qualitative methodology was adopted using semi-structured interviews, and non-participant and unstructured observation as the main methods. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with local people and local authorities from two communities, and NGO staff. The study found that the intensity of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region has increased in the last few years. Floods and droughts have threatened local livelihoods and food security. To mitigate the effects of floods and droughts, the local communities in this region have developed various livelihood adaptation strategies to adapt to the hazards. The communities appeared to use both IK and technologies for their adaptation strategies. IK is seen as an invaluable local community asset in developing livelihood adaptation methods. Although a mixture of IK and new knowledge has been used to develop various adaptation strategies, the sufficiency of the adaptation is still limited. The current severity of climate change is seen to limit the local communities’ response capacities. To strengthen the communities’ adaptation capacity, contribution and involvement from non-governmental organisations and the government in developing climate change adaptation policy at a local level are essential.</p>

How Local People Use Their Indigenous Knowledge to Respond to Floods and Droughts: A Case Study of Tonle Sap Lake Community, Cambodia

<p>This thesis investigates the impacts of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region and examines to what extent the local communities’ indigenous knowledge (IK) is used to deal with floods and droughts. The thesis begins by exploring the Tonle Sap Lake communities’ perceptions of climate change, especially floods and droughts and their impacts on local livelihoods. It then examines how the communities have used their IK to develop livelihood adaptation methods to cope with floods and droughts. To conduct this study, a qualitative methodology was adopted using semi-structured interviews, and non-participant and unstructured observation as the main methods. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with local people and local authorities from two communities, and NGO staff. The study found that the intensity of floods and droughts in the Tonle Sap Lake region has increased in the last few years. Floods and droughts have threatened local livelihoods and food security. To mitigate the effects of floods and droughts, the local communities in this region have developed various livelihood adaptation strategies to adapt to the hazards. The communities appeared to use both IK and technologies for their adaptation strategies. IK is seen as an invaluable local community asset in developing livelihood adaptation methods. Although a mixture of IK and new knowledge has been used to develop various adaptation strategies, the sufficiency of the adaptation is still limited. The current severity of climate change is seen to limit the local communities’ response capacities. To strengthen the communities’ adaptation capacity, contribution and involvement from non-governmental organisations and the government in developing climate change adaptation policy at a local level are essential.</p>

Kenyan Women Bearing the Cost of Climate Change

Climate change-induced crises can aggravate intimate partner violence (IPV); the loss of income when weather affects the agricultural industry can exacerbate violence at home. In Kenya, climate change has increased precipitation during the rainy season and raised temperatures during the dry season, resulting in floods and droughts. For 75% of Kenyans, agricultural activities are their primary source of income. This research aims to assess patterns in IPV and severe weather events (SWE). We examined Integrated Public Use Microdata Series-Demographic Health Survey (IPUMS-DHS) data from 2008 and 2014 for IPV severity and frequency. We used Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) data along with GPS coordinates to identify SWEs (defined as any flood >10 days) by county in Kenya. Overall, women were more likely to experience IPV if their spouse worked in agriculture (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.22, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.10–1.36). There was a 60% increase in the odds of reporting IPV in counties that experienced an SWE as compared to counties that did not experience an SWE (OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.35–1.89). This analysis further supports the growing body of research that suggests a relationship between climate change-related weather events and violence against women.