Understanding climate-change adaptation on Kakadu National Park, using a combined diagnostic and modelling framework: a case study at Yellow Water wetland

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo X. C. Dutra ◽  
Peter Bayliss ◽  
Sandra McGregor ◽  
Peter Christophersen ◽  
Kelly Scheepers ◽  
...  

This paper describes a semi-quantitative approach for the assessment of sea-level rise (SLR) impacts on social–ecological systems (SES), using Yellow Water wetland on Kakadu National Park as a case study. The approach includes the application of a diagnostic framework to portray the existing SES configuration, including governance structures, in combination with qualitative modelling and Bayesian belief networks. Although SLR is predicted to cause saltwater inundation of freshwater ecosystems, cultural sites and built infrastructure, our study suggested that it may provide also an opportunity to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge and governance systems, towards a commonly perceived threat. Where feasible, mitigation actions such as levees may be required to manage local SLR impacts to protect important freshwater values. In contrast, adaptation will require strategies that facilitate participation by Kakadu Bininj (the Aboriginal people of Kakadu National Park) in research and monitoring programs that enhance understanding of salinity impacts and the adaptive capacity to respond to reasonably rapid, profound and irreversible future landscape-scale changes.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Miriam R. Aczel ◽  
Karen E. Makuch

This case study analyzes the potential impacts of weakening the National Park Service’s (NPS) “9B Regulations” enacted in 1978, which established a federal regulatory framework governing hydrocarbon rights and extraction to protect natural resources within the parks. We focus on potential risks to national parklands resulting from Executive Orders 13771—Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs [1]—and 13783—Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth [2]—and subsequent recent revisions and further deregulation. To establish context, we briefly overview the history of the United States NPS and other relevant federal agencies’ roles and responsibilities in protecting federal lands that have been set aside due to their value as areas of natural beauty or historical or cultural significance [3]. We present a case study of Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) situated within the Bakken Shale Formation—a lucrative region of oil and gas deposits—to examine potential impacts if areas of TRNP, particularly areas designated as “wilderness,” are opened to resource extraction, or if the development in other areas of the Bakken near or adjacent to the park’s boundaries expands [4]. We have chosen TRNP because of its biodiversity and rich environmental resources and location in the hydrocarbon-rich Bakken Shale. We discuss where federal agencies’ responsibility for the protection of these lands for future generations and their responsibility for oversight of mineral and petroleum resources development by private contractors have the potential for conflict.


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Yun-Jin Shim ◽  
Yong-Su Park ◽  
Rae-Ha Jang ◽  
Young-Jun Yoon ◽  
Sun- Ryoung Kim ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6478
Author(s):  
Amemarlita Matos ◽  
Laura Barraza ◽  
Isabel Ruiz-Mallén

This study is based on ethnographic research that analyzes how traditional knowledge and local beliefs on biodiversity conservation relates to the local ability to adapt and be resilient to climatic changes in two communities around Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique: Nhanfisse in the buffer zone and Muanandimae in the core area. A total of 78 semi-structured interviews with heads of households were conducted. We found that both communities carried out practices and held beliefs associated with conservation, such as protecting trees and animal species considered sacred or perceived as beneficial for human life in terms of water provision and agricultural production. In addition to traditional ceremonies that respond to extreme climatic events such as drought and flood, other adaptation strategies used by the communities include moving to neighboring areas in search of better living conditions and using forest products in times of scarcity. We discuss that the management of the park should be agreed on, in a shared way, between local communities and conservation agents to ensure that these areas continue to perform the ecological, subsistence, and spiritual functions required. Our research results contribute to a better understanding of local adaptation dynamics towards extreme climatic events and improvement of management strategies.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 1884
Author(s):  
Ana Juárez ◽  
Knut Alfredsen ◽  
Morten Stickler ◽  
Ana Adeva-Bustos ◽  
Rodrigo Suárez ◽  
...  

Floods are among the most damaging of natural disasters, and flood events are expected to increase in magnitude and frequency with the effects of climate change and changes in land use. As a consequence, much focus has been placed on the engineering of structural flood mitigation measures in rivers. Traditional flood protection measures, such as levees and dredging of the river channel, threaten floodplains and river ecosystems, but during the last decade, sustainable reconciliation of freshwater ecosystems has increased. However, we still find many areas where these traditional measures are proposed, and it is challenging to find tools for evaluation of different measures and quantification of the possible impacts. In this paper, we focus on the river Lærdal in Norway to (i) present the dilemma between traditional flood measures and maintaining river ecosystems and (ii) quantify the efficiency and impact of different solutions based on 2D hydraulic models, remote sensing data, economics, and landscape metrics. Our results show that flood measures may be in serious conflict with environmental protection and legislation to preserve biodiversity and key nature types.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. e01451
Author(s):  
Jason J. Scullion ◽  
Jacqueline Fahrenholz ◽  
Victor Huaytalla ◽  
Edgardo M. Rengifo ◽  
Elisabeth Lang

2018 ◽  
Vol 209 ◽  
pp. 700-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihai A. Tanase ◽  
Cristina Aponte ◽  
Stéphane Mermoz ◽  
Alexandre Bouvet ◽  
Thuy Le Toan ◽  
...  

Water Policy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 933-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sameer H. Shah ◽  
Lucy Rodina

Abstract The protection of natural rivers and watersheds face important concerns related to environmental (in)justice and (in)equity. Using the Queensland Wild Rivers Act as a case study, we advocate that ethical water governance attends to multiple and diverse values, specifically in ways that: (i) locate them within stakeholders' claims of inequality that emerge from a given or practiced water ethic; and (ii) historicize and understand them as resonating or reflecting natural resource management frameworks that have led to structural injustices. This approach, combined with adaptive co-governance, can contribute to more inclusive water ethics and even support reflexive spaces where radical change in social-ecological resource governance can be imagined.


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