Managing risks to Canada’s boreal zone: transdisciplinary thinking in pursuit of sustainability1

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena F. Creed ◽  
Peter N. Duinker ◽  
Jacqueline N. Serran ◽  
James W.N. Steenberg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Boreal Zone ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Face ◽  
Iso 31000

The policy landscape is changing as Canada considers its energy future. The Canadian boreal zone has a large amount of natural resources, giving Canada options in terms of its energy future. However, the sustainability of the boreal zone has been deemed at risk because of the cumulative effects of intensifying natural resource activities (forestry, mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy) on ecosystems in the face of the uncertainty associated with climate change. As Canada considers the future of the boreal zone, there will be additional challenges to ensure that we do not further disadvantage marginalized human populations living in the boreal zone who are at high risk of the consequences of climate change. In response to these challenges, the Boreal 2050 project was initiated to understand the risk of failing to achieve the future sustainability of the boreal zone using the ISO 31000 risk management framework. First, we identified the major drivers of the risks to the sustainability of the boreal zone, which include atmospheric change, the demand for provisioning and nonprovisioning ecosystem services, demographics and societal values, industrial innovation and infrastructure, and governance. Second, we analyzed the risk of failing to achieve a sustainable boreal zone using scenario analysis, where we framed four plausible future scenarios around two axes of change: the global economy’s energy and society’s capacity to adapt. Third, we evaluated the risk and determined that present governance systems are driving Canada towards failing to achieve a sustainable boreal zone. To ensure the future sustainability of the boreal, we need to shift from an oil/gas/coal-producing country to a renewable energy leader and shift from using a top-down strategy where Canadians have a low capacity to adapt towards a mixture of top-down and bottom-up participatory strategies where Canadians—particularly Indigenous peoples living in the boreal zone—have a higher capacity to adapt. To facilitate this shift in governance, substantive changes will be required in institutional arrangements designed to protect boreal ecosystems.

Planning for the Future in the Face of Climate Change

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Christopher Crockett ◽  
Paul Kohl ◽  
Julia Rockwell ◽  
Teresa DiGenova
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Face

scholarly journals Analysis of Small Hydropower Generation Potential : (2) Future Prospect of the Potential Under Climate Change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaewon Jung ◽  
Sungeun Jung ◽  
Junhyeong Lee ◽  
Myungjin Lee ◽  
Hung Soo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Power Generation ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Future Prospect ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Small Rivers ◽  
Hydropower Generation ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
The Future

The interest in renewable energy to replace fossil fuel is increasing as the problem caused by climate change become more severe. Small hydropower (SHP) is evaluated as a resource with high development value because of its high energy density compared to other renewable energy sources. SHP may be an attractive and sustainable power generation environmental perspective because of its potential to be found in small rivers and streams. The power generation potential could be estimated based on the discharge in the river basin. Since the river discharge depends on the climate conditions, the hydropower generation potential changes sensitively according to climate variability. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the SHP potential in consideration of future climate change. In this study, the future prospect of SHP potential is simulated for the period of 2021 to 2100 considering the climate change in three hydropower plants of Deoksong, Hanseok, and Socheon stations, Korea. As the results, SHP potential for the near future (2021 to 2040) shows a tendency to be increased and the highest increase is 23.4% at the Deoksong SPH plant. Through the result of future prospect, we have shown that hydroelectric power generation capacity or SHP potential will be increased in the future. Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to revitalize the development of SHP in order to expand the use of renewable energy. Also, a methodology presented in this study could be used for the future prospect of the small hydropower potential.

The Principles and Practices in Action

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-178
Author(s):  
Cynthia Rayner ◽  
François Bonnici
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Slow Pace ◽  
The Face ◽  
Strategic Conversation

This book asks a rather simple but bold question: “How do organizations create systemic social change?” This question is growing in importance, becoming part of the strategic conversation for all types of organizations, not just those specifically focused on social change. Business leaders, politicians, educators, employees, and parents are grappling with the realization that complex social change can rapidly impact their everyday lives. As frustration at the slow pace of change grows, and the world’s wicked problems—such as inequality, climate change and racial justice—proliferate, people are increasingly recognizing that we need to find ways to tackle the root causes of these issues rather than just addressing the symptoms. In the face of these challenges, it is easy to default to our more traditional views of leadership and problem-solving, which celebrate an us-versus-them mentality, top-down decision-making, and aggressive power stances. Systems work—with its focus on the process of change including our day-to-day actions and relationships—may feel counterintuitive in this rapidly emerging future. Yet, as the authors’ research has shown, the future is demanding a different kind of leadership, one that emphasizes the ways we work as much as the outcomes we pursue.

Epilogue

2016 ◽  
pp. 119-122
Author(s):  
Christian W. McMillen
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Past ◽  
Public Health Infrastructure ◽  
Health Infrastructure ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Face ◽  
New Challenges

There will be more pandemics. A pandemic might come from an old, familiar foe such as influenza or might emerge from a new source—a zoonosis that makes its way into humans, perhaps. The epilogue asks how the world will confront pandemics in the future. It is likely that patterns established long ago will re-emerge. But how will new challenges, like climate change, affect future pandemics and our ability to respond? Will lessons learned from the past help with plans for the future? One thing is clear: in the face of a serious pandemic much of the developing world’s public health infrastructure will be woefully overburdened. This must be addressed.

scholarly journals Demand for provisioning ecosystem services as a driver of change in the Canadian boreal zone1

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maitane Erdozain ◽  
Erika C. Freeman ◽  
Camille Ouellet Dallaire ◽  
Sonja Teichert ◽  
Harry W. Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Boreal Zone ◽  
Drivers Of Change ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Provisioning Ecosystem Services ◽  
The Future

The Canadian boreal zone provides extractive goods and services (provisioning ecosystem services (PrES)) to domestic and global markets and makes a significant contribution to the Canadian economy. The intensity and location of these extractive activities, however, may positively or negatively affect the availability of other benefits that the Canadian and global society receive from the boreal. Where PrES compete, managing these activities along with their impacts to boreal ecosystems becomes a balancing act between the need for resource extraction and the continued availability of the other benefits from ecosystems. Management measures and policies are more likely to succeed if they are designed with foresight, which means accounting for how demand, a key driver of change in the boreal, may change in the future. To help this process, we present three divergent, yet plausible future scenarios based on the analysis of: (i) the capacity of the boreal to provide wood products, fossil fuels, metals and minerals, and hydropower and other renewables; (ii) past trends (1985–2015) and key events in the demand for these PrES; (iii) the interaction of demand for PrES with other drivers of change to the boreal zone; and (iv) the synergies and trade-offs between PrES. We find that historically and currently the capacity of the boreal to provide these PrES exceeds the amount currently supplied. However, the capacity of different PrES and location of extractive activities are spatially dispersed creating a spatial and temporal patchwork of associated risks to local ecosystem integrity and the supply of non-PrES. In addition, these scenarios suggest that the future of boreal PrES is very uncertain and highly dependent on how other drivers of change (namely governance and geopolitics, societal values and climate change) play out in the future. Given the spatial complexity, we find that the cumulative effect of these drivers (e.g., climate change) will determine what paths unfold for different areas of the boreal, and we conclude that careful consideration and planning must be given to ensure that the balance between PrES and non-PrES is maintained.

Indigenous Peoples in Europe and Their International Protection vis-à-vis the Threat of Climate Change

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-65
Author(s):  
Alexandra Tomaselli
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Holistic Management ◽  
The Face

Indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable sectors of society in the face of climate change because they generally have a profound and spiritual relationship with the(ir) land. Paradoxically, they are among those who have maintained and promoted a holistic management of the(ir) land and the environment, and have caused less climate change effects. The Inuit petition against the US at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights has prompted the debate and an increased international attention on climate change effects and human (and indigenous) rights. However, the nexus between human rights and climate change raises several conceptual issues. Against this background, this article pursues a threefold goal. First, it aims to introduce the international debate, scholarly approaches, and conceptual and analytical questions that have arisen and still arise about the human rights-climate change nexus. Second, it tries to ascertain how the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources, such as fossil fuels (e.g. oil and gas), are contributing to climate change and how (some of) its adverse effects may—directly or indirectly—represent a threat for indigenous peoples and their rights in the Russian Federation and in Northern Europe (Denmark-Greenland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden). Third, it seeks to identify which indigenous international law instruments may offer (some) protection to these indigenous peoples against (few) climate change-related harms.

scholarly journals Limits on Use of Diesel in Brazil: Measurement of Increase of Biodiesel in Mitigation of GHG

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Vallência Maíra Gomes ◽  
Alexandre Magno De Melo Faria
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
National Policy ◽  
National Program ◽  
Top Down ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Demand

Once set the mitigation of greenhouse gases in the National Policy on Climate Change (NPCC) with the National Program for Production and Use of Biodiesel (NPPB) in Brazil, this paper aims to estimate the need for biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel to 2020, taking into account the expansion limits of diesel. To estimate the future demand for diesel and CO2 emissions, the Box-Jenkins methodology and top-down were used respectively. The results show that the mixture in Brazil is expected to reach between B31 (31% of blend) and B67 (67% of blend) in 2020, to meet the objectives of the NPCC.

RESPONDING TO THE THREAT OF A COST OF CARBON

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 363
Author(s):  
L. Maimone ◽  
R. Curtin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Potential Opportunity ◽  
Lower Carbon

Climate change is an emerging issue with the potential to have a significant impact on the energy sector and, more specifically, the oil and gas industry. Pressures from public opinion and the introduction of climate change policy and regulations could affect the competitiveness of the industry. Conversely, incentives and subsidies for renewable energy or other lower carbon energy sources could present a potential opportunity for companies looking to diversify their asset portfolios.Australia has implemented a range of mandatory and voluntary schemes that encourage the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. There is still, however, uncertainty as to if and how a cost of carbon may be regulated in the future.

scholarly journals Industrial innovation and infrastructure as drivers of change in the Canadian boreal zone1

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan L. Musetta-Lambert ◽  
Eric M. Enanga ◽  
Sonja Teichert ◽  
Irena F. Creed ◽  
Karen A. Kidd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Boreal Zone ◽  
Drivers Of Change ◽  
Industrial Innovation ◽  
Natural Resource Extraction ◽  
Human Footprint ◽  
The Future

Much of Canada’s industrial sector is driven by natural resources and relies heavily on provisioning services supplied by the boreal zone. However, the sometimes intensive processes used by resource-based industries and their associated infrastructure have significantly altered the region, creating concerns over the future socio-ecological health of the boreal zone. Addressing these concerns will require industries reliant on natural resources from the boreal zone to innovate their processes, management, and infrastructure to improve extraction efficiency while contributing to society’s increasing expectations related to sustainability. Here, we explore past, current, and future trends in industrial innovation and infrastructure in the boreal zone for forestry, mining, pulp and paper, oil and gas, and renewable sources of power generation. We assess the role of innovation on the future socio-ecological state of the boreal zone by considering interactions between innovation in industry and infrastructure and other key drivers of change in the boreal, such as atmospheric changes, changing demands for nonprovisioning and provisioning ecosystem services, governance, and demographics and social values. We present future scenarios highlighting three divergent trajectories of change in boreal ecosystems based on past and current states of innovation in industry and infrastructure. We suggest that minimizing impacts of natural resource extraction activities in the boreal zone will only be possible through innovation directly focused on reducing the human footprint on the landscape. Innovation in the information technology sector related to process, management, and end products within these industries and placing greater emphasis on cross-sectoral collaboration will be key to achieving this goal.

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