Assessing economic benefits of climate change on Canada's boreal forest

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. C. Van Kooten ◽  
Louise M. Arthur

Methods developed in applied welfare economics are used to determine the economic effects of climate change on Canada's boreal forest industry. Two climate scenarios are tested, both based on general circulation models for doubled concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Under both scenarios forest productivity increases; however, benefits accrue primarily to Canada's trading partners.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2069 (1) ◽  
pp. 012069
Author(s):  
Yuchen Yang ◽  
Vahid M. Nik

Abstract In recent years, climate change has been widely recognized as a potential problem. The building industry is taking a variety of actions towards sustainable development and climate change mitigation, such as retrofitting buildings. More than mitigation, it is important to account for climate change adaptation and investigate the probable risks and limits for mitigation strategies. For example, one major challenge may become achieving low energy demand without compromising indoor thermal comfort during warm seasons. This work investigates the future energy performance and indoor thermal comfort of four European cities belonging to four different climate zones in Europe; Barcelona, Koln, Brussels, and Copenhagen. An ensemble of future climate scenarios is used, including thirteen climate scenarios considering five different general circulation models (GCM) and three representative concentration pathways (RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). Through simulating the energy performance of the representative buildings in each city and considering several climate scenarios, this paper provides a comprehensive picture about the energy performance and indoor thermal comfort of the buildings for near-term, medium-term, and long-term climate conditions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azad Henareh Khalyani ◽  
William A. Gould ◽  
Eric Harmsen ◽  
Adam Terando ◽  
Maya Quinones ◽  
...  

AbstractThe potential ecological and economic effects of climate change for tropical islands were studied using output from 12 statistically downscaled general circulation models (GCMs) taking Puerto Rico as a test case. Two model selection/model averaging strategies were used: the average of all available GCMs and the average of the models that are able to reproduce the observed large-scale dynamics that control precipitation over the Caribbean. Five island-wide and multidecadal averages of daily precipitation and temperature were estimated by way of a climatology-informed interpolation of the site-specific downscaled climate model output. Annual cooling degree-days (CDD) were calculated as a proxy index for air-conditioning energy demand, and two measures of annual no-rainfall days were used as drought indices. Holdridge life zone classification was used to map the possible ecological effects of climate change. Precipitation is predicted to decline in both model ensembles, but the decrease was more severe in the “regionally consistent” models. The precipitation declines cause gradual and linear increases in drought intensity and extremes. The warming from the 1960–90 period to the 2071–99 period was 4.6°–9°C depending on the global emission scenarios and location. This warming may cause increases in CDD, and consequently increasing energy demands. Life zones may shift from wetter to drier zones with the possibility of losing most, if not all, of the subtropical rain forests and extinction risks to rain forest specialists or obligates.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10102
Author(s):  
Jian Sha ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
Jingjing Yang

The impacts of future climate changes on watershed hydrochemical processes were assessed based on the newest Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) in the Tianhe River in the middle area of China. The monthly spatial downscaled outputs of General Circulation Models (GCMs) were used, and a new Python procedure was developed to batch pick up site-scale climate change information. A combined modeling approach was proposed to estimate the responses of the streamflow and Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN) fluxes to four climate change scenarios during four future periods. The Long Ashton Research Station Weather Generator (LARS-WG) was used to generate synthetic daily weather series, which were further used in the Regional Nutrient Management (ReNuMa) model for scenario analyses of watershed hydrochemical process responses. The results showed that there would be 2–3% decreases in annual streamflow by the end of this century for most scenarios except SSP 1-26. More streamflow is expected in the summer months, responding to most climate change scenarios. The annual TDN fluxes would continue to increase in the future under the uncontrolled climate scenarios, with more non-point source contributions during the high-flow periods in the summer. The intensities of the TDN flux increasing under the emission-controlled climate scenarios would be relatively moderate, with a turning point around the 2070s, indicating that positive climate policies could be effective for mitigating the impacts of future climate changes on watershed hydrochemical processes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 253 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Wotton ◽  
C. A. Nock ◽  
M. D. Flannigan

The structure and function of the boreal forest are significantly influenced by forest fires. The ignition and growth of fires depend quite strongly on weather; thus, climate change can be expected to have a considerable impact on forest fire activity and hence the structure of the boreal forest. Forest fire occurrence is an extremely important element of fire activity as it defines the load on suppression resources a fire management agency will face. We used two general circulation models (GCMs) to develop projections of future fire occurrence across Canada. While fire numbers are projected to increase across all forested regions studied, the relative increase in number of fires varies regionally. Overall across Canada, our results from the Canadian Climate Centre GCM scenarios suggest an increase in fire occurrence of 25% by 2030 and 75% by the end of the 21st century. Results projected from fire climate scenarios derived from the Hadley Centre GCM suggest fire occurrence will increase by 140% by the end of this century. These general increases in fire occurrence across Canada agree with other regional and national studies of the impacts of climate change on fire activity. Thus, in the absence of large changes to current climatic trends, significant fire regime induced changes in the boreal forest ecosystem are likely.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Brewer ◽  
J. Guiot ◽  
F. Torre

Abstract. We present here a comparison between the outputs of 25 General Circulation Models run for the mid-Holocene period (6 ka BP) with a set of palaeoclimate reconstructions based on over 400 fossil pollen sequences distributed across the European continent. Three climate parameters were available (moisture availability, temperature of the coldest month and growing degree days), which were grouped together using cluster analysis to provide regions of homogenous climate change. Each model was then investigated to see if it reproduced 1) similar patterns of change and 2) the correct location of these regions. A fuzzy logic distance was used to compare the output of the model with the data, which allowed uncertainties from both the model and data to be taken into account. The models were compared by the magnitude and direction of climate change within the region as well as the spatial pattern of these changes. The majority of the models are grouped together, suggesting that they are becoming more consistent. A test against a set of zero anomalies (no climate change) shows that, although the models are unable to reproduce the exact patterns of change, they all produce the correct signs of change observed for the mid-Holocene.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Junior Zuza ◽  
Yoseph Negusse Araya ◽  
Kadmiel Maseyk ◽  
Shonil A Bhagwat ◽  
Kaue de Sousa ◽  
...  

Climate change is altering suitable areas of crop species worldwide, with cascading effects on people and animals reliant upon those crop species as food sources. Macadamia is one of Malawi's most important and profitable crop species. Here, we used an ensemble model approach to determine the current distribution of macadamia producing areas across Malawi in relation to climate. For future distribution of suitable areas, we used the climate outputs of 17 general circulation models (GCM's) based on two climate change scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). We found that the precipitation of the driest month and isothermality were the climatic variables that strongly influenced macadamia's suitability in Malawi. These climatic requirements were fulfilled across many areas in Malawi under the current conditions. Future projections indicated that large parts of Malawi's macadamia growing regions will remain suitable for macadamia, amounting to 36,910 km2 (39.1%) and 33,511 km2 (35.5%) of land based on RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, respectively. Of concern, suitable areas for macadamia production are predicted to shrink by −18% (17,015 km2) and −22% (20,414 km2) based on RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5, respectively, with much of the suitability shifting northwards. Although a net loss of area suitable for macadamia is predicted, some currently unsuitable areas will become suitable in the future. Notably, suitable areas will increase in Malawi's central and northern regions, while the southern region will lose most of its suitable areas. In conclusion, our study provides critical evidence that climate change will significantly affect the macadamia sub-sector in Malawi. Therefore area-specific adaptation strategies are required to build resilience.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sneha Santy ◽  
Pradeep Mujumdar ◽  
Govindasamy Bala

<p>High industrial discharge, excessive agricultural activities, untreated sewage disposal make the Kanpur region one of the most contaminated stretches of the Ganga river. This study analyses water quality for the combined future climate change and land use land cover scenarios for mid-century for a 238km long Kanpur stretch of Ganga river. Climate change projections from 21 General Circulation Models for the scenarios of RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 are considered and Land use Land Cover (LULC) projections are made with QGIS software. Streamflow and water temperature are modelled using the HEC-HMS model and a Water-Air temperature regression model, respectively. Water quality analysis is simulated using the QUAL2K model in terms of nine water quality parameters, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, organic phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus, total phosphorus and faecal coliform. Climate change impact alone is projected to result in degraded water quality in the future. Combined climate change and LULC change may further degrade water quality, especially at the study area's critical locations. Our study will provide guidance to policymakers to safeguard the Ganga river from further pollution.</p>


<em>Abstract</em>.—Stream fish are expected to be influenced by climate change as they are ectothermic animals living in lotic systems. Using fish presence–absence records in 1,110 stream sites across France, our study aimed at (1) modeling current and future distributions of 35 stream fish species, (2) using an ensemble forecasting approach (i.e., several general circulation models [GCM] × greenhouse gas emission scenarios [GES] × statistical species distribution models [SDM] combinations) to quantify the variability in the future fish species distribution due to each component, and (3) assessing the potential impacts of climate change on fish species distribution and assemblage structure by using a consensus method that accounted for the variability in future projections.


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