Water, Climate, Energy, Food: Inseparable & Indispensable

Daedalus ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 144 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher B. Field ◽  
Anna M. Michalak
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Integrated Approaches ◽  
Water Issues

Water issues are rarely simple. At the global scale, water is at the focus of a powerful multifaceted challenge. Demands for both consumptive and nonconsumptive uses are growing, while climate change is at the same time decreasing availability in some places and increasing risks of heavy precipitation in many others. Through diverse mechanisms that interact with natural processes, human activities impact not only the quantity of water available but also its quality. Here we explore the multiway interactions among water, climate, energy, and food through a number of case studies illustrating the interconnected web of competing drivers, demands, and trade-offs that frame humanity's decisions about water use. The net result of this complex mix of drivers and processes is that water issues need to be addressed with a systems perspective. While a systems framing can be daunting, integrated approaches are fundamental to identifying and evaluating options for sustainable solutions.

scholarly journals Threshold effects of hazard mitigation in coastal human–environmental systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. D. Lazarus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Hazard Mitigation ◽  
Nonlinear Effects ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Coupling Mechanism ◽  
Environmental Systems

Abstract. Despite improved scientific insight into physical and social dynamics related to natural disasters, the financial cost of extreme events continues to rise. This paradox is particularly evident along developed coastlines, where future hazards are projected to intensify with consequences of climate change, and where the presence of valuable infrastructure exacerbates risk. By design, coastal hazard mitigation buffers human activities against the variability of natural phenomena such as storms. But hazard mitigation also sets up feedbacks between human and natural dynamics. This paper explores developed coastlines as exemplary coupled human–environmental systems in which hazard mitigation is the key coupling mechanism. Results from a simplified numerical model of an agent-managed seawall illustrate the nonlinear effects that economic and physical thresholds can impart into coastal human–environmental system dynamics. The scale of mitigation action affects the time frame over which human activities and natural hazards interact. By accelerating environmental changes observable in some settings over human timescales of years to decades, climate change may temporarily strengthen the coupling between human and environmental dynamics. However, climate change could ultimately result in weaker coupling at those human timescales as mitigation actions increasingly engage global-scale systems.

scholarly journals Threshold effects of hazard mitigation in coastal human–environmental systems

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 503-530
Author(s):  
E. D. Lazarus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Hazard Mitigation ◽  
Coupled System ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Coupling Mechanism ◽  
Environmental Systems

Abstract. Despite improved scientific insight into physical and social dynamics related to natural disasters, the financial cost of extreme events continues to rise. This paradox is particularly evident along developed coastlines, where future hazards are projected to intensify with consequences of climate change, and where the presence of valuable infrastructure exacerbates risk. By design, coastal hazard mitigation buffers human activities against the variability of natural phenomena such as storms. But hazard mitigation also sets up feedbacks between human and natural dynamics. This paper explores developed coastlines as exemplary coupled human–environmental systems in which hazard mitigation is the key coupling mechanism. Results from a simplified numerical model of an agent-managed seawall illustrate the nonlinear effects that economic and physical thresholds can impart into coupled-system dynamics. The scale of mitigation action affects the time frame over which human activities and natural hazards interact. By accelerating environmental changes observable in some settings over human time scales of years to decades, climate change may temporarily strengthen the coupling between human and environmental dynamics. However, climate change could ultimately result in weaker coupling at those human time scales as mitigation actions increasingly engage global-scale systems.

scholarly journals Ocean planning for species on the move provides substantial benefits and requires few trade-offs

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (50) ◽  
pp. eabb8428
Author(s):  
M. L. Pinsky ◽  
L. A. Rogers ◽  
J. W. Morley ◽  
T. L. Frölicher
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Marine Animals ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Additional Area

Societies increasingly use multisector ocean planning as a tool to mitigate conflicts over space in the sea, but such plans can be highly sensitive to species redistribution driven by climate change or other factors. A key uncertainty is whether planning ahead for future species redistributions imposes high opportunity costs and sharp trade-offs against current ocean plans. Here, we use more than 10,000 projections for marine animals around North America to test the impact of climate-driven species redistributions on the ability of ocean plans to meet their goals. We show that planning for redistributions can substantially reduce exposure to risks from climate change with little additional area set aside and with few trade-offs against current ocean plan effectiveness. Networks of management areas are a key strategy. While climate change will severely disrupt many human activities, we find a strong benefit to proactively planning for long-term ocean change.

Canadian boreal forests and climate change mitigation

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.C. Lemprière ◽  
W.A. Kurz ◽  
E.H. Hogg ◽  
C. Schmoll ◽  
G.J. Rampley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Mitigation Potential ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Trade Offs

Quantitative assessment of Canada’s boreal forest mitigation potential is not yet possible, though the range of mitigation activities is known, requirements for sound analyses of options are increasingly understood, and there is emerging recognition that biogeophysical effects need greater attention. Use of a systems perspective highlights trade-offs between activities aimed at increasing carbon storage in the ecosystem, increasing carbon storage in harvested wood products (HWPs), or increasing the substitution benefits of using wood in place of fossil fuels or more emissions-intensive products. A systems perspective also suggests that erroneous conclusions about mitigation potential could result if analyses assume that HWP carbon is emitted at harvest, or bioenergy is carbon neutral. The greatest short-run boreal mitigation benefit generally would be achieved by avoiding greenhouse gas emissions; but over the longer run, there could be significant potential in activities that increase carbon removals. Mitigation activities could maximize landscape carbon uptake or maximize landscape carbon density, but not both simultaneously. The difference between the two is the rate at which HWPs are produced to meet society’s demands, and mitigation activities could seek to delay or reduce HWP emissions and increase substitution benefits. Use of forest biomass for bioenergy could also contribute though the point in time at which this produces a net mitigation benefit relative to a fossil fuel alternative will be situation-specific. Key knowledge gaps exist in understanding boreal mitigation strategies that are robust to climate change and how mitigation could be integrated with adaptation to climate change.

scholarly journals A simple reflection on climate change

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Afonso Lopes Barcellos ◽  
Renata Da Silva Pereira Saccol ◽  
Nathalia Leal Carvalho ◽  
Luana Filippin Rosa
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Atmosphere System ◽  
Change Climate ◽  
External Forces ◽  
Regional Climates ◽  
Climatic Characteristics

In order to discuss climate change and our role, this literature review was developed. The term climate change, climate change or climate change refers to global-scale climate change or Earth's regional climates over time. These variations refer to changes in temperature, precipitation, cloudiness and other climatic phenomena in relation to historical averages. Such variations can alter climatic characteristics in a way to change their didactic classification. These changes can be caused by processes internal to the Earth-atmosphere system, by external forces, or by the result of human activity. Therefore, it is understood that climate change can be either an effect of natural processes or arising from human action and so one should keep in mind what kind of climate change is being referred to.

Attributing weather extremes to ‘climate change’

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Hulme
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Weather Extremes ◽  
Weather Event ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Event Attribution

Over the last 30 years, scientific research has increasingly implicated human activities in contemporary regional- to global-scale climatic change. Over the last decade, this research has extended to the detection of the fingerprint of human activities on individual extreme weather events. Is it possible to say that this or that weather extreme was ‘caused by’ human activities? Pursuing answers to this question raises many difficult philosophical, epistemological and political issues. In this progress report, I survey the nascent science of extreme weather event attribution by examining the field in four stages: motivations for extreme weather attribution, methods of attribution, some example case studies and the politics of weather event attribution. There remain outstanding political dangers and obstacles for extreme weather attribution if it is to be used, as some claim it can and should be, for guiding climate adaptation investments, for servicing the putative loss and damage agenda of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or for underpinning legal claims for liability for damages caused by extreme weather.

scholarly journals Benthic estuarine communities in Brazil: moving forward to long term studies to assess climate change impacts

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (spe2) ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Fraga Bernardino ◽  
Paulo Roberto Pagliosa ◽  
Ronaldo Adriano Christofoletti ◽  
Francisco Barros ◽  
Sergio A. Netto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mangrove Forests ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Estuarine Ecosystems

Abstract Estuaries are unique coastal ecosystems that sustain and provide essential ecological services for mankind. Estuarine ecosystems include a variety of habitats with their own sediment-fauna dynamics, all of them globally undergoing alteration or threatened by human activities. Mangrove forests, saltmarshes, tidal flats and other confined estuarine systems are under increasing stress due to human activities leading to habitat and species loss. Combined changes in estuarine hydromorphology and in climate pose severe threats to estuarine ecosystems on a global scale. The ReBentos network is the first integrated attempt in Brazil to monitor estuarine changes in the long term to detect and assess the effects of global warming. This paper is an initial effort of ReBentos to review current knowledge on benthic estuarine ecology in Brazil. We herein present and synthesize all published work on Brazilian estuaries that has focused on the description of benthic communities and related ecological processes. We then use current data on Brazilian estuaries and present recommendations for future studies to address climate change effects, suggesting trends for possible future research and stressing the need for long-term datasets and international partnerships.

scholarly journals On Soil Capability, Capacity, and Condition

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex. B. McBratney ◽  
Damien Field ◽  
Cristine L.S. Morgan ◽  
Jingyi Huang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Soil Functions ◽  
Security Framework ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Soil Changes

The role of soil in the existential environmental problems of declining biodiversity, climate change, water and energy security, impacting on food security has highlighted the need to link the soil functions to ecosystem services. We describe and illustrate by a limited example, the concepts and assessment of soil’s capacity measured through its capability and condition as contributors to an overall soil security framework. The framework is based on the concepts of genosoils and phenosoils. The links to other notions, such as threats to soil and soil functions are made. The framework can be potentially applied elsewhere to quantify soil changes under natural processes and human activities.

Rural geography II: Scalar and social constructionist perspectives on climate change adaptation and rural resilience

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Argent
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Rural Geography ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Disciplinary Field ◽  
Adaptation Processes

This report considers rural geography scholarship in relation to the field of climate change adaptation. While applied perspectives on the modelling and mapping of the potential impacts of climate change-related hazard events on rural localities continue to be an important research theme, more theoretically sophisticated and interpretivist approaches are providing more challenging understandings of the multi-scalar nature of climate change adaptation processes, from the micro-scale of the farm operator to the global scale of shifting climate regimes. Social constructivism is being deployed to critique taken-for-granted interpretations of the natural processes underlying regionally-specific climate change impacts, further broadening the ontological and epistemological lens of the sub-discipline. Rural geography continues to be a fertile sub-disciplinary field for theoretical and methodological experimentation.

scholarly journals Scientists' warning on endangered food webs

Web Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben H. Heleno ◽  
William J. Ripple ◽  
Anna Traveset
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Natural Food ◽  
Stable States ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Over Exploitation ◽  
Increasing Temperature

Abstract. All organisms are ultimately dependent on a large diversity of consumptive and non-consumptive interactions established with other organisms, forming an intricate web of interdependencies. In 1992, when 1700 concerned scientists issued the first “World Scientists' Warning to Humanity”, our understanding of such interaction networks was still in its infancy. By simultaneously considering the species (nodes) and the links that glue them together into functional communities, the study of modern food webs – or more generally ecological networks – has brought us closer to a predictive community ecology. Scientists have now observed, manipulated, and modelled the assembly and the collapse of food webs under various global change stressors and identified common patterns. Most stressors, such as increasing temperature, biological invasions, biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation, over-exploitation, have been shown to simplify food webs by concentrating energy flow along fewer pathways, threatening long-term community persistence. More worryingly, it has been shown that communities can abruptly change from highly diverse to simplified stable states with little or no warning. Altogether, evidence shows that apart from the challenge of tackling climate change and hampering the extinction of threatened species, we need urgent action to tackle large-scale biological change and specifically to protect food webs, as we are under the risk of pushing entire ecosystems outside their safe zones. At the same time, we need to gain a better understanding of the global-scale synergies and trade-offs between climate change and biological change. Here we highlight the most pressing challenges for the conservation of natural food webs and recent advances that might help us addressing such challenges.

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