Boreal forest sensitivity to global warming: Implications for forest management in western interior Canada

1991 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 342-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Singh ◽  
E. E. Wheaton
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Negative Impacts

Unmitigated global warming due to the enhanced greenhouse effect could have significant impacts on the boreal forest in interior western Canada. Increases in annual temperature of 3 to 7 °C are projected for Alberta under a 2 × CO2 scenario by 2030 – 2050 A.D. Such an unprecedented rate of change has many short- and long-term implications for forest management and for industries. As the boreal forest is highly sensitive to climatic changes, foresters need to develop a set of safe strategies to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the benefits of these changes.

scholarly journals Sediment Mining

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homayoun Fathollahzadeh ◽  
Fabio Kaczala ◽  
Amit Bhatnagar ◽  
William Hogland
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Contaminated Sediments ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Metals Recovery ◽  
Environmental Footprints ◽  
Valuable Metals ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Near Future

The main dilemma of contaminated sediments has been the proper management with reduced environmental footprints. Furthermore, by considering the fact that global warming and climate change may complicate the choice of management options, finding appropriate solutions become extremely critical. In the present work, mining of contaminated sediments to recover valuable constituents such as metals and nutrients is proposed as sustainable strategy, both through enhancing resilience of ecosystem and remediation. Contaminated sediments in the Oskarshamn harbor, southeast of Sweden were collected and analyzed through a modified sequential extraction in order to evaluate the feasibility of metals recovery. The results have shown that among different metals present in the sediments, Cu and Pb can be initially considered as economically feasible to recover. The shifting in the concept of dredging and further remediation of contaminated sediments towards sediment mining and recover of valuable metals can be considered in the near future as a sustainable strategy to tackle contaminated harbor/ports areas. However, it must be highlighted that short and long-term environmental impacts related to such activities should be addressed.

Long-term reconstruction of the fire season in the mi×edwood boreal forest of Western Canada

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (8) ◽  
pp. 1185-1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.A. Johnson ◽  
K. Miyanishi ◽  
N. O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Western Canada

A biophysical approach to delineate a northern limit to commercial forestry: the case of Quebec’s boreal forest

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 515-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jobidon ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
André Robitaille ◽  
Frédéric Raulier ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Sequential Analysis ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Forest Harvesting ◽  
Timber Production ◽  
Northern Limit ◽  
Biodiversity Indicators ◽  
Potential Productivity ◽  
Highly Sensitive

The boreal forest ecosystem is one of the largest frontier forests of the world, providing many ecological services to society. Boreal forests are also economically important, but forest harvesting and management become increasingly difficult when one moves from south to north in boreal environments. An approach was thus developed to assess the suitability of land units for timber production in a sustainable forest management (SFM) context in the northern boreal forest of Quebec (Canada). This area includes all of Quebec’s spruce – feather moss bioclimatic domain (closed forest), as well as the southern portion of the spruce–lichen bioclimatic domain (open woodland). Four criteria specific to the biophysical aspects of SFM were evaluated in 1114 land districts: physical environment, timber production capacity, forest vulnerability to fire (e.g., probability that it reaches maturity), and conservation of biodiversity. Indicators and acceptability cutoff values were determined for each selected criterion, and a sequential analysis was developed to evaluate if a land district has the potential to be sustainably managed. This analytical process led to the classification of land districts into three categories: slightly sensitive (SFM possible); moderately sensitive (SFM possible under certain conditions); and highly sensitive (SFM not possible). The results show that 354 land districts were highly sensitive, 62 due to physical constraints (7.5% of the area), 130 due to insufficient potential productivity (15.4% of the area), 92 due to insufficient potential productivity to account for the fire risk (13.8% of the area), and 70 due to an insufficient proportion of tall and dense forest habitats (7.7% of the area — biodiversity criterion). This work provides scientific background to proposing a northern limit for forest management activities in Quebec. The developed approach could be useful in other jurisdictions to address similar issues.

scholarly journals Agricultural Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climatic Changes in Malaysia: Review on Paddy Sector

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Mahmudul Alam ◽  
Chamhuri Siwar ◽  
Abdul Hamid Jaafar ◽  
Basri Talib ◽  
Khairulmaini Bin Osman Salleh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Agricultural Productivity ◽  
Soil Condition ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Climatic Variation ◽  
Government Subsidy ◽  
Agricultural Vulnerability ◽  
Pest Outbreaks ◽  
Negative Impacts

Climate change has mixed impacts on agriculture and the impacts are different in terms of areas, periods and crops. The changing factors of climate have been exerting strong negative impacts on Malaysian agriculture, which is apprehended to result in shortages of water and other resources for long term, worsening soil condition, disease and pest outbreaks on crops and livestock, sea-level rise, and so on. Due to climate change, agricultural productivity and profitability is declining. Despite continuous increases of government subsidy, area of paddy plantation is decreasing and the adaption practices are ineffective. As climate change is universal and its existence is indefinite, the farmers need to adapt to and find ways to mitigate the damages of climatic variation in order to sustain agricultural productivity and attain food security for the

Current capacity to conduct ecologically sustainable forest management in northeastern Canada reveals challenges for conservation of biodiversity

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 567-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Imbeau ◽  
Martin-Hugues St-Laurent ◽  
Lothar Marzell ◽  
Vincent Brodeur
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Anthropogenic Disturbances ◽  
Dense Forest ◽  
Coarse Filter ◽  
Fine Filter ◽  
Ecologically Sustainable ◽  
Forest Habitats

Long-term exploitation of boreal ecosystems often results in a reduced range of ecological conditions that threatens several species. In most boreal jurisdictions, the northern extent of commercial forestry corresponds to economical rather than ecological considerations. Our general objective is to offer guidance for sustainable boreal forest management by using a biodiversity criterion based on three indicators. The first two indicators are part of a coarse filter referring to the proportion and fragmentation of tall, dense forest habitats, whereas a third one uses a fine filter for specific requirements of boreal caribou. We applied the methodology with and without anthropogenic disturbances on 1114 land districts to contrast the preindustrial potential and current capacity of Quebec’s boreal forest to support forest management. Originally, 826 districts (74%) were above the 20% cutoff value for the minimum proportion of tall, dense forest habitats. Among the 567 districts currently under forest management, 45 did not reach this value because of past anthropogenic disturbances. Originally, 88% of the districts had sufficient undisturbed habitats to maintain caribou populations, but anthropogenic disturbances reduced this proportion to 51%. The proposed methodology could contribute to delineating areas where sustainable forest management can be implemented. Our results also clearly show that management targets of the last decades were insufficient to prevent loss of habitats below strict minimum ecological thresholds. Our approach offers a general framework that could be adapted to other forested regions to attain similar biodiversity conservation objectives.

scholarly journals The tragedy of the cows: exploring the short and long-term warming effect of methane emissions in agricultural mitigation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Pérez Domínguez ◽  
Agustin del Prado ◽  
Klaus Mittenzwei ◽  
Jordan Hristov ◽  
Stefan Frank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Mitigation Policies

Abstract This paper investigates how the short-lived character of methane could have important implications for the design of global climate change mitigation policies in agriculture, sector which is often seen to have a limited contribution to a net-zero carbon economy. Motivated by the renewed attention for the short-term versus long-term warming effects of methane, we explore how various appreciations of global warming affect cost-efficient mitigation policies and dietary transitions, and the implied warming. Results show that the choice of a particular metric is decisive if used to determine optimal mitigation options. For instance, focusing on the long-term warming effect of agricultural methane emissions could lead to a higher relevance of low meat diets relative to stringent mitigation policies. Moreover, a combination of stringent mitigation and dietary changes could help reverse the contribution of agriculture to global warming.

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