Climate Resilience and Sustainability最新文献

Climate change is a pressing issue, particularly impacting Bangladesh. It poses a serious threat to human health. Different catastrophic environmental disasters disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable, especially in Bangladesh's coastal regions. The current study examines the mental and physical health risks faced by climate change in coastal areas. We employed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research, and the study was conducted among 280 individuals using a stratified random sampling method from Chittagong, Noakhali, Feni, and Lakshmipur districts. We quantitative data was collected via google form questionnaire consisting of sections on sociodemographic factors, natural disasters, man-made disasters, mental and physical health, injuries, community disruption, and anxiety. Cronbach's alpha, KMO, Bartlett's test, regression variable plots, and Pearson correlation analysis by descriptive analysis were used in this study. We found 52.5% of female injuries and mortality 40%, anxiety and depression 35%, crises caused by cyclones 26%, and flooding 48%. Moreover, we found gender, occupation, health crisis by natural and man-made disaster, injuries, death, and anxiety associated with health. The study revealed that most people had little knowledge about climate change and its impacts. Over the past decade, millions have been affected by disasters, yet a significant lack of awareness persists regarding the physical and mental effects of climate change. To tackle this issue, it is essential for the government and relevant stakeholders to initiate additional environmental projects, construct dams in coastal regions, conduct river excavations, and enforce regulations related to climate change.

Although trees are viewed as providers of several beneficial services, their roles in windstorm mitigation are not always positive. This study assessed the paradoxical roles of trees in windstorm mitigation by analyzing how the characteristics and management practices of trees affect their damage to physical infrastructure. Using primary data collected from Gulu City in Uganda, descriptive statistics and an ordered probit model were generated. The analysis revealed three key findings. First, decreasing the distance between trees and buildings, parked vehicles, roads, and power lines by 1 m significantly increases the likelihood of damage by trees. Second, buildings with greater tree cover are less likely to experience damage from windstorms compared to those with minimal or no tree cover. Third, buildings, parked vehicles, roads, and power lines with low sensitivity are less likely to be damaged by windstorms and windstorm-induced tree falls than those with high sensitivity. The exposure and sensitivity of physical infrastructure to windstorms and windstorm-induced tree fall reveal inadequate tree management and ineffective regulation enforcement, which are driven by low adaptive capacity, notably limited knowledge of tree farmers on proper tree management, weak capacity of extension staff, and financial constraints. Poor tree management results from a lack of awareness of improved tree management practices, which stems from limited access to forestry extension support. Additionally, the limited capacity of extension personnel hampers the delivery of forestry extension services. Financial challenges also hinder both the provision of forestry extension services and the enforcement of stricter building regulations and their ongoing maintenance. The findings have implications for improving urban tree monitoring and management, financing and provision of forestry extension services, and enforcement of building and land use regulations.

Agroforestry practices play a pivotal role in addressing the dual challenges of climate change mitigation and adaptation. This systematic review synthesizes quantitative and qualitative evidence from 109 peer-reviewed studies published between 2000 and 2024, identified through comprehensive searches in databases, such as Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria focused on studies providing empirical data on greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, carbon sequestration, and the resilience of farming systems, whereas conceptual papers and non-reviewed sources were excluded. A subset of 109 studies was subjected to meta-analysis to derive pooled estimates of key indicators. Results indicate that agroforestry systems can sequester an average of 3.5–9.8 Mg CO₂ ha⁻¹ year⁻¹, depending on tree species, soil type, and climatic conditions. Additionally, meta-analytic synthesis reveals that the integration of trees with crops and livestock can enhance on-farm biodiversity by 25%–40% and improve soil organic carbon content by an average of 15% over two decades. Adaptation benefits include enhanced water retention, reduced vulnerability to drought, and improved food security, with yield increases of up to 30% in agroforestry-based systems compared to monocropping. However, challenges such as land tenure insecurity and limited access to technical support persist, potentially hindering wider adoption. This review underscores the need for supportive policies, such as those embedded in the Bonn Challenge, REDD+ initiatives, and the UNFCCC's Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, along with capacity-building initiatives and financial incentives to unlock the full climate-smart potential of agroforestry.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is faced with the conundrum of food insecurity due to climate change effects. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is widely acknowledged as a way of promoting sustainable agriculture and food security. Given the importance of CSA in meeting food needs of households, the approach has received much attention in international, national, and local discussions. There exists extant literature on the concept in SSA; however, an assessment of how CSA has contributed to food security in the subregion is limited. As a result, this study aims to systematically review literature on climate-smart agriculture and its contribution to household food security in SSA. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis was adopted for the review. Using the Mendeley database, 26 studies that directly established the relationship between CSA and food security were reviewed to determine the pattern of issues. The finding of the results revealed that food availability featured predominantly in all the reviewed articles followed by food accessibility. Food stability was the least featured component of food security in all the reviewed articles. The review also found that household characteristics, farm-level characteristics, and institutional characteristics influenced farmers’ adoption decisions of CSA practices. Given the importance of food security in farm households in SSA and other destinations, achieving all the dimensions of food security means that there is the need for more research on food stability and utilization as majority of studies focused on food availability and accessibility. Again, governments in SSA should create avenues for building the capacity of farmer households to adopt CSA practices for improved food production and food security.

Climate change significantly affects the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, especially in rural areas of developing countries like Nepal. Erratic rainfall, extreme precipitation, and rising temperatures are key challenges impacting water and sanitation, making these systems less resilient to a changing climate. Understanding the importance of climate-resilient WASH systems enables local authorities to assess and improve them through targeted interventions. In this research, we examined 180 rural water supply systems (RWSS) of Dailekh district located in the middle hills of Western Nepal and mapped their resilience across five domains. The domains include community capital, environment, infrastructure, institutional support and governance, and WASH management of the systems. The results show that 6% of the RWSS in the district have very low resilience, whereas only 11% have very high resilience. Most systems (76%) are classified as very low to medium-resilient systems, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced efforts to strengthen RWSS against the impact of climate change. Among the five domains assessed, institutional support and governance systems emerged as the weakest, closely followed by WASH management. In contrast, community capital stands out as the strongest domain across all surveyed systems. This article presents a flexible indicator-based approach for mapping the resilience of WASH systems in Nepal. This approach can be adapted to other areas of natural resource management by customizing indicators and domains tailored to local social-ecological contexts.

Pathways are proposed for progressing the goal of decarbonizing economies that rely on burning forest biomass for heat and electricity (bioenergy) based on the proposition that this creates benefits for the climate. The potential for negative impacts on biodiversity are either assumed to be benign or ignored. We critically examined claims, and models used to support them, that bioenergy sourced from forest biomass, including logging residues, is either carbon neutral or will reduce net emissions. We also examined evidence about the impacts on forest ecosystem integrity and species' capacity for adaptation. We found that models used to evaluate bioenergy rely on key assumptions that are in themselves capable of delivering results supportive of bioenergy as an effective strategy. Yet there is abundant evidence that these assumptions are invalid and that burning forest biomass for energy is not carbon neutral or beneficial. From our assessment, we concluded that burning forest biomass, including logging residues, increases atmospheric CO₂ concentration; land sector reporting using net greenhouse gas inventories obscures the impact of forest harvesting on ecosystem carbon stocks; and biomass energy will most likely displace other renewable energy, rather than fossil fuels. We also found that the use of bioenergy results in major negative cascading impacts for forest ecosystem integrity and consequently a reduction in the resilience and natural adaptive capacity of species in the face of climate change impacts. Bioenergy use is therefore in direct conflict with the commitment to limit the rate of global warming so that ecosystems can adapt naturally to climate change. A rethink is warranted of its role in international and national climate policy, and it should not qualify under renewable energy policies including directives, targets, and other legislated instruments. Together, we conclude that burning forest biomass for bioenergy is not a pathway to climate resilient development.

Adaptation to climate change is increasingly urgent, as efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions falter. Scaling up adaptation finance is essential to address climate risks, but no adaptation inventory covers all sectors and regions globally, especially for vulnerable, information-scarce communities. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT could help bridge these gaps through rapid scoping of climate risks, adaptation options, programme costs and potential maladaptation. This paper uses structured conversations with ChatGPT to explore adaptations to climate hazards in the United Kingdom (for a national perspective), Bangladesh (for an education sector) and Ghana (for vulnerable communities). Queries were run multiple times to test consistency of outputs and contextual awareness. Early results are promising when compared with published information and expert insight. Nonetheless, practical steps can be taken for more effective use of LLMs, and these are captured in a checklist for users. Further research is needed to compare ChatGPT with other LLMs in giving reliable, domain-specific information about climate risks and priority adaptations.

Due to global warming, extreme climate events such as heat waves and storms will become more and more frequent, which would lead to huge losses including human health, the economy, water resources, ecosystems, and so on. Facing a grave situation, adaptation is becoming more and more important for each country or each person. As a big developing country, China has made great efforts in the past decades; (1) a national climate change response coordination organization and a climate change management system and working mechanism have been established; (2) the law on climate change in China is under preparation and to be issued; (3) a climate change adaptation policy system from top to bottom, expanding from comprehensive departments to professional departments has been gradually formed; (4) a large number of regulations and actions related to climate change adaptation have been successively issued and implemented by local government departments; (5) especially the rural community adaptation actions should be paid more attention and given more support. In order to make the “2030 carbon peak, 2060 carbon neutral” come true, the whole country should put more attention and efforts into adaptation, including more funds, more personnel, more programs, more actions, and so on; the adaptation policies and actions should be more detailed and specific; the effects of adaptation should be monitored and evaluated in the whole process.

Crop phenology is greatly affected by global warming, but the actual changes in crop phenology are the interaction of warming and human interventions, while few investigations have been carried on from the multifactor viewpoint. In the paper, the observation data on winter wheat growth at 45 agrometeorological sites over the North China Plain in 1981–2010 were used to analyze the effects of adaptation measures on the changes in the phenology of winter wheat. The results demonstrated that the dates of sowing and the beginning of winter dormancy had been delayed; in contrast, the dates for green-up and maturity had been advanced. Detailed analysis showed that the length from green-up to anthesis was shortened, whereas the length from anthesis to maturity was prolonged. The adaptation measures played an important role in speeding up the vegetative growth from green-up to anthesis and prolonging the reproductive growth from anthesis to maturity to maximize the increased thermal resources for winter wheat yield. The effective growth period of winter wheat, which is defined as the whole growth period minus the dormancy period, was further analyzed and existed an interlaced banded distribution, which is closely related to adaptation measures taken such as the adoption of the double-delay technology, precision seeding, double assurance measure, adjusting the wheat varieties, and the rotation system. It is clearly demonstrated that adaptation measures are always context specific according to the local features of climate change and crop production practices. In-depth research is needed to investigate the effect of the interaction of climate change and adaptation measures on crop production.