Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change最新文献

The earth’s climate system is changing rapidly and as it does, achieving food security is more challenging than ever in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There is substantial evidence in the literature of a number of approaches to addressing climate change related food insecurity in SSA, yet there is the lack of clarity on how social networks can help households to address food insecurity risks in resource constrained dryland areas. The study draws insights from northern Ghana using a mixed-method approach to frame understanding of how social networks can play an important role in promoting food security. Farmers' perception of impacts of climate change on food security includes low crop productivity, disruption of distribution of crops, reductions in income and purchasing power, limited food supplies, and emerging food quality and safety challenges. Age, gender, education, household size and wealth status all associate to farmers’ perceptions of the climatic impacts. In response to those impacts, farming households are utilising social networks to access financial support, technical training, farm inputs, inter-farming support, food sharing and cultural support to enhance food security. Those households with strong social networks are much less likely to experience high levels of food insecurity risks. Rural farming households and communities would become more resilient and food secure if their social relationships are developed and maintained to ensure effective adaptation to climate change risks.

This study addresses the critical need for documented adaptation progress in mountain regions by reviewing recently implemented or ongoing adaptation solutions collected from the Adaptation at Altitude Solutions Portal (A@A Solution Portal). Using a data driven approach, the research explores the characteristics, feasibility, and transformative potential of these solutions. Findings reveal a predominant focus on addressing droughts and floods, aligning with the IPCC’s emphasis on water-related impacts in mountains. Notably, watershed management practices emerge as popular solutions, showcasing their capacity to address multiple concerns beyond climate impacts. Education and awareness, along with land use practices, dominate the types of solutions, reflecting their positive impact on project acceptability and low associated risk of maladaptation. Agricultural land and forests are the main ecosystems where solutions are reported, with an evident association with education and awareness and land use change solutions. Most SDGs and Sendai targets are found to be addressed by the solutions emphasising the importance of documenting project experiences as way to bridge previously reported gaps between policy frameworks and on-the-ground implementation. Despite community involvement being high in many of the solutions, challenges such as gender inequality persists. While solutions often demonstrate local relevance and depth of change, upscaling remains challenging, with limited evidence of mainstreaming and replication. Sustainability criteria are moderately met, incorporating inclusive decision-making but with uncertainty regarding long-term plans. Furthermore, findings underscore the significance of co-developing and maintaining adaptation solution portals, illustrating how this approach enriches our understanding of adaptation progress in mountains. Moreover, this research contributes to broadening the scope of systematic adaptation assessments by providing a nuanced perspective that integrates local needs and diverse knowledge systems. In essence, this study makes a valuable contribution to the evolving landscape of adaptation research, emphasizing the importance of practical insights and collaborative efforts to address the complex challenges posed by climate-related impacts and corresponding adaptation efforts.

Current agricultural practices face significant challenges, including depleting arable land, water scarcity, changing climatic conditions, and heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Soilless farming (SLF), such as hydroponics, offers a sustainable alternative to conventional farming, by growing crops in nutrient solutions and soilless substrates, using up to 90% less water and land while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, SLF often relies on less sustainable substrates like peat, vermiculite, and rock wool; there is a need to introduce a more sustainable substrate that also fits into the circular economy. Biochar, produced through the high-temperature pyrolysis of waste biomass, presents a promising solution by enhancing water and nutrient retention, suppressing plant diseases, reducing GHG emissions, and providing a habitat for beneficial microbes. Despite initial high investment and energy consumption challenges, advancements in affordable kiln technology have made biochar production more cost-effective.

This review highlights the transformative potential of integrating biochar into SLF to create a resilient and sustainable agricultural system. It discusses the significance of SLF, the potential of biochar as a substrate, its interactions with microbes, its role in enhancing plant growth and reducing environmental carbon load. Additionally, the review covers the criteria for commercial biochar production, utilization, its economics and the associated challenges in biochar use.

The present study estimates that in the baseline scenario – with each country in the Central Asian Region attempting achieving energy security individually – the region would need to add 192,000 MW in RE capacity in the medium-term. This capacity would substitute approximately 80,000 MW of fossil-fuel fired generation capacity and contribute to achieving climate commitments. Highlighting the benefits of region-wide harmonization of demand across time zones, the paper demonstrates the smoothening the so called 'duck curve', otherwise observed for individual member countries within the region. Electricity supply is presumed to continue from hydropower and non-hydropower RE plant and from wind energy generation and solar PV plants that are optimally located within the region. In this scenario, meeting region-wide aggregated demand necessitates the addition of an estimated 153,000 MW of non-hydro RE options to replace some 80,000 MW of fossil fuel fired generation, thereby pre-empting the build-out of 49,000 MW in non-hydro RE generation capacity. As an extension, the paper projects that China would serve as the residual consumer, absorbing surpluses from the other countries in the region, as well as serving as the residual supplier bridging deficits in the region, thereby helping minimize—or even eliminate -the build-out of localized storage capacities.

In its 2023 Climate Doctrine, Russia officially committed to carbon neutrality before 2060. However, on the roadmap fork to climate neutrality Russia’s Low Carbon Strategy chose the 2F (Forest First) pathway with the dominance of the natural solutions in the LULUCF sector and with a moderate decline or even growth (industry and agriculture) in other sectors. This paper focuses on a discussion of the roadmap to carbon neutrality. The roadmapping approach relies on a system of interconnected models for setting the scale of low carbon technologies and practices deployment. The paper concludes that excessive reliance on the 2F pathway is unrealistic, and only the Forest Last family of scenarios, which focuses on substantial reduction of GHG emissions across all sectors, is able to bring Russia to carbon neutrality in 2060. The paper also presents indicators to assess emission reductions by major sectors and discusses the need to reinforce the five pillars to support this pathway: technologies; regulations and programmes; incentives and financing; institutes; and human capital. These five pillars are required to effectively address three basic models of decisions-making (satisficing, optimization, and system transformation).

Migratory birds are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which disrupt their timing of migration, availability of resources and even hormonal regulation. Present review summarizes the key points regarding the impacts of climate change on migratory birds and the challenges they face for long-term viability. Rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and shifts in wind patterns affect migration timing, availability of food resources, and flight paths. Trophic mismatches resulting from climate change reduce reproductive success. Changes in hormone production and secretion, driven by altered day length and light intensity, affect migration and reproductive timing. Elevated corticosterone levels due to environmental stressors influence migratory decisions. Hormones regulating appetite and energy balance impact feeding behavior and fat deposition. These impacts contribute to declining population sizes and increase the vulnerability of migratory birds to extinction. Conservation efforts should prioritize protecting stopover sites, promoting international cooperation, raising public awareness, and engaging stakeholders. Research advancements, such as satellite tracking and predictive modelling, support conservation strategies. Collaborative efforts between researchers, policymakers, and conservation organizations are essential for effective conservation and management of migratory bird populations in the face of climate change.

Graphical Abstract

Transformation and upgrading of traditional energy industries have increasing theoretical and practical relevance in today’s economic orientation of sustainable development. Many governments have tried to issue a batch of transformation and upgrading (TFU) policies with the hope of guiding traditional enterprises’ smooth change. However, there is a dearth of systematic research on the long-term effects of TFU policies, which is not conducive to improving those policies. This paper aims to study what TFU policies generate to concerned traditional energy enterprises in the long run from a perspective of capital asset pricing. Taking China’s coal-fired power generation industry, the typical and the largest traditional energy industry, as the sample, 318 TFU policies issued by the Chinese government and the relevant data of A-share listed coal and thermal power enterprises in the industry were collected. The Latent Dirichlet Allocation model was employed to categorize the TFU policies into six types, and then the Jensen alpha model was built to test the long-term effects of each type of TFU policy at varying lagged periods. The results show that under all the types of TFU policies, the Jensen alpha values of both coal and thermal power stock portfolios are significantly negative at each lagged period, implying negative long-term effects. Further statistical analysis shows that the Jensen alpha values of central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are stochastically larger than those of local SOEs under most types of TFU policies, indicating that central SOEs are generally less negatively affected. Moreover, the varying characteristics of the Jensen alpha values between coal and thermal power portfolios and between central and local SOEs were discussed.

Climate change impacts on large river basins, such as the Mekong River Basin (MRB), are complex due to shared governance and interconnected socioeconomic areas, making them highly vulnerable to change. The MRB, spanning six countries including Thailand, is crucial for the food and economic security of > 60 million people. However, in 2021, Thailand was ranked as the 9th highest risk country affected by climate change. To integrate climate adaptation in Thailand's MRB, we examined the effects of climate change on rapidly developing farmer and fisher communities in northeastern Thailand and explored feasible adaptation options. Using an interdisciplinary approach that included literature review, participatory action methods, and the resist-accept-direct (RAD) framework, we found that climate change is projected to increase temperatures, precipitation, extreme events, erosion, and water clarity, while decreasing heavy sediment transport. These changes negatively impact agriculture, fisheries, human health, and tourism. We identified several adaptation strategies across environmental, ecological, and human health categories to accommodate local needs, such as preventing habitat degradation (e.g., from dams and deforestation), providing fish refuge and passage, and supporting technical capacity. Community-driven adaptation planning and implementation are essential for supporting global sustainable development in a changing climate.

Agroforestry systems (AFSs) are known to store more carbon and nitrogen in the soil when compared with monocultures. However, studies involving carbon and nitrogen in soil aggregates in oil palm plantations, an important global commodity, in AFSs and monocultures are still scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine whether oil palm AFSs are able to store more carbon and nitrogen in soil aggregates than when planted in monoculture. We collected soil samples in the 0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm layers in an oil palm AFS (10 years old) and in an oil palm monoculture (9 years old) in Tomé-Açu, Eastern Amazon, Brazil. We determined soil aggregate stability, carbon and nitrogen contents in macro and microaggregates, and root biomass. Overall, more carbon was stored in the macroaggregates than in the microaggregates in the oil palm plantations. The carbon storage was higher in macro and microaggregates in the AFSs (macro: 12.97 ± 0.35 and micro: 0.53 ± 0.01) than in the monoculture (macro: 11.60 ± 0.19 e micro: 0.29 ± 0.01) in the 0–10 cm layer of the soil. The total soil carbon stock in the 0–30 cm layer was higher in the AFSs (38.08 ± 0.13 Mg ha⁻¹) than in the monoculture (31.79 ± 1.23 Mg ha⁻¹). The AFSs showed a trend towards greater aggregate stability (range throughout the soil profile 4.70 ± 0.07 to 3.31 ± 0.16 mm) compared to the monoculture (4.71 ± 0.02 to 2.71 ± 0.23 mm). Therefore, oil palm AFSs have a greater potential to store carbon in soil aggregates and, consequently, contribute more to climate change mitigation than oil palm monocultures. As such, our results have important implications for the sustainable cultivation and exploitation of the oil palm in the Amazon and in other regions of the world.

Nations worldwide are committing to international environmental agreements and defining aspirational goals aligned with their sustainable development priorities and responsibilities. The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework is an example of such aspirations. Under this framework, nations aim to expand protected areas or create new ones as one way to integrate conservation and climate change agendas. However, implementing those high-level agreements does not necessarily align with local realities and dynamics. In this paper we examined the operational challenges experienced by protected areas actors to adapt conservation strategies to climate change. Based on interviews at the local level and a policy analysis, we identify adaptation narratives and explore potential mismatches in their implementation at the national and local level (protected areas) in three countries: Australia, Colombia, and South Africa. We assess how local visions and interpretations of adaptation align with high-level policies and how existing institutional arrangements facilitate or constrain the implementation of adaptation and, therefore, aspirations for long-term sustainability. We found that adaptation narratives at the local level are framed by common ideas and identities based on local relations within a territory. At the same time, existing governance arrangements and political contexts determine the feasibility of adaptation. The primary mismatches are high-level political and economic interests denoting different interpretations about the territory and of local realities, including the readiness, technical, and resource capacity of protected areas actors to implement adaptation. Place-based adaptation provides a common ground for scaling adaptation. However, scaling adaptation requires enabling institutional contexts, clear rules and policies to facilitate deliberations and coordinated responses across different actors and sectors, while guiding the uptake and integration of local needs and realities within national agendas.