Climate change has fostered a need to develop and apply strategies that optimize the use of natural resources on land and in water. This book covers a huge range of strategies that combine economics, policy and science and can be applied to various sectors.
Synthesises insights from six country case studies that review climate change impacts, analyse relevant national plans and aid investments in terms of climate risks, and examine key systems where climate change is closely intertwined with development.
CLIMATE IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Climate change has emerged as one of the predominant global concerns of the 21st century. Statistics show that the average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by about 1.18°C since the late 19th century and the sea levels are rising due to the melting of glaciers. Further rise in the global temperature will have dire consequences for the survival of humans on the planet Earth. There is a need to monitor climatic data and associated drivers of changes to develop sustainable planning. The anthropogenic activities that are linked to climate change need scientific evaluation and must be curtailed before it is too late. This book contributes significantly in the field of sustainable natural resource management linked to climate change. Up to date research findings from developing and developed countries like India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the USA have been presented through selected case studies covering different thematic areas. The book has been organised into six major themes of sustainable natural resource management, determinants of forest productivity, agriculture and climate change, water resource management and riverine health, climate change threat on natural resources, and linkages between natural resources and biotic-abiotic stressors to develop the concept and to present the findings in a way that is useful for a wide range of readers. While the range of applications and innovative techniques is constantly increasing, this book provides a summary of findings to provide the updated information. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of environmental sciences, remote sensing, geographical information system, meteorology, sociology and policy studies related to natural resource management and climate change.
This book discusses knowledge-based sustainable agro-ecological and natural resource management systems and best practices for sustained agricultural productivity and ecosystem resilience for better livelihoods under a changing climate. With a focus on agriculture in Africa, the book assesses innovative technologies for use on smallholder farms, and addresses some of the key Sustainable Development Goals to guide innovative responses and enhanced adaptation methods for coping with climate change. Contributions are based on 'Capacity Building for Managing Climate Change in Malawi' (CABMACC), a five-year program with an overall goal to improve livelihoods and food security through innovative responses and enhanced capacity of adaptation to climate change. Readers will discover more about sustainable crop production, climate smart agriculture, on-farm energy supply from biogas and the potential of soil carbon sequestration in crop-livestock systems.
As climate change takes hold, there is an ever-growing need to develop and apply strategies that optimize the use of natural resources, both on land and in water. This book covers a huge range of strategies that can be applied to various sectors, from forests to flood control. Its aim, as with resource management itself, is to combine economics, policy and science to help rehabilitate and preserve our natural resources. Beginning with papers on carbon sequestration, including the practice of artificial desertification, the topics move on to cover the use of distributed modeling and neural networks in estimating water availability and distribution. Further chapters look at uncertainty analysis applied to the spatial variation of hydrologic resources, and finally the book covers attempts at estimating meteorological parameters in the context of hydrological variables such as evapo-transpiration from stream flow. Within the next decade, the effects of climate change will be severe, and felt by ordinary human beings. This book proposes a raft of measures that can mitigate, if not reverse, the impact of global warming on the resources we have all come to depend on.
Forest land managers face the challenges of preparing their forests for the impacts of climate change. However, climate change adds a new dimension to the task of developing and testing science-based management options to deal with the effects of stressors on forest ecosystems in the southern United States. The large spatial scale and complex interactions make traditional experimental approaches difficult. Yet, the current progression of climate change science offers new insights from recent syntheses, models, and experiments, providing enough information to start planning now for a future that will likely include an increase in disturbances and rapid changes in forest conditions. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Management Options: A Guide for Natural Resource Managers in Southern Forest Ecosystems provides a comprehensive analysis of forest management options to guide natural resource management in the face of future climate change. Topics include potential climate change impacts on wildfire, insects, diseases, and invasives, and how these in turn might affect the values of southern forests that include timber, fiber, and carbon; water quality and quantity; species and habitats; and recreation. The book also considers southern forest carbon sequestration, vulnerability to biological threats, and migration of native tree populations due to climate change. This book utilizes the most relevant science and brings together science experts and land managers from various disciplines and regions throughout the south to combine science, models, and on-the-ground experience to develop management options. Providing a link between current management actions and future management options that would anticipate a changing climate, the authors hope to ensure a broader range of options for managing southern forests and protecting their values in the future.
Climate and Land Use Impacts on Natural and Artificial Systems: Mitigation and Adaptation provides in-depth information on the linkages between climate change and land use, how they are related, how land use is shifting over time, and the major global regions at risk for climate and land use changes. This comprehensive resource discusses climatic factors and processes that impact natural and artificial systems, as well as the relationship between climate change and both natural and man-made hazards. The book includes case studies and original maps to provide real-life examples of climate change and land use over regions around the globe. In addition, the book presents future perspectives on mitigation and adaptation of the climate change impact. Summarizes current research on land use and climate change Provides future perspectives on climate change using climate models Includes case studies to provide real-life examples from various countries Incorporates high level graphics, images, and maps to support reviews and case studies
This workshop furthers the dialogue among scientists, land managers, landowners, interested stakeholders & the public about how individuals are addressing climate change in natural resource management. Discussions illustrated the complexity of global climate change & the need for managers to consider how the impacts of climate change will unfold across regional & local landscapes. The workshop offered examples of how managers are already responding to those aspects of the global climate change that they can see or perceive. While no comprehensive solutions emerged, there was an appreciation that policy complexity may exceed the science complexity but that eventually the accumulation of local actions will shape the future.
Climate change and environmental degradation have intensified the pressures on crucial resources such as food and water security and air quality. In this collection, academic researchers and practitioners who have lived and worked in countries as geographically and culturally diverse as Brazil, China, India, Ghana, Palestine, Uganda and Venezuela draw on their wide-ranging international and inter-sectoral experience to offer valuable comparative insights into the relationship between research and evidence-based policy for sustaining natural resources. Their contributions provide a novel mix of disciplinary perspectives ranging across geography, ecology, social policy, the political economy, philosophy, international development, engineering technology, architecture and urban planning. They examine the institutions involved in generating and mediating evidence about the sustainability of natural resources in a changing environment, and the different methodologies employed in collecting and assessing evidence, informing policy and contributing to governance. The authors demonstrate not only that social science evidence on governance and policy implementation to sustain natural resources must complement natural science inputs, but also that local communities must be an integral part of any programme development. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Social Science.