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Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

Juha I. Uitto, Jyotsna Puri, Rob D. van den Berg

Report on Global Environmental Competitiveness (2013)

Available Online

Li Jianping, Li Minrong, Wang Jinnan, Li Jianjian, Su Hongwen, Huang Maoxing

Understanding the Bigger Energy Picture

Available Online

Michael Düren

Since thousands of years, the human race has been developing cultural skills and technological capabilities that support its struggle for survival and lead to dominance over all other species. Since about a century, the exponential growth of knowledge, technology, industry and population (see Fig. 1.1) has reached a scale where man modifies biosphere to an extent, that living conditions on the whole planet earth start to change significantly. Resources that had been abundant are becoming scarce within decades. We have arrived in the Anthropocene [1] where man has a significant impact on the basic living conditions of the biosphere of the whole planet. A continuation of this growth rate will unavoidably reach its natural limits where resources vanish; the biosphere will change more rapidly than the ability of organisms and ecosystems to accommodate, and contaminations will endanger living. When such a condition is reached, it is likely that our human civilization will collapse and human population will diminish rapidly. Historic examples demonstrated that drought, hunger, wars and epidemics were typical endpoints of drastic environmental changes and overpopulation. While historic examples mostly affected only individual towns, islands, countries or indigenous nations, the limits of growth this time affect the whole planet and there is no new world to which our civilization can migrate. Recent research has proven that the era of a new biological mass extinction has already started [2] and it can be assumed that finally also our species will be affected.

Demystifying Climate Models

Available Online

Andrew Gettelman, Richard B. Rood

Human-caused climate change is perhaps the defining environmental issue of the early twenty-first century. We observe the earths climate in the present, but observations of future climate are not available yet. So in order to predict the future, we rely on simulation models to predict future climate. This book is designed to be a guide to climate simulation and prediction for the non-specialist and an entry point for understanding uncertainties in climate models. The goal is not to be simply a popular guide to climate modeling and prediction, but to help those using climate models to understand the results. This book provides background on the earths climate system and how it might change, a detailed qualitative analysis of how climate models are constructed, and a discussion of model results and the uncertainty inherent in those results. Throughout the text, terms in bold will be referenced in the glossary. References are provided as footnotes in each chapter. Who uses climate models? Climate model users are practitioners in many fields who desire to incorporate information about climate and climate change into planning and management decisions. Users may be scientists and engineers in fields such as ecosystems or water resources. These scientists are familiar with models and the roles of models in natural science. In other cases, the practitioners are engineers, urban planners, epidemiologists, or architects. Though not necessarily familiar with models of natural science, experts in these fields use quantitative information for decision-making. These experts are potential users of climate models. We hope in the end that by understanding climate models and their uncertainties, the reader will understand how climate models are constructed to represent the earths climate system. The book is intended to help the reader become a more competent interpreter or translator of climate model output.

Governance for Drought Resilience

Available Online

Hans Bressers, Nanny Bressers, Corinne Larrue

This book is about governance for drought resilience. But that simple sentence alone might rouse several questions. Because what do we mean with drought, and how does that relate to water scarcity? And what do we mean with resilience, and why is resilience needed for tackling drought? And how does governance enter this equation? We argue that governance assessmentthe study of restricting and facilitating characteristics of a governance settingcan greatly aid implementation of drought adaptation measures, thereby increasing drought resilience. In this chapter we will first discuss the occurrence of drought in (Northwest) Europe, and why governance matters for increasing drought resilience (Sect. 1.1). Second, we will shed more light on the notion of governance and how governance is dealt with by us (Sect. 1.2). Third, we will review existing governance assessment methods (Sect. 1.3). Fourth, we will use this knowledge on governance and governance assessment to introduce our key principles in governance assessment, and discuss how we have applied these in a real-life project setting (Sect. 1.4). Fifth, and last, this chapter ends with an outlook into the rest of the book, to guide the reader in reading (Sect. 1.5).

Counteracting Urban Heat Island Effects in a Global Climate Change Scenario

Available Online

Francesco Musco

Reflect on the present, on the dynamics and the conditions that built it, and look forward at the same time, in search of a prospect to improve the future. Since Howard (18501928) and Geddes (18541932), this has been the dominant logic supporting the work of all those (architects, urban planners, planners, landscape architects, etc.) who grappled with city and territorial management and planning. However, from the 1970s, territorial planning has been confronted with new concepts such as sustainable development, environmental sustainability and social equity and more recently, new challenges such as the ones linked to climate change, which led to the need to redefine territorial planning in disciplinary and operational terms. For some years now, the planners new role is under discussion, especially in relation to the challenges posed by climate change. Sustainability, mitigation, adaptation, renewable energy, low-carbon transition, ecosystem approach and post-disaster planning are just some of the new keywords surrounding the discussion on territorial management and planning. This chapter aims to present rationally, what it means to re-organize and re-think the city, in a long-term perspective. It wants to show how it is possible, and above all is a duty to integrate the new concepts mentioned above in urban planning, to deal with the effects of climate change. The Urban Heat Islands contrast enters fully into the feasible experimentation with appropriate innovations in territorial planning. The paper draws attention to the Italian situation, in the light of the European reference framework.

Ocean-Atmosphere Interactions of Gases and Particles

Available Online

Peter S. Liss, Martin T. Johnson

This book is an outcome and an important part of the legacy of COST Action 735, whose overall aim was to develop tools for estimating air-sea fluxes of compounds important for climate, air quality and ocean productivity. The action was closely allied with the SOLAS (Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study) project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), with both having very similar objectives. Because of this, they were mutually supportive in many ways. The action ran for 5 years, starting in September 2006 and ending in September 2011. It involved more than 300 scientists mainly from Europe (77 % from the following 18 countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom) but with a significant number from outside Europe, so that in total scientists from 30 countries participated. One third of the participants were female. The action had a reciprocal agreement with New Zealand. Additional information about the action can be found at http://www.cost-735.org/.

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

Available Online

Christian C. Voigt, Tigga Kingston

Ship and Offshore Structure Design in Climate Change Perspective

Available Online

Elzbieta Maria Bitner-Gregersen, Lars Ingolf Eide, Torfinn Hørte, Rolf Skjong

Global warming and extreme weather events reported in the past years have attracted a lot of attention in academia, industry, and media. The ongoing debate around the observed climate change has focused on three important questions: will occurrence of extreme weather events increase in the future, which geographical locations will be most affected, and to what degree will climate change have impact on future ship traffic and design of ships and offshore structures? The present study shortly reviews the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report, AR4, (IPCC 2007), the IPCC SREX Summary for Policymakers report (IPCC 2012) and other relevant publications regarding projections of meteorological and oceanographic conditions in the twenty-first century and beyond with design needs in focus. Emphasis is on wave climate and its potential implications on safe design and operations of ship structures.

Inception Report 2013 - Pacific POPs release reduction through improved management of solid and hazardous waste

Waste Management and Pollution Control

Available Online

SPREP

The Pacific POPs release reduction through improved management of solid and hazardous waste project was developed with the aim to improve poor regional waste management, the principal source of unintentionally produced POPs (dioxins and furans) emissions in the Pacific region, and therefore help address the obligation of Stockholm Convention Parties to reduce, minimize and where feasible, eliminate dioxins and furans. An Inception Meeting to increase stakeholder awareness of the project and to build stakeholder engagement is considered a critical component of project management by the Implementing Agency. This meeting was held in November 2013. The Project Inception Report presented here is the corresponding reporting requirement for this meeting specified in the Project Document (ProDoc)that includes a detailed narrative describing: i). the institutional roles and responsibilities of the project partners; ii). stakeholder engagement commitments; iii). progress on project establishment and start up activities; iv). a detailed project management plan; v). a project supervision plan; and vi). a monitoring and evaluation plan suitable for progress tracking purposes.

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