Re-thinking water policy priorities in the Mediterranean region in view of climate change

Water is scarce in Mediterranean countries: cities are crowded with increasing demand; food is produced with large amounts of water; ecosystems demand more water that is often available; drought affects all. As climate change impacts become more noticeable and costlier, some current water management strategies will not be useful. According to the findings of CIRCE, the areas with limited water resources will increase in the coming decades with major consequences for the way we produce food and we protect ecosystems. Based on these projections this paper discusses water policy priorities for climate change adaptation in the Mediterranean. We first summarise the main challenges to water resources in Mediterranean countries and outline the risks and opportunities for water under climate change based on previous studies. Recognising the difficulty to go from precipitation to water policy, we then present a framework to evaluate water availability in response to natural and management conditions, with an example of application in the Ebro basin that exemplifies other Mediterranean areas. Then we evaluate adaptive capacity to understand the ability of Mediterranean countries to face, respond and recover from climate change impacts on water resources. Social and economic factors are key drivers of inequality in the adaptive capacity across the region. Based on the assessment of impacts and adaptive capacity we suggest thresholds for water policy to respond to climate change and link water scarcity indicators to relevant potential adaptation strategies. Our results suggest the need to further prioritise socially and economically sensitive policies.     

城市绿地降温效应研究进展与展望

全球变暖已是不争的事实,而且不可能完全被阻止。城市绿地作为城市结构中的自然生产力主体,在缓解城市热岛、调节城市气候和协助城市应对未来气候变化中扮演着极其重要的角色。如何优化城市绿地空间布局,从而实现城市绿地降温效应的最大化,更有效地应对城市气候变化,已经成为城市绿地布局规划与研究的热点与难点问题。论文从城市绿地降温效应实地观测、城市尺度城市绿地与城市热岛关系、城市绿地降温效应模型模拟和城市绿地降温效应的心理和社会意义4个角度,对国内外相关研究进行了评述,并在此基础上总结了目前城市绿地降温效应研究存在的主要问题,进而提出了该领域未来研究的方向,以期为深入研究城市绿地的降温效应、更好地规划和设计绿地提供重要的借鉴和参考。     

Twin climate cities—an exploratory study of their potential use for awareness-raising and urban adaptation

Twin climate cities are pairs of cities for which it is appropriate to assume that the future climate of a city “A” will be significantly similar to the current climate of another city “B”. In this paper, we explore the potential use of the climate twins approach for the development of adaptation strategies to climate change in urban areas. We propose an innovative and robust climate-matching method that is suitable to link cities’ current and future climates. Of the 100 cities investigated, 70 have at least one twin climate region, and 39 have a twin climate city. The case-study revealed a highly significant similarity for temperature variables and heat-related indices, but a less significant similarity for precipitation variables. The Climate Twins approach appears to be a potentially effective mechanism for raising awareness about the pace of climate change and for easily identifying (1) future impacts and vulnerabilities associated with climate change as well as (2) policies, infrastructure, and best practices that should be implemented in a city in order to cope efficiently with future extreme temperature events.     

北京绿色屋面节水灌溉技术初探

绿色屋面是城市绿化的重要组成部分。对于象北京这样的缺水城市,绿色屋面的节水灌溉不容忽视。使用节水灌溉技术、优化灌溉水源配置、根据土壤含水率科学确定灌水定额等措施可减少城市绿色屋面的耗水量。     

Integrating mitigation and adaptation into climate and development policy: three research questions

The potential for developing synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation has become a recent focus of both climate research and policy. Presumably the interest in synergies springs from the appeal of creating win–win situations by implementing a single climate policy option. However, institutional complexity, insufficient opportunities and uncertainty surrounding their efficiency and effectiveness present major challenges to the widespread development of synergies. There are also increasing calls for research to define the optimal mix of mitigation and adaptation. These calls are based on the misguided assumption that there is one single optimal mix of adaptation and mitigation options for all possible scenarios of climate and socio-economic change, notwithstanding uncertainty and irrespective of the diversity of values and preferences in society. In the face of current uncertainty, research is needed to provide guidance on how to develop a socially and economically justifiable mix of mitigation, adaptation and development policy, as well as on which elements would be part of such a mix. Moreover, research is needed to establish the conditions under which the process of mainstreaming can be most effective. Rather than actually developing and implementing specific mitigation and adaptation options, the objective of climate policy should be to facilitate such development and implementation as part of sectoral policies. Finally, analysis needs to focus on the optimal use and expected effectiveness of financial instruments, taking into account the mutual effects between these instruments on the one hand, and national and international sectoral investments and official development assistance on the other.     

屋顶绿化策略研究

随着中国城市建设的快速发展和人们对绿化水平要求的提高,屋顶花园作为新的绿化途径而得到了广泛的利用.文章首先介绍了屋顶绿化的历史;开展屋顶绿化的必要性,并且从七个方面介绍了屋顶绿化的意义;屋顶绿化的类型;屋顶绿化在世界发展的总趋势;最后介绍了屋顶绿化植物的选择,从六个方面介绍了佛甲草的优点.屋顶花园造就了新的生活方式,已成为现代家居生活必不可少的延伸,她为人们开辟了新的休憩娱乐活动场所,同时也加强了屋顶的隔热、御寒、隔声效果,起到了吸附飘尘和产生氧气的作用,具有良好的发展前景.     

不同降雨条件下植被对绿色屋顶径流调控效益影响

植被是绿色屋顶的重要组成部分,可通过截留雨水和蒸散耗水等过程影响绿色屋顶的径流调控效益.本文基于太阳花(Portulaca grandiflora)、佛甲草(Sedum lineare)、高羊茅(Festuca elata)和无植被等4种植被覆盖类型绿色屋顶2017年雨季26场降雨径流过程的监测数据,从径流和洪峰削减、产流和峰现时间延迟四方面定量分析植被在不同降雨条件下对绿色屋顶径流调控效益的影响.结果表明,绿色屋顶径流削减率与降雨量呈显著负相关(P 0. 01),降雨量10 mm时,绿色屋顶径流削减率等于或接近100%;降雨量超过30 mm,所有绿色屋顶的径流削减率降低到70%以下;当降雨量达到监测期内最大的81. 4 mm时,各绿色屋顶径流削减率都低于55%.植被覆盖类型对绿色屋顶径流调控效益的影响随降雨条件而改变,大雨条件下不同植被覆盖类型绿色屋顶的径流削减率差异最大,中雨和暴雨条件下次之,小雨条件下因各绿色屋顶几乎都不产流而无明显差异.在中雨、大雨和暴雨条件下,有植被覆盖绿色屋顶的径流削减率、洪峰削减率、产流和峰现时间延迟等4个指标都明显优于无植被覆盖的绿色屋顶.株高和单位面积地上生物量最高的太阳花绿色屋顶的径流调控效益优于佛甲草绿色屋顶.     

The adaptive capacity of institutions in the spatial planning,water, agriculture and nature sectors in the Netherlands

The climate change problem calls for a continuously responding society. This raises the question: Do our institutions allow and encourage society to continuously adapt to climate change? This paper uses the Adaptive Capacity Wheel (ACW) to assess the adaptive capacity of formal and informal institutions in four sectors in the Netherlands: spatial planning, water, agriculture and nature. Formal institutions are examined through an assessment of 11 key policy documents and informal institutions are analysed through four case studies covering each sector. Based on these ACW analyses, both sector-specific and more general strengths and weaknesses of the adaptive capacity of institutions in the Netherlands are identified. The paper concludes that the most important challenge for increasing institutional adaptive capacity lies in combining decentralized, participatory approaches with more top-down methods that generate leadership (visions, goals) standards, instruments, resources and monitoring.     

Climate change adaptation planning in large cities: A systematic global assessment

Cities globally face significant risks from climate change, and are taking an increasingly active role in formulating and implementing climate change adaptation policy. However, there are few, if any, global assessments of adaptation taking place across cities. This study develops and applies a framework to track urban climate change adaptation policy using municipal adaptation reporting. From 401 local governments globally in urban areas with >1 m people, we find that only 61 cities (15%) report any adaptation initiatives, and 73 cities (18%) report on planning towards adaptation policy. We classified cities based on their adaptation reporting as extensive adaptors, moderate adaptors, early stage adaptors, and non-reporting. With few exceptions, extensive adaptors are large cities located in high-income countries in North America, Europe, and Oceania, and are adapting to a variety of expected impacts. Moderate adaptors usually address general disaster risk reduction rather than specific impacts, and are located in a mix of developed and developing countries. Early stage adaptors exhibit evidence of planning for adaptation, but do not report any initiatives. Our findings suggest that urban adaptation is in the early stages, but there are still substantive examples of governments taking leadership regardless of wealth levels and institutional barriers.     

Supporting greenhouse gas mitigation in developing cities: a synthesis of financial instruments

One of the major concerns with the post-2012 global climate regime is to reach consensus on how to finance actions needed in fast-growing developing economies for significant greenhouses gases emissions mitigation. International financial and technology transfer are bound to bridge the gap under well-designed institutional framework to facilitate the transition to low(er) carbon development trajectories in developing countries. So far, cities, which contribute nearly 80% of global emissions, have not yet been recognised as a legitimate entity to implement different greenhouse gas mitigation policies and measures with relevant technical and financial abilities. Here we discuss the scope and scale of different climate-relevant financial mechanisms and describe their comparative advantages and weakness in financing climate resilient urban infrastructures (buildings and transport in particular). We show the limitations of current instruments available in scaling up necessary financial flows into developing cities to achieve the long term climate stabilisation targets. Lastly, the paper examines the feasibility of factoring the sector-wise and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA) mechanisms into local authorities’ long-term mitigation strategy by raising necessary funds to facilitate shifting the business as usual trajectories in developing cities in the next decades.     

The fiscal implications of climate change and policy responses

This paper is concerned with the implications of climate change, and government policies to address it, for countries’ fiscal systems at the national level. Given the uncertainties associated with climate change and countries’ responses to it, the article can do no more than review and suggest some of the major issues of likely importance for fiscal sustainability and how they might be addressed. First the paper defines fiscal sustainability and addresses some general issues related to countries’ attempts to adapt to or mitigate climate change. It then works through a number of more specific issues, discussing policies such as the implementation of environmental taxes or other instruments for the mitigation of climate change. The assessment of the impacts of such policies on fiscal sustainability requires the application of sophisticated economic models, and the paper briefly explores the relative advantages of different modeling approaches in relation to the assessment of fiscal sustainability under policies to mitigate climate change. The major research need identified by the paper is for the development of macroeconomic models that will enable countries identify the wider effects of environmental taxes and help them undertake multi-year budgeting processes.     

Trade-offs and performances of a range of alternative global climate architectures for post-2012

Quantitative assessments help to highlight the main features of climate policies by better identifying their strengths and weaknesses. In this study, we develop a grading system for assessing thirteen proposals for post-2012 climate policy. We believe that these proposals contain appropriate policy instruments which will be considered for discussions about how to design the post-2012 climate agreement. Our grades are based on four criteria: environmental effectiveness, cost effectiveness, distributional considerations and institutional feasibility. We analyze the grades with two complementary methods: principal component and cluster analysis. Our results entail three policy implications. Firstly, the higher the number of policy instruments a proposal comprises, the more difficult might be its implementation. Secondly, proposals which include a meaningful effort by the U.S. tend to fail in environmental effectiveness and institutional feasibility. Thirdly, we identify that the “first best” and the “second best” approaches belong to a stable policy group, and both may be considered as suitable candidates for post-2012 climate policy.     

极端降雨下绿基和灰基联用的雨洪控制效果

以福州大学为例,选取3种绿色基础措施（绿色屋顶、植被浅沟、渗透铺装）与2种灰色基础设施（增大管径、蓄水池）组合,设计了9种雨水系统改造措施方案,并根据3场不同历时极端天气降雨的实测数据,运用暴雨洪水管理模型（SWMM）模拟分析不同雨水系统改造措施方案对径流深、节点和管道的雨洪控制效果.情景模拟结果表明：3场强降雨下,绿色基础措施组合（SS7）在所有用地布局情景中对径流深的控制效果均为最优,其中中长历时强降雨下的削减比最高,达到了78%;在节点控制方面,由于3种绿色基础措施与增大管径组合措施（SS8）具备下渗、滞留和快排等特性,在3场降雨中,对节点的洪流流量和洪流时间的控制效果均为最优,接近100%;在管道控制方面,3种含绿色基础措施的组合方案（SS7,8,9）对管道满流时间与峰值流量发生时间的控制较好.通过对比这3种组合措施方案发现,在短历时强降雨中,3种绿色基础措施与蓄水池组合措施方案下（SS9）管道满流时间最短,峰值流量发生时间最迟;中长历时强降雨中3者差别不大;长历时强降雨中3种绿色基础措施组合下（SS7）管道满流时间最短,峰值流量发生时间最迟.     

Bridging the gap between ecosystem service assessments and land-use planning through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA)

Land-use planning is an important determinant for green space policy in cities. It defines land covers and hence the structure and function of urban ecosystems and the benefits these provide to humans, such as air purification, urban cooling, runoff mitigation, and recreation. The ecosystem service approach has helped to attract policy attention to these benefits but the concept remains poorly implemented in urban policy and governance. To address this gap, we advance a framework to bridge ecosystem services into policy processes through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) as decision support tool. The paper is organized in three main parts. First, we conduct a systematic literature review to assess state-of-the-art knowledge on ecosystem service assessments through MCDA. Next, we build on insights from the literature review to develop the ‘ecosystem services policy-cycle’, a conceptual framework that merges the ‘ecosystem service cascade’ and ‘policy cycle’ models to reinforce the link between ecosystem service assessments and practical applications in urban policy and governance. Next, we illustrate the applicability of the proposed framework along an example about conflicting interests on land use and green space planning following the closure of the Airport Tempelhof in Berlin, Germany. Our results highlight the scope of MCDA as a decision support tool for integrating ecosystem service assessments in green space governance. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of different methodological choices in the use of MCDA in ecosystem service assessments and note that a key strength of this tool in informing green space policies lies in its capacity to accommodate conflicting stakeholder perspectives and to address trade-offs between ecological, social and economic values.     

Wasting collaboration potential: A study in urban green space governance in a post-transition country

Most accounts of urban green space governance originate in cities where such initiatives have been successful. Meanwhile, there is too little information on cities where such initiatives develop with more difficulty. In order to overcome the problems that such cities face, their situations need to be studied more carefully to facilitate peer comparisons. This article provides an account of urban green space governance in three cities in Poland (Krakow, Lodz, Poznan), where environmental protection is still quite far down on the list of political priorities. With the use of a social network analysis we looked at the extent of relationships between different stakeholders and the roles of different actors within the network. The results indicate that the network's collaboration potential is barely used and that cross-sectoral collaboration is especially deficient. In particular, public institutions hold a relatively strong position and downplay the role of other actors. More collaboration is necessary and the potential bridging role of NGOs should be used to a larger extent. However, this requires more openness and trust within the network.     

Adaptation Planning Support Toolbox: Measurable performance information based tools for co-creation of resilient,ecosystem-based urban plans with urban designers,decision-makers and stakeholders

Currently, most tools, guidelines and benchmarks for urban adaptation raise awareness on climate change impacts, assess the city’s vulnerability and/or address the need for adaptation on a policy-level. However, tools that have the ability to implement adaptation solutions in the actual urban planning and design practice seem to be missing. We developed and tested the Adaptation Planning Support Toolbox (APST) to fill this gap. This toolbox supports local policymakers, planners, designers and practitioners in defining the program of demands, in setting adaptation targets, in selecting from more than 60 blue, green and grey adaptation measures and with informed co-creation of conceptual adaptation plans. The APST provides quantitative, evidence-based performance information on (cost)effectiveness of adaptation measures regarding climate resilience and co-benefits. The APST can be used design workshops, to feed dialogues among stakeholders on where and how which ecosystem-based adaptation measures can be applied. Applications of the AST in various settings and context in cities on different continents have illustrated the added value of the toolbox in bringing policy and practice together with help of science. With more and more cities worldwide that will make the step from policymaking to actual adaptation-inclusive urban (re)development practice we foresee a growing demand for such tools.     

近60 a北方沿海城市人居环境气候舒适性评价——以辽宁省为例

我国北方沿海地区一直被认为是人居环境气候舒适性最佳区域之一。以辽宁沿海城市为例,利用1951-2010年气候资料,在分析区域气候变化特征的背景下,选用人体舒适度评价人居环境气候舒适性,并探讨其影响因素。结果表明:①近60 a来,该地区气候变化基本特征呈明显的升温趋势,降水、风速和相对湿度则为下降趋势,各气象要素在1960-1980年时段分别发生明显的突变;②一年中的4-10月属于感觉舒适状态,其中6-9月为最舒适月份,大连市是辽宁沿海人居环境气候舒适性最好的城市;③气温和风速是影响辽宁沿海城市气候舒适性的主要因素,R/S分析预测表明未来气温将继续升高,降水量和相对湿度及风速将延续现有的减少趋势,人体舒适度指数将继续升高,四季气候舒适性将发生改变。鉴于城市发展、气候变化和人居环境气候舒适性之间的相互作用关系,未来应当积极应对全球气候变化,并减少人类活动对气候的影响。     

Public policy as a part of transforming energy systems: framing bioenergy in Finnish energy policy

Government interventions have been identified as important for energy systems change, because they can either facilitate or hinder transitions toward more sustainable energy systems. This article analyses how bioenergy options have been framed in Finnish policy strategies and how the framing has changed over time. The empirical material includes the content of 15 government programmes and nine national energy/climate strategies. On the basis of this assessment, both the link between bioenergy framings in strategies and the actual transformation of Finnish bioenergy systems are explored.On the basis of bioenergy framings, the development of energy policy can be divided into three phases: support for domestic energy sources in 1979-1991, support for wood- and industry-based bioenergy in 1992-1998, and diversified bioenergy in the context of climate change in 1999-2010. For two decades, primarily wood-based bioenergy was supported despite alternative technological developments occurring elsewhere. After the turn of the millennium, the importance of climate policy increased and alternative bioenergy sources were raised on the government policy agenda, also resulting in some new policy instruments. Rather than adopting a visionary outlook to guide system transformation, climate and energy policy has strengthened those technological options that have been selected elsewhere. If public policies are to enhance the shift toward low-carbon, sustainable energy systems, they would need to be more comprehensive, be more consistent over time, and emphasise energy use more.     

The prospects for global green car mobility

The quest for green car mobility faces two major challenges: air pollution from exhaust emissions and global climate change from greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicle air pollution emissions are being successfully tackled in many countries by technical solutions such as low-sulphur fuels, unleaded petrol and three-way catalytic converters. Many researchers advocate a similar approach for overcoming transport's climate change impacts. This study argues that finding a technical solution for this problem is not possible. Instead, the world will have to move to an alternative surface transport system involving far lower levels of motorised travel.     

Changing climate,changing frames: Dutch water policy frame developments in the context of a rise and fall of attention to climate change

Water management and particularly flood defence have a long history of collective action in low-lying countries like the Netherlands. The uncertain but potentially severe impacts of the recent climate change issue (e.g. sea level rise, extreme river discharges, salinisation) amplify the wicked and controversial character of flood safety policy issues. Policy proposals in this area generally involve drastic infrastructural works and long-term investments. They face the difficult challenge of framing problems and solutions in a publicly acceptable manner in ever changing circumstances. In this paper, we analyse and compare (1) how three key policy proposals publicly frame the flood safety issue, (2) the knowledge referred to in the framing and (3) how these frames are rhetorically connected or disconnected as statements in a long-term conversation. We find that (1) framings of policy proposals differ in the way they depict the importance of climate change, the relevant timeframe and the appropriate governance mode; (2) knowledge is selectively mobilised to underpin the different frames and (3) the frames about these proposals position themselves against the background of the previous proposals through rhetorical connections and disconnections. Finally, we discuss how this analysis hints at the importance of processes of powering and puzzling that lead to particular framings towards the public at different historical junctures.