Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects biophysical systems and human well-being. The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force in 2016 with the objective of strengthening the global response to climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 °C. The agreement requires all Parties to submit their “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is an important strategy for mitigating climate change, particularly in developing countries with large forests. Extensive tropical forest loss and degradation have increased awareness at the international level of the need to undertake large-scale ecological restoration, highlighting the need to identify cases in which restoration strategies can contribute to mitigation and adaptation. Here we consider Brazil as a case study to evaluate the benefits and challenges of implementing large-scale restoration programs in developing countries. The Brazilian NDC included the target of restoring and reforesting 12 million hectares of forests for multiple uses by 2030. Restoration of native vegetation is one of the foundations of sustainable rural development in Brazil and should consider multiple purposes, from biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation to social and economic development. However, ecological restoration still presents substantial challenges for tropical and mega-diverse countries, including the need to develop plans that are technically and financially feasible, as well as public policies and monitoring instruments that can assess effectiveness. The planning, execution, and monitoring of restoration efforts strongly depend on the context and the diagnosis of the area with respect to reference ecosystems (e.g., forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands). In addition, poor integration of climate change policies at the national and subnational levels and with other sectorial policies constrains the large-scale implementation of restoration programs. The case of Brazil shows that slowing deforestation is possible; however, this analysis highlights the need for increased national commitment and international support for actions that require large-scale transformations of the forest sector regarding ecosystem restoration efforts. Scaling up the ambitions and actions of the Paris Agreement implies the need for a global framework that recognizes landscape restoration as a cost-effective nature-based solution and that supports countries in addressing their remaining needs, challenges, and barriers.
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - Bioenergy with carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (BECCS) technologies represent an interesting option to reach negative carbon... 相似文献
The European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to achieve the “good status” of waters by 2015, through monitoring and control of human impacts on “bodies of surface water” (BSWs), discrete elements for quality diagnosis and management. Headwater streams, however, are frequently neglected as they are not usually recognised as BSW. This poses limitations for the management of river catchments, because anthropogenic impacts on headwaters can constrain the quality of downstream rivers. To illustrate this problem, we compared nitrate levels and land use pressures in a small agricultural catchment with those recorded in the catchment in which it is embedded (Ega), and in the Ebro River Basin (NE Spain) comprising both. Agriculture greatly influenced water nitrate concentration, regardless of the size of the catchments: R2 = 0.91 for headwater catchments (0.1–7.3 km2), and R2 = 0.82 for Ebro tributary catchments (223–3113 km2). Moreover, nitrate concentration in the outlet of a non-BSW small river catchment was similar to that of the greater downstream BSW rivers. These results are of interest since, despite representing 76% of the length of the Ega catchment hydrographical network, only 3.1% of the length of the headwater streams has been identified as BSWs. Human activities affecting headwater streams should therefore be considered if the 2015 objective of the WFD is to be achieved. 相似文献
This paper demonstrates a correlation between the extensiveness of infrastructure and national development. This was achieved by considering kilometres of paved roads, kilometres of rail, kilometres of paved runways, quality of shipping ports and quality of urban infrastructure. Data were collected from a variety of sources including the World Bank and the United Nations databases. Measures of the quantity or extensiveness of the infrastructures were normalized based on the populations of the various countries, transforming them into per capita measures, which were then logarithmically transformed to produce indices of the extensiveness of the infrastructures. These indices were then plotted against the national development indicator, the human development index (HDI). Of the infrastructures considered, paved roads per capita index showed the strongest correlation with HDI, while quality of port infrastructure index showed the weakest correlation. When the indices for the different infrastructures were combined into a single index the correlation with HDI appeared to be strongest, highlighting the synergistic effect of different infrastructures when working in tandem. Based on this, the findings of this study support the position of holistically managing a country's infrastructure assets. 相似文献
The process of eutrophication in form of intense plant growth has been observed in some lakes and water streams at the Plitvice
Lakes National Park in central Croatia. Here we investigate whether this phenomenon is a consequence of anthropogenic pollution
or due to naturally produced organic matter in the lakes. We applied chemical analysis of water at two springs and four lakes
(nutrients, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), trace elements) and measurements of surface lake sediments (mineral and organic
fraction analyses, trace elements) in four different lakes/five sites. The chemical composition of water does not indicate
recent anthropogenic pollution of water because the concentrations of most trace elements are below detection limits. The
concentrations of DOC and nutrients are slightly higher in the area of increased eutrophication-plant growth. Also the content
of organic matter in the sediment is at the highest level in areas with highest C/N ratio indicating that the organic fraction of this sediment is mainly of terrestrial origin. There is no significant difference
among the trace element concentration in the upper segment of all cores, deposited approximately during last 50 years when
higher anthropogenic influence is expected due to development and touristic activity, and the lower part of the cores, corresponding
to the period approximately 100–200 years before present. The content of trace elements and organic matter in sediments decreases
from the uppermost lake downstream. According to our results there is no indication of recent anthropogenic pollution in water
and sediment. Higher concentrations of DOC in water as well as phosphorus and some other elements in the lake sediment can
be a consequence of input of natural organic matter to the lake water. 相似文献