Barriers and guidelines for public policies on climate change adaptation: A missed opportunity of scientific knowledge‐brokerage

Progress in formulating and implementing effective adaptation policies is often hampered by a wide variety of barriers that are well documented in the literature. Among the barriers are lack of awareness, certainty, resources and political commitment. Since these and other barriers can be overcome (e.g., by raising awareness, closing knowledge gaps, and increasing resources), numerous decision‐support frameworks (mainly written guidelines) have been developed for this purpose. The present paper takes stock of both the barriers in adaptation policymaking, as documented in the literature, and the guidelines that aim to facilitate public policies on climate change adaptation. It then compares to what degree selected adaptation guidelines serve as knowledge‐brokerage tools that provide guidance on how to overcome the barriers addressed in the scientific literature. The comparison shows that adaptation guidelines address barriers of adaptation policymaking neither comprehensively nor systematically. Since most adaptation guidelines focus on (subjective) experiences with good practices than on empirical research findings, we conclude that they represent a missed opportunity of scientific knowledge‐brokerage in climate change adaptation.     

Presence of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in the gills of mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis in a contaminated environment: a mesoscale simulation study

A number of previous studies have shown that the relationships of symbiosis existing between mussels and microorganisms are directly dependent on the environmental conditions. However, little is known about existing relationships between mussels and bacteria in hydrocarbon-impacted marine environments. The aim of this preliminary study is to investigate the presence of oil-degrading bacteria in the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis during growth in polluted ecosystems. All the experiments were carried out in a mesocosm system designed to simulate chronic pollution and to enable direct exposure of mussels to chemicals. Quantitative (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, colony-forming units, Most Probable Number) analyses and screening (presence/absence) of metabolic functional genes were performed to analyse bacterial populations inside the gills of mussels exposed and not exposed to hydrocarbons. The data obtained show that the presence of hydrocarbons affected the abundance of bacteria inside the gills of specimens and determines selection for specific (hydrocarbon-degrading) bacteria (i.e. Alcanivorax sp. and Marinobacter sp.). However, is not yet clear whether the presence of such genera of bacteria inside the mussel is due to symbiosis or as a result of filtration.     

One century of hydrological monitoring in two small catchments with different forest coverage

Long-term data on precipitation and runoff are essential to draw firm conclusions about the behavior and trends of hydrological catchments that may be influenced by land use and climate change. Here the longest continuous runoff records from small catchments (<1 km(2)) in Switzerland (and possibly worldwide) are reported. The history of the hydrological monitoring in the Sperbel- and Rappengraben (Emmental) is summarized, and inherent uncertainties in the data arising from the operation of the gauges are described. The runoff stations operated safely for more than 90% of the summer months when most of the major flood events occurred. Nevertheless, the absolute values of peak runoff during the largest flood events are subject to considerable uncertainty. The observed differences in average, base, and peak runoff can only partly be attributed to the substantial differences in forest coverage. This treasure trove of data can be used in various ways, exemplified here with an analysis of the generalized extreme value distributions of the two catchments. These distributions, and hence flood return periods, have varied greatly in the course of one century, influenced by the occurrence of single extreme events. The data will be made publicly available for the further analysis of the mechanisms governing the runoff behavior of small catchments, as well as for testing stochastic and deterministic models.     

Occurrence and distribution of organic trace substances in waters from the Three Gorges Reservoir, China

This study deals with the evaluation of water quality of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) in order to assess its suitability as a raw water source for drinking water production. Therefore, water samples from (1) surface water, (2) tap water, and (3) wastewater treatment plant effluents were taken randomly by 2011–2012 in the area of the TGR and were analyzed for seven different organic contaminant groups (207 substances in total), applying nine different analytical methods. In the three sampled water sources, typical contaminant patterns were found, i.e., pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in surface water with concentrations of 0.020–3.5 μg/L and 0.004–0.12 μg/L, disinfection by-products in tap water with concentrations of 0.050–79 μg/L, and pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plant effluents with concentrations of 0.020–0.76 μg/L, respectively. The most frequently detected organic compounds in surface water (45 positives out of 57 samples) were the pyridine pesticides clopyralid and picloram. The concentrations might indicate that they are used on a regular basis and in conjunction in the area of the TGR. Three- and four-ring PAH were ubiquitously distributed, while the poorly soluble five- and six-ring members, perfluorinated compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, were below the detection limit. In general, the detected concentrations in TGR are in the same range or even lower compared to surface waters in western industrialized countries, although contaminant loads can still be high due to a high discharge. With the exception of the two pesticides, clopyralid and picloram, concentrations of the investigated organic pollutants in TGR meet the limits of the Chinese Standards for Drinking Water Quality GB 5749 (Ministry of Health of China and Standardization Administration of China 2006) and the European Union (EU) Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption (The Council of the European Union 1998), or rather, the EU Directive on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy (The European Parliament and The Council of the European Union 2008). Therefore, the suggested use of surface water from TGR for drinking water purposes is a valid option. Current treatment methods, however, do not seem to be efficient since organic pollutants were detected in significant concentrations in purified tap water.     

Modeling riverine nutrient transport to the Baltic Sea: a large-scale approach

We developed for the first time a catchment model simulating simultaneously the nutrient land-sea fluxes from all 105 major watersheds within the Baltic Sea drainage area. A consistent modeling approach to all these major watersheds, i.e., a consistent handling of water fluxes (hydrological simulations) and loading functions (emission data), will facilitate a comparison of riverine nutrient transport between Baltic Sea subbasins that differ substantially. Hot spots of riverine emissions, such as from the rivers Vistula, Oder, and Daugava or from the Danish coast, can be easily demonstrated and the comparison between these hot spots, and the relatively unperturbed rivers in the northern catchments show decisionmakers where remedial actions are most effective to improve the environmental state of the Baltic Sea, and, secondly, what percentage reduction of riverine nutrient loads is possible. The relative difference between measured and simulated fluxes during the validation period was generally small. The cumulative deviation (i.e., relative bias) [Sigma(Simulated - Measured)/Sigma Measured x 100 (%)] from monitored water and nutrient fluxes amounted to +8.2% for runoff, to -2.4% for dissolved inorganic nitrogen, to +5.1% for total nitrogen, to +13% for dissolved inorganic phosphorus and to +19% for total phosphorus. Moreover, the model suggests that point sources for total phosphorus compiled by existing pollution load compilations are underestimated because of inconsistencies in calculating effluent loads from municipalities.     

Laboratory and field investigations of particulate and carbon monoxide emissions from traditional and improved cookstoves

We implemented a program in which emission characterization is enabled through collaborations between academic, US and international non-governmental entities that focus on evaluation, dissemination, and in-use testing, of improved cookstoves. This effort resulted in a study of field and laboratory emissions from traditional and improved biofuel cookstoves. We found that field measured particulate emissions of actual cooking average three times those measured during simulated cooking in the laboratory. Emission factors are highly dependent on the care and skill of the operator and the resulting combustion; these do not appear to be accurately reproduced in laboratory settings. The single scattering albedo (SSA) of the emissions was very low in both lab and field measurements, averaging about 0.3 for lab tests and around 0.5 for field tests, indicating that the primary particles are climate warming. Over the course of three summers in Honduras, we measured field emissions from traditional cookstoves, relatively new improved cookstoves, and “broken-in” improved cookstoves. We found that well-designed improved cookstoves can significantly reduce PM and CO emission factors below traditional cookstoves. For improved stoves, the presence of a chimney generally resulted in lower emission factors but left the SSA unaffected. Traditional cookstoves had an average PM emission factor of 8.2 g kg^?1 – significantly larger than previous studies. Particulate emission factors for improved cookstoves without and with chimneys averaged about 6.6 g kg^?1 and 4.5 g kg^?1, respectively. The elemental carbon (EC) fraction of PM varied significantly between individual tests, but averaged about 25% for each of the categories.