Dangerous climate change and water resources in Australia

Water resources in Australia are sensitive to changes in rainfall. Ongoing droughts in south-west and south-east Australia are stressing water resources in the major cities and in agricultural regions. Climate change scenarios for Australia include reasonable prospects of long-term drying, which would exacerbate these issues. The dryer scenarios would entail major readjustments and costs on natural and human systems.     

A context-inclusive approach to support energy policy formulation and evaluation

Observing the many and varied reactions to the Kyoto Protocol, it becomes clear that different governments find themselves in different contexts that eventually direct them toward taking dissimilar positions on energy issues. This paper, through five integrated studies, investigates whether contextualizing energy issues is (are) relevant to support energy policy formulation and evaluation and provides insights into how to operationalize the contextualization. Instead of considering the most widely accepted tools currently used to assess and evaluate energy policy, this research proposes the utilization of a holistic framework that incorporates social, economic and environmental factors as well as their relations to the energy sector to better contextualize global, regional and national energy issues. This framework, which accounts for feedback loops, delays and non-linearity, is applied to case studies to investigate the longer-term performance of selected energy policies. Results of the study indicate the likely emergence of various unexpected side effects and elements of policy resistance over the medium and longer term due to the interrelations existing between energy and society, economy and environment. Furthermore, while side effects and unintended consequences may arise both within the energy sector and in the other sectors, they simultaneously influence society, economy and environment.     

Ecosystem services and hydroelectricity in Central America: modelling service flows with fuzzy logic and expert knowledge

Because ecosystem services are generally not produced and used in the same place, their assessment should consider the flows of services from ecosystems to users. These flows depend on the characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems and users, the spatial relationships between them, and the presence of filters or barriers between ecosystems and users. The objective of this paper is to map the ecosystem services provided to the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan hydroelectric sectors, which are crucial sectors for national sustainable development and depend directly on hydrological ecosystem services. The paper presents an approach for modelling the flows of multiple services from diverse ecosystems to diverse users through different kinds of filters in a landscape. The approach uses expert knowledge and fuzzy numbers to handle uncertainties. The analyses for Costa Rica and Nicaragua show how the approach helps identify priority areas for the conservation and restoration of forests for the services they provide to the hydroelectric sector. As such, it is a useful tool for defining spatially targeted policies for the conservation of ecosystem services and for involving the users of ecosystem services in ecosystem management.     

Land-cover changes in and around a National Park in a mountain landscape in the Pyrenees

The current state of Mediterranean mountain areas has been driven by two main factors: intense traditional human activity and the dynamics of the ecosystem itself. In this study, we examine land-cover changes in a National Park in the Pyrenees mountains (NE Iberian Peninsula), which was designated a protected area 55 years ago. First, we have analyzed spatio-temporal changes in land-cover pattern and forest dynamics from 1957 to 2005. During this period, land-cover dynamics consisted of two main processes: (i) expansion of the forest area and (ii) increasing cover of forests already present in 1957. To analyze the role of the conservation level of the park, we have also compared the results obtained within the park with those of unprotected, peripheral areas. In the two areas with different protection level, dense forests increased throughout the period because of the reduction in forestry activities. The peripheral area showed a higher rate of forest-cover change from 1957 to 2005 compared to the National Park. This higher increase in forest cover in the peripheral area could be related to a higher proportion in the National Park of screes and rocky areas and to the decline and transformation of forest activities in these peripheral, lower elevation areas.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Perspectives for the long-term penetration of new renewables in complex energy systems: the Italian scenario

Renewable energy sources are mainly used in the electrical sector. Electricity is not a storable commodity. Hence, it is necessary to produce the requested quantity and distribute it through the system in such a way as to ensure that electricity supply and demand are always evenly balanced. This constraint is actually the main problem related to the penetration of new renewables (wind and photovoltaic power) in the context of complex energy systems. The paper analyzes some aspects in connection with the problem of new renewable energy penetration. The case of Italian scenario is considered as a meaningful reference due to the characteristic size and the complexity of the same. The various energy scenarios are evaluated with the aid of a multipurpose software taking into account the interconnections between the different energetic uses. In particular, it is shown how the penetration of new renewable energies is limited at an upper level by technological considerations and it will be more sustainable if an integration of the various energy use (thermal, mobility and electrical) field will be considered.     

Intensification level of rice farming in Myanmar: implication for its sustainable development

This study aims to estimate the intensification of rice farming in Myanmar particularly due to chemical fertilizer application, using farm-level data obtained from field surveys conducted in the 2000s. Relatively high-input rice farming was found in dry season crop in the delta zone and the double crop in well-irrigated lowlands of the central dry zone. The chemical fertilizer used there was about 88–159 kg NPK (nitrogen, N; phosphate, P₂O₅; and potash, K₂O) ha⁻¹ (76–110 kg nitrogen (N) ha⁻¹), and the average paddy yield ranged from 2.8 to 3.5 ton ha⁻¹. On the other hand, nutrient input in survey sites of rain-fed lowland was between 11 and 53 kg NPK ha⁻¹ (5 and 36 kg N ha⁻¹), and the yield ranged from 1.1 to 2.3 ton ha⁻¹. The national average of paddy yield and nutrient input of fertilizer was roughly estimated to be around 2.4 ton ha⁻¹ and 60 kg NPK ha⁻¹, respectively. A gap was observed between these calculated values and the official statistics. A comparison of fertilizer use efficiency for rice production in Myanmar with that in China and Vietnam has shown that the efficiency in Myanmar has not declined to an inappropriate level even in its intensive ones. Rice production in Myanmar has room for increasing the yield by capital intensification. Nevertheless, considering its sustainability as well as productivity, further intensification in rice farming technology in irrigated lowlands of Myanmar may neither be the best nor the only way.     

The survey of living conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA): A comparative sustainable livelihoods assessment

The Arctic is a region of the world experiencing extremely rapid climatic and social change. Indigenous communities have faced similar challenges for millennia and have historically demonstrated remarkable resilience to socioecological perturbations. In contemporary contexts, however, it appears that the pace and extent of change is overwhelming the adaptive capacities of many indigenous communities. Scholars recently completed a survey of living conditions spanning the circumpolar Arctic to quantitatively document the impacts of social and ecological stress across regions. The database they created is called the Survey of Living Conditions in the Arctic or SLiCA. This article explores the utility of using this dataset to compare livelihood systems across three sub-regions of Alaska and four sub-regions within the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation. The results point out that livelihood systems in Chukotka have a substantially lower level of sustainability than in Northwest Alaska due to the high prevalence of vulnerable households.     

Climate change and variability in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of current and future trends and impacts on agriculture and food security

Sub-Saharan Africa has been portrayed as the most vulnerable region to the impacts of global climate change because of its reliance on agriculture which is highly sensitive to weather and climate variables such as temperature, precipitation, and light and extreme events and low capacity for adaptation. This article reviews evidence on the scope and nature of the climate change challenge; and assesses the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. From the review, it is apparent that the climate in Africa is already exhibiting significant changes, evident by changes in average temperature, change in amount of rainfall and patterns and the prevalence of frequency and intensity of weather extremes. The review also revealed that although uncertainties exist with regards to the magnitude of impacts, climate will negatively affect agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, as result of current and expected climate change, the area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential, particularly along the margins of semi-arid and arid areas, are expected to decrease. These impacts will affect all components of food security: food availability, food accessibility, food utilisation and food stability and hence increase the risk of hunger in the region. The review thus confirms the general consensus that Sub-Saharan Africa is the most vulnerable region to climate change. It suggests that, policymakers and development agencies should focus on formulating and implementing policies and programmes that promote farm level adaptation strategies currently being practiced by farmers across the region.     

Status of MSW management system in northern India-an overview

Many Indian cities are facing serious problems in managing solid wastes with rise in population and urbanization. This article assesses the existing state of municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in northern India with the aim of identifying the major obstacles to its efficiency and the prospects for improvisation of the solid waste management system in the region. The existing solid waste management system in the region is found to be highly inefficient. Primary and secondary collection, transportation and open dumping are the only activities practiced that too in a non-technical manner. Many cities in region face serious problems in managing solid wastes. The annual waste generation increases in proportion to the rises in population and urbanization. This paper systematically assesses the obstacles in the existing solid waste management system in the urban areas of region and also tries to assess the potentials for its improvisation.