The Flood Pulse as the Underlying Driver of Vegetation in the Largest Wetland and Fishery of the Mekong Basin

The Tonle Sap is the largest wetland in Southeast Asia and one of the world’s most productive inland fisheries. The Mekong River inundates the Tonle Sap every year, shaping a mosaic of natural and agricultural habitats. Ongoing hydropower development, however, will dampen the flood pulse that maintains the Tonle Sap. This study established the current underlying relationship among hydrology, vegetation, and human use. We found that vegetation is strongly influenced by flood duration; however, this relationship was heavily distorted by fire, grazing, and rice cultivation. The expected flood pulse alteration will result in higher water levels during the dry season, permanently inundating existing forests. The reduction of the maximum flood extent will facilitate agricultural expansion into natural habitats. This study is the most comprehensive field survey of the Tonle Sap to date, and it provides fundamental knowledge needed to understand the underlying processes that maintain this important wetland.     

Evaluating the management strategies of a forestland estate--the S-O-S approach

Connecting Multiple Criteria Decision Support (MCDS) methods with SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis yields analytical priorities for the factors included in SWOT analysis and makes them commensurable. In addition, decision alternatives can be evaluated with respect to each SWOT factor. In this way, SWOT analysis provides the basic frame within which to perform analyses of decision situations. MCDS methods, in turn, assist in carrying out SWOT more analytically and in elaborating the results of the analyses so that alternative strategic decisions can be prioritized also with respect to the entire SWOT. The A'WOT analysis is an example of such hybrid methods. It makes combined use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and SWOT. In this study, a hybrid method of the Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis with Ordinal criteria (SMAA-O) and SWOT is developed as an elaboration of the basic ideas of A'WOT. The method is called S-O-S (SMAA-O in SWOT). SMAA-O enables the handling of ordinal preference information as well as mixed data consisting of both ordinal and cardinal information. Using SMAA-O is enough to just rank decision elements instead of giving them cardinal preference or priority ratios as required by the most commonly used MCDS methods. Using SMAA-O, in addition to analyzing what the recommended action is under certain priorities of the criteria, enables one to analyze what kind of preferences would support each action. The S-O-S approach is illustrated by a case study, where the shareholders of a forest holding owned by a private partnership prepared the SWOT analysis. Six alternative strategies for the management of their forest holding and of old cottage located on the holding were formed. After S-O-S analyses were carried out, one alternative was found to be the most recommendable. However, different importance orders of the SWOT groups would lead to different recommendations, since three of the six alternatives were efficient according to S-O-S analyses.     

2015/2016年海洋和大气环流异常对中国夏季降水的影响

利用1981年1月-2016年8月中国160个气象站降水量资料和NCEP/NCAR资料,对比分析了2015/2016年的主要海洋和大气环流异常及其对夏季降水的影响。结果表明：1）2015和2016年夏季降水异常分布有着明显的差异。2015年夏季降水呈南多北少特点;2016年夏季降水明显增多,尤其是北方地区,且呈现经向型分布。2）热带印度洋-太平洋海温状况监测显示,2015年海温异常表现为El Niño发展年、热带印度洋全区一致模态海温偏暖、印度洋偶极子正位相;2016年海温异常表现为El Niño结束年、热带印度洋全区一致模态海温偏暖、印度洋偶极子负位相。3）2015年,受热带印度洋-太平洋海温异常影响,使得夏季西太平洋副高偏强、偏南,再配合中高纬冷空气活跃,西风急流轴位置偏南,导致我国降水北少南多。4）2016年,受El Niño衰减、印度洋偶极子负位相影响,副高偏北;叠加印度洋海温偏暖的“充电器”效应,副高偏强;同时冷空气偏北偏弱,西风急流轴位置偏北,导致长江中下游及以北区域降水偏多。     

林业碳汇项目基准线和监测方法学及应用分析——以贵州省贞丰县林业碳汇项目为例

气候变化给全球社会经济发展带来了重大影响,林业碳汇在适应和减缓气候变化、促进可持续发展三方面的重要作用日益被世界各国所认可。林业碳汇项目实施的难点在于准确掌握林业碳汇项目设计的规则、标准体系,重点在于基准线判别、碳汇计量、监测的方法学和工具。本文系统介绍了国际清洁发展机制造林再造林(CDM A/R)项目方法学和国内碳汇造林项目方法学、标准体系等最新成果,并以贵州省贞丰县林业碳汇项目为例,分析了基准线和监测方法学在林业碳汇项目开发设计中的实际应用。     

葫芦岛市水土流失防控体系建设研究

分析了葫芦岛市水土流失现状及水土保持方面存在的问题,提出水土流失防控体系建设策略。建议采取水土流失分区治理、工程措施、林业措施、管理措施等建设葫芦岛市水土流失防控体系。     

Mitigation needs adaptation: Tropical forestry and climate change

The relationship between tropical forests and global climate change has so far focused on mitigation, while much less emphasis has been placed on how management activities may help forest ecosystems adapt to this change. This paper discusses how tropical forestry practices can contribute to maintaining or enhancing the adaptive capacity of natural and planted forests to global climate change and considers challenges and opportunities for the integration of tropical forest management in broader climate change adaptation. In addition to the use of reduced impact logging to maintain ecosystem integrity, other approaches may be needed, such as fire prevention and management, as well as specific silvicultural options aimed at facilitating genetic adaptation. In the case of planted forests, the normally higher intensity of management (with respect to natural forest) offers additional opportunities for implementing adaptation measures, at both industrial and smallholder levels. Although the integration in forest management of measures aimed at enhancing adaptation to climate change may not involve substantial additional effort with respect to current practice, little action appears to have been taken to date. Tropical foresters and forest-dependent communities appear not to appreciate the risks posed by climate change and, for those who are aware of them, practical guidance on how to respond is largely non-existent. The extent to which forestry research and national policies will promote and adopt management practices in order to assist production forests adapt to climate change is currently uncertain. Mainstreaming adaptation into national development and planning programs may represent an initial step towards the incorporation of climate change considerations into tropical forestry.