Evidence shows how food system activities from production to consumption underpin food security. However, studies exploring climate impacts on food security in northern Ghana have overly focused on production systems, neglecting post-production activities that loom large in food security. This paper addresses the research need to comprehensively analyze how climate change affects post-production activities and exacerbates food insecurity risks in northern Ghana. The study collects and analyzes data on climate hazards, impacts, and food system vulnerabilities using questionnaires and participatory engagement with farming households in northern Ghana. Results show that climate-induced food insecurity risks in northern Ghana are not just products of persistent climate impacts on food production in the region. Instead, risks are inextricably connected to the vulnerability contexts within which food is harvested, processed, stored, and marketed. Specifically, the results reveal that climate hazard events such as floods, extreme temperatures, and droughts damage stored grain, disrupt food supply to the market, and cause seasonal volatilities in food prices. However, these impacts are not solely externally generated circumstances. The food system is highly vulnerable; most households lack access to threshing and grinding machines, warehouse storage, post-harvest management information, and transportation services. These underlying characteristics of the post-food-production system of northern Ghana, which is ultimately quite remote from climate change, exacerbate household-level food insecurity risks.

This research analyses extreme precipitation events in the Huaihe River Basin in China, a densely populated region with a history of human settlements and agricultural activities. This study aims to explore the impact of extreme precipitation index changes and provide decision-making suggestions for flood early warning and agricultural development in the Huaihe River Basin. The study utilises the NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 climate models dataset and the daily value dataset (V3.0) from China's national surface weather stations to investigate temporal and spatial changes in extreme precipitation indices from 1960 to 2014 and future projections. At the same time, this study adopted the RclimDex model, Taylor diagram and Sen+Mann-Kendall trend analysis research methods to analyse the data. The results reveal a slight increase in extreme precipitation indices from northwest to southeast within the basin, except for CDD, which shows a decreasing trend. Regarding spatial, the future increase of extreme precipitation in the Huaihe River Basin will show a spatial variation characteristic that decreases from northwest to southeast. These findings suggest that extreme precipitation events are intensifying in the region. Understanding these trends and their implications is vital for adaptation strategy planning and mitigating the risks associated with extreme precipitation events in the Huaihe River Basin.

Mountains can be described as socio-ecological systems (SESs), a complex set of relations that involve natural aspects and human communities. Mountains provide indispensable ecosystem services, but they are affected by climate change. For this, stakeholders’ initiatives to face global warming, particularly farmers, are essential and participatory strategy are largely considered as a best solution to involve them in adopting resilience actions. Despite that, farmers are considered passive actors and their epistemology weak. Investigating mountain actors' vulnerability to climate change in the North of Molise (an Italian region), called «Alto Molise», we suggest considering farmers agency as a result of interconnections among heterogeneous elements present in the SES and their “lay” knowledge and epistemology equally relevant that experts one. Farmers’ perception of climate change impact is appropriate, although they lack a clear understanding of it. Their resilience actions or suggestions are coherent with their resources endowment (financial and knowledge) and their position in the economic system but not necessarily effective. The work contributes to the debate on climate resilience in mountain areas stressing the significance of local actors' agency, the presence of different epistemologies (lay and expert one) and the need to actively involve them in designed effective and suitable initiatives to face climate change.

Rapid climate change requires more powerful and precise modeling methods to forecast future climate variability. The GSTARIMA Model is efficient, combining space-time analysis with the Autoregressive Moving Average (ARIMA) Model. The integration of heteroscedasticity error and the Kriging method can strengthen the Model's ability to handle the problem of non-constant error variance in the GSTARIMA Model and forecast at unobserved locations of climate observations. This paper's Systematics Literature Review (SLR) is presented comprehensively with the principal aim of developing a thorough understanding of applying the GSTARIMA Model with heteroskedasticity error and the Kriging Method in climate forecasting following the Data Analytics Lifecycle methodology. The Systematic Literature Review (SLR) process consists of three main stages. We sourced the articles from databases such as Scopus, Dimensions, and EBSCO-Host The subsequent stage involved conducting a comprehensive literature review using the PRISMA method to ensure rigor and depth. Additionally, we performed bibliometric analysis to enhance rigor. Lastly, we conducted a gap analysis session to scrutinize existing research on the GSTARIMA Model and identify new opportunities. This literature review reveals that integrating GSTARIMA Model with heteroscedasticity errors and the Kriging method is suitable for climate forecasting. This research inspires researchers to contribute to the improvement and refinement of the Model, making it a more potent and valuable tool in climate forecasting.

The high-mountain and arctic plants are considered especially sensitive to the climate changes because of close adaptations to the cold environment. Kalmia procumbens, the typical arctic-alpine species reaches southernmost European localities in the Pyrenees and Carpathians. The aim of the study was the assessment and comparison of K. procumbens current potential niche areas in the Pyrenees and Carpathians and their possible reduction due to climate change, depending on the scenario. Realized niches of K. procumbens in the Pyrenees are compact while in the Carpathians dispersed. In both mountain chains, the species occurs in the alpine and subalpine vegetation belts, going down to elevations of about 1500-1600 m, while the most elevated localities in the Pyrenees are at ca 3000 m, about 500 m higher than in the Carpathians. The localities of K. procumbens in the Carpathians have a more continental climate than in the Pyrenees, with lower precipitation and temperatures but higher seasonality of temperature and of precipitation. The species covered a larger area of geographic distribution during Last Glacial, and reduced area during mid Holocene. Due to the climate warming, the strong reduction of potential area of occurrence to 2100 is expected in the Carpathians and moderate reduction in in the Pyrenees.

water resources in Morocco have been severely influenced by climate change (CC) and pro-longed drought, particularly, in the pre-Saharan zone. The Tafilalet region faces increasing pres-sure due to high demographic growth, increased demand for water, excessive groundwater con-sumption, and investment in agriculture. Using the Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP), this study assessed land cover and elevation and created future scenarios using the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standard Groundwater Level Index (SGI) to monitor hy-droclimate drought conditions in the Ziz watershed from 1989 to 2022. Results show decreasing precipitation, particularly from 2010-2020, with the last four years being the most challenging (SPI<-2). SPI and SGI have a high correlation, suggesting precipitation impacts groundwater in-dicators. Future scenarios predict a high risk of CC, with a 30% decrease in annual precipitation accumulation by 2100 under the optimistic scenario SSP126. Minimum temperature is expected to increase by 1.08°C (SSP126) and 2.61°C (SSP585), and maximum temperature by 1.05°C (SSP126) and 2.93°C (SSP585). Keywords: Climate Change, Water Resources, SPI, SGI, WEAP, Ziz watershed, Drought

The European Union's current pressure on Member States to adopt the Green Deal and the Fit for 55 package is leading to an accelerated drive to put in place measures to meet the 2030 climate targets. At the same time, many discussions at international bilateral meetings of EU country representatives raise the question of the realism of setting climate targets and therefore the ability to meet these commitments. The results elaborated in this analytical study offer a realistic picture of the possibilities of meeting strategic climate targets using the example of the use of forest dendromass for the ability to achieve a 22% share of renewable energy sources (RES) in gross final energy consumption by 2030 in the Czech Republic. The study points out that at present the use of forest dendromass from primary pro-duction is at its maximum and meeting the climate targets for increasing the share of RES in the energy mix represents a major problem in the long term. The findings published in this study also point to the objective threat of increased use of dendrmass in the energy sector to the maintenance of sustainable forest management and the preservation of forest quality.

The North African E. pinnata is not known as a traditional medicinal plant but modern research has revealed its extracts richness in anti-oxidants and components of medicinal value. Despite its wide distribution and medicinal value, the species remains taxonomically and phytochemically un-derstudied, especially in Algeria. Here we compare three ecotypes of E. pinnata from the humid, sub-humid and semi-arid areas. The comparison was carried out using classical techniques of multivariate plant morphology, pollen grains size and shape, chromosome numbers, pollen fer-tility, anti-oxidant and antibacterial activities. Significant differences were revealed for all criteria except pollen fertility and antibacterial activity. The semi-arid ecotype showed to be a remote group in relation to the two others except for pollen size where the remote group was the sub-humid ecotype. Pollen size appeared positively correlated with karyotype length. The results (mg GAE/g EXT) of the antioxidant activity tests of the “humid”, “sub-humid” and the “semi-arid” plant groups are as follows, respectively; TPC: 50.79±0.51, 52.04±1.05 and 56.89±0.46; DPPH: 71.18±2.24, 86.39±3.02 and 95.67±2.02; RP: 11.09±1.24, 17.21±0.75 and 25.88±0.26. The inhibition area diameter in the antibacterial activity test varied from 9.25±1.06 mm (Semi-arid plants vs Pseudo-monas aeruginosa) to 12.00±1.41 mm (Sub-humid plants vs Escherichia coli).

The purpose of this study was to elucidate patterns and mechanisms driving seasonal and inter-annual variations of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in the zooplankton crustacean commu-nity of Lake Maggiore (Italy), during the period 2009-2020. Different zooplankton taxa and groups revealed different ranges of d13C signatures, giving an insight into food sources and niche partition. In particular, cyclopoids had a restricted range with most negative d13C‰ values and increase in d13C fractionation with the establishment of water thermal vertical stratification, high-lighting the importance of vertical distribution as key factor for taxa coexistence in a vertically heterogenous environment. d13C of the zooplankton community and of Daphnia were positively related to water temperature (R2=0.58 p <0.0001 and R2=0.68 p <0.0001, respectively) and d13C Daphnia signature to chlorophyll-a (R2=0.32, p < 0.0001). Decomposition of time series data for zooplankton carbon and nitrogen signatures and environmental parameters identified increasing trends in water temperature, chlorophyll-a and water conductivity and decrease in nitrate, that matched changes in carbon isotopic signature trend in some zooplankton taxa (Bosmina, Daphnia and diaptomids). Overall, the observed patterns in zooplankton isotopic signatures were interpreted as integrations of climate warming effects in Lake Maggiore, affecting both food sources availability and environmental conditions.

Dioscorea composita is a plant native to México and Central America with a high concentration of diosgenin precursors. Currently, México is one of the two most important countries producers of this yam; however, climate change is altering the environmental conditions of its natural habits, threatening its preservation and productivity. This is why this research was focused to characterize the eco-geography of D. composita and predict its potential geographic distribution under climate change scenarios in México-Central America. A collection of 408 geo-referenced accessions was used to determine its climatic adaptation, ecological descriptors, and the current and future potential geographic distribution, which was modeled with MaxEnt model through the Kuenm R-package. For future climate scenarios, an ensemble of the GCMs HadGEM-ES and CCSM4 was used. Results showed that D. composita adapts to warm humid and very humid agro-climates and that the most contributing variables for its presence are annual and seasonal moisture availability indices, seasonal photoperiod, annual thermal range, Bio14 and Bio11. The year 2050 RCP 4.5 climate scenario would contract the potential distribution of D. composita, whilst the 2050 RCP 8.5 scenario would expand it, indicating that this species could be a good crop option under this scenario of emissions.

This article considers the basic psychological needs theory and tries to determine how much autonomy support from a coach is required for basic psychological needs and how autonomy, competence, relatedness, and the psychological motivational climate can explain task and ego involvement in a group of young elite ice hockey players. Our three hypotheses were as follows: autonomy support from the coach will have an impact on motivational involvement, all three basic needs will have an impact on motivational involvement, and motivational involvement will be explained by the motivational climate. A total of 175 male elite ice hockey players from Norway, ranging in age from 15 to 18 years old, answered questionnaires about autonomy support, perceived motivational climate, achievement goal orientation, and basic psychological needs. A multiple regression analysis was run to predict ego–task involvement using autonomy support from the coach, the need for autonomy, the need for competence, the need for relatedness, the task climate, and the ego climate. The only two variables that statistically significantly predicted ego–task involvement were autonomy support from the coach and the ego climate. The analysis revealed that the athletes had a higher score on task than ego involvement, but when this was transformed into two variables (high and low) for task and ego involvement, we found that most players scored high for both task and ego involvement. We found that autonomy from the coach had a positive relationship with a high score for players on both task and ego involvement. We also found that the three basic psychological needs had no impact on the motivational involvement of the athletes. Lastly, we found that the ego climate had an impact on the motivational involvement. There was a positive relationship between a high score for the ego climate and a high score for both ego and task involvement.

The agricultural sector's progress towards climate neutrality is of great importance not only in the climate but also in the economic and social context. The agricultural sector is the 3rd largest emission-generating sector both in Latvia and Europe, and it directly and/or indirectly affects all other sectors. Climate-neutral agriculture is highly dependent on innovations that ensure maximum efficient farming, which not only reduces emissions but also ensures competitiveness in the market, but all of this is fundamentally influenced by well considered policies. Although the goals of the Green Deal are united, each country's situation must be thoughtfully considered individually to evaluate the best action plan for integrating the EU's common agricultural policy without reducing harvest. In addition, due to the complicated structure of the sector, it tends to be very difficult or even impossible to determine the real obstacles and mistakes that delay the progress of sustainable farming. Therefore, this research aims to create a system dynamics model using Latvia as a case study, which would not only provide an insight into the system’s structure but also identify the system's weak links and allow for the development of recommendations. The results could help policymakers in any country to make rational, non-controversial decisions simultaneously in the context of economic and Green Deal objectives. The results of the study demonstrate that to increase economic competitiveness and reduce emissions in agriculture, the most important aspect is the ability to invest in innovations and new technologies that would achieve not only the lowest emissions, but also the highest productivity and competitiveness in the market. It was found that by investing in the level of manure management it is possible to reduce GHG emissions in dairy farming by 8%, while by improving feed quality, manure management and thermoregulation all together, resulted in 60% GHG emission reduction. In addition, in a comprehensive improvement of the new innovations, the case study company managed to increase milk yield by 69%.

Several sun models suggest the radioactive balance where the concentration of greenhouse gases and the albedo effect are related to the Earth's surface temperature. There is a considerable increment of greenhouse gases due to anthropogenic activities. Climate change correlates with this alteration in the atmosphere and an increase in surface temperature. Efficient forecasting of climate change and its impacts of 1.5°C global warming above pre-industrial levels could be helpful to respond to the threat of c.c. and develop sustainably. Many studies have predicted the temperature change in the coming years. The global community has to create a model that can realize good predictions to ensure the best way to deal with the warming. Thus, we propose a finite-time thermodynamic (FTT) approach in the present work. The FTT can solve problems such as the faint young sun paradox. In addition, we use different machine learning models to evaluate our method and compare the experimental prediction and results.

The way humans use natural resources and especially freshwater, reflects their relationship with nature. It also influences the conceptual Water Resources Management (WRM) model. A historical review shows that the interplay between Humans and Nature is diachronically in constant change between two opposites: conflict and cooperation. Lessons from the past 20.000 years indicate that the WRM model is a function of two main parameters: (1) socio-economics, and (2) climate conditions. Three different Eras of the Humans-Nature relationship have been distinguished: (1) Naturalistic: Nature dominating Humans during the Last Glacial Period (100-10) kyr BC, (2) Dualistic: Nature-Humans cooperation and competition from 10 kyr BC to 1800 AD, and (3) Anthropocentric: Humans dominating Nature from 1800 AD to now. Since 2000, the Integrated WRM (IWRM) model is promoted as state-of-the-art and remains anthropocentric producing huge externalities. Its assessment during the last 20 years has given mixed results and needs to be reformulated. The new model we suggest is based on the dialectical tool for conflict resolution. It unifies Humans and Nature and enhances the social dimension of WRM. After identifying conflicts between stakeholders and the natural laws (eristic part), opposite objectives are unified to harmonize Humans with Nature (dialectical resolution). A case study of flood mitigation illustrates the eristic-dialectical methodology.

Global warming causes an alarming increase in temperature which negatively affects growth, physiology, and yield of rice. To gain some insights into the impacts of booting HT (at 42°C, 3 h for 7 days), we investigated its effect in three rice genotypes, namely, N22, KDML105 and IR64. Booting HT caused an extended phenology and lower photosynthesis and plant growth rate but an increase in chalkiness. Although, prolonged phenology from dough to physiological maturity led to longer duration of grain filling, the negative effects of its was significantly lower yield components, yield and harvest index in all rice. Among cultivars, N22 presented adapted ability to maintain leaf gas exchange and compensated vegetative part by an increase in tiller numbers resulting in less affected growth rate. It prolonged phenology that caused extended grain filling. Consequence, N22 was the lowest reduction in number of seed panicle^–1, number of filled seeds hill^–1, yield, HI as well as the lowest percentage chalkiness. KDML105 adapted to booting HT by maintaining leaf gas exchange, increasing specific leaf area and prolonging phenology. The longest extended phenology together with the maintenance of high photosynthesis during dough grain were associated with moderate yield reduction and chalkiness. However, IR64 showed dramatic reductions in photosynthesis, growth rate, and yield but highest percentage grain chalkiness. Therefore, in response to booting HT, N22, KDML105 and IR64 could be indicated as being heat tolerant, moderately heat sensitive, and heat sensitive, respectively. This can be applied for crop modelling and rice heat tolerance in breeding program.

Abstract: Floods can be defined as one of the most frequent and destructive disasters, that cause significant damage to people, while droughts present significant challenges in first place to most vulnerable communities. In consequence, state public policies are essential to manage the risk in the face of both phenomena and contribute to the construction of resilient communities. As a request of the National Water Commission of Mexico (CONAGUA) for the Regional Water Plan (PHR), we designed and applied a methodology based on virtual consultation fora in conjunction with digital survey tools to understand the population's perception of these phenomena. The workshops were organized in the five municipalities of Baja California Sur. Then, we performed an interdisciplinary analysis that combines hydrological considerations with the most critical social, economic, environmental, and law components, applying the PESTEL analysis. The results indicate that there is a clear and widespread awareness that floods and droughts increase the risk to the livelihoods of the population; however, there are deficiencies in different areas, which complicates risk management. Timely information and the inclusion of communities in mitigation and adaptation proposals would allow for achieving more successful cases with the efforts to minimize vulnerabilities and increase the resilience of the population in the face of a changing climate. This must be a collaborative work of the entire society, governmental, social, and private stakeholders.

The impacts of climate change are already felt across the globe, and (SIDS) are at the forefront. Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) are extremely vulnerable to climate change and adaptation is crucial, however they often lack funding or the fiscal capacity to make the necessary invest-ments and require support from climate finance instruments. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was designed with the objective of achieving a “paradigm shift” towards low-carbon and climate resilient country-driven development pathway. Despite the amounts invested, assessing the impacts of climate finance on adaptation and adaptive capacity, particularly at the institutional level remains a challenge. Researchers identified two key components for more efficient adapta-tion policies at the national level: the degree of adaptation mainstreaming and institutional adaptive capacity. In SIDS, institutional capacity at the national level is seen as a key component to achieve the objectives of climate change strategies, and is supported by several programmes, including the Green Climate Fund Readiness Preparatory Support Programmes. However, to date few studies have analysed the linkages between climate finance, adaptation mainstreaming and adaptive institutional capacity. Through the review of the Readiness Grants and semi-structured interviews in three Caribbean SIDS, this research assess how climate finance may promote in-stitutional change through the mainstreaming of adaptation policies at the national level and contribute to more institutional adaptive capacity. It shows that the grants had a positive impact, which can be limited to by the strength of the institutions in place. These results demonstrate that access to climate finance can create a window of opportunity for countries to accelerate institu-tional change and allow to make recommendations on how to maximise the impacts adaptation funds. More in-depth studies would be needed to examine the complementary influence of the different climate finance flows (multilateral or bilateral) and their interplay with national institu-tional mechanisms.

Anthropogenic activities are the main cause of climate change globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized that heating and precipitation are the reason for climate change due to anthropogenic actions over the past 30 years and claim 150,000 lives annually. Climate change is also affecting the atmospheres of polar regions. Numerous diseases are linked with climate change like cardiovascular mortality and respiratory illnesses. Due to climate change, lack of long-term and high-quality data sets, variations in drug resistance and immunity, the amplification or the resurgence of diseases, as well as many socio-economic factors, are uncertain.Potentially susceptible regions consist of the temperate latitudes, the regions near the Indian and Pacific oceans are affected due to the heavy rainfall where the heat of the cities could increase life-threatening climatic proceedings. The association between climate and health poses a risk to health under future guesses. Over the current decades, warming has contributed to increased mortality and morbidity in various provinces of the globe. The current study reviews the potential effects of climate change on temperature, human health, air quality, food & nutrition, livelihoods, and livestock & fisheries in detail.

During few last years, climate change including global warming which is attributed to human activities and also its long-term adverse effects on the planet’s functions have been identified as the most challenging discussion topics which have arisen many concerns and efforts to find the possible solutions. Since the warmth arising from Earth’s landscapes affects the world’s weather and climate patterns, we decided to study the changes in the Land Surface Temperature (LST) patterns in different seasons through non-linear methods. Here, we particularly want to estimate the non-integer dimension and fractal structure of the land surface temperature. For this study, the (LST) data has been obtained during the daytime by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Depending on what time of the year data has been collected, temperatures change in different ranges. Since equatorial regions remain warm, and Antarctica and Greenland remain cold, and also because altitude affects temperature, we selected Riley County in the U.S. state of Kansas, which does not belong to any of this type locations and we are interested to observe the seasonal changes in temperature in this county. The results of the present study show that the Land Surface Temperature (LST) belongs to the class of fractal process with non-integer dimension.

Land resources have been under tremendous anthropogenic pressure with the consequence of their degradation. It is therefore necessary that the land resources must be managed effectively for sustainable development. Different from the developed countries, carbon inventories and data bank to monitor carbon sequestration potential of different ecosystems are unavailable in India. Micro-level studies are essential for sustainable land use management for a land scarce nation like India. To achieve the desirable goal of the present study, a total of 33 tree-based land uses were identified from forested and agricultural landscapes. Of these total land uses, five were in forest landscapes and rest in agricultural landscapes categorized into forest tree plantations (8 land uses), agroforestry (nine land uses), commercial crop plantations (six land uses) and fruit orchards (five land uses). A stratified random nested quadrate sampling method was adopted for vegetation analysis of the different land uses. The SOC, biomass and carbon accumulation in the tree-based land uses were significantly different from each other. Mixed forest soil had the highest amount of SOC, primary nutrients, standing biomass carbon, and ecosystem carbon. Positive correlations were observed between SOC, total standing biomass, litter production, and ecosystem carbon. The sequence of best tree based land uses in terms of total SOC (up to 60 cm depth), total plant biomass, total plant biomass carbon and ecosystem carbon was mixed species forest (126.67, 781.21, 390.61 and 517.27) > sole tree species stands in forest landscape (109.71, 192.56, 96.28 and 205.98) > tea plantations (103.19, 77.07, 38.54 and 141.74) > homegardens (90.34, 97.38, 48.69 and 139.02) > mixed plantation of Anthocephalus cadamba + Swietenia macrophylla (60.07, 111.86, 55.93 and 116.02) > Swietenia macrophylla based agroforestry (62.49, 83.82, 41.91 and 104.40) > mixed plantation of Tectona grandis + Milvus migrans (60.0, 85.97, 42.99 and 102.90). Similarly, the order of the major land uses was forest > commercial crop plantation > forest tree plantations > agroforestry > fruit orchards. The overall average ecosystem carbon accumulation in forests was 3.24 times more than the land uses in agricultural landscapes. The ecosystem carbon accumulation in the tree-based land uses in both forest and agricultural landscape was highly variable and was significantly different from each other. Land use conversion from forest to agriculture can reduce more than half of the carbon stock, but converting into homegardens, tree plantations or agroforestry enhanced carbon storage of the land use systems. The present findings can be used as baseline information for developing prediction models for probable effects of different land use, future intervention and sustainable management of land use systems.

This exploratory study examined the impacts of COVID-19 and emerging challenges and opportunities from aviation recovery. Using archival and secondary data analysis, the study found that there are several challenges to aviation recovery chief among them are labour challenges and extreme weather events, which have been responsible for traffic disruptions in major aviation markets such as Europe and the USA. Other emerging challenges include high debt, inflation, interest rates, fuel, cost of labour, and general operational costs. The study recommends several interventions to address the sector’s challenges, including adopting risk disaster preparedness and management to foster sustainability.

The province of Jaén (Andalusia, Spain), despite being declared the European territory with the largest number of defensive constructions (castles and fortifications), has few conservation plans, with many remains included on the Red List of Spanish Heritage lying abandoned. This presents a problem for the conservation of the landscape and the optimal use of the province’s tourism potential. Through the study case of Magaña hamlet two actions are proposed to alleviate this situation: The creation of an archaeological and environmental risk chart with which to answer such questions as “How have climate change, anthropic alterations and environmental charac-teristics affected the state of conservation of certain heritage sites?” and to put forward proposals for improving their protection using as a basis digital and technological tools, such as remote sensing (SAR), taking advantage of data from the Sentinel 2A and 2B satellites, HBIM, RPAS and GIS. To foster the promotion of smart tourism by digitalising and virtualising tourist routes and archaeological remains by building a Smart Tourism App for mobile devices. Finally, public administrations will be apprised of the need to implement a conservation policy for cultural as-sets and their surroundings in a simple, quick and cost-effective manner.

Large ruminant production in developing countries is inefficient with low growth rates and likely high greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) per unit of meat or milk produced. Trials conducted in Lao PDR from 2017-2020, studied ad-libitum supplementation for 12 weeks with 20kg high quality molasses nutrient blocks (MNB; Four Seasons Pty Ltd, Brisbane, Australia), that were either: non-medicated (NMB); fenbendazole-medicated (FMB5, Panacur100®, Coopers Australia, @ 5g/kg); triclabendazole-medicated (TMB5 or TMB10, Fasinex®, Novartis Australia, @ 5g/kg or @ 10g/kg, respectively); or formulated with urea (UMB8 or UMB10 @ 8% or 10% urea, respectively). Average daily gains (ADG) were determined for access to all MNB’s and compared with access to NMB’s, no supplementation, or previously determined free-grazing baseline ADG’s (55–84g in cattle; 92–106g in buffalo). ADGs were significantly improved following access to all MNBs for periods up to 12wks. ADGs following access to UMB8 or NMB were calculated for three age cohorts of cattle: young calves <8m (238-298g), growing cattle (143-214g) and lactating cows (179-191g). Modelling using IPCC Inventory software model V 2.69 of published data demonstrated a conservative net abatement of 350kg CO2e was achievable over a 200 day feeding period. An additional trial of Emissions control blocks (EMB’s, n = 200) distributed to farmers (n = 60) and two educational institutions, was conducted. Consumption rates (156g/day) and farmer and institutional acceptance of EMB’s were similar to published findings with other MNB’s, confirming all MNB’s and EMB’s improved animal productivity and body condition score, with healthier animals that were easier to manage. Modelling of changes in GHGe intensity identified an abatement of 470kg CO2e per EMB consumed, delivering a total project emissions abatement of 94t CO2e. Provision of MNBs and EMBs in smallholder large ruminant production systems is likely to achieve impressive abatement of GHGe due to improved efficiency of rumen fermentation and productivity.

The paper presents a review of currently available evaluations of the effects of continuously increasing anthropogenic loads on water resources. The increase in the fluxes of elements and compounds into the environment, such as the emission of greenhouse gases and dispersion of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), acidifying gases, and toxic elements and compounds that adversely affect the water quality are considered. The significance of fresh waters as a life support factor of the human populations is demonstrated. Examples are presented to illustrate how key anthropogenic induced processes develop in land waters under the effect of anthropogenic loads, as exemplified by the Russian Kola regions. Climate warming and the increasing dispersion of elements are demonstrated to result in the eutrophication of surface waters even in areas remote from anthropogenic impacted regions. Although the emissions of acidifying gases diminish, the waters are still acidified in acid-vulnerable areas, and the chemical compositions of the waters have been significantly modified over the past decades, which indicates that the changes in the chemical composition of the waters are of irreversible. A new feature of the waters is distinguished: the toxicity of the habitats for aquatic organisms. Arguments are presented for establishing a theoretical approach for evaluating critical loads.

COVID-19 had a significant impact on construction projects due to labor shortages and COVID-19 restrictions, yet little is known about the impact it had on construction safety. To address this gap, an Australian construction project was selected to study the impact of COVID-19 on safety performance, safety climate and safety leadership. The study collected data from safety climate surveys, leading and lagging safety indicators and used linear regression to compare safety performance pre and post the onset of COVID-19. Our results showed after the onset of COVID-19 there was a significant reduction (Pr&gt;F at 0.05%) in incident rate, an improvement in supervisor safety leadership and safety climate, and satisfaction with organisational communication. The study identified the increase level of safety awareness due to COVID-19 did not result in an increase in the level of engagement in safety leadership. Interestingly, participation in the safety leadership activities did not improve until a change of Project Manager occurred. The study determined leaders who establish a positive safety climate within a project could negate the safety performance impact of COVID-19. The study confirms the importance of site safety leadership in maintaining engagement in risk management and the value of focused safety communication.

The compelling effects of climate change on forests may have been underestimated in the past few decades in practical forestry. Although the first attempts to draw attention to this complex problem appeared almost half a century ago, the debate has been conceptual rather than experimental and applicative. At first glance, the con-cerns were mainly related to sustainable forest management (SFM) issues, which obviously needed attention. Over time, the effects of climate change have been mainly considered in the context of the SFM; they started from various and somewhat different scales and goals. Over time, more research and awareness of the im-portance of SFM under the pressure of climate change have led to the development of a clearer field that can be defined as ‘adaptive forest management’ - to climate change. One of the characteristics of this discipline is to be featured by the absence of univocal methods and / or objectives to be pursued but to identify, verify, and adapt methods to the various climatic and forest types and conditions found in the field. Therefore, this work shows some phases of forest planning and management concepts and criteria over time and recalls some innovative and / or adaptive methods related to the approach to forest planning and management under climate change

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a new technology considered to have the potential to decarbonise economies. However, nationally and internationally the use of CCS has also been raising concerns about its potential global risks and adverse impacts on the environment. CCS was part of the discussions at the 4th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in March 2019 and in side-events in the 26th UN Climate Change Conference which took place in Glasgow in November 2021. The UK Government aims to deploy CCS at scale during the 2030s, subject to cost reduction. At the same time the UK Government has recently enacted the Environment Act 2021 which provides a set of five environmental principles: the integration principle, the principle of preventative action, the precautionary principle, the rectification at source principle and the polluter pays principle. This work seeks to analyse the application of the UK environmental law principles to carbon capture and storage policies in the UK and its balance with other considerations. Given the concerns surrounding the use of CCS, the debate about its legality may arise in the UK and in other countries. To this end, this paper initially carries out a systematic review of CCS policy documents to discover the policy considerations which support the development of CCS. It then examines the application of the UK environmental law principles to CCS initiatives and its balance with other considerations, such as reduction of carbon emissions, security of energy supply, economic growth and technological leadership. In doing so, this paper aims at contributing to the debate surrounding recent technological developments which have been utilised to help address climate change and some of the legal challenges emerging through the use of CCS under UK environmental law.

The current study was planned to simulate runoff due to the snowmelt in the Lidder River catchment of Himalayan region under climate change scenarios. A basic degree-day model, Snowmelt-Runoff Model (SRM) was utilized to assess the hydrological consequences of change in climate. The SRM model performance during the calibration and validation was assessed using volume difference (Dv) and coefficient of determination (R2). The Dv was found as 11.7, -10.1, -11.8, 1.96, and 8.6 during 2009-2014, respectively, while the R2 is 0.96, 0.92, 0.95, 0.90, and 0.94, respectively. The Dv and R2 values indicating that the simulated snowmelt runoff has a close agreement with the observed value. The simulated findings were also assessed under the different scenarios of climate change: a) increases in precipitation by +20 %, b) temperature rise of +2 °C, and c) temperature rise of +2 °C with a 20 % increase in snow cover. In scenario "b", the simulated results showed that runoff increased by 53 % in summer (April–September). In contrast, the projected increased discharge for scenarios "a" and "c" was 37 % and 67 %, respectively. In high elevation data-scarce mountain environments, the SRM is efficient in forecasting future water supplies due to the snowmelt runoff.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to address both the climate and biodiversity crises. These outcomes are interdependent, and both rely on the capacity of NbS to support and enhance the health of an ecosystem: its biodiversity, the condition of its abiotic and biotic elements, and its capacity to function normally despite environmental change. However, while understanding of ecosystem health outcomes of nature-based interventions for climate change mitigation is growing, the outcomes of those implemented for adaptation remain poorly understood with evidence scattered across multiple disciplines. To address this, we conducted a systematic review of the outcomes of 109 nature-based interventions for climate change adaptation using 33 indicators of ecosystem health across eight broad categories (e.g. diversity, biomass, ecosystem functioning and population dynamics). We showed that 88% of interventions with positive outcomes for climate change adaptation also reported measurable benefits for ecosystem health. We also showed that interventions were associated with a 67% average increase in local species richness. All eight studies that reported benefits in terms of both climate change mitigation and adaptation also supported ecosystem health, leading to a triple win. However, there were also trade-offs, mainly for forest management and creation of novel ecosystems such as monoculture plantations of non-native species. Our review highlights two major limitations of research to date. First, only a limited selection of metrics are used to assess ecosystem health and these rarely include key aspects such as functional diversity and habitat connectivity. Second, taxonomic coverage is poor: 67% of outcomes assessed only plants and 57% did not distinguish between native and non-native species. Future research addressing these issues will allow the design and adaptive management of NbS to support healthy and resilient ecosystems, and thereby enhance their effectiveness for meeting both climate and biodiversity targets.

Precipitation plays vital role in the economy of agricultural country like Pakistan. Baluchistan being the largest province of Pakistan in term of land is facing reoccurring droughts as well as flashflood due unprecedent torrential precipitation pattern.

This paper argues that, in 2020, the beneficial atmospheric effect from the reduction in aviation may have been at least 7-8 times greater than that occurring from the reduction in fossil carbon dioxide emissions from all sectors. Specifically, compared to potential atmospheric effects in 2020 without the pandemic, the decrease in effective radiative forcing from reduced contrail-cirrus formation may have been in the order of 35mWm^-2 in 2020, compared to a reduction of only 4-5mWm^-2 from the drop in fossil CO₂ emissions. Over time, pursuing a low carbon pathway generates benefits that mount up to be much more significant than 2020 effects might imply, and is essential to stabilise the climate. However, a twin-track policy focus may be needed, with more emphasis on reducing short-term climate forcing, to minimise the impacts of climate change now, and to avoid detrimental feedback events. Future policy decisions about aviation should be made in this context.

Cities worldwide are facing ever-increasing pressure to develop mitigation strategies for all sectors to deal with the impacts of climate change. Cities are expected to house 70% of the world’s population by 2050 and developing related resilient health systems is a significant challenge. Because of their physical nature, cities’ surface temperatures are often substantially higher than that of the surrounding rural areas, generating the so-called Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Whilst considerable emphasis has been placed on strategies to mitigate against the UHI-associated negative health effects of heat and pollution, the World Health Organization estimates that one of the main consequences of global warming will be an increased burden of such vector-borne diseases. Many of the major mosquito-borne diseases are urban and thus the global population exposed to these pathogens will steadily increase. Mitigation strategies beneficial for one sector may, however, be detrimental for another. Implementation of inter-sectoral strategies that can benefit many sectors (such as water, labour and health) do exist and would enable optimal use of the meagre resources available. Discussion among inter-sectoral stakeholders should be actively encouraged.

Climate information can help vulnerable populations anticipate disasters before they happen and enable communities prepare for and cope with them. A complementary log-log regression model based on quantitative study in coastal communities in Tanzania was used to assess the likelihood of the rural poor, rural non poor, urban poor, and urban non poor to receive early warning information about flood, drought and other disasters. Individuals in the urban poor category were 35% less likely to receive early warning information about flood, drought and other disasters whereas urban non-poor residents were 49% more likely to receive same. This disadvantage to the urban poor persists even when adaptive capacity, geographical location and socio-environmental factors are accounted. Nuclear households consisting of a male head and female partner who have children or not had higher likelihood of receiving early warning information on flood, drought and other disasters (OR = 1.47, p < 0.001) compared with their counterparts in female-centred households (no husband or male partner). Residents with tertiary education were more likely (OR = 1.91, p < 0.001) to report that they had received early warning information about flood, drought and other disasters compared with their counterparts without any formal education. This zero-order relationship was completed mediated by geographical location and socio-environmental factors in the multivariate model. The results underline the key role access to climate- and disaster-related information play in enhancing adaptive capacity to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards, as well as the importance of targeting the most vulnerable households in policy interventions to improve resilience in the face of a changing climate.

Climate justice as a commons is conceived as the intertemporal climate equity and equal- ity exchange amongst generations. Sustainability, intended as the interplay amongst the economy, the society, the environment, and the governance, is essential to forge the climate justice theoretical framework. On this base, the study attempts to model intertemporal choice amongst generations in these four domains, making use of an over- lapping generations (OLG) model. The proxies detected are GDP growth (economy), environmental quality (environment), and labor growth, and environmental investment (society) as assumptions. The governance dimension is captured by the di¤erence in wealth between young and old generations. The work aims at replying to the follow- ing research question: Which are the conditions for sustainable development such that climate justice holds? The intra-intergenerational exchange is de…ned in two periods, while the individual provides their preferred economic and environmental choice mix as consumption-saving. This study shows that sustainable growth is achievable only with increased young e¤ort and less leisure and consumption.

Forest planners have traditionally used expected growth and yield coefficients to predict future merchantable timber volumes. However, because climate change affects forest growth, the typical forest planning methods using expected value of forest growth can lead to sub-optimal harvest decisions. We proposed in this paper to formulate the harvest planning with growth uncertainty due to climate change problem as a multistage stochastic optimization problem and use sample average approximation (SAA) as a tool for finding the best set of forest units that should be harvested in the first period even though we have a limited knowledge of what future climate will be. The objective of the harvest planning model is to maximize the expected value of the net present value (NPV) considering the uncertainty in forest growth and thus in revenues from timber harvest. The proposed model was tested on a small forest with 89 stands and the numerical results showed that the approach allows to have superior solutions in terms of net present value and robustness in face of different climate scenarios compared to the approach using the expected growth and yield. The SAA methods requires to generate samples from the distribution of the random parameter. Our results suggested that a sampling scheme that focuses on generating high number of samples in distant future stages is favorable compared to having large sample sizes for the near future stages. Finally, we demonstrated that, depending on the level of forest growth change, ignoring this uncertainty can negatively affect forest resources sustainability.

Forest plantations have a large potential for carbon sequestration, playing an important role in the global carbon cycle. However, despite the huge amount of research carried out worldwide, the absolute contribution of industrial forest plantations is still incomplete for some parts of the world. To contribute to bridge this gap, we calculated the amount of C stock in three fast growing forest species in Chile. Relevant C pools (above-ground and below-ground biomass, forest floor, and soil) were considered for this analysis. Across the industrial plantation forests of Chile, carbon accumulated in the above-ground biomass was 181–212 Mg · ha−1 for Pinus radiata, 147–180 Mg · ha−1 for Eucalyptus nitens, and 95–117 Mg · ha−1 for Eucalyptus globulus (age 20–24 years for P.radiata and 10–14 years for Eucalyptus). Our results agree with other studies showing that 30%–50% of the total C stock is stored in the soil. Total C stocks were for 343 Mg · ha−1 for P.radiata, 352 Mg · ha−1 for E.nitens, and 254 Mg · ha−1 for E. gloubulus, also at the end of a typical rotation. The carbon pool in the forest floor was found to be significantly lower (less than 4% of the total) when compared to the other pools and showed large spatial variability. We conclude that industrial forest plantations are a valuable tool to reduce atmospheric CO2 and mitigate climate change. Given the contribution of soils to total carbon stocks, special attention should be paid to forest management activities that affect the soil organic carbon pool.

El Niño is warming of the sea surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean. Extreme flooding, drought, lack of potable water for livestock and domestic use, food insecurity and market imbalance are associated with El Niño and La Niña in Ethiopia. Drought following El Niño caused 50 to 90% crop failure, in the eastern parts of Ethiopia. El Niño episodes are detected using different statistical indices such as Oceanic Nino Index (ONI), Agricultural Stress Index System (ASIS) and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), with magnitude ranging from weak to strong. Identifying the El Niño and La Niña seasons it is very important to adopt suitable adaptation strategies, which can resolve and/or reduce the negative impacts. Early warning and immediate support to the impacted areas have been carried out to minimize risks from El Niño animal feed for livestock from other areas has been transported to the vulnerable areas. Planting early maturing and drought resistant crops, supplementary irrigation, early waning information on weather and climate have been exercised as climate change adaptation strategies, early warning mechanisms by the government of Ethiopia. El Niño and La Niña are natural phenomena; however, it is necessary to study the occurrence and distribution of El Niño and La Niña episodes to enable early warning and identify suitable adaptation strategies and policy implications in the country.

This study explores wind energy resources in different locations through the Gulf of Oman and also their future variability due climate change impacts. In this regard, EC-EARTH near-surface wind outputs obtained from CORDEX-MENA simulations are used for historical and future projection of the energy. The ERA5 wind data are employed to assess the suitability of the climate model. Moreover, the ERA5 wave data over the study area are applied to compute sea surface roughness as an important variable for converting near-surface wind speeds to those of wind speed at turbine hub height. Considering the power distribution, bathymetry and distance from the coats, some spots as tentative energy hotspots to provide a detailed assessment of directional and temporal variability and also to investigate climate change impact studies. RCP8.5 is a common climatic scenario is used to project and extract future variation of the energy in the selected sites. The results of this study demonstrate that the selected locations have a suitable potential for wind power turbine plans and constructions.

Bangladesh has a history of species introduction from different geographic regions. The country was a major trade route during the early-modern era and was under British colonial rule until 1947s. Many species of plants and animals are either domesticated or cultivated at different times that were brought into the country by the settlers, seamen, and traders. The deliberate preferences of fast-growing, high-yielding exotics in recent decades also threaten the existence of native species and their genetic resources in the country. Here we provide an overview of the invasive alien species in Bangladesh, likely pathways of their introduction, their impacts on ecosystem and people, and strategies for their effective management and regulation. Many exotic plants and animals both terrestrial and aquatic have found to be invasive in the country with negative impacts on local ecosystems, biodiversity, and livelihoods. Collectively, those species possess serious threats to country’s agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector. Although initially introduced to favor primary productivity or other environmental benefits, many of these are now regarded as obnoxious pest or weed in Bangladesh. A comprehensive list of invasive species both for native and exotics and a framework to characterize them is also absent in the country. We recommend a separate statutory body and appropriate rules and policies for the introduction, monitoring, and management of alien species in the country. Community awareness, advocacy, surveillance, capacity building of relevant government staff and agreement with neighboring countries for transboundary management of invasive alien species is also necessary.

The change in both streamflow and baseflow in urban catchments has received significant attention in the latest decades as a result of their drastic variability. In this research, effects of climate variation and dynamics of land use are measured separately and in combination on streamflow and baseflow in the Little Eagle Creek (LEC) watershed (Indianapolis, Indiana). These effects are examined using land use maps, statistical tests, and hydrological modeling. Transition matrix analysis was used to investigate the change in land use between 1992 and 2011. Temporal trends and changes in meteorological data were evaluated from 1980-2017 using the Mann-Kendall test. Changes in streamflow and baseflow were assessed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model using multiple scenarios that varied in land use and climate change. Evaluation of the model outputs showed streamflow and baseflow in LEC are well represented using SWAT; however, comparing the calibration and validation period showed SWAT performs better for the calibration. During 1992-2011, roughly 30% of the watershed experienced change, typically cultivated agricultural areas became urbanized. Baseflow is significantly affected by the observed urbanization; however, the combination of land and climate variability has a larger effect on the baseflow in LEC. Generally, the variability in the baseflow and streamflow appears to be heavily driven by the response to climate change in comparison to variability due to altered land use. The results reported herein expand the current understanding of variation in hydrological components, and provides useful information for management planning regarding water resources, as well as water and soil conservation in urban watersheds in Indiana and beyond.

Heat stress occurring during the reproductive stage of wheat has a detrimental effect on productivity. A durum wheat core set was exposed to simulated terminal heat stress by applying plastic tunnels at the time of flowering over two seasons. Mean grain yield was reduced by 54% compared to control conditions, and grain number was the most critical trait for tolerance to this stress. The combined use of tolerance indices and grain yield identified five elites: Kunmiki, Berghouata1, Margherita2, IDON37-141, and Ourgh. The core set was also subjected to genome wide association study using 7,652 polymorphic SNPs markers. The most critical genomic regions were identified in association with spike fertility and tolerance indices on chromosome 1A, 5B and 6B. Haplotype analysis on a set of 208 elites confirmed that lines that carried the positive allele at all three QTLs resulted in a yield advantage of 8% when field tested under daily temperatures above 31° C. Two of the QTLs were successfully validated into KASP markers and explained >10% of the phenotypic variation for an independent elite germplasm set. These genomic regions can now be readily deployed via breeding to improve resilience to climate change and increase productivity in heat-stressed areas.

Groundwater is the most extracted raw material in the world with global annual withdrawal rates of 800–1500 km3/year. In East and Southern Africa, 70 % of the population are reliant on shallow groundwater as their primary drinking water source. With increased population growth, intensification of agriculture and industrialization, conflicting demands on groundwater present a challenge to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (6,3,11,12,15). Between 2015 and 2018, the Horn of Africa was affected by a series of climatic induced events, namely El Nino, La Nina and the Indian Ocean Diopole. These events modified the variability of rainfall patterns and resulted in long periods of low rainfall, low recharge and high evapotranspiration. As a result, shallow aquifers in alluvial deposits of Somali region have low yields and produce brackish and saline water. That situation prompted humanitarian water professionals to finance the transportation of water from selected locations with high groundwater potential through water trucks to areas facing groundwater depletion and drought. To address this challenge, UNICEF explored alternative, sustainable deeper groundwater sources that could be extracted using solar water pumping technology for multi water use. This paper describes a three-phase methodology of deep groundwater development of wells in the Ogaden Jesoma sandstone aquifers of the Somali region of the Horn of Africa to a depth of 600 meters below ground level. The results concluded that the deep sandstone aquifer of Jesoma can provide fresh water with yields of 15 l/s to the local population of Somali region. to the study provided insights into deep groundwater identification and development as well as adaptive deep boreholes drilling as a source for climate resilient water supplies.

Empirical evidence is lacking on the nexus between coffee commodity output, climate change and commodity price volatility of Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria and other developing countries. To fill this gap, this study analyzed the reaction of coffee output to climate change and commodity price volatility. We used secondary data from 1961 to 2015 from reliable sources for Nigeria. The study adopted GARCH, ARCH and FMOLS in analysis of coffee output reaction to climate change and commodity price volatility. The findings show that coffee output in Nigeria is influenced by climate change and the international commodity price of coffee. The study demonstrates the potential benefits of improving coffee output and export through climate mitigation and adaptation measures and revival of Agricultural Commodity Marketing in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Shutdown for just six days enables land plants to entirely fix CO₂ excess of +4 Gt C per yr. Rebuilding soil organic carbon (SOC) in worm-worked humus is the only practical carbon capture and storage (CCS) capable of freely offsetting annual anthropogenic emissions. A case is made to redirect all available resources towards proven, earthworm-based, organic husbandry. Priority is to safely combat mounting global threats due to irreversible species extinction, perilous climate change and deteriorating human wellbeing (mental/physical health). All three interlinked risks are underpinned by a relentless, yet largely ignored, critical loss of precious topsoil. A first step to topsoil recovery is vermi-composting all vegetable and animal ‘wastes’ for return to the field.

The paper is devoted to fundamental issues concerning to the ideology of the future sustainable development. Its implementation has available in the first place basing on the recognized framework concept of sustainable development (SD). At the same time, this concept requires serious improvement. As follows from the argumentation, a realistic design of institutional changes in connection with resource and organizational/behavioral changes needed for SD is called for to realize in the line of overall social system transformation. Its adequate understanding presupposes an exhaustive study of interconnected transformations in the main social fields as system processes taking into account the influence of relatively exogenous factors (technological, demographic and climate changes).According to the author, the transition to global sustainable social transformation is achievable. Main attention focuses on a number of possible fundamental shifts, the synergetic implementation of which will make such a transition possible.Proceeding from the arguments, the sustainable reproduction of the economy of a mature post-industrial type, including the green sectors, implies its stable and quiet growth, although the rapid growth of individual markets, especially innovative ones, may take place. The main findings also include the substantiation in favor of the choice of the national middle way model as the most appropriate for the corresponding sustainable system transformation of society.

Despite increased awareness of and attention to the need for sustainable agriculture, fertilizers and compost application in excess of crop requirements remain common agricultural practices in South Korea, causing eutrophication of freshwater and coastal ecosystems. In this study, a phosphorus (P) budget was developed to quantify P inputs, outputs, and retention in a forested- agricultural watershed. The P budget showed that chemical fertilizers and organic compost were the largest source of P (97.6% of the total) followed by atmospheric deposition (2.1% of the total P), whereas forest export (0.2% of the total) and sewage treatment plants (STPs) (0.1% of the total) were negligible. The dominant P outputs were crop harvesting and hydrologic export to surface water. The P balance showed a significant accumulation of P in the watershed; approximately 87% of the total P input was retained in the soils within the watershed. However, P concentrations in drainage water were still high enough to cause eutrophication of downstream reservoirs. The results provide useful information on the proportion of P export and retention in soils and will help support efforts to improve water quality and design better management of agricultural non-point source pollution.

Cleaning wastewater and using it again for secondary purposes is a measure to address water scarcity in urban areas. However, upscaling of recycled water schemes is challenging due to the possible emergence of various barriers. Based on a review of the governance literature we suggest that a set of five governance conditions is necessary for a successful upscaling of recycled water schemes; (1) policy leadership, (2) policy coordination, (3) availability of financial resources, (4) awareness of a problem, and (5) the presence of a public forum. In order to elaborate on the practical relevance of these conditions we studied a recycled water scheme currently being upscaled in Sabadell, Spain. We reviewed policy documents, conducted a set of 21 semi-structured interviews, and attended two policy meetings about the subject. Our results suggest that Sabadell meets the required conditions for upscaling reused water to a certain extent. However, the presence of a public forum is lacking. We discuss the implications of the absence of the venue and procedures for public participation in Sabadell and how it could be strengthened. Following this discussion, we conclude with some lessons for other cities that plan to upscale their recycled water schemes.

The world is facing several global issues such as food and energy crisis, climate change and greenhouse gases emissions. To subdue these issues, many entities from academia and industries have innovated alternate techniques of performing regular activities which cause such problems. One of these innovations is the introduction of vertical and zero acreage farming in the field of sustainability. These carry the potential to solve one of the most important affairs of food security in most countries of the world. But, this technology has been in its nascent stage for many years. This paper uses a comprehensive framework proving the feasibility of initiating vertical farming on university campuses to feed the staff and students, which could also set an example to the rest of the world into using this technique on a wider scale. The study chose Huazhong University of science and technology (HUST) in Wuhan city, China for accessing the return on investment and food sufficiency if vertical farming is implemented. Using Central Limit Theorem, a statistical model was developed, and various scenarios were analyzed. The results indicated that if a separate vertical farm is constructed, the breakeven can be achieved in a range of 10-20 depending on parameters such as type of operation, number of floors and amount of vegetation. The study has shown that the use of vertical farming cannot only bring in revenue for the campus but also aid in mitigating climate change.

Diverse factors may have an impact in Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions; thus, three main contributors, energy consumption, exergy indicator and gross domestic product (GDP) are examined in this work. This study explores the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption by means of the hypothesis postulated for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Panel data for 10 countries, from 1971 to 2014 have been studied. Despite all this wide gamma of research, the role of an exergy variable has not been tested to find the EKC; then exergy analysis is proposed. Exergy analyses were developed to propose an exergetic indicator as a control variable and a comparative empirical study is developed to study a multivariable framework with the aim to detect correlations between them. High correlation between CO₂, GDP, energy consumption, energy intensity and trade openness are observed, conversely not statistically significant values for trade openness and energy intensity. The results do not support the EKC hypothesis, however exergy intensity opens the door for future research once it proves to be a useful control variable. Exergy provides opportunities to analyze and implement energy and environmental policies in these countries, with the possibility to link exergy efficiencies and the use of renewables.

Scientific studies had shown that mixed forests of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) provide higher ecosystem services than monospecific forests. Mixed forests are known for their high resilience to climate change impacts and superior biodiversity compared to monospecific forests. In many countries, promotion of mixed forests in forest management is becoming a government policy since they can contribute to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nation, respectively Goal 13 and 15. However, not much is known about public perceptions on mixed forests compared to monoculture forests. Our study on ecosystem services provided by mixed and monospecific forests in southwest Germany fill this gap. Based on a survey with 520 valid responses we analyzed people’s perception on 18 different supporting, cultural, regulating and provisioning ecosystem services measured by Likert scale. Stepwise regression analyses show relations between social profiles (gender, age, education, profession) and preferences on respondents’ perceptions. Our findings show that people perceive that mixed forests provide better cultural, regulating and supporting ecosystem services than monospecific forests of fir and beech whereas provisioning services were perceived as being equally or better provided by monospecific forests. Significant effects towards a positive perception on ecosystem services provided by mixed forests were mainly influenced by the perceived abundance of old trees, feeling of pleasantness in mixed forests, age, profession, and education. Our findings indicate that there is a high public support for the promotion of silver fir and beech mixed forests in Southwest Germany.

In this paper we illustrate a new, simple and complementary ground-based methodology to retrieve the vertically resolved atmospheric precipitation intensity through a synergy between measurements from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Micropulse Lidar network (MPLNET), an analytical model solution and ground-based disdrometer measurements. The presented results are obtained at two mid-latitude MPLNET permanent observational sites, located respectively at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA, and at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. The methodology is suitable to be applied to existing and/or future lidar/ceilometer networks with the main objective of either providing near-real time (3h latency) rainfall intensity measurements and/or to validate satellite missions, especially for critical light precipitation (<3 mm hr⁻¹).

This paper analyses the design and implementation of REDD+ in the West African region, an important global biodiversity area. Drawing on in-depth interviews, analysis of policy documents and observation of everyday activities, we sought to understand how REDD+ has been designed and implemented in Nigeria and Ghana. We draw on tools from political ecology to examine how, and why REDD+ takes the form it does in these countries. We focus on three key dimensions that emerged as strong areas of common emphasis in our case studies -- capacity building, carbon visibility, and property rights. First, we show that, while REDD+ design generally foregrounds an ostensible inclusionary politics, its implementation is driven through various forms of exclusion. This contradictory inclusion-exclusion politics, which is partly emblematic of the neoliberal provenance of the REDD+ policy, is also a contingent reality and a strategy for navigating complexities and pursuing certain interests. Second, we show that though the emergent foci of REDD+ implementation in our case studies align with global REDD+ expectations, they yet manifest as historically and geographically contingent processes that reflect negotiated and contested relations among actors that constitute the specific national circumstance of each country. We conclude by reflecting on the wider implications of these findings for understanding REDD+ implementation more broadly.

Climate change is a major development challenge to Ethiopia. Unless adaptation measures are widely implemented, climate change can set back development efforts and achievements by years. Recognizing this, the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) and civil society organizations have since recently been making considerable efforts to tackle the climate change problem. This paper documents the experience of CARE International in Ethiopia in facilitating bottom-up approaches to promote community-led disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning through a participator scenario planning (PSP) methodology. PSP is a coordinated approach which leverages a variety of stakeholders' skills and mandates to explore potential climate change risks and their impacts, and then develop locally relevant and shared adaptation action plans that support livelihoods, social capital and ecosystem resilience. The approach has facilitated timely access to and communication of seasonal climate advisories which in turn is empowering communities to take advantage of opportunities that climate presents, which is a key part of adapting to climate change. The institutionalization of the approach by district and regional disaster prevention and food security coordination offices in the southern pastoral regions of Ethiopia encouraged integration of PSP into community livelihood adaptation and local government development planning, hence continuity of the process. Sustainability is expected to be fully achieved when local government planning processes recognize the importance of and provides resources for the participation of meteorological services and community forecasting experts to help refine plans on a seasonal basis, and for systems for dissemination of advisories. Key words: Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, Adaptation, Pastoralism, Ethiopia,

Abstract: Rice is one of the most important food crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change, variability, and economic globalization threaten to disrupt rice value chains across the subcontinent, undermining their important role in economic development, food security, and poverty reduction. This paper maps existing research on the vulnerability of rice value chains, synthesizes the evidence and the risks posed by climate change and economic globalization, and discusses agriculture and rural development policies and their relevance for the vulnerability of rice value chains in sub-Saharan Africa. Important avenues for future research are identified. These include the impacts of multiple, simultaneous pressures on rice value chains, the effects of climate change and variability on parts of the value chain other than production, and the forms and extent to which different development policies hinder or enhance the resilience of rice value chains in the face of climatic and other pressures.

The increasing prevalence and heightened severity of extreme weather events, which are consequences of climate change, pose significant challenges to the global property insurance sector. This study examines the concurrent crises faced by insurance companies in maintaining profitability and by property owners in affording coverage, thereby necessitating a reevaluation of current insurance paradigms. We present an innovative approach that utilizes a back-propagation (BP) neural network to forecast insurance losses and guide strategic underwriting decisions in regions prone to perils. Our advanced model combines crucial factors such as the likelihood of extreme meteorological phenomena, insurance risk premiums, and capital adequacy ratios to predict impending losses and inform insurance policy formulation. Through an extensive analysis of nearly two decades of catastrophe data from the United States and New Zealand, we determine the model's effectiveness in anticipating insurance-related losses and providing strategic guidance to insurance entities. The study concludes with recommendations for insurers to enhance risk assessment, innovate products, collaborate with governments, invest in green projects, and establish dedicated climate risk management teams. The study contributes to the discourse on climate change adaptation in the insurance industry and offers practical solutions for navigating the complexities of extreme weather risk.

Coastal flooding is already one of the most dangerous and costly natural hazards that humanity faces globally and yet it will become even more frequent and challenging to manage because of climate change and other factors. In densely populated estuarine settings, a storm surge barrier is often an attractive and economical solution for flood protection. There are currently many storm surge barriers in operation around the world protecting tens of millions of people and trillions of pounds of property and infrastructure. However, with accelerating rates of sea-level rise being observed, along with changes in storminess, tides and river discharge, surge barriers are closing increasingly often, and closures are now occurring in months when they typically have not occurred in the past. Increased use of surge barriers in the future has critical implications for barrier management, maintenance and operation. In this paper we develop, validate and apply a novel statistical approach to assess how the number of storm surge barrier closures will likely increase in the future and change in frequency throughout the year, that can be used for different climate change scenarios and accounting for forecast errors in water levels. As representative case study examples, we focus on the Eastern Scheldt storm surge Barrier in the Netherlands and the Thames Barrier in the UK. We validate the method, demonstrating it accurately predicts past closure statistics for the Eastern Scheldt and the Thames Barriers over the 38 and 42 years they have been operational, respectively. Then we apply the method to estimate the potential future numbers of barrier closures considering a range of different projections of sea-level rise, along with changes in storm surges, tides and river discharge. We show that there is very likely to be a rapid acceleration in the number of barrier closures in the future, dominated by sea-level rise, with strong influence of the 18.6-year lunar nodal cycle, at both case study barriers. Finally, we illustrate how the tool can be used to help guide future barrier management, maintenance, operation and upgrade/replacement planning and inform adaptative flood management approaches. The tool we have developed could easily be extended to other storm surge barriers around the world.

The complex network relationship between leaf traits and their multiple traits is closely related to the environment, and is the result of interactions between various environmental factors such as climate and soil. Based on previous work, we selected 20 P. euphratica trees along the desert riparian forest of the main stream of the Tarim River for leaf sample collection and habitat survey. We used 27 leaf traits of P. euphratica to visualize the leaf trait network (LTN). Through network structure parameters, such as edge density, diameter, average path length, and average clustering coefficient, the spatial pattern of the LTN and its relationships with 11 soil factors and 19 climatic factors were discussed using principal component analysis and correlation analysis. The results showed that: (1) there were significant differences in the parameters of the leaf trait network of P. euphratica along the main stream of the Tarim River. The variation coefficients of the diameter and average path length were the largest, respectively, whereas that of the average clustering coefficient was the smallest. (2) There were both positive and negative correlations between each parameter and soil factors, such as soil water content, total potassium, and organic matter, and climatic factors, such as isothermality, minimum temperature of the coldest month, and precipitation of the wettest month. (3) The explanatory power of climate alone on the leaf traits of P. euphratica was generally higher than that of soil factors, indicating that climatic conditions play a more decisive role in shaping the network structure of leaf traits of P. euphratica. However, regarding the influence of network modularity, the contribution of soil factors was significant, indicating that the influence of soil conditions on some LTN parameters cannot be ignored.

(1) Background: This article examines the funding landscape of climate change adaptation research in South Africa to understand the origin, distribution, and thematic prioritization of funding for climate-change research in South Africa. (2) Methods: The article used specific search terms to query peer reviewed publications in the Web of Science and Scopus databases (1985 to 2023). (3) Results: Environmental Science emerged as the most dominant research area during this period, while agriculture appeared in the top four position among research areas in climate change adaptation research in South Africa in both databases. The largest number of publications on climate change adaptation research in South Africa is generated through domestic funding, followed by the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The National Research Foundation (NRF) had the highest number of publications. The analysis revealed a strong paucity of funding relationship between South Africa and other African countries in the field of climate change adaptation research. (4) Conclusions: Knowledge of these trends can inform policy decisions on funding of climate change adaptation in South Africa and strategic partnerships between South Africa and the rest of the world.

BackgroundThe clean energy transition required for decarbonisation of our societies make policymakers targets for broad business and non-business advocacy to ensure one’s often conflicting interests are protected or taken into consideration in public policies. The concept of policy entrepreneurs foregrounds the role of agency in understanding such acts of advocacy. This paper compares strategies used by policy entrepreneurs from different social spheres, advocating policy change or status quo, in four longitudinal cases related to European Union energy and climate policy 2011–2023. ResultsPolicy entrepreneurship was mainly of a cultural-institutional nature, aiming at altering or diffusing people’s perceptions, beliefs, norms and cognitive frameworks, worldviews, or institutional logics. But the actions of the European Commission did also include structural entrepreneurship, aiming at overcoming structural barriers to enhance governance influence by altering the distribution of formal authority and factual and scientific information. Motifs of policy entrepreneurs in the four cases differ, but strategies do not differ significantly between the public, private and civic spheres of society. Results indicate that civil society policy entrepreneurs focus on building broader coalitions than public and private sector entrepreneurs. There is no indication that policy entrepreneurs from a certain sector would be more successful than others in setting the agenda, changing perceptions of policy actors, or influencing actual policy change. However, policy entrepreneurs advocating policy change are more active and use more elaborated strategies than policy entrepreneurs advocating status quo. ConclusionsIt is concluded that policy entrepreneurs advocating policy change are more active and use more elaborated strategies than policy entrepreneurs advocating status quo. Thus, they are more successful in influencing policy outcomes. The European Commission was the only policy entrepreneurs to use structural entrepreneurship. the Commission acts to expand its reach into areas where the European Union does not hold much legal competence according to the constitution of the European Union. This comes with democratic deficits related to accountability and legitimacy and should be combated to reinstate and reinforce the position and powers of both the national and European legislators in taking the important decisions that impact the lives of European citizens.

Tropical regions face unique challenges in building sustainability due to high temperatures, humidity, and heavy rainfall. While building energy regulations are essential for promoting energy efficiency, their effectiveness in addressing tropical climate conditions needs to be studied more. This research aims to systematically investigate tropical building sustainability issues and evaluate the impacts of building energy regulations on these challenges. The study will identify gaps in current regulations by analyzing existing research and recommend strategies for developing more comprehensive frameworks that promote sustainable building practices in tropical regions. This research contributes to developing effective policies and strategies for achieving sustainable and energy-efficient built environments in tropical climates.

The Colorado and Mississippi River Basins are crucial for water supply, agriculture, and ecological stability in the U.S., yet climate change, water management practices, and energy sector demands pose significant challenges to their sustainability. This paper highlights the potential of leveraging the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) to address these challenges by creating new revenue streams and incentivizing sustainable water management practices. The paper provides high-level estimates by extrapolating from existing literature. The results suggests that water projects in these basins could generate over 45 million carbon credits annually, potentially attracting around $4.5 billion in investments over the next decade. However, challenges such as high costs, complex regulations, and stakeholder coordination must be addressed. The paper also identifies opportunities for advancing water resiliency projects, including increasing public awareness, engaging corporations, and utilizing innovative financing mechanisms. Recommendations include promoting the VCM-water relationship, encouraging methodology innovation, developing pilot programs, investing in digital monitoring technologies, and conducting localized analysis to optimize carbon credit potential in water management. By integrating carbon markets with water management strategies, the paper suggests significant contributions to global climate goals and enhanced water resilience in these critical regions.

The issue of climate change represents a significant global risk that demands immediate attention. However, higher education frequently fails to incorporate global perspectives and intricate transdisciplinary matters. In order to integrate global and transdisciplinary aspects into the curriculum of a technical university with a focus on computer science, a Master's programme has been developed. The programme's objective is to situate global risk at the core of the curriculum, thereby encouraging scientists to work beyond the boundaries of their respective disciplines. The paper considers the challenges that science and higher education must address to facilitate pathways towards a peaceful and sustainable future. It argues for a shift in focus from short-term and localised issues to a more holistic approach, emphasising the importance of considering universal problems. The curriculum, as developed, may be regarded as a guide for future university efforts in the fields of global risk and climate change.

The work is devoted to assessing changes in the water regime of the Lan River in modern conditions and the near future with the aim of developing a strategy for the rational use of the water potential of small rivers in the Belarusian Polesie region. There was a tendency towards an increase in annual runoff at the Loktyshi and Mokrovo gauging stations during the study period from 1948 to 2015, which was caused by anthropogenic factors in the form of amelioration measures. Testing the hypothesis about the homogeneity of the runoff series under consideration for periods with different averaging intervals has showed heterogeneity for some types of runoff. This was caused by intensive economic activity, which significantly disrupts the natural hydrological regime. A runoff forecast was made for the Lan River at the Mokrovo gauging station for the period up to 2035 based on archive of meteorological data using a multi-model ensemble of four CMIP5 scenarios. A slight decrease in runoff was predicted, caused by additional evaporation from the water surface of the reservoir due to increased air temperature, as well as a slight shift in the peak of the spring flood to March. Results of calculating of permissible withdrawal of surface water from the Lan River for the needs of the Loktyshi fish farm have shown great influence of the fish farm on the river runoff volume that requires strict adherence to scientifically based regimes for managing the water regime of the Loktyshi Reservoir and the Loktyshi fish farm.

Global climate change primarily affects the spatiotemporal variation of physical quantities such as relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature, and notably, precipitation levels. Accurate precipitation predictions remain elusive, necessitating tools for detailed spatiotemporal analysis to better understand climate impacts on the environment, agriculture, and society. This study compares three learning models: ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average), RF-R (Random Forest Regression), and LSTM-NN (Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network), utilizing monthly precipitation data (in millimeters) from 757 locations in Boyacá, Colombia. The LSTM-NN model outperformed others, precisely replicating precipitation observations in both training and testing datasets, significantly reducing the root mean square error (RMSE) with average monthly deviations of approximately 19 mm per location. Evaluation metrics (RMSE, MAE, R², MSE) underscore the LSTM model’s robustness and accuracy in capturing precipitation patterns. Consequently, the LSTM model was chosen to predict precipitation over a 16-month period starting from August 2023, offering a reliable tool for future meteorological forecasting and planning in the region.

Permafrost thaw is an important aspect of Earth’s carbon cycles. Initial estimates suggest that permafrost thaw could contribute anywhere between 20 to 500 Gt of CO2-eq by 2100. These estimates are all fundamentally centered around one number: active layer thickness (ALT). The deeper the ALT, the more emissions. Unfortunately, ALT is a highly spatially heterogeneous number and determined by numerous thermal, soil hydrology, and geomorphological effects. The remotely sensed active layer thickness (ReSALT) algorithm was introduced in 2010 to provide scientists with a way to model ALT heterogeneously at meter-scale resolution. However, upon inspection, this work shows that ReSALT’s modeling approach is self-inconsistent when using a variable soil porosity model. This work then introduces SCReSALT (Self-Consistent ReSALT) to solve that problem. Experimental comparisons to a past study in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska show significant improvement and suggest that SCReSALT should become a standard tool in permafrost thaw modeling. Code to reproduce all results can be found at https://github. com/jmathur25/permafrost-prediction.

These findings have several policy implications, emphasizing the need for enhanced data collection, climate-resilient agricultural policies, and continued investment in research. The study contributes to the understanding of climate-smart agriculture, providing insights for informed decision-making towards resilient and productive agricultural systems in the face of climate change challenges.

The article addresses the complex climatic situation faced by the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which began on April 27, 2024, and extended for weeks. This unprecedented extreme weather event is yet another chapter in the global climate crisis. Initially, this rainfall seemed typical for the season. However, it quickly escalated into one of the worst climatic catastrophes in Brazil's history. In recent years, there has been a global increase in extreme weather events, including heavy precipitation, flooding, landslides, cyclones, and heatwaves, highlighting the ongoing climate crisis as one of the most serious threats we face today. In light of this, our study aims to elucidate the impact of climate change by examining one of Brazil's most severe climate disasters. We investigate the complex situation in Rio Grande do Sul, analyzing the ongoing climate crisis and projecting what can be expected in the near future.

Multicropping can solve the energy and GHG balance problems, but the emergence, development and productivity of such mixed crops are at risk due to uneven distribution of precipitation. For this reason, investigations were performed at the Experimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Single maize crop was compared with Crimson/red clover, Persian clover, and alfalfa intercropped maize cultivations. Results showed that under arid conditions, the intercrops biomass was about 4 times less than under humid. Humid conditions were less suitable for maize and when growing with intercrops they produced about 3-5 t ha-1 less dried biomass, and when growing sole - about 6 t ha-1 less biomass than in arid conditions. Due to the higher yield of maize biomass in arid season, better energy indicators of the crop were obtained in arid conditions than in humid. The difference between net energy was about 122-123 MJ ha-1 in all treatments, except for the maize crop with intercropped alfalfa, where the difference was 62 MJ ha-1. All tested technologies were environmentally friendly, CO2 equivalent varied between treatments from 804 to 884 kg ha-1. Uneven distribution of precipitation during vegetative season makes us think about the improvement of intercropping technologies. Sowing intercrops at the same time with maize could improve its germination but increase the problem of weed spread.

Coastal zones experience increasing climatic and human pressures, which lead to growing risks and tipping points (TPs) under future scenarios and natural resource scarcity. To avoid crossing TPs with irreversible coastal losses, this paper proposes the development of adaptation pathways based on advanced coastal oceanography and engineering knowledge that enables an objective assessment of evolving coastal risks. These pathways feature sequential interventions, combining conventional engineering works with nature-based solutions (NbS), steered by simulations and observations as a function of available coastal resources (space and sediment) and risks for infrastructure and socioeconomic assets. Such an adaptation has been developed for urban and peri-urban Mediterranean beaches, considering conventional coastal engineering together with NbS. Both types of interventions are assessed in terms of key physical variables, which serve to evaluate performance and estimate TPs. This analysis supports the new coastal protection and management plan promoted by the local government and the coastal adaptation plan of the central government. The approach and results illustrate the potential of adaptation pathways for beach sustainability, enhancing the compatibility between short/long-term coastal protection objectives under present/future climate and management scenarios. The adaptation pathways development underpins an increasing stakeholder cooperation to achieve shared decisions for coastal sustainability.

This bibliometric analysis delves into the realm of botanical gardens through the process of mapping literature and discerning research frontiers, underlying themes, and interconnections within the extant body of knowledge. The study uses a dataset of 1340 publications and employs methodologies such as authors' keywords co-occurrence data to examine the discipline's trends, patterns, and knowledge gaps. The study finds significant growth in literature from 1960 to 2023, emphasizing botanical gardens, conservation, taxonomy, biodiversity, ex-situ conservation, and diversity. Key influencers such as Sanja Kovačić, Elaissi, and Chemli have steered research directions towards ex-situ conservation and essential oils, reflecting the field's interdisciplinary nature. The study shows global institutional variation, with entities like the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Royal Botanic Gardens UK, and the New York Botanical Garden US leading the discourse. Thematic analyses have identified core themes and emerging research topics, with ecological restoration, essential oils, invasive species, and climate change mirroring the field's expanding scope. The consistent prevalence of themes such as 'botanical gardens' and 'conservation' over time underscores their enduring significance. Emerging topics like climate change and biodiversity are gaining prominence, signaling a shift in research priorities. The expanding array of subjects, including 'invasive species' and 'genetic diversity,' indicates an amplified scope and growing complexity in botanical garden research. This study aims to bridge a crucial gap by outlining the developmental trajectory of botanical gardens and offering guidance for future research directions. Diverse research domains within botanical garden studies, including biodiversity, essential oils, taxonomy, and ex-situ conservation, present extensive avenues for exploration. Future research endeavors should delve into these impactful themes to better understand botanical ecosystems and their conservation. The study emphasizes the importance of nurturing interdisciplinary collaborations and multidisciplinary projects, advocating for a comprehensive and collaborative approach to future research in botanical garden studies.

The study examines projected changes in dry- and wet-spell probabilities in West Africa using a Markov chain approach. Four simulations of regional climate models from the CORDEX-Africa program were used to analyze projected changes in intraseasonal variability. The results show an increase in the probability of having a dry day, a dry day preceding a wet day and a dry day preceding a dry day, and a decrease in the probability of wet days in the Sahel region under anthropogenic forcing scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The decrease in wet days is stronger in the far future and under the RCP8.5 scenario (up to -30%). The study also finds that the probability of consecutive dry days (lasting at least 7 days and 10 days) is expected to increase in the Western Sahel, the Central Sahel, and the Sudanian Area under both scenarios, with stronger increases in the RCP8.5 scenario. In contrast, the decrease is expected over the Guinea Coast, with the changes more important under the RCP4.5. These changes in dry- and wet-spell probabilities are important for water management decisions and risk reduction in the energy and agricultural sectors. The study also highlights the need for decision-makers to implement mitigation and adaptation policies to minimize the adverse effects of climate change.

Businesses now formally enter the phase of "think power differentiation and gap" in response to the new economic climate. While AI, big data, empowerment via the internet, and other aspects of the digital economy help to improve technical capabilities and save operating costs, they also push businesses to innovate their strategies at a faster rate. Enterprises are strategically choosing to de-enterprise, moving from focusing on a single business functioning benefit to building an ecosystem of platform services that will give them a competitive edge. Additionally, the organization's structure is evolving continually from a vertical model to a curved working style, in order to achieve this, businesses must recognize the importance of data analysis in day-to-day management and operations, encourage the development of an organizational atmosphere that is driven by data, fully utilize digital technology, modularize areas or production links that perform related tasks, and encourage the reform of organizational structures. By streamlining the output of the product or service to the external community while also enhancing the company's financial performance model, switching from process-to result-oriented evaluation, and putting in place a customized authority and accountability framework. Replace outcome-focused evaluation with process-focused evaluation, and create a customized incentive scheme that balances power, accountability, and rewards.

As a precious natural resource, forests are being destroyed. In previous studies, there is a lack of interactive assessment of its distribution that comprehensively considers multiple external disturbances. This paper takes the Barcelona Metropolitan Region as an example. Based on remote sensing, it analyzes the development process of the forest from 2006 to 2018 through multiple landscape indicators, and OLS models were established to analyze variables that have direct and indirect effects on forest distribution. In addition, the ecological structure of the forest was analyzed based on NDVI. It was found that the forest area is the largest but has been decreasing, becoming more complex in distribution structure. Much of the forest was converted to agricultural land and grassland. The green quality of forests was increasing, and the broad-leaved forest, the second largest area, contributes the most. NDVI is the most important positively correlated variable, and daytime surface temperature is an important inverse factor related to NDVI. In addition, NDBI is also a negative condition that inhibits forest development. In conclusion: The BMR forest area is decreasing and becoming more fragmented. NDVI and daytime LST are the two most significant factors. Climate warming may lead to worse forest development.

In recent years, long periods of drought and heat waves have become increasingly frequent, causing forest dieback phenomena that make stands more sensitive to biotic stressors. How trees may respond to extreme climatic events and which metabolites are involved under stress conditions is still not clear. In this study, we analysed by SPME how dieback (D) and non-dieback (ND) Hungarian oak trees from the San Paolo Albanese site respond to these climatic dynamics, in terms of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). For each group of trees, three wood samples were taken, each divided into four sub-samples with 5 growth rings, subjected to SPME and increase in basal area (BAI) analysis of the last 20 years. Dieback trees had a lower amount of leaves, and this condition may translate into less photosynthesis, less organic matter production and lower reserves of carbohydrates available for growth. Indeed, D trees showed lower radial increases and a lower content of aldehydes, terpenes, and fatty acids than ND trees, indicating a better health of ND trees compared to D trees. While D trees showed a reduction in terpenes, such as α-pinene, γ-eudesmol, and cyperene (with significant insecticidal activity), a reduction in aromatic aldehydes, such as furfural and 5-methylfurfural, and an increase in silanols (with antimicrobial function). Considering the different compounds’ contents between D and ND trees, our study could be useful for detecting bio-indicators to identify an early warning signal of dieback phenomena.

Wetland ecosystems in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are pivotal for global ecology and regional sustainability, contributing significantly to terrestrial ecosystems by regulating runoff, mitigating floods, and enhancing water quality. This study investigates the dynamic changes in wetland ecosystems within the Chaidamu Basin and their response to drought, aiming to foster sustainable wetland utilization in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Using Landsat TM/ETM/OLI data on the Google Earth Engine platform, we employed a random forest method for annual long-term land cover classification. Meteorological drought conditions were assessed using SPEI3, SPEI6, SPEI9, and SPEI12, derived from monthly precipitation and evapotranspiration data. Pearson correlation analysis examined the relationship between wetland changes and various SPEI scales. The BFASAT method evaluated the impact of SPEI12 trends on wetlands, while cross-wavelet analysis explored teleconnections between SPEI12 and atmospheric circulation factors. Our findings revealed that the land cover dataset of the Chaidamu Basin (1990-2020) exhibited diverse categories with high classification accuracy (OA: 90.27%, Kappa: 88.34%). Wetlands, including lake, glacier, and marsh types, exhibited a noticeable increasing trend. Wetland expansion occurred during specific periods (1990-1997, 1998-2007, 2008-2020), featuring extensive conversions between wetland and other types, notably from other types to wetlands. Spatially, lake and marsh wetlands predominated in the low-latitude basin, while glacier wetlands were situated at higher altitudes. The study identified significant negative correlations between SPEI at various scales and total wetland area and types, with SPEI12 exhibiting the most substantial effect between September and December (r <-0.75) on wetlands. SPEI12 displayed a decreasing trend with non-stationarity and distinct breakpoints in 1996, 2002, and 2011, indicating heightened drought severity. Atmospheric circulation indices (ENSO, NAO, PDO, AO, WP) exhibited varying resonance with SPEI12, with NAO, PDO, AO, and WP demonstrating longer resonance times and pronounced responses.The continuous growth of wetlands amidst increasing aridification emphasizes the need for thoughtful wetland development to establish a sustainable "forest-lake-grass-field-river" ecological community. These findings underscore the significance of comprehending wetland changes and drought dynamics for effective ecological management in the Chaidamu Basin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The Vu Gia - Thu Bon River Basin (VG-TB) is confronting numerous challenges related to water security (WS), particularly in the face of the impacts of climate change. These challenges manifest in salinity intrusion, altered rainfall patterns, and reduced water supply in downstream areas. To assess the current state of water security in the basin, the study employed statistical analysis methods, Process Analysis Method (PAM), SMART, and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to develop a comprehensive Assessment Framework for Water Security (AFWS) in the VG-TB. The AFWS encompasses five key dimensions, 17 indicators, and 28 variables, aligning with the UN-Water definition of water security and addressing the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) criteria for global water sustainability. It also adheres to the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) approach to water security assessment as outlined in the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO) reports. This allows for the computation of a comprehensive Water Security Index (WSI) for specific regions, serving as a foundation for decision-making and policy formulation aimed at enhancing water security in the context of climate change and facilitating sustainable basin development in the future.

This bibliographic study addresses key aspects related to fishing, product safety, and climate change in the Adriatic Sea region. The examination of product safety focuses on the assessment of contaminants originating from human activities such as industry, mining, agriculture, and household waste disposal. The contamination of the aquatic environment has emerged as a pressing global concern, extending to the Adriatic subbasin. Aquatic organisms, including fish, are prone to accumulating pollutants directly from polluted water sources and indirectly through the food web. The bio-accumulation of potentially hazardous substances, particularly heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs, PAHs, and antibiotic resistance in aquatic organisms, poses a significant threat to human health. Climate change effects will deplete our seafood supply in terms of quantity and safety owing to negative consequences such as higher levels of pollution, parasites, viruses, infections, acidification, and toxicities such as shellfish poisoning. Global food safety strategies should be developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote environmentally friendly technology, which indirectly affects seafood quality and microbiological safety, especially for Adriatic Sea, which is part of the Mediterranean Sea, characterized by the most polluted waters in the world.

Building defects are very prevalent and contribute significantly to a building's economic value. There are numerous information sources on building defects that have a lot potential for learning more about building defects. This study aimed to identify the information sources used in previous building defect studies and to identify the motivation for carrying out such studies. To fulfil this aim a scoping study was carried out. The information sources identified included insurance companies, private databases, questionnaire surveys, lawsuits, building surveys, client complaint forms, and maintenance reports. This study found that insurance company and client complaint forms include the largest collection of real building defect cases, but such databases may lack detailed descriptions of the causes of the defects. The main purposes of building defects studies identified here included design challenges, identification of defects, building maintenance management, quality management, systematization in data collection, providing an overview of typical defects, and classifying defects. Identification was found to be the most common purpose, indicating that the industry wants to learn more. This study identified research gaps in the climate perspective in relation to building defects. Most of the studies focused on the economical perspective, and none focused on the carbon footprint perspective.

In this paper, we studied the problem of early detection of natural phenomena associated with the formation of severe floods and the possibility of constant monitoring of their occurrence. The test object for the study was severe floods on the Crimean Peninsula, which occurred due to heavy rainfall in the summer of 2021. Based on the selected satellite and other data related to this period, an analysis carried out and key atmospheric objects identified, according to the proposed algorithm for their identification and grouping. Based on the results of the work, a positive conclusion made on the issue of their use to identify the likelihood of natural disasters that could lead to floods. In addition, the authors proposed to develop a portal for collecting and processing a large amount of satellite data related to flood prevention and monitoring the development of such processes, and stressed the need to create it.

This paper examines the interplay between media and the “social side of soils” whereby climate change action implicates individual and collective capacity to adapt, participate in groups or organizations, networks, and respond to challenges and opportunities across a system. The context examined here is Canadian agriculture, and soil health initiatives in the province of Ontario. Our review of relevant literature points to a knowledge gap on the role of the media in enabling climate action in the Canadian agricultural sector with a focus on soil management practices. This study conducted a media content analysis of 100 English-language news articles published between 2022 and 2024 and conducted 31 surveys with media professionals. Approximately one-quarter of the screened news articles contained any relevant coverage of soil health-related climate change mitigation issues. Journalist surveys identified the resource constraints on soil health media coverage with a wide range of traditional and Internet-based journalism on climate change issues, motivated particularly by crisis communication and one-off “parachute reporting”. Going forward, the engagement of key stakeholders of soil health in Canada such as farmers for media and communication about climate change mitigation needs attention. Key policy structures at the federal and provincial levels can help to make this happen.

Endophytic fungi (EF) have emerged as promising modulators of plant growth and stress tolerance in agricultural ecosystems. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the role of EF in en-hancing crop adaptation to abiotic stress. Abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, and extreme temperatures, pose significant challenges to crop productivity worldwide. EF have shown re-markable potential in alleviating the adverse effects of these stresses. Through various mechanisms including synthesis of osmolytes, production of stress-related enzymes, and induction of plant de-fense mechanisms, EF enhance plant resilience to abiotic stressors. Moreover, EF promote nutrient uptake and modulate hormonal balance in plants, further enhancing stress tolerance. Recent ad-vancements in molecular techniques have facilitated the identification and characterization of stress-tolerant endophytic fungal strains, paving the way for their utilization in agricultural prac-tices. Furthermore, the symbiotic relationship between EF and plants offers ecological benefits, such as improved soil health and reduced dependence on chemical inputs. However, challenges remain in understanding the complex interactions between EF and host plants, as well as in scaling up their application in diverse agricultural systems. Future research should focus on elucidating the mechanisms underlying endophytic fungal-mediated stress tolerance and developing sustainable strategies for harnessing their potential in crop production.

Multi-cropping can solve the energy and GHG balance problems, but the emergence, development and productivity of such mixed crops are at risk due to increasing drought periods. For this reason, single maize crops with inter-row mellowing and weed-mulching practices were compared with faba bean, crimson and Persian clover, and alfalfa intercropped maize cultivations. Tests were performed at the Experimental Station of Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Results showed that by the 30% higher energy inputs were calculated in technologies with intercropped crimson, Persian clover, and alfalfa than in monocropped maize. Single maize crops produced by the 23-40% higher biomass yields compare to clover and alfalfa intercropped maize because, due to the drought periods, intercrops weakly sprouted and developed. Lower harvests reduced the energy output by up to 38%, energy efficiency ratio - by up to 2.5 times and net energy - by up to 42%. All tested technologies were environmentally friendly and similar according to the CO2 equivalent. Long-term drought periods during vegetative season due to climate change make us think about the improvement of intercropping technologies. Sowing intercrops at the same time with maize could solve the problem of its germination but highlight the problem of abundant weed spread. Therefore, this takes us to another sphere of agrotechnologies - the effective non-chemical weed control.

Purpose: The study investigates soil pores' impact on carbon dynamics and sequestration processes, examining their physical and chemical characteristics and their mechanisms for carbon sequestration.Research Method: Existing literature and research on soil pores, carbon dynamics, and carbon sequestration are analyzed. The interrelationships between soil pore structure, water movement, microbial activity, root penetration, carbon input, soil aggregation, and gas exchange are examined. Traditional techniques and advanced imaging methods are used to quantify and characterize soil pores.Findings: Soil pores play a critical role in facilitating carbon sequestration through various mechanisms. They affect water movement, microbial activity, root penetration, carbon input, soil aggregation, and gas exchange. Understanding these relationships is crucial for sustainable soil management.Research Limitations: This study relies on existing literature and research, which may have limitations and uncertainties. Further research is needed to address these gaps and enhance understanding.Originality Value: This research enhances the existing knowledge by comprehensively examining the significance of soil pores in carbon dynamics and sequestration. It incorporates both traditional and advanced methods, providing insights for soil management and contributing to climate change mitigation efforts.

The Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) is a high mountain protected area in eastern Nepal undergoing socio-economic and environmental changes that are unprecedented in the region’s history. In the following paper, we discuss recent changes involving new road construction, climate change, adventure tourism, and the wildlife/forest cover/medicinal plant sectors. Our assessments are based on the collective results of past and recent field research, remote sensing analysis, oral histories, and literature reviews. While similar changes are occurring in mountain protected areas (MPA) throughout Nepal, it is suggested that the KCA differs from other regions in that it still retains the option of conducting detailed feasibility, environmental, and impact assessments prior to the implementation of major change-associated projects, particularly the construction of roads. In turn, the KCA might avoid many of the environmental, social, and economic problems experienced elsewhere in Nepal, while enhancing its status, income-generating capacities, and sustainability as a global destination for adventure, nature, and cultural tourism.

In northern Canada where permafrost is prevalent, a shortage of accessible, affordable, and high-quality housing has been ongoing for decades. Design of foundations in permafrost presents unique engineering challenges due to permafrost soil mechanics and climate change. There is no specific design code for pile or shallow foundations in northern Canada. Consequently, the design process heavily relies on the expertise and experience of Arctic geotechnical engineers who have specialized knowledge in this field. Therefore, a comprehensive review of the practice or literature in foundation design in the Arctic would be necessary. The main objective of this review paper is to provide an overview of the common foundations in permafrost and the techniques adopted to counteract the effects of frozen soils. This study conducted a literature review of state-of-the-art practices on deep and shallow foundations used in northern Canada, including common steel pipe piles and thermosyphons. The review summarized the current principles, including adfreeze strength, creep settlement, and frost heave, used in the foundation design in permafrost. Then this paper summarized the findings from interviewing several engineers or professionals who have experiences in the design of foundations in permafrost. The interviews revealed the technical and non-technical aspects of foundation design practice in northern Canada. Lastly, in order to demonstrate the design methods, the paper presented two examples where screw piles and steel pipe piles were designed to support a residential building in northern Canada, according to the state-of-practice criteria for adfreeze strength, long term settlement and frost heave.

Modern engineering faces challenges in ensuring technical standards for service, durability, and sustainability. Political, administrative, and budgetary factors, coupled with climate change, pose tasks to structural integrity, affecting industries and economies. Marine infrastructures represent a strategic asset of the country as it handles a large part of the economic exchanges. This article analyzes five essential factors that play a fundamental role in the performance analysis of coastal structures: Chloride-induced corrosion, degradation models, maintenance strategies, monitoring, and climate change. Starting with reinforcement corrosion, considered as the main cause of distress, particularly in coastal zones for the long-term behavior of structures. Additional pressure from the influences of climate change is becoming evident and extreme, leading to reduction in capacity. To guarantee the lifespan, degradation models contribute by estimating the long-term performance of the asset as a strategic piece to the development of effective maintenance solutions. Additionally, quantifying the condition of the structure from monitoring data, plays a crucial part that provides information on the current situation of the structure. Finally, this review summarizes the challenges associated with the maintenance of aging marine structures considering aspects such as corrosion, monitoring, and the future challenges this area will face due to climate change.

In the field of climate change adaptation, the future matters. Amongst others, river futures justify the way adaptation projects materialize in rivers. In this paper, we challenge the ways in which dominant paradigms and expert claims monopolise the truth concerning policies and designs of river futures, side-lining and delegitimizing alternative river futures. Currently, limited work is done to critically reflect on the power of river futures in the context of climate change adaptation. We conceptualized the power of river futures through river imaginaries: collectively performed and publicly envisioned reproductions of riverine socionatures, mobilized through truth claims of social life and social order. Through the Border Meuse project case study, a climate change adaptation project in a stretch of the river Meuse in the south of the Netherlands and a proclaimed success story of climate adaptation in Dutch water management, we elucidated how three river imaginaries: a modern river imaginary, a market-driven imaginary and an eco-centric river imaginary, merged and materialized as an eco-modern river imaginary. Importantly, not only the river futures merged, also their aligned truth regimes merged. To this end, we argue that George Orwell’s famous quote “Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present, controls the past” can be extended to ‘Who controls the future, controls how we see and act in the present, and how we rediscover the past’.

The overwhelming evidence supports the assertion that the climate is undergoing change. Understanding the perception of locals of the magnitude of climate change and its influence on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) challenge at a global scale. Although studies on climate change, value addition, and the multiple uses of NTFPs and their impact on local livelihoods have been conducted, locals' perceptions of these factors have not been fully explored. This study aims to assess various social factors, including education, gender, and religion, and their influence on locals' perceptions of the abovementioned factors. The research focused on five regions where NTFPs are prevalent in Ghana (Western North, Bono, Ahafo, Ashanti, and Eastern regions). To investigate the impact of social factors on local perceptions of climate change, value addition, and the multiple values of NTFPs within rural communities, a total of 732 interviews with a team of interviewers across these five regions in Ghana were carried out. We applied a logistic regression model to assess the social factors and their influencing locals’ perceptions of the mentioned variables. It was revealed that age, gender, education, and occupation did not significantly influence locals' perceptions of climate change. However, religion was found to influence locals' perceptions of climate change. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that gender (P<0.000328) and education (P<0.00426) strongly influenced locals' perceptions of value addition to NTFPs. In contrast, religion and constraints (related to time, finance, and skills) did not significantly influence locals' perceptions. Additionally, it was observed that gender (0.00132), education (0.00692), and religion (8.12e-05) significantly influenced how locals perceive and use NTFPs. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the intricate interplay among local perceptions, climate change, value addition, multiple uses of NTFPs, and the capacity of NTFPs to enhance the well-being of forest fringe communities. These findings underscore the importance of comprehensive, tailor-made interventions that consider local perspectives and adhere to sustainable approaches, with the aim of optimising the positive impacts of NTFPs in poverty alleviation and overall community development.

Context and aim: Environmental awareness is the first step to climate change risk perceptions and environmental behaviour. However, this pathway is not always possible within different population segments and trust contexts. This study explores the conditional effect of trust on environmental behaviour in the Zed Generation in Albania. The consideration of the Zed generation due to two opposing traits, such as social courage and anti-social, make them an interesting topic to understand, especially for their importance in online communities. Method: The youth engagement environmental programme and the climate change risk perceptions framework are adopted in an input-output design. Environmental awareness (input) is the initiating factor, and climate change risk perception and community engagement as mediators of environmental behaviour(output). Individual and institutional trust is the moderating factor that inhibits/enhances engagement and environmental behaviour. Results: The moderation-mediation show that climate change risk perceptions did not mediate environmental behaviour. Environmental awareness directly affects it. However, low institutional trust inhibits the general trust that, in turn, lowers the impact of awareness in climate change perceptions and community engagement toward environmental protection. Practical recommendation: The application of the input-output model shows that the pathway that directly affects environmental behaviour among Zed Generation in Albania is not Climate change risk perception. In low-trust contexts, positive environmental behaviour can be generated through community engagement. Policymakers and educational programmes in low-middle-income countries might consider community engagement to mitigate trust issues and effectively deal with environmental problems with a global segment such as the Zed generation.

The phytoplankton community in 66 reservoirs ubicated at the hydrographic basin of the Ebro River (Spain) was analyzed. Samples were collected in the summer season during the period 2010-2015, with the main purpose of evaluate the Trophic State and Ecological Potential according to the Water Framework Directive of the European Union. In this work we presented a representative overview of several consecutive years of the state of the reservoirs and their associated trophic status; methodology was to obtain statistically significant relationships between the phytoplankton community and main physicochemical water quality variables (water transparency, pH, chlorophyll a, total and soluble phosphorus, anoxic zone depth, nitrite, nitrate and ammonium concentrations). We provide data for retrospective comparative of the state of the reservoirs with previous and current studies in order to improve the management of these reservoirs, and to serve as data reference for future works in a context of global change (climate and pollution).

In this study, tree selection/plantation DSS (Decision Support Systems) were reviewed and assessed based on essential objectives in the available literature. We reviewed existing DSS using multiple data sources and available online resources such as web interfaces. We compared the existing DSS, focusing primarily on five primary objectives in this study, which DSS may address when it comes to the tree selection, including a) Climate resilience, b) Infrastructure/Space Optimization, c) Agroforestry, d) Ecosystem services, e) Urban sustainability. Climate resilience of tree species and urban sustainability is addressed relatively less in existing systems, which can be holistically internalized in future DSS tools Based on this review, DNN (Deep Neural Networks) is recommended to address achieving trade-offs between complex objectives such as maximizing ecosystem services, climate resilience of tree species, maintaining Agroforestry, and other benefits.

Global climate change has induced a rise in sea surface temperature (SST), although this increase is not uniform across the world. Significant variations exist between coastal and offshore waters, particularly in regions affected by upwelling processes. This study focuses on the Canary Current Upwelling System (CCUS), stretching from Northwest Iberia to Northwest Africa. High-resolution remotely sensed SST data (0.05°) from the ODYSSEA Level 4 Sea Surface Temperature Reprocessed dataset were validated with in-situ measurements and employed to establish a regional climatological baseline for 1982 – 2012. Subsequent years were compared to this baseline to construct SST anomaly maps, revealing SST changes since 2012. The study area was further divided into sub-regions for comparative analysis. Results indicate that SST consistently increased at a higher rate offshore compared to the adjacent nearshore regions. A reference dataset spanning 1951 – 1981 was used to gauge SST variability between the two baselines. SST exhibited a 0.59°C increase from 1951 – 1981 to 1982 – 2012, with a slowing of SST trends beyond the 1982 – 2012 baseline. This research offers valuable insights into the climatological dynamics of the CCUS. These findings enhance our understanding of this critical coastal system's climatology, laying the groundwork for future investigations into evolving climate patterns in coastal regions.

Diseases pose a significant and pressing concern for the sustainable development of the aquaculture sector, particularly as their impact continues to grow due to climatic shifts such as rising water temperatures. While various approaches, ranging from biosecurity measures to vaccines, have been devised to combat infectious diseases, their efficacy is disease- and species-specific and contingent upon a multitude of factors. The field of genetics and genomics offer effective tools to control and prevent disease outbreaks in aquatic animal species. In this study, we present the key findings from our recent research, focusing on the genetic resistance to three specific diseases: White Spot Syndrome Virus WSSV) in white shrimp, Bacterial Necrotic Pancreatitis (BNP) in striped catfish and skin fluke (a parasitic ailment) in yellowtail kingfish. Our investigations reveal that all three species possess substantial heritable genetic components for disease resistant traits, indicating their potential responsiveness to artificial selection in genetic improvement programs tailored to combat these diseases. Also, we observed a high genetic association between disease traits and survival rates. Through selective breeding aimed at enhancing resistance to these pathogens, we achieved substantial genetic gains, averaging 10% per generation. These selection programs also contributed positively to the overall production performance and productivity of these species. Although the effects of selection on immunological traits or immune responses were not significant in white shrimp, they yielded favourable results in striped catfish. Furthermore, our genomic analyses, including shallow genome sequencing of pedigreed populations, enriched our understanding of the genomic architecture underlying disease resistance traits. These traits are primarily governed by a polygenic nature, with numerous genes or genetic variants, each with small effects. Leveraging a range of advanced statistical methods, from mixed models to machine and deep learning, we developed prediction models that demonstrated moderate to high levels of accuracy in forecasting these disease-related traits. In addition to genomics, our RNA-seq experiments identified several genes that undergo upregulation in response to infection or viral loads within the populations. Preliminary microbiome data, while offering limited predictive accuracy for disease traits in one of our studied species, underscore the potential for combining such data with genome sequence information to enhance predictive power for disease traits in our populations. Lastly, this paper briefly discusses the roles of precision agriculture systems, AI algorithms, and outlines the path for future research to expedite the development of disease-resistant genetic lines tailored to our target species. In conclusion, our study underscores the critical role of genetics and genomics in fortifying the aquaculture sector against the threats posed by diseases, paving the way for more sustainable and resilient aquaculture development.

Scenario analysis is a widely employed method for addressing uncertainties when assessing the physical and socio-economic impacts if climate change. Global scenarios have been extensively used in this context. However, these scenarios are in most cases not suitable for supporting local analyses. On the other hand, locally developed scenarios may lack the global context, thus having limited comparability with or transferability to other locations. The Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, which have been primarily developed for climate impact research, provide the possibility to extend the existing global narratives and adapt them to local characteristics in order to develop locally relevant scenarios. Here, we propose a methodological framework for producing harmonized scenarios across different case studies. This framework was developed in the EVOKED project and combines elements of top-down and bottom-up approaches to develop local scenarios for five regions in northern Europe. We employ the SSP as boundary conditions and, in cooperation with stakeholders from these five regions, develop local scenarios for a range of SSP. The developed sets of scenarios are consistently informed by global developments and are therefore comparable with other downscaled scenarios developed in different regions. At the same time, they have been based on local participatory processes, thus being locally credible and relevant to the needs of stakeholders. The local scenarios constitute a climate service per se as they can raise stakeholder awareness of the processes that will drive risk, exposure, and adaptive capacity in the future and inform discussions on mitigation strategies and adaptation pathways.

Global concerns of decreasing water availability and food security are being exacerbated by the increasing demand for food, water quality degradation, and climate change impacts. Rice is an essential crop for food security with paddy rice cultivation largely practiced using traditional flooding conditions. Water regimes and components of the soil water balance in paddy rice catchments affect uptake of water by rice roots. Paddy management, especially puddling, significantly affects soil hydrological properties, such as hydraulic conductivity, percolation, and seepage in the paddy rhizosphere. Improved knowledge of these interactions is vital for developing sustainable water management strategies in paddy fields. Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) practice contributes to sustainable water management, but little is known about effects of soil wetting and drying duration on gravitational soil water flow, moisture dynamics, and hydraulic conductivity in the rice paddy rhizosphere. These factors depend on soil type, rice variety, rooting conditions, and environmental factors, such as solar radiation and temperature. Here we examine the paddy cultivation environment and soil properties under traditional continuous flooding and AWD practice. Some studies indicate that the duration and frequency of wetting and soil drying under AWD practice in paddy fields affects soil hydraulic conductivity that alters the next cycle of water application. During droughts and short rainy seasons, rainfall, soil properties, and atmospheric conditions control soil moisture dynamics in paddy fields. Limitations and challenges of applying AWD in paddy soils, including the variation of hydrological properties and the need for frequent field manual monitoring of water level (WL) head, are discussed. Implications of AWD practice on yield, water use efficiency, soil hydrology, and reduction of methane emissions, are outlined along with opportunities to improve AWD integration within government policies, irrigation schemes, and adoption by farmers. Coupled crop models can provide important insights for sustainable agricultural water management.

Mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) are a group of illnesses transmitted by mosquitoes and can be caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. These diseases represent a significant global burden of infectious diseases, including morbidity and mortality. This systematic review delves into the multifaceted factors contributing to the spread of mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Following PRISMA guidelines, a thorough analysis of peer-reviewed articles from May 1990 to Jan 2023 was conducted, highlighting the interplay of population, environmental, disease, and mosquito factors in disease transmission and prevalence. The review incorporated 31 studies that revealed a complex relationship between various risk factors and the presence of MBDs. Significant associations were observed with age, certain occupations, environmental conditions such as rainfall and temperature, sanitation practices, specific pathogen variants, clinical symptoms, and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Conversely, gender, socioeconomic status, educational status, and certain sanitation-related factors showed inconsistent association with the spread of MBDs. The review underscores the need for targeted interventions, including vector control, improved sanitation, and educational campaigns to mitigate the spread of MBDs in the MENA region. This review could guide research studies to address data gaps and assist in developing effective surveillance programs in the MENA region. This work emphasizes the need for region-specific public health strategies and further research to understand and curb the burden of these diseases effectively.

Sea level rise (SLR) is a critical consequence of climate change, posing significant threats to coastal regions worldwide. Accurate and efficient assessment of potential inundation areas is crucial for effective coastal planning and adaptation strategies. This study aims to explore the utility of free and open source software for geospatial (FOSS4G) tools for mapping SLR inundation, providing cost-effective solutions that are accessible to researchers and policymakers. We employed a combination of geospatial data, including high-resolution elevation models, tidal data, and projected SLR scenarios. Utilizing widely available FOSS4G tools like QGIS, GDAL/OGR and GRASS GIS we developed an integrated workflow to map inundation extents using a passive bathtub approach for various SLR scenarios. Our findings demonstrate that FOSS4G tools offer reliable and accessible means to map SLR inundation, empowering stakeholders to assess coastal vulnerabilities and devise sustainable adaptation measures. The open-source approach facilitates collaboration and reproducibility, fostering a comprehensive understanding of the potential impacts of SLR on coastal ecosystems and communities.

Today, satellite imagery has made a major contribution to the reconstruction and spatial prediction of sensitive or complex areas such as Pendjari and W Transboundary Reserves which constitute biodiversity reservoirs and habitats for wildlife conservation. Despite the protection to which they are subject, they remain dependent on climatic hazards that can influence their stability. This study has applied remote sensing techniques, combined with climate records from the last thirty years, to analyze the past dynamics of land use and climate changes, to predict the future states of the vegetation cover of the two national parks in Benin, as well as their periphery. The methodology used remote sensing and GIS techniques that allowed the supervised classification of Landsat images of 1985, 2000 and 2015. Climatic data were combined in R software to identify the break periods for climatic parameters. Finally, the predictive vegetation cover for the year 2030 was made by combining vegetation and climate in the "Land Change Modeler" extension. Ten land use and land cover classes were obtained. These are the agglomerations, mosaics of fields and fallows, water bodies, dense forests, gallery forests, clear forests and wooded savannahs, swamp forests and shrubby wooded savannahs, saxicolous savannahs and bare ground. The natural vegetation decreased from 90.85% in 1985 to 83.54% in 2000 then to 79.56% in 2015, a decline of 11.39% over a 30-year period. The analysis of the climatic curves revealed the presence of break, meaning drought frequency. The predictive modeling revealed that land use units projected to 2030 are consistent with past trends, but with the continued expansion of fields and fallows (2%) at the expense of vegetation cover. This study will motivate many others in the field.

Climate change and net zero are expected to have a significant impact on eco-nomic activity in developing countries, and thus, on the financial cash flow of organizations. In this paper, we propose a procedure for assessing the financial impact of climate change on organizational cash flow in developing countries. Our study contributes to the research on scenario-based climate change impact analysis. The applied research design is exploratory and mainly qualitative, constructing financial impact scenarios combined with narratives to determine the impact of climate change on individual cash flow line items. The narra-tives rationalize cash flow variations and enrich the estimates by adding expert knowledge, in the form of financial micro-stories and descriptions to the pro-posed procedure. We present a hypothetical citrus farming company in a de-veloping country to demonstrate the application of the proposed measurement procedure. The results obtained suggest that (1) the procedure is practical be-cause financial cash flows are known and widely used in financial analysis and because they can be implemented in a spreadsheet; that (2) the procedure pro-vides flexibility because it can be adapted to suit the specific needs of different companies, depending on a selected climate change scenario, the company’s exposure to climate change, its resilience and vulnerability; (3) that the prac-tice of thinking in terms of financial worst-case, base-case and best-case sce-narios, which reflect different levels of uncertainty, helps to model the finan-cial impacts of climate change and provides a forward-looking perspective on how much a company’s cash flow could change.

In recent years, organic agriculture has gained more popularity, yet its approach to food production and its potential impact on consumers’ health and various environmental aspects remain to be fully discovered. The goal of organic farming practices is to maintain soil health, sustain ecological systems, maintain fairness in its relationship with the environment and protect the environment in its entirety. Various health benefits have been associated with higher consumption of organic foods. This review identified some of these health benefits including a reduction in obesity and body mass index (BMI), improvements in blood nutrient composition as well as a reduction in maternal obesity and pregnancy-associated preeclampsia risk. Furthermore, organic food consumption can reduce the development of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and colorectal cancers. Upon reviewing existing literature regarding the nutritional value of organic foods, it was found that organic food contained higher levels of iron, magnesium, and vitamin C. However, the evidence available to draw definitive generalizations remains limited. In this review, we provided essential insights to support sustainable organic farming and highlighted the potential of organic food consumption that could play a pivotal role in positively impacting human health.