Climate Change Adaptation And Mitigation Strategies

Bohr and Dill - Who Benefits from Carbon Mitigation

by Jeremiah Bohr

Kärnkraften som klimatlösning

by Fredrik Hedenus

Firewise forever? Voluntary community participation and retention in Firewise programs

by Michele Steinberg

Published in proceedings of second conference on the human dimensions of wildland fire.

Firewise Communities/USA® is a national program designed to encourage residents of wildfire-prone areas to take action... more Firewise Communities/USA® is a national program designed to encourage residents of wildfire-prone areas to take action to reduce wildfire risks to their homes and neighborhoods. Residents of homeowner associations and small communities who are interested in improving their wildfire safety work with state forestry and fire professionals and follow a simple, flexible process to become recognized as Firewise. To maintain their status, they must conduct annual mitigation work, hold a Firewise Day, and document their activity. This paper examines the successes and challenges of the program, taking into account the voluntary nature of participation, and explores challenges to program adoption, particularly factors that lead to loss of interest in pursuing ongoing Firewise activity.

Reviewing the climate change adaptation readiness of the Australian National Electricity Market institutions

by William Paul Bell

Working paper

The impact of climate change on electricity demand in the Australian National Electricity Market

by William Paul Bell

Working paper

Solar Photovoltaic Energy for Mitigation of Climate Change: A Catalytic Application of Catholic Social Thought

by Joshua Pearce

Joshua M. Pearce, Anna L. Santini, and Jennifer M. Desilva, “Solar Photovoltaic Energy for Mitigation of Climate Change: A Catalytic Application of Catholic Social Thought”, Worldviews, Volume 13(1), pp. 92-118, 2009.

This paper explores an application of Catholic theology to mitigate the current destruction of God's creation underway... more This paper explores an application of Catholic theology to mitigate the current destruction of God's creation underway due to global climate destabilization. Specifically it describes the possibility of the U.S. Catholic Church adopting a systematic plan to catalyze the world energy market to shift to solar photovoltaic energy, a non-polluting renewable energy source. The science behind the ecological crisis and climate change in the context of the Catholic basis for environmental stewardship is summarized to provide a moral foundation for the plan. Then, the viability and ramifications of integrating solar photovoltaic systems in all U.S. Catholic Churches is analyzed from technical, economic, and ethical perspectives.

URBAN HEAT ISLAND: DYNAMIC SIMULATION, ASSESSMENT AND MEASURING MITIGATION IN CITIES OF EXTREME DRY WEATHER.

by Jorge Villanueva

Increasing urbanization in the cities of northern Mexico reflects a general trend to increased temperatures, so it is... more Increasing urbanization in the cities of northern Mexico reflects a general trend to increased temperatures, so it is likely that heat waves amplify the frequency and intensity in urban centers, mainly located in arid and semiarid as Mexicali city with extremely arid climate, very hot in summer and cold and rainy in winter.

Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico it’s located at N 32º 38' and W115º 20'. The urban area is expanded over 14,890 hectares2, with a population rise the 689,775. In the last four decades has experienced an accelerated industrial growth and mismatched land uses for example: most of the industrial parks were established before the 1980 in what was the outskirts of the city, but nowadays practically are inside of the urban area contributing
to the increase the urban temperature. The heat islands profile shows that are intensified in industrial areas as well as trade and services. The preliminary scenarios of climate change for Mexicali indicate that for the decade of 2080 the temperature will increase between 4.2° and 4.4° C.

This paper addresses in a simulation context, an industrial and commercial city sector and their ability to implement urban heat island mitigation strategies. The simulation of this process requires several spatial analysis tools and specific knowledge about the processes that increase urban temperatures. In this work, only land use, land cover and buildings are considered. The proposed method takes into account the actual spatial organization to
analyze trends for the proposed growth areas.

From Kyoto to Durban: The Fits and Starts of Global Climate Change Negotiations

by J. Jackson Ewing

Report prepared for “One Tonne Life project” - Method for estimation of a families’ greenhouse gas emissions

by Fredrik Hedenus

Customary land tenure and the management of climate change and internal migration

by Elisabeth Worliczek

published in: Land Tenure Journal. No 2 (2011): Thematic issue on land tenure and climate change

This paper focuses on possible scenarios of land use and land tenure in the event of a permanent sea level rise on... more This paper focuses on possible scenarios of land use and land tenure in the event of a permanent sea level rise on Wallis Island, part of the French Overseas Territory Wallis and Futuna in the South Pacific. This island holds a unique place in the French system, having its own king and a traditional power structure relying on Polynesian traditions. Land issues are managed through customary law, and this system offers flexible opportunities that can respond to contextual need. Land tenure is based on lines of descent; those who are ‘part of’ a certain land parcel are identified through his or her ancestry. This traditional system needs to be analysed as regards its effectiveness and its ability to respond to new environmental and political challenges. Local resource use, and shifting residency and agriculture patterns challenge land tenure. With the majority of the population inhabiting the coastline, potential migration opportunities to the higher interior of the island within the residents’ own properties in the event of sea level rise need to be explored. Every Wallisian has access to several land parcels, which are distributed across the island.

The benefits of quantifying climate model uncertainty in climate change impacts assessment: an example with heat-related mortality change estimates

by Simon Gosling

Threats Without Threateners? Exploring Intersections of Threats to the Global Commons and National Security

by Erik Nemeth

Co-authored with Gregory F. Treverton and Sinduja Srinivasan

View abstract at:  View abstract at:  http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP360

Rolling stones; fast weathering of olivine in shallow seas for cost-effective CO2 capture and mitigation of global warming and ocean acidification

by Poppe de Boer

R. D. Schuiling and P. L. de Boer

Human CO2 emissions may drive the Earth into a next greenhouse state. They can be mitigated by accelerating weathering... more Human CO2 emissions may drive the Earth into a next greenhouse state. They can be mitigated by accelerating weathering of natural rock under the uptake of CO2. We disprove the paradigm that olivine weathering in nature would be a slow process, and show that it is not needed to mill olivine to very fine, 10 μm-size grains in order to arrive at a complete dissolution within 1-2 y. In high-energy shallow marine environments olivine grains and reaction products on the grain surfaces, that otherwise would greatly retard the reaction, are abraded so that the chemical reaction is much accelerated. When kept in motion even large olivine grains rubbing and bumping against each other quickly produce fine clay- and silt-sized olivine particles that show a fast chemical reaction. Spreading of olivine in the world’s 2% most energetic shelf seas can compensate a year’s global CO2 emissions and counteract ocean acidification against a price well below that of carbon credits.

Dry Horizons: the responses of Western Australian water managers to the enhanced greenhouse effect in the late 1980s

by Ruth Morgan

History Australia, vol. 8, no. 3, 2011

In late 2010, ‘drought-breaking’ rains in southeastern Australia led the Victorian government to relax its... more In late 2010, ‘drought-breaking’ rains in southeastern Australia led the Victorian government to relax its restrictions on suburban water use. But are such ad hoc approaches to water management sustainable in the long-term? In this article, the responses of Western Australian water managers to predictions of a drier future for the southwest of WA in the late 1980s are presented as a ‘pragmatic precedents’ to guide decision-makers in the twenty-first century. This article considers the way historical analyses affect water management, challenging policymakers to not only look forward, but also back to the lessons of the past in order to devise a sustained and measured response to water challenges. Although a lack of certainty about the implications of anthropogenic climate change has been blamed for delays in policymakers’ adoption of adaptation and mitigation strategies, this article shows that environmental decision-making under uncertain conditions is possible if a ‘long view backward’ is valued and taken into account.

the principle of subsidiarity in urban planning to face climate change

by Gabriele ZANETTO

in International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management 2009

Metaphors we die by? Geoengineering, metaphors and the argument for catastrophe

by Rusi Jaspal

Nerlich, B. & Jaspal, R. (in press). Metaphors we die by? Geoengineering, metaphors and the argument for catastrophe. Metaphor and Symbol.

Geoeengineering the climate by reflecting sunlight or extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has attracted... more Geoeengineering the climate by reflecting sunlight or extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere has attracted increasing attention from natural scientists, social scientists, policy makers and the media. This article examines promotional discourse related to geoengineering from the 1980s to 2010. It asks in particular how this option for dealing with the problems posed by climate change were framed through the use of conceptual and discourse metaphors and whether one can argue that these are metaphors we ‘live by’ or metaphors we might ‘die by’. Findings show that an overarching argument from catastrophe was bolstered by three conceptual master-metaphors, namely The Planet is a body, The Planet is a machine and The planet is a patient/addict, linked to a variety of discourse metaphors, older conceptual metaphors and clichés. This metaphorical landscape began to shift while the article was being written and will have to be closely monitored in the future.

Life in the greenhouse gas emitting society and climate change mitigation solutions

by Robert-Jan Geerts

Master Thesis (Philosophy of Science, Technology, and Society at Twente University)

The Viability of Cattle Ranching Intensification in Brazil as a Strategy to Spare Land and Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions

by Avery Cohn

Co-authors Maria Bowman, David Zliberman & Kate O'Neill . Published as a CCAFS working paper

Recent research and policy on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Brazil suggests that the least-cost,... more Recent research and policy on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Brazil suggests that the least-cost, largest-scale mitigation option is for cattle ranchers to produce more on the land they already use. The rationale is that cattle ranching intensification programs (CRIPs) can speed yield-increasing technology adoption that delivers GHG benefits by sparing land to prevent deforestation and allow the production of more biofuels and other agricultural products. We draw on a literature review to assess the merits and viability of CRIPs in Brazil. Support for CRIPs is based on a series of premises: intensive cattle ranching technologies are already in commercial use; accelerating adoption is straightforward; increasing intensive ranching can reduce cattle product prices; reducing cattle product prices can reduce pasture area; reducing extensive cattle ranching in Brazil can deliver GHG benefits; CRIPs will deliver environmental & social benefits; and that the GHG benefits from CRIPs will exceed implementation costs. We argue for CRIPs trials as part of a broader effort to reduce several key data and science gaps crucial for assessing the impacts of CRIPs.

The Congo Basin forests in a changing climate: Policy discourses on adaptation and mitigation (REDD+)

by Olufunso Somorin

Synergies and Trade-offs between Carbon Storage and Livelihood Benefits from Forest Commons

by Ashwini Chhatre

Co-authored with Arun Agrawal, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Forests provide multiple benefits at local to global scales. These include the global public good of carbon... more Forests provide multiple benefits at local to global scales. These include the global public good of carbon sequestration and local and national level contributions to livelihoods for more than half a billion users. Forest commons are a particularly important class of forests generating these multiple benefits. Institutional arrangements to govern forest commons are believed to substantially influence carbon storage and livelihood contributions, especially when they incorporate local knowledge and decentralized decision making. However, hypothesized relationships between institutional factors and multiple benefits have never been tested on data from multiple countries. By using original data on 80 forest commons in 10 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, we show that larger forest size and greater rule-making autonomy at the local level are associated with high carbon storage and livelihood benefits; differences in ownership of forest commons are associated with trade-offs between livelihood benefits and carbon storage. We argue that local communities restrict their consumption of forest products when they own forest commons, thereby increasing carbon storage. In showing rule-making autonomy and ownership as distinct and important institutional influences on forest outcomes, our results are directly relevant to international climate change mitigation initiatives such as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and avoided deforestation. Transfer of ownership over larger forest commons patches to local communities, coupled with payments for improved carbon storage can contribute to climate change mitigation withoutadversely affecting local livelihoods.