Climatic Changes

El marco ambiental del Paleolítico superior inicial: datos arqueobotánicos

by Alvaro Arrizabalaga

Iriarte, M.J.; Arrizabalaga, A. (1999) "El marco ambiental del Paleolítico superior inicial: datos arqueobotánicos", XXIVº Congreso Nacional de Arqueología, Tomo 1, 53-60, Cartagena.

MCA4climate: A Practical Framework for Planning Pro-Development Climate Policy

by S. Serban Scrieciu

This is a new UNEP report summarizing a new framework and methodology for climate policy analysis, integrating climate policies with other development concerns, and helping governments elaborate pro-development climate policy plans. It aims to offer a bold alternative to the over-used and increasingly criticized conventional economics tools or concepts, such as Cost-Benefit Analysis, Net Present Value or the Least-Cost Approach, and go beyond efficiency and growth concerns. My role was developing the methodology and managing the project together with my then UNEP colleagues Sophy Bristow and Daniel Puig. A team of around 20 renowned academic experts acted as partners and contributed substantially to developing the MCA4climate initiative. The project was funded by the Government of Spain over a 2-year period.

The report summarizes in detail the MCA4climate framework or methodology, which is a major new UNEP initiative... more The report summarizes in detail the MCA4climate framework or methodology, which is a major new UNEP initiative providing practical assistance to governments in preparing their climate change mitigation and adaptation plans and strategies. It aims to help governments, particularly in developing countries, identify policies and measures that are low cost, environmentally effective and consistent with national development goals. It does this by providing a structured approach to assessing and prioritizing climate-policy options, while taking into consideration associated social, economic, environmental and institutional costs and benefits. In doing so, it seeks to counter the widely held perception that tackling climate change is costly, highlight the potential developmental benefits of addressing climate change and encourage action to that end. It hopes to support current and future work on assessing how investment in low-carbon and climate resilient technologies could lead to job creation, growth, improved health prospects and other development benefits.

Changing movements in health higher education: from community medicine to the activators course

by Alberto González

Published in Physis: Revista de Saúde Coletiva.

This paper aims to ponder over the various pro-change initiatives in health higher education in Brazil. A historical... more This paper aims to ponder over the various pro-change initiatives in health higher education in Brazil. A historical analysis is needed since prior experiences systematization and diffusion are important on attempting to build new pro-change proposals. Today we are pondering over active processes of teaching-learning because we have experienced proposals such as Community Medicine, the Professor Integrative Assistence Project, the PROUNI Program, the Rede UNIDA movement, the Curricular Guideline Law, Permanent Education in Health and the Activators' course. There is no need to discover the wheel all the time. It can be adapted and start to spin again. Taking a look into the past experiences and into the present needs helps in building a desirable future.

Key words: Health Education; Health Policy; Human Resources Formation; Pro-change Movement in Formation.

Scienze del Clima e metodo scientifico tra Comunicazione della Scienza e Sociologia della Conoscenza

by Andrea Candela

in "Epistemologia", 2010, 33(2): 235-256

(Climate Sciences and scientific method between science communication and sociology of knowledge)
more (Climate Sciences and scientific method between science communication and sociology of knowledge)

Climate sciences are not yet able to establish actual increase in globally averaged temperatures with certainty, especially in relation to human activities. Although the majority of scientific community agrees that a phase of climatic instability is undoubtedly underway and we can talk about a current “Climate Change”, scientific and socio-political debates are still focused on the scientific relevance of the “Anthropogenic Global Warming” (anthropogenic greenhouse effect). The so-called “crucial proof” is still lacking. Starting from an analysis of several official reports, institutional sources and public discussions of last months, the paper examines the development of climate sciences through historiographical and epistemological categories of Sociology of Knowledge and Science Communication. Considering the complex relationships between science, technology and society, the definition of “scientific community” could be replaced by that of “scientific field”. Experimental data are only one of different tools used by scientific enterprise, indeed it should be taken into account others external factors, not necessarily related to laboratory activity and fieldwork, such as: negotiates, personal satisfaction, institutions, policy making, economy etc. Climatology is a case in point. Finally, the article analyses some interesting observations coming from cognitive approaches (cognitive theory of science), according to which science could be defined as an evolutionary and cultural phenomenon related to contingency (historical context).

Model of wetland development of the Amapá coast during the late Holocene

by Marcelo Cohen

Late Holocene palaeoenvironments of the Nutria Mansa 1 archaeological site, Argentina

by Mariano Bonomo

Bonomo, M., Zucol, A., Gutiérrez Téllez, B., Coradeghini, A. Vigna
2009. Late Holocene Palaeoenvironments of the Nutria Mansa 1 Archaeological Site, Argentina. Journal of Paleolimnology
41:273–296

Análisis de las comunidades de mamíferos continentales del Plio-Pleistoceno de la Región Pampeana y su comparación con las del área del Mediterráneo Occidental

by Edgardo Ortiz-Jaureguizar

Ortiz-Jaureguizar, E.; Prado, J.L. & Alberdi, M.T., 1995. In: "Evolución Biológica y Climática de la Región Pampeana durante los Últimos Cinco Millones de Años. Un Ensayo de Correlación con el Mediterráneo Occidental", M.T.Alberdi, G.Leone y E.P.Tonni (Edits.) Monografías del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid, España, pp. 385-406.

Arctic tundra caribou and climatic change: Questions of temporal and spatial scales

by Mike Ferguson

Ferguson, M.A.D. 1996. Arctic tundra caribou and climatic change: Questions of temporal and spatial scales. Geoscience Canada 23: 245-252.

Climatic changes have affected populations of caribou and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) at scales ranging from a single... more Climatic changes have affected populations of caribou and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) at scales ranging from a single winter to tens of thousands of years, and from micro-habitats to entire continents. Individuals, populations and the species have adapted to these climatic changes, however, producing complex evolutionary and ecological issues requiring multi-scale, interdisciplinary research. Caribou populations wintering on arctic tundra may be most susceptible to the impacts of anthropogenic climatic change, given the low productivity of their forage, the severity and duration of the winters, and the physical barriers that limit dispersal.

Sub-speciation of Rangifer tarandus hypotheticaly occurred during the Wisconsin glaciation. Recent genetic analyses support the current classification of subspecies, except that Baffin Island caribou may be distinct from barren-ground caribou, R. t. groenlandicus, on mainland Northwest Territories. Baffin caribou may have originated from a small ancestral population in a refugium on Baffin Island during the Wisconsin glaciation; or, they may have originated from immigrants after the Wisconsin glaciation, later experiencing a severe population bottleneck.

On a shorter time scale, recent research has suggested that density-independent climatic events occurring over a single winter have caused at least one major population decline among Peary caribou on the Queen Elizabeth Islands. Dramatic fluctuations of Greenland populations over the past 200 years have been attributed to climatic changes. However, the onset of some population changes on western Greenland have been inconsistent with the timing of climatic changes. Inuit knowledge of Baffin caribou and studies of tundra caribou on Svalbard, Coats and Southampton islands, South Georgia, and Norway suggest that caribou populations are affected primarily by density-dependent grazing impacts on forage that can last several decades. The discrepancy between these views may be caused by differences in the temporal and spatial scales over which scientific investigations have been conducted, and the measurement of only some ecological factors. Arctic ecological studies require extensive spatial and temporal data before impacts of anthropogenic climate change can be assessed. This will require a long-term interdisciplinary study integrating scientific data from several disciplines, as well as Inuit knowledge.

Plio-Pleistocene climatic change in the Turkana Basin (East Africa): evidence from large mammal faunas

by Manuel Hernández Fernández

Rodent faunas as indicators of climatic change in Europe during the last 125,000 years

by Manuel Hernández Fernández

Bioclimatic analysis of rodent palaeofaunas reveals severe climatic changes in Southwestern Europe during the Plio-Pleistocene

by Manuel Hernández Fernández

2007. Medina, M. y D. Rivero. “Zooarqueología, Lama guanicoe y Dinámica Evolutiva del Chaco Serrano”. Mundo de Antes 5: 211-234. Instituto de Arqueología y Museo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel del Tucumán.

by Matías E. Medina

Five Centuries of Stockholm Winter/Spring Temperatures Reconstructed From Documentary Evidence and Instrumental Observations

by Ulrica Söderlind

Canada: The dirty old man of climate politics?

by Matthew Tegelberg

Book chapter in Eide, Elisabeth., Risto Kunelius and Ville Kumpu eds. Global Climate – local journalisms: A transnational study of how media make sense of climate summits

Elisabeth Eide, Risto Kunelius, Ville Kumpu (eds):
Global Climate – local journalisms
A TRANSNATIONAL STUDY... more Elisabeth Eide, Risto Kunelius, Ville Kumpu (eds):
Global Climate – local journalisms
A TRANSNATIONAL STUDY OF HOW MEDIA MAKE SENSE OF CLIMATE SUMMITS
Global Journalism Research Series, vol. 3
©2010; 354 S./pp; Language: ENG
ISSN 1865-1615
ISBN 978-3-89733-226-3

Mitigation and adaption policies called for by climate change challenge transnational politics and media in hitherto unforeseen ways. The UN climate summits represent a unique form of global media events where enormous amounts of knowledge production, economic lobbying, civic activism and political bargaining for a moment come together. In this anthology, researchers from the MediaClimate network look at how journalism in different corners of the world interprets, domesticates and analyses such events, particularly the Copenhagen summit in December 2009. The book provides an empirically based, diverse and critical view of the limits and possibilities of journalism in the era of increasingly global problems. MediaClimate network consists of media scholars from 19 countries and all continents: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, El Salvador, Germany, Israel, Indonesia, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and USA.

"... this publication represents groundbreaking research into the dynamics of media reporting of one of the most important challenges of our time – climate change." Wijayananda Jayaweera and Fackson Banda, UNESCO Paris

REDD and Community Forestry: Opportunities and Challenges in Nepal

by Dhanej Thapa

REDD has emerged as a major mitigation measure of climate change. It is proposed as a win-win strategy for both north... more REDD has emerged as a major mitigation measure of climate change. It is proposed as a win-win strategy for both north and south. Nepal has also participated in pilot project of REDD. it is believed that CFUGs can also benefit from carbon trade due to high success of community forestry in mid hills of Nepal. Nepal’s current laws and policies, communities have clear rights to manage and use trees and forest products. However ownerships right of forest could create some difficulty between government and community forest user groups in benefit sharing of REDD. Further REDD itself has multiple prior-condition for the REDD trade. This paper tries to analyze the conceptual ambiguities in the REDD trade and further tries to explore the governance and technical aspects of REDD with especial focus on community forestry of Nepal

Community Engagement in Analyzing Their Livelihood Resilience to Climate Change Induced Salinity Intrusion in Sundarbans Mangrove Forest

by Shibly Sadik

Coastal Zones and Climate Change held at Monash University, Australia. 

Tectonic and climatic controls on Holocene channel migration, incision and terrace formation by the Rio Grande in the Palomas half graben, southern Rio Grande rift, USA

by Marta Pérez-Arlucea

GREG H. MACK1, MIKE LEEDER2, MARTA PEREZ-ARLUCEA3, MEREDITH DURR1;
Article first published online: 14 OCT 2010;
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2010.01195.x

In order to evaluate potential effects of tectonics and climate change on the behaviour of the axial Rio Grande in the... more In order to evaluate potential effects of tectonics and climate change on the behaviour of the axial Rio Grande in the Rio Grande rift, a 16·5 km stretch of modern floodplain and Holocene terraces were mapped in the tectonically active Palomas half graben, south-central New Mexico, USA. In addition, 51 cores and natural exposures were logged and 20 radiocarbon dates were obtained from charcoal, bulk organic matter, mollusc shells and pedogenic calcite. The Holocene alluvium comprises four terraces above the modern floodplain, each of which formed by a period of river incision followed by stability and renewed floodplain construction to a level below that of the previous terraces. Estimated times of incision between Terraces I and II, II and III, and III and IV are after 12 400, 8040 to 5310, and 760 to 550 yr bp, respectively, whereas the incision between Terrace IV and the modern floodplain occurred within the last 260 years. Although there is some evidence for tectonic control on river behaviour in the southern part of the basin, terrace formation is interpreted as being related to climate change, with periods of incision corresponding to times of increased aridity and low sediment/water discharge ratio in the Rio Grande. This process may have resulted from a reduction in intensity and magnitude of summer storms which supply sediment to the axial river, coupled with an increase in spring discharge peak caused by snowmelt in upstream mountain catchments.

Late Neogene rift-basin evolution and its relation to normal fault history and climatic change along the southwestern margin of the Gerania Range, central Greece

by Marta Pérez-Arlucea

Greg H. Mack, Mike R. Leeder and Marta Perez-Arlucea
Geological Society of America Bulletin; 2009;121;907-918; doi:10.1130/B26337.1

The south- to southwest-dipping North and South Saros normal faults occupy the southeastern margin of the Gerania... more The south- to southwest-dipping North and South Saros normal faults occupy the southeastern margin of the Gerania Range, a major massif of Mesozoic limestone and ophiolite in the eastern Gulf of Corinth Rift, central Greece. The history of the Saros faults is constrained by adjacent basin-fill sediments and modern drainage patterns. Older basin fill (Pliocene–lower Pleistocene?), which consists of terrestrial fine sands, carbonaceous muds, marls, and micrite limestones, is uplifted on the South Saros fault block and onlaps the North Saros fault footwall block on its northern side to near its crest, suggesting that it predates major fault activity. In contrast, younger basin fill (middle Pleistocene?) was deposited and locally deformed during fault activity in a main basin south of the faults and in a perched basin on the South Saros fault block. Main-basin deposits consist of alluvial-fan, fan-delta, and shallow-marine sediments up to 50 m thick, whereas perched-basin fanglomerates are 5–15 m thick. Fault-scarp retreat and sediment onlap indicate that the faults became inactive late in the history of deposition of the younger basin fill. The perched and main basins are currently undergoing incision, allowing modern sediment to bypass the basins and to be deposited on modern fan deltas and beaches along the Gulf of Megara coast. The absence of knickpoints and upstream deepening of the canyons suggest that a climatically driven increase in catchment runoff was responsible for basin incision, although uplift and sealevel change may have contributed as well.

The North and South Saros faults each consist of three segments characterized by different strikes. The major drainages cross the Saros faults at or near segment boundaries, suggesting that the drainages may have initially flowed between the tips of isolated fault segments. As the segments became linked, the antecedent drainages maintained their course and cut deep gorges. At the scale of the entire eastern Gulf of Corinth region, however, older unlinked faults were abandoned, and new faults were created in a general northward and basinward direction; the origin of this process remains controversial.

Stable carbon and hydrogen isotopes from bat guano in the Grand Canyon, USA, reveal Younger Dryas and 8.2 ka events

by Nancy Beavan

Wurster, C. M., Patterson, W.P., McFarlane, D. A., Wassenaar, L.I., Hobson, K.A., Beavan Athfield, N. &. Bird., M.I. 2008. . Geology, 36 (9):683-688.

Service Aggregation for Smart Homes

by Nigel Tebbutt

SASH Project

I'd like to make you aware of the research that my team and I are currently undertaking under the UK Government (Department of the Environment (DoE) Strategic Technology Board (TSB) sponsored Building Research Establishment (BRE) Service Aggregation for Smart Homes (SASH) Project – a Demonstration and Proof-of-Concept for Smart Energy Networks – which forms a part of the 2011 Smart Cities of the Future Programme.  We are seeking to engage with other organisations to collaborate on future Smart Grid Demonstration Programme Stages beginning this year.  This may also represent a potentially significant opportunity for collaboration with European Research Partners and Service Providers.