Search

Protecting the climate system requires urgently reducing carbon emissions to the atmosphere and increasing cumulative carbon stocks in natural systems. Recent studies confirm that large trees accumulate and store a disproportionate share of aboveground forest carbon. In the temperate forests of the western United States, a century of intensive logging drastically reduced large‐trees and older forest, but some large trees remain. However, recent changes to large tree management policy on National Forest lands east of the Cascade Mountains crest in Oregon and southeastern Washington allows increased harvesting of large‐diameter trees (≥53 cm or 21 inches) that account for just 3% of all stems, but hold 42% of total aboveground carbon. In this article, we describe synergies with protecting large trees for climate mitigation, biodiversity, and forest resilience goals to shift species composition, reduce fuel loads and stem density, and adapt to climatically driven increases in fire activity in eastern Oregon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests are critical to the planetary operational system and evolved without human management for millions of years in North America. Actively managing forests to help them adapt to a changing climate and disturbance regime has become a major focus in the United States. Aside from a subset of forests wherein wood production, human safety, and experimental research are primary goals, we argue that expensive management interventions are often unnecessary, have uncertain benefits, or are detrimental to many forest attributes such as resilience, carbon accumulation, structural complexity, and genetic and biological diversity. Natural forests (i.e., those protected and largely free from human management) tend to develop greater complexity, carbon storage, and tree diversity over time than forests that are actively managed; and natural forests often become less susceptible to future insect attacks and fire following these disturbances. Natural forest stewardship is therefore a critical and cost effective strategy in forest climate adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a review and comparison of strategies to increase forest carbon, and reduce species losses for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the United States. It compares forest management strategies and actions that are taking place or being proposed to reduce wildfire risk and to increase carbon storage with recent research findings. International agreements state that safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems is fundamental to climate resilience with respect to climate change impacts on them, and their roles in adaptation and mitigation. The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on impacts, mitigation, and adaptation found, and member countries agreed, that maintaining the resilience of biodiversity and ecosystem services at a global scale is "fundamental" for climate mitigation and adaptation, and requires "effective and equitable conservation of approximately 30 to 50% of Earth's land, freshwater and ocean areas, including current near-natural ecosystems." Our key message is that many of the current and proposed forest management actions in the United States are not consistent with climate goals, and that preserving 30 to 50% of lands for their carbon, biodiversity and water is feasible, effective, and necessary for achieving them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘We have kicked the can down the road once again – but we are running out of road.’ – Rachel Kyte, Dean of Fletcher School at Tufts University. We, in our capacities as scientists, economists, governance and policy specialists, are shifting from warnings to guidance for action before there is no more ‘road.’ The science is clear and irrefutable; humanity is in advanced ecological overshoot. Our overexploitation of resources exceeds ecosystems’ capacity to provide them or to absorb our waste. Society has failed to meet clearly stated goals of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Civilization faces an epochal crossroads, but with potentially much better, wiser outcomes if we act now. What are the concrete and transformative actions by which we can turn away from the abyss? In this paper we forcefully recommend priority actions and resource allocation to avert the worst of the climate and nature emergencies, two of the most pressing symptoms of overshoot, and lead society into a future of greater wellbeing and wisdom. Humanity has begun the social, economic, political and technological initiatives needed for this transformation. Now, massive upscaling and acceleration of these actions and collaborations are essential before irreversible tipping points are crossed in the coming decade. We still can overcome significant societal, political and economic barriers of our own making. Previously, we identified six core areas for urgent global action – energy, pollutants, nature, food systems, population stabilization and economic goals. Here we identify an indicative, systemic and time-limited framework for priority actions for policy, planning and management at multiple scales from household to global. We broadly follow the ‘Reduce-Remove-Repair’ approach to rapid action. To guide decision makers, planners, managers, and budgeters, we cite some of the many experiments, mechanisms and resources in order to facilitate rapid global adoption of effective solutions. Our biggest challenges are not technical, but social, economic, political and behavioral. To have hope of success, we must accelerate collaborative actions across scales, in different cultures and governance systems, while maintaining adequate social, economic and political stability. Effective and timely actions are still achievable on many, though not all fronts. Such change will mean the difference for billions of children and adults, hundreds of thousands of species, health of many ecosystems, and will determine our common future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'We have kicked the can down the road once again – but we are running out of road.' – Rachel Kyte, Dean of Fletcher School at Tufts University. We, in our capacities as scientists, economists, governance and policy specialists, are shifting from warnings to guidance for action before there is no more 'road.' The science is clear and irrefutable; humanity is in advanced ecological overshoot. Our overexploitation of resources exceeds ecosystems' capacity to provide them or to absorb our waste. Society has failed to meet clearly stated goals of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Civilization faces an epochal crossroads, but with potentially much better, wiser outcomes if we act now. What are the concrete and transformative actions by which we can turn away from the abyss? In this paper we forcefully recommend priority actions and resource allocation to avert the worst of the climate and nature emergencies, two of the most pressing symptoms of overshoot, and lead society into a future of greater wellbeing and wisdom. Humanity has begun the social, economic, political and technological initiatives needed for this transformation. Now, massive upscaling and acceleration of these actions and collaborations are essential before irreversible tipping points are crossed in the coming decade. We still can overcome significant societal, political and economic barriers of our own making. Previously, we identified six core areas for urgent global action – energy, pollutants, nature, food systems, population stabilization and economic goals. Here we identify an indicative, systemic and time-limited framework for priority actions for policy, planning and management at multiple scales from household to global. We broadly follow the 'Reduce-Remove-Repair' approach to rapid action. To guide decision makers, planners, managers, and budgeters, we cite some of the many experiments, mechanisms and resources in order to facilitate rapid global adoption of effective solutions. Our biggest challenges are not technical, but social, economic, political and behavioral. To have hope of success, we must accelerate collaborative actions across scales, in different cultures and governance systems, while maintaining adequate social, economic and political stability. Effective and timely actions are still achievable on many, though not all fronts. Such change will mean the difference for billions of children and adults, hundreds of thousands of species, health of many ecosystems, and will determine our common future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic modelling of the global carbon cost of harvesting wood from forests shows a much higher annual cost than that estimated by other models, highlighting a major opportunity for reducing emissions by limiting wood harvests.Estimated emissions from harvesting wood from forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the short time-frame to limit global warming, and the current emissions gap, it is critical to prioritise mitigation actions. To date, scant attention has been paid to the mitigation benefits of primary forest protection. We estimated tropical forest ecosystem carbon stocks and flows. The ecosystem carbon stock of primary tropical forests is estimated at 141–159 Pg C (billion tonnes of carbon) which is some 49–53% of all tropical forest carbon, the living biomass component of which alone is 91–103% of the remaining carbon budget to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Furthermore, tropical forests have ongoing sequestration rates 0.47–1.3 Pg C yr−1, equivalent to 8–13% of annual global anthropogenic CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. We examined three main forest-based strategies used in the land sector—halting deforestation, increasing forest restoration and improving the sustainable management of production forests. The mitigation benefits of primary forest protection are contingent upon how degradation is defined and accounted for, while those from restoration also depend on how restoration is understood and applied. Through proforestation, reduced carbon stocks in secondary forests can regrow to their natural carbon carrying capacity or primary forest state. We evaluated published data from studies comparing logged and unlogged forests. On average, primary forests store around 35% more carbon. While comparisons are confounded by a range of factors, reported biomass carbon recovery rates were from 40 to 100+ years. There is a substantive portfolio of forest-based mitigation actions and interventions available to policy and decision-makers, depending on national circumstances, in addition to SFM and plantation focused approaches, that can be grouped into four main strategies: protection; proforestation, reforestation and restoration; reform of guidelines, accounting rules and default values; landscape conservation planning. Given the emissions gap, mitigation strategies that merely reduce the rate of emissions against historic or projected reference levels are insufficient. Mitigation strategies are needed that explicitly avoid emissions where possible as well as enabling ongoing sequestration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Second Warning to Humanity provides a clarion call for wetland researchers and practitioners given the loss and degradation of wetlands, the declining availability of fresh water, and the likely consequences of climate change. A coordinated response and approach to policies has the potential to prevent further degradation and support resilient wetlands that can provide a range of ecosystem services, including buffering wetlands from climate impacts, and avoiding major climate amplification from temperature-induced release of additional carbon dioxide and methane while addressing the causes and consequences of global climate change. The Warning to Humanity also provides an opportunity for organisations such as the Society of Wetland Scientists to raise the profile of wetlands and to initiate a discussion on how to respond and change direction from the destructive development trajectory that led to wetland loss and degradation. It also provides a signal for a reappraisal of the effectiveness of the implementation of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands as an international mechanism for ensuring the sustainability of wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part 1 of this review synthesizes recent research on status and climate vulnerability of freshwater and saltwater wetlands, and their contribution to addressing climate change (carbon cycle, adaptation, resilience). Peatlands and vegetated coastal wetlands are among the most carbon rich sinks on the planet sequestering approximately as much carbon as do global forest ecosystems. Estimates of the consequences of rising temperature on current wetland carbon storage and future carbon sequestration potential are summarized. We also demonstrate the need to prevent drying of wetlands and thawing of permafrost by disturbances and rising temperatures to protect wetland carbon stores and climate adaptation/resiliency ecosystem services. Preventing further wetland loss is found to be important in limiting future emissions to meet climate goals, but is seldom considered. In Part 2, the paper explores the policy and management realm from international to national, subnational and local levels to identify strategies and policies reflecting an integrated understanding of both wetland and climate change science. Specific recommendations are made to capture synergies between wetlands and carbon cycle management, adaptation and resiliency to further enable researchers, policy makers and practitioners to protect wetland carbon and climate adaptation/resiliency ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving sustainable development and meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires that there be an effective process of negotiating and implementing sustainable development policies and practices. This paper characterizes an evolving approach that we define as sustainable development diplomacy. Based on an analysis of the history of climate governance as a case study of sustainable development diplomacy and drawing on a diverse range of literatures including international negotiations, global environmental governance, and socio-ecological systems, it identifies seven diagnostics that can be used to evaluate the negotiation and implementation of sustainable development goals. We argue for a needs-based approach that brings together diverse stakeholders to devise flexible solutions that fit the complexity and scale of sustainable development challenges. We illustrate the diagnostic elements with examples from our case study of climate change, as one of the major global sustainable development challenges, but the diagnostics have wider applicability to sustainable development diplomacy and practice more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the global climate agreement which has been the topic during the UNFCCC 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France in 2015 to keep global average temperature increase well below 2°C. It states that climate change is a global problem that will affect the individuals and national economies. Also mentioned is the fate of the Paris agreement under the Donald Trump administration.

Successful science‐based policies build upon the pillar of sound science, while meeting the needs of diverse societies in an economically and politically feasible manner. How do scientists and diplomats interact most productively too achieve a successful outcome? Successful science‐based policies build upon the pillar of sound science, while meeting the needs of diverse societies in an economically and politically feasible manner. How do scientists and diplomats interact most productively too achieve a successful outcome? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon stock in Europe's forests is decreasing and the importance of protecting "unmanaged" forests must be recognised in reversing this process. In order to keep carbon out of the atmosphere and to meet the Paris Agreement goals, the remaining primary forests must be protected and secondary forests should be allowed to continue growing to preserve existing carbon stocks and accumulate additional stocks. In order to reverse the decreasing forest carbon stocks in Europe (European Environmental Agency, 2019), the largest forest carbon stores must be protected and additional forests must be allowed to continue accumulating carbon (proforestation). [Extracted from the article]

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the largest known remaining anthropogenic threat to the stratospheric ozone layer. However, it is currently only regulated under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol because of its simultaneous ability to warm the climate. The threat N2O poses to the stratospheric ozone layer, coupled with the uncertain future of the international climate regime, motivates our exploration of issues that could be relevant to the Parties to the ozone regime (the 1985 Vienna Convention and its 1987 Montreal Protocol) should they decide to take measures to manage N2O in the future. There are clear legal avenues to regulate N2O under the ozone regime as well as several ways to share authority with the existing and future international climate treaties. N2O mitigation strategies exist to address the most significant anthropogenic sources, including agriculture, where behavioral practices and new technologies could contribute significantly to reducing emissions. Existing policies managing N2O and other forms of reactive nitrogen could be harnessed and built on by the ozone regime to implement N2O controls. There are several challenges and potential cobenefits to N2O control which we discuss here: food security, equity, and implications of the nitrogen cascade. The possible inclusion of N2O in the ozone regime need not be viewed as a sign of failure of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to adequately deal with climate change. Rather, it could represent an additional valuable tool in sustainable development diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines whether the international treaty system can address the problem of climate change. It gives a history on when climate change became an international issue when the United Nations created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 whose job is to examine evidence of man-made, or anthropogenic, climate change and to assess its possible impact. It points out the reluctance of the U.S., a major producer of carbon gas emissions, to ratify international treaties on climate change based on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. It also describes the refusal of rich nations to take on the financial burden of climate change by giving technological assistance to poor countries.

A de facto "system" of global environmental governance already exists. The de facto system of global environmental governance is neither neat nor simple; it works in a rather messy, non-linear, non-hierarchical, and intertwined fashion. However it is a system that has proved to be resilient as well as prolific. This paper argues that although there is no real reason to make the system less messy, it can be made more effective by taking a number of steps that would (a) support the positive trends already apparent in the emergent system (b) strengthen the system as it evolves, and (c) articulate a clear vision for the eventual system that we wish to move towards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed a home energy conservation exercise that illustrates the ways in which heat energy is lost from a home and ultimately, how it can be conserved. Students are asked to calculate the heat loss from a model home before and after applying energy conserving modifications. The difference in these calculations represents the amount of heat energy that could be conserved by making the modifications. To calculate total heat loss for each version of the home, students must account for convection, (heat transfer via air movement), and conduction, (heat transfer through solid materials). Students are provided with a list of building material costs and a budget of $5,000 and are asked to retrofit the un-insulated home in such a way as to conserve the maximum amount of energy and heating cost per heating month. Introductory geology courses commonly include material on resources, energy, and the environment. Current news topics include discussion of the energy resources in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and the shortage of natural gas. This exercise takes a practical approach to energy conservation and applies it directly to conservation of a geological resource. When used in conjunction with classroom discussions concerning the detrimental effects of the use of fossil fuels and their limited supply, it is an effective way of demonstrating the concept of conservation as a source of energy and a means to preserve the environment. It is also a practical way to incorporate quantitative reasoning into the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that in February, the first negotiating sessions for a framework convention on global climate change will attempt to forge an international agreement aimed at limiting anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Gives details on a `Greenhouse Index,' which will facilitate comparison of national contributions to the warming potential of the atmosphere. INSET: Commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions..

Comments on Bjorn Lomborg's (2001) book 'The Skeptical Environmentalist,' concerning errors committed by environmentalists. Various studies of Lomborg; Distinction between environmental advocates and environmental scientists; Critical aspects of the environmental changes.

Presents a response from Allen Hammond, Eric Rodenburg and William Moomaw to letters to the editor about their article on the Greenhouse Index.

Presents a letter to the editor in response to speeches by Mikhail S. Gorbachev and George Bush about global environmental issues in the April issue.