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The development of dry ports has reshaped the international freight shipping market, introducing both competition pressure (i.e., the common hinterland) and cooperation opportunities (sea-rail intermodal) for seaports. This is more evident in China with the development of the China Railway Express. Unlike dry ports, seaports are more vulnerable to climate change-related disasters, calling for investment in adaptation measures. This paper examines how co-opetition with the dry port affects seaport adaptation investment using a two-stage game-theoretical economic model. Results indicate that cooperation leads to more seaport adaptation investment, while competition results in reduced investment. When compared to the social optimal level of adaptation investment, the seaport tends to under-invest (over-invest) when the cooperation (competition) market size is larger. We also analyze how government subsidies in the seaport's adaptation help achieve optimal social adaptation and how the Knightian uncertainty of the disaster occurrence affects seaport adaptation investments. The relevant policy implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ambitious goals to limit global warming can only be reached with a broad acceptance and participation of the general public. This paper relies on surveys among citizens in China, Germany and the U.S. and investigates the determinants of the acceptance of national and international adaptation and mitigation efforts. The empirical findings indicate that specific beliefs and environmental awareness are important drivers in all three countries, while political attitudes and socio-economic characteristics are the main sources of cross-country heterogeneity. The study thereby points at important starting points and target groups for raising the acceptance of national and international climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is an important type of land use but suffers from drought, especially under global climate change scenarios. Although government is a major actor in helping farmers to adapt to drought, lack of funds has constrained its efforts. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mechanism has been widely applied in urban infrastructure development to raise fund for public goods and services, but very few studies explored its role in rural areas. Based on interview of 139 farming households and open-ended interview of village heads, government officials and company representatives, in the Lujiang Flatland in the Nu River (Upper Salween) Valley, Southwest China, this paper aims to reveal how PPP functions to enhance farmers' adaptation to drought. We found that farmers have developed multiple strategies in their own ways to adapt to drought, including pumping and store water, using water-saving irrigation techniques, changing of crops, and strengthening water management at the community level, while insufficient funds, water resource scarcity and mismatch of time-scale of crop growth and drought even hindered their adaptation options. Limited fund sources, gap in policy implementation and weak performance of government-funded projects hindered governmental supports to be effective. Weak motivation and distrusted by farmers limited the engagement of private enterprises in supporting farmers to adapt to drought. PPP mechanism has the potential to mobilize fund from multiple sources, share costs, risks and benefits among different stakeholders, combine both scientific and local knowledge, and reduce uncertainty through formal and informal institutions. Benefited from these advantages, PPP mechanism could improve project performance, thus increase farmers’ adaptation options and resilience to drought. This study offers referential lessons and valuable insights for agricultural development, especially for mountain communities vulnerable to exceptional and recurrent drought episodes under warming climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensification of heat stress in a changing climate poses great threats to both human health and labor productivity. It is of great practical importance to assess the impacts of climate-induced heat stress on labor productivity and to develop effective adaptation strategies. In this paper, an integrated optimization-based productivity restoration modeling framework is proposed for the first time to develop the optimal policies for adaptation to climate change. To address underlying uncertainties associated with climate and labor management systems, we take into account ensemble projections from five global climate models (GCMs) under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5) and inexact system costs. The system costs, including direct and indirect costs such as management costs, energy costs, and labor costs, are presented as interval numbers due to inherent uncertainty caused by population growth, technology development, and other social-economic factors. Uncertain information can be effectively communicated into the optimization processes in this study to generate optimal and reliable decision alternatives. We find that the increased Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) will lead to a large reduction in labor capacities over China except for the Tibetan Plateau under both RCPs by the end of the 21st century. The less developed regions tend to achieve the minimum system cost by having labor productivity recovered through working overtime due to the relatively low cost of overtime. This could result in more heat-related work injuries in the less developed regions. Since the less developed regions are not heat-prone areas in China, the changing climate would be a more dangerous threat and cause more damages to these regions where the residents are less acclimatized to heat stress. Moreover, we obtain a range of minimum system costs from 1.86 to 8.97 billion dollars under RCP2.6 and from 9.42 to 32.31 billion dollars under RCP8.5 (about 0.2% of China's GDP in 2019, 0.01% of China's GDP projected in 2100 under a sustainable socio-economic development scenario) for the restoration of labor productivity in a warming climate. We argue that urgent actions are needed to mitigate global warming impacts on labor productivity. • An integrated optimization modeling framework is developed to achieve optimal labor productivity restoration in a warming climate. • Various uncertainties are addressed through ensemble climate projections and interval programming models. • Intensification of heat stress leads to a large decrease in labor capacity over China except for the Tibetan Plateau. • More losses in working hours are projected for moderate labor activities compared to light and heavy labor activities. • Less developed regions tend to have more working hours recovered by working overtime than air conditioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Understanding the confounding impacts of climatic and varietal changes on crop phenology is of importance to help make appropriate adaptation measures and target future directions for crop breeding. This paper investigated the changes in winter wheat phenology and analysed the impact of climatic, varietal and sowing date changes on crop phenology during the last three decades by combining field data with modeling. The APSIM crop model was used to quantify the changes in wheat phenology in terms of vernalization and photoperiod sensitivity as well as the changes in thermal time of pre- and post-flowering stage among wheat varieties at six sites in the North China Plain (NCP). The results showed that APSIM model could capture the phenological changes of winter wheat caused by interannual climatic change. There was a large spatial difference in the response pattern of wheat phenology to climatic and varietal changes across NCP. At most sites the increase in temperature shortened the growth duration of winter wheat mainly by shortening the growth period from sowing to jointing. The delayed sowing of winter wheat further shortened the growth period from sowing to jointing at two northern sites (Tianjin and Huimin). Continuous adoption of new wheat varieties shortened the growth period from sowing to jointing at Huimin, Xinxiang and Zhumadian, from jointing to flowering at Tianjin, but helped increase the length of growth period from jointing to flowering at Huimin, Tangyin and Xinxiang and post-flowering growth period at all the sites except for Tangyin. The findings of the study suggest that past cultivar changes in wheat in the NCP have been varied geographically. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Climate change is affecting agricultural production and is expected to continue reducing water availability, potentially necessitating adaptation adjustment by related sectors to maintain sustainability of saline land use system highly vulnerable to water shortages. The drought in 2010 impacted the salt-affected land use system of the coastal region in Jiangsu Province, China. The main purpose of this paper is to determine which systems are least adaptive, and what factors limit their adaptive capacity to drought, among three typical saline land use systems of Jinhai farm located in the coastal reclamation region of north Jiangsu Province. An analytical framework for analyzing climate impacts and adaptation for saline agriculture is presented. To better understand climate change impacts and the adaptive capacity of saline land use systems, we conducted semi-structured interviews and group discussions with representatives of surrounding households and the farmer on Jinhai farm, experts and officials from government sectors and institutes. From these conversations two impact indicators were picked up and a set of determinants for adaptability and their rankings were derived. There is considerable variability in climate change impacts among different saline land use systems and a concentration of impacts on paddy systems. Adaptability in addition to climate change is cumulative to the impacts, particularly unsafe water resource planning, irrational land use mode and crop arrangement, and defective institutions and policies. Our results highlight the importance of a comprehensive and integrative land development planning involving water resource and land use arrangements participated in by representatives of stakeholders. Although there has been much progress in streamlining climate change assessments into sector planning in Dafeng – such as water resources, agriculture, beach and so on – it is clear that there is a need to improve institution, policy, market guidelines and technique R&D to ensure more consistent adaptation, especially considering the rapid evolution of the climate science behind the assessments. Achieving sustainable saline agriculture might require transformative changes in markets, policies, and science. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The National 12th Five-Year-Plan for Social and Economic Development (2011–2015) (national development policy) in China requires knowledge of ecological complexity to better guide policy development for adaptation strategies and mitigation to complex climate change. The thinking of human–environment interactions supplements climate change related policies in supporting sustainability through adaptation and mitigation. Based on a review of the climate change contents of the National 10th and 11th Five-Year-Plan in China, the paper illustrates the complexity of climate changes that have affected China''s environmental sustainability now and offers policy viewpoints for the in-preparing 12th Five-Year Plan, with five core areas for the implementation of climate change policy: (A) development of the transition to a low carbon economy, (B) prevention and treatment of urban environmental negative effects caused by climate change, (C) adaptation to sea level rises in coastal zones, (D) maintaining the resilience of natural ecosystems affected by climate change, and (E) prevention and control of climate disaster and environmental risk. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Frequently unknown climate change increases the risk of agriculture, more attention have been paid to agricultural system itself in the research field, but few has been attached to the perspective of social dimension. Based on the research on Yangtze River Basin of China, the paper has adopted vulnerability theory including the exposure of agricultural ecosystem, farmers’ sensitivity to exposure and adaptive capacity to climate risk, to explain farmer''s adaptation to climate risk. It concludes that climate change has increased climate risk in agriculture and the uncertainty of agricultural production. Confronting climate risk in agriculture, different farming bodies have shown different farm and off-farm/non-farm adaptations in pre-risk, during risk and post-risk, which has reduced their short-term vulnerability. Household life cycle, pressure, institution, available resources and technologies are the key influential factors. From the adaptation in long term, it still requires external support and more investment including agricultural insurance system, village-level information and technology dissemination mechanism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Unanticipated environmental shocks impact the livelihoods of many resource users around the world. These shocks are likely to be more unpredictable as the effects of climate change continue to mount. Yet how households adapt to these changing climatic conditions especially in the context of rapidly changing market conditions in most areas of the world, is poorly understood. These interactions have wide implications for both smallholder livelihoods and sustainable use of natural resources. In this paper, we examine the relationship between environmental shocks and stocking rates in livestock herds in the Inner Mongolian grasslands of northern China. We uniquely examine three types of shocks and how households adapt livestock production strategies in response to each. Separately and in aggregate, we look at three common shocks in Inner Mongolia: droughts, snowstorms, and locust outbreaks. We use a difference-in-differences approach to estimate changes in stocking rates among households that experience shocks versus those that do not with a panel dataset from 2009 to 2014 of 597 households. While we find no clear impact from locusts, our results suggest droughts and snowstorms have opposite effects: droughts are associated with increases in herd sizes, but snowstorms result in decreased herds. We suggest these differences are due to interactions between shocks, emerging options to borrow on credit, and livestock markets. Household adaptation to climate change will be strategic and take advantage of both available resources as well as market conditions. • Climate change is causing stronger and more unpredictable environmental shocks. • We use a difference-in-differences model to estimate the impact of shocks on stocking rate. • Drought relates to bigger herds; snowstorms relate to smaller herds. • Households adapt to shocks taking advantage of both available resources and market conditions. • Shaping well-functioning market may reduce opportunistic resource exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We assess the role of each form of capital on adoption of adaptation strategies. • Farmers' livelihood capital plays a key role in adopting adaptation strategies. • Natural and social capital have a positive effect on adopting adaptation measures. • Physical and human capital are inclined to promote farmers' adaptive behavior. Based on the sustainable livelihood framework, this paper explores the influence of each form of livelihood capital on the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies by farmers. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 235 households in Wushen Banner, China, while the boosted regression tree model was used to analyze how different forms of livelihood capital are related to farmers' choices regarding climate change adaptation strategies. Our results show that most farmers in the study area have adopted adaptation strategies to cope with climate change. The farmers' livelihood capital plays an important role in their adoption of adaptation strategies. Specifically, natural capital and social capital have a positive impact on farmers' decisions about climate change adaptation strategies. Human capital and physical capital are inclined to promote farmers' adoption of climate change adaptation strategies. The results of this study are helpful for improving our understanding of how livelihood capital influences climate change adaptation strategies among farmers, which can provide implications for planning more effective adaptation programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]