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The effects of climate change on land-based food systems are, and will continue to be, devastating. To preserve lives and livelihoods, policy in the food-climate nexus must help to build resilience and adapt successfully to these changes. Yet farmers, whose tacit knowledge makes them experts in food systems adaptation and whose livelihoods are directly affected by shifts in policy, are conspicuously absent from planning discussions. This is the case in three Eastern Canadian Maritime provinces-Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island-where provincial adaptation planning does not consider climate change a threat to food systems. This thesis explores the potential and current contributions of farmers' knowledge to adaptation of regional and global food systems. From an empirical perspective, I explain how farmer knowledge has been sidelined in research and policy discussions and demonstrate how farmer-led collective action successfully builds adaptive capacity to climate change. I also contribute to ongoing theoretical discussions by deconstructing the meaning of "resilience" in the context of the implementation of the term in policy in the food-climate nexus. Its original contributions to research come in three published papers which primarily focus on small-scale vegetable producers in the Maritimes region as a case study of how farmers adapt markets and farms without policy support. Fieldwork insights draw from two sets of semi-structured interviews, conducted and analyzed through grounded theory methodology. First, I present a systematic literature review of farmer perceptions of climate change in the academic literature. I argue that while the literature certainly recognizes farmers' participation in land management as an essential component of successful adaptation, their knowledge is largely perceived as provisional and open for verification by scientists, rather than trustworthy. Then, I consider collective action in the food system and its implications for endogenous, grass-roots climate adaptation strategies. Building on interviews conducted in the Maritimes over 2017-2018, the paper suggests that collective action substantively contributes to adaptation and should be supported by adaptation policy, rather than overturned by top-down policies which dictate changes and adaptations. Finally, I examine disjointed definitions of the term "resilience" between farmer participants and Canadian climate policy, pointing to the problematic nature of boundary objects in climate and food policy. Building on the notion that resilience is not a politically neutral term, the paper uses the example of studies from Canadian government committees to point out how a loose definition of resilience can entrench the status quo rather than enable necessary adaptations. The thesis argues that farmer knowledge on successful adaptation is nowhere near as present in adaptation planning processes as the literature suggests it is, or ought to be. It shows that farmers can and do capably generate successful adaptations for entire food systems through collective action with other food system actors. The thesis also warns that while these adaptations require external support, the institutional mechanisms currently in place tend to reinforce the status quo rather than communicate felt impacts or enable transformative change in food systems.

Poverty and climate change are the two defining challenges of our time. They are also closely inter-linked. On one side, climate change and environmental degradation make poverty reduction significantly more difficult. On the other side, poverty eradication may result in unsustainable increases in energy use and environmental pressures. This trade-off is at the basis of the research question addressed in the thesis: can, and in which ways is it possible to eradicate poverty within environmental limits, including the avoidance of climate change? The thesis empirically explores this question in three papers covering: (i) the impact of poverty reduction on the local environment; (ii) the role of energy factors in antipoverty policies; (iii) the trade-off between poverty and emissions at the country level, and the role of growth and inequality. The first two papers of the thesis examine the impact of two antipoverty policies (Bolsa Família in Brazil and Familias en AcciÃÂ3n in Colombia) at the micro and meso levels. The findings underline the importance of mediating factors in shaping the heterogeneous causal relationship between poverty reduction and local environmental conditions. They offer evidence on the importance of energy factors for the success of antipoverty policies. The third paper moves the analysis to the macro level. It shows that the effect of economic growth on poverty is non-linear. Growth-related poverty reduction leads to increased emissions, but this effect can be ameliorated with decreasing inequality. It also shows evidence of a decoupling process between poverty and emissions in the more recent period. The paper also explores the importance of the welfare state in achieving poverty reduction within environmental limits. The thesis contributes to the existing literature in several ways. The studies explore the causal links between poverty reduction and the environment. Common endogeneity issues are addressed by the use of a quasi-experimental setting presented by the evaluation of a specific type of antipoverty policy, namely conditional cash transfers. From a methodological perspective the thesis introduces the use of multilevel models in the evaluation of antipoverty policies. This allows the empirical analysis of contextual and mediating factors, as well as the significance of different policy levels. The thesis also presents a novel use of high-resolution maps to estimate environmental outcomes. Finally, the study models simultaneous changes in poverty and emissions. More broadly, the findings presented in the thesis suggest that, in order to eradicate poverty within global environmental limits, a new development model needs to be adopted in developing countries. This is especially true for large developing countries such as China and India. Such a new model may be represented by green growth or by an increased use of redistributive policies. In this context, social protection policies may provide an effective tool to address both environmental and poverty challenges simultaneously. The findings also indicate that greater coordination between the different policy levels can work to reduce the trade-offs between them.

The evolutionary economic geography of climate change is concerned with the processes by which the landscapes of greenhouse gas emissions and vulnerability to climate change are transformed from within over time. Unlike neoclassical economics, evolutionary economic geography is interested in how economic change is driven by innovation and shaped by structural, historical, and contextual factors at different scales. This thesis articulates an evolutionary economic geography perspective on three debates: (1) What factors influence human systems’ capacity to adapt to climate change, and how can these factors be assessed? (2) What forces drive and inhibit economic change towards low-carbon economies, and how should governments induce and manage such shifts? (3) What role should climate finance play in promoting developing countries’ shifts to low-emitting and climate-resilient economies, and how should it be managed? The thesis includes five academic papers. The first reviews the literature on vulnerability and adaptation. It argues that the adaptive capacity of human systems is constrained by structural and historical factors, and that the rich data necessary to identify these factors can only be obtained through qualitative research methods. The next two papers offer case studies from the Global Islands’ Vulnerability Research Adaptation and Policy Development project, which assess the adaptive capacity of Soufriere, Saint Lucia and Whitehouse, Jamaica, respectively. The fourth paper examines the mechanics of three low-carbon shifts in Brazil: the diffusion of no-till agriculture, the decrease in the deforestation rate in the Amazon, and the growth of the ethanol biofuel industry. It found that the driving forces behind each of the shifts were far more varied and complex than the price-based market dynamics analysed in neoclassical economics. The final paper argues that climate finance will need to perform a variety of functions beyond attracting low-carbon private investment. It concludes that the institutional architecture governing climate finance should enable direct access to national governments to incentivise them to implement sustainable innovation policy regimes.

The global climate is changing. Compared with many parts of the world, especially North America and Europe, relatively little is known about how climate has changed over the Arabian Peninsula (AP) in recent decades. Quantifying the climate change in the mean and extreme temperature and precipitation variables and understanding the mechanisms behind these changes are essential for establishing adequate and proper adaptation strategies to ensure sustainability, reduce vulnerability and safeguard livelihoods. Four papers in this thesis contribute to that objective, utilising a combination of in situ high quality meteorological station data and high resolution regional climate model data. The first paper quantifies the trends in monthly, seasonal and annual mean, maximum, minimum temperatures and Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) variables and total precipitation. The station dataseries are tested for quality control and homogeneity. A non-parametric test is used to calculate the trends and evaluate the trend significance for individual stations, subregions (Non-monsoonal and Monsoonal) and for the whole area average. There is a high significant increase in the temperature variables especially the minimum temperature (during 1980-2008 and over all the AP the trend of annual minimum temperature is 0.55 °C decade-1 while the annual maximum temperature trend is 0.32 °C decade-1) which leads to significant decrease in the DTR. The precipitation is decline but insignificantly. The non-monsoonal region located north of 20° N has experienced higher rates of warming than the monsoonal region. Spring and summer seasons witness the highest significant warming. The interannual variability of the AP temperature and precipitation shows marked negative association after 1998. The second paper utilises the AP daily data of maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation to calculate climate extremes indices, evaluate the regional/subregional trends of these indices and assess the trend significance. There is a clear significant decrease of cold temperature extremes and a significant increase in the warm temperature extremes. The increase in the nighttime temperature extremes is remarkable in the last two decades (the rate of increase of the warm night frequency is 3.6% decade-1 during 1986-2008). The spatial trend patterns reveal a latitudinal distinction whereby the northern AP experiences an increase associated with day-time extremes while for the night-time extremes the trends are higher and significant for the southern region. Precipitation indices trends are weak and although they show general decrease in the last two decades they are insignificant. The changes in the Dew Point (Td) and the Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) indicate possible changes in the regional dynamics. The third paper uses the Providing Regional Climates for Impact Studies (PRECIS) regional climate model forced by the European Centre for ERA-Interim re-analysis (ERA-Interim) to simulate the AP climate during 1990-2008. PRECIS simulation is validated based on climate mean and trends. The model simulation captures the mean climatic conditions and patterns, the increasing temperature tendency, as well as the decreasing precipitation observed in the last two decades. However, PRECIS has cold bias especially with the minimum temperature and it overestimates the precipitation over the high lands or regions close to them over the southwestern mountains and underestimates the precipitation over the southeastern mountains. The model products provide indications on the reasons behind the highest daytime spring warming (decrease of specific humidity) and significant nighttime summer warming (increase of Sea Surface Temperature (SST)). The model fails to simulate the recent increase of the nighttime temperature parameters over AP. The final paper addresses the possible local atmospheric circulations, SST and remote modes of variability associated with the recent AP climate extreme changes. Using the PRECIS simulation, composite difference maps for some surface, upper atmospheric circulation maps and SSTs between two period 1990-1997 and 1998-2008 have been calculated. The composite difference maps reveal significant local changes in these atmospheric and oceanic variables which possibly partly explain the recent regional warming and drying conditions during the last two decades. In addition, relationships of the regional/subregional extremes indices timeseries have been calculated with some known remote modes of variability. There is a clear, strong relation of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) with the AP climate in all the seasons except in winter. The North Atlantic Caspian Sea Pattern (NCP) influences the regional climate in winter especially the temperature variables.

A policy mechanism known as REDD+ (‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks and conservation’) is designed to contribute to climate change mitigation efforts and simultaneously support developing countries’ national development agendas. This is effected by providing REDD+ host countries with financial incentives to produce measurable reductions in carbon emissions beyond what would have occurred without REDD+. Indonesia is a key target of the REDD+ mechanism for several reasons, eg: (i) its forests support 10% of the world's remaining tropical rain forests and represent the fourth largest forest carbon stock globally, (ii) 80% of its GHG emissions result from deforestation and forest degradation, and (iii) it has the potential to reduce up to 120 million tons of CO2 per year. Consequently, to date Indonesia has received donor’s commitments of nearly US$2 billion for REDD+ development. Given this profile, Indonesia’s success in implementing REDD+ can contribute significantly to the efficacy of REDD+ globally. However, achieving this potential is undermined by a set of long-standing problems inherent within Indonesia’s forest institutions, including issues of corruption, coordination, uncertainty in the forests’ legal system, capacity to manage forests at multiple levels of government, and the use of forest concessions to consolidate political power. This thesis asks the primary research question: “How do REDD+ institutions effect governance reform within Indonesia’s existing national and sub-national forest institutions?” 'Institutionalism', in particular the concept of 'institutional interplay' is the main conceptual framework deployed and grounded in the context of the vertical interplay between the internationally-formulated REDD+ mechanism and Indonesia's forest institutions. Guided by the themes that emerged from the data collected, this research explored and expanded certain analytical approaches within the perspectives of institutionalism and governance, namely ‘historical institutionalism’, ‘clientelism’, 'critical juncture', ‘policy networks’ and ‘social learning’. This thesis adopted the ‘four paper route’ and employed mixed methods of data collection (ie interview, shadowing, and policy document review). It found that during the process of institutional interplay as REDD+ institutions deployed the principles of good governance, advanced a robust system of measurement, reporting and verification of reductions in carbon emission, attracted large funding, and involved a broad range and multi-scale of actors, the REDD+ mechanism produced 'collateral benefits'. The tangible form of these benefits was the production of new policy instruments, eg the 'national REDD+ strategy' (paper 2), 'one map initiative' (paper 3), and ‘village agreement’ (paper 4) through which a significant body of evidence showed the capability of REDD+ to effect governance reform within and beyond Indonesia's forestry sector. Paper 1, revealed how policy actors perceived REDD+ and as such provides the basis of these three papers. The positive results of institutional interplay that occurred were determined not only by the characteristic of REDD+ institutions themselves but also by the existence of domestic reformists and the national reform agenda.

As the impacts of climate change accelerate, Israel has experienced three long droughts since the turn of the century: 1999-2001, 2004-2011 and 2014-2017. In response to this recurring water scarcity, seawater desalination (SD) now supplies 80% of the country’s household water consumption. Whilst promising steady water supplies, SD is a specific hydro-policy that has long-term environmental, health, economic and political implications. This thesis applies a resilience perspective to investigate the historical development of hydro-policies discourse in Israel. It analyses how, over an eighteen-year period (2001-2018), Israeli newspapers and governmental public communication campaigns (PCCs) discursively represented the drought risks and the hydro-policies promoted to solve them, particularly the debate on SD as the preferred resilience policy. In doing so, the thesis addresses a research gap in media analyses of environmental discourse in Israel, and in the mediation of water scarcity more generally. Moreover, it innovatively employs the resilience perspective in communication studies to analyse (de)politicisation of policy responses to environmental and climate risks. Bringing two longitudinal methods in conversation with literature on resilience and postpolitics, this thesis critically evaluates the role of the media as contributing to the (de)politicisation of the hydro-policy debate and SD. The first method is a critical discourse analysis of newspapers concentrated on pre identified critical discourse periods, one for each drought (2001-2002, n=432; 2008-2010, n=377; 2018, n=127), which coincide with periods of formal governmental inquiry into hydro-policies. Selected newspapers in Hebrew are Haaretz (an elite broadsheet) and Yedioth Aharonoth (a popular daily) and their economic sub-papers TheMarker and Calcalist. The second method is a multimodal discourse analysis of videos from nine PCCs produced by the Israel Water Authority to reduce household water consumption (2008-2018, n=35). Findings show that in every period, newspapers framed the drought as a “water crisis” due to “governmental failure-to-act” and a supply and demand imbalance, with the connection to climate change marginalised and questioned. While delegitimising political disagreements between the contesting discourse coalitions (Agro-Zionist, Economic, Environmental and Social-Municipal), the newspapers generated a consensus around the continual expansion of privatised SD. Furthermore, the longitudinal findings reveal the expansion of techno-managerial, expert-based discourses in the newspapers, which became hegemonic over time, mainly in the form of economisation. The multimodal video analysis shows how the PCCs audio-visually reaffirmed the “crisis” frame and strengthened its depoliticisation, but in a different way: by making the issue an ethical-individual one. Finally, in both mediums, the scope of the discourse on resilience was limited to drought risk and not wider anthropogenic climate impacts, neglecting the relationship between SD and climate change.

Many reports, scientific papers, patents, and scientific news investigate the feasibility and affordability of direct carbon dioxide capture from the atmospheric air (DAC). Since carbon dioxide (CO2) is extremely diluted in the atmosphere, large volumes of air have to be handled to capture comparable amounts of CO2. Therefore, both the energy consumption and the plant size are expected to be 'prohibitive'. On the other hand, some analyses have shown that DAC is feasible and can become affordable with essential research and development. DAC has been regarded as an optional bridging or a transitional technology for mitigating CO2 emissions in the medium-term. Priorities include investing in renewable and low-carbon technologies, efficiency and integration of energy systems, and realisation of additional environmental benefits. A heavy reliance on negative emission technologies (NETs), and consequently DAC, may be extremely risky as NETs interact with a number of societal challenges, i.e. food, land, water and energy security. Although, "... capturing carbon from thin air may turn out to be our last line of defence, if climate change is as bad as the climate scientists say, and if humanity fails to take the cheaper and more sensible option that may still be available today" MacKay (2009). Certainly, more research is necessary to bring down both cost and energy requirements for DAC. This work firstly predicts the adsorption equilibrium behaviour of a novel temperature swing adsorption process, which captures carbon dioxide directly from the air, concentrates, and purifies it at levels compatible to geological storage. The process consists of an adsorption air contactor, a compression and purification train, which is a series of packed beds reduced in size and connected in-line for the compression and purification purposes, and a final storage bed. The in-line beds undergo subsequent adsorption and desorption states. The final desorbed stream is stored in a storage bed. This cyclic process is repeated for a number of times imposed by the required purity and pressure in the final bed. The process is been thermodynamically verified and optimised. Since, the overall performance of this process does not only depend on the design of the process cycle and operating conditions but also on the chosen adsorbent material, further optimisation of the adsorptive and physical properties of the solid adsorbent is investigated. Thus, the optimal parameters of the potentially used porous materials is identified. Continuing the research on different adsorbent materials, an experimental investigation on the equilibrium properties of two competitive adsorbents is also performed. Besides the thermodynamic analysis, a dynamic model is presented for the investigation of the mass and heat transfer and its influence on the adsorption rate and consequently on the overall process performance. Since the initial stream is very dilute, it is expected that the adsorption rate will be low compared to other temperature swing processes and the capture rate will be affected by the heat transfer. Finally, the design and development of an experimental laboratory-scale apparatus is presented and analysed. Future design improvements are also discussed.

Altitudinal treeline advance represents a sensitive and well-studied example of species response to climate warming. Although a great deal of work has been conducted globally, few studies have considered subtropical alpine treelines and little is known about their structure and function. This research aims to investigate the response of high altitude forests in Taiwan to climate variation by characterising treeline advance in the area, exploring the mechanisms driving the advance, and considering the consequences of advance for the wider community. The thesis consists of a general introduction to the topic followed by a series of papers, exploring: (1) Possible consequences of treeline shifts for biodiversity and ecosystem function. (2) The advance of the Abies kawakamii treeline through aerial photograph analysis. (3) The changes in growth rate of Abies kawakamii at treeline and the influence of altitude and temperature on growth. (4) Regeneration patterns at treeline and the importance of microclimate and topographic sheltering. (5) Consequences of the range shift for the wider forest community. The work is then concluded with a general discussion and synthesis. The main aims of this work are therefore to characterise and understand the pattern and pace of treeline advance and forest structural change throughout the Central Mountain Range of Taiwan. Treeline advance is characterised through the study of repeat aerial photographs and the mechanisms behind the observed shift are explored through the study of two key responses associated with forest advance: tree growth at treeline and seedling establishment beyond treeline. The consequences of treeline advance for the wider subalpine community are investigated through the study of epiphytic lichen communities at treeline sites. This investigation of an understudied region will allow for improved understanding of treeline response at a global scale.

China has seen tremendous economic growth in the past three decades, and in the order of eight to ten per cent since 2000. This development has come with ever increasing energy consumption, and thus emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). This trend has been an important topic in the international climate negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; China is under constant pressure from other large economies to contribute to reversing the GHG emissions trend in order to avoid dangerous climate change. At the same time, the Chinese government has pursued an environmental and energy security agenda focussed at increasing the energy efficiency of its economy and the supply of energy from renewable sources. Alongside, a domestic climate change discourse has developed, and changed over time. This thesis examines elements of the country-specific political ecology in the area of greenhouse gas mitigation in China, looking closely at what climate change means in China, and discussing how this influences the development and institutionalisation of mitigation mechanisms. I take a political ecology approach to scrutinize the nature and evolution of a climate change discourse in China, and the influences and implications of existing governance structures and institutions that affect greenhouse gas mitigation in the country. Adopting mixed empirical methods comprising semi-structured interviewing, media and numerical data analyses, and participant observation in research processes close to the government, data was collected between 2008 and 2011. In five academic papers with distinctive angles, I show the importance of engaging deeply with the formative, distinctly Chinese political, economic and ecological environment when discussing mitigation in China. The Chinese climate change discourse has changed significantly in recent years, for example resulting in different discursively acceptable ways for the country to engage in mitigation. These meanings of climate change in China have developed through specific interactions of the political and academic spheres, based on Chinese understandings of nature and history (and China’s place in it), as well as with limited involvement of the media compared to western developed country cases. The notion of historical responsibility is a major component of what climate change means in China; in this thesis I therefore illuminate the numerical and conceptual ramifications of this part of the discourse, noting that the re-active nature of this frame, with China positioned against the developed countries, has not lend itself to support new mitigation action. Low carbon economy is another newer and now very important element of the discourse, a frame that locates China in an active, entrepreneurial subject position. My study on two cases – mitigation in the Beijing transportation sector and the introduction of seven local emission trading systems through a approach of governance through pilots – shows how this part of the discourse allows for the development of new mitigation approaches when they follow established institutions and governance mechanisms in a path-dependent manner. This thesis contributes to the research of global environmental change by advancing theoretical and practical ways of engaging with climate change in general, and mitigation in particular in China. It stresses the importance of considering the country-specific political ecology when formulating global climate change policy.

This thesis brings together two responses to the question ‘how can the law extend the timeframe for environmentally relevant decision-making?’ The first response is drawn from the context of institutional investment, and addresses the timeframe and breadth of environmental considerations in pension fund investment decision-making. The second response is related to the context of public environmental decision-making by legislators, the judiciary, and administrators. Three themes underlie and bind the thesis: the challenges to decision-making posed by the particular temporal and spatial characteristics of environmental problems, the existence and effects of short-termism in a variety of contexts, and the legal notion of the trust as a means for analysing and addressing problems of a long-term or intergenerational nature. These themes are borne out in each of the four substantive chapters. Chapter III sets out to demonstrate the theoretical potential of pension funds to drive the reduction of firms’ environmental impact, and, focusing particularly on the notion of fiduciary duty, explores the barriers that stand in their way. Chapter IV provides a practical application of the theoretical recommendations outlined in its predecessor. It provides a framework outlining how pension funds might implement a longer term, more sustainable approach to investing. The second half of the thesis, operating in the context of public environmental decision-making, is centred upon a particularly poignant legal notion with respect to the environment and time: the concept of intergenerational equity. Just as the first half of the thesis deals with the timeframes relevant to investment decision-making by pension funds within the bounds of fiduciary duty, largely a private law affair with public implications, the second half of the thesis is concerned with the principle of intergenerational equity as a means for extending the decision-making timeframe of legislative, judicial and administrative decision-makers. As previous analyses of the concept of intergenerational equity provide little insight into its practical implications when applied to particular factual situation, Chapter V sets out the structure of the principle of intergenerational equity as revealed by case law. Chapter VI brings together the issues from the first three papers by conceptualising intergenerational equity in resource management as an issue of long-term investment. Long-term environmental decision-making faces many obstacles. Individual behavioural biases, short-term financial incentive structures, the myopic pressures of the electoral cycle and the tendency of the common law to reinforce the (often shorttermist) status quo all present significant barriers to the capacity of both private and public decision-makers to act in ways that favour the longer term interests of the environment. Nonetheless, this thesis argues that there is reason for hope: drawing upon the three themes that underlie all of the substantive Chapters, it articulates potential legislative changes and recommends the adoption of particular governance structures to overcome barriers to long-term environmental decision-making.