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With the aggravation of global warming and the increasing demand for energy, the development of renewable energy is imminent. Floating photovoltaic (FPV) is a new form of renewable energy generation. However, the impact of FPV on the aquatic environment is still unclear. By long-term empirical monitoring and data analysis, this paper reveals the shading effect of large-scale FPV power station on aquatic environment for the first time. The results show that: (1) Compared with the non-photovoltaic (NP) zone, FPV only significantly reduces the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the photovoltaic (P) zone. (2) The concentration of chlorophyll a , nitrate nitrogen and total phosphorus increase, while pH and ammonia nitrogen decrease. FPV only causes an effect of the same order of magnitude as the initial concentration, and has no significant adverse effects on the nutritional status of the water body at a coverage ratio less than 50%. (3) FPV has a cooling effect on the water body during the daytime and a thermal insulation effect at night, with the most pronounced impact on peak water temperature (T w). The heating and cooling process of T w in P zone usually lags behind the NP zone by 1–3 h. The diurnal fluctuation and vertical difference of T w as well as the stability of water body are reduced under the shading of FPV, alleviating the influence of climate change on T w and water body stratification. (4) If 10% of the water area larger than 1 km2 in China are used to develop FPV, more than 900 million tons of CO 2 emissions can be reduced, and about 5 billion m3 water can be saved, which is significant in the context of climate change. In general, this paper provides a reference for the future aquatic environmental impact assessment of FPV and the formulation of related policies. • The impact of FPV on aquatic environment has been assessed. • The scale effect of FPV and impact of "fish-photovoltaic integration" are revealed. • Spatial-temporal and object specificity of impact on aquatic environment is reviewed. • The responds of FPV to the challenges of global climate change are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries in the East African region have for decades been synonymous with natural disasters, conflicts and severe environmental degradation. About 10 million out of the 65.6 million displaced persons globally are found in this region. This paper presents an empirical analysis of environmental impacts caused by forced displacements in five East African countries. Contrary to a widely-held opinion, there is sufficient anecdotal and empirical evidence depicting environmental damage caused by refugees and/or Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A spatial analysis of current and former refugee and/or IDP camps in these five countries suggests the formation of “deforestation clusters” with concentrations of camps that compound environmental impacts. Technological advancements such as remote sensing capabilities can provide the means for assessing and implementing environmental protection measures. This paper recommends environmental care in humanitarian settings be considered an integral part of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and climate change/variability agenda, based on cost- and responsibility-sharing, employing technology, and incorporating appropriate monitoring tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stormwater drainage and other water systems are vulnerable to changes in rainfall and runoff and need to be adapted to climate change. This paper studies impacts of rainfall variability and changing return periods of rainfall extremes on cost-effective adaptation of water systems to climate change given a predefined system performance target, for example a flood risk standard. Rainfall variability causes system performance estimates to be volatile. These estimates may be used to recurrently evaluate system performance. This paper presents a model for this setting, and develops a solution method to identify cost-effective investments in stormwater drainage adaptations. Runoff and water levels are simulated with rainfall from stationary rainfall distributions, and time series of annual rainfall maxima are simulated for a climate scenario. Cost-effective investment strategies are determined by dynamic programming. The method is applied to study the choice of volume for a storage basin in a Dutch polder. We find that ‘white noise’, i.e. trend-free variability of rainfall, might cause earlier re-investment than expected under projected changes in rainfall. The risk of early re-investment may be reduced by increasing initial investment. This can be cost-effective if the investment involves fixed costs. Increasing initial investments, therefore, not only increases water system robustness to structural changes in rainfall, but could also offer insurance against additional costs that would occur if system performance is underestimated and re-investment becomes inevitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Sustainable development as a concept of societal development encompasses some problems that need to be addressed carefully. They relate to overcoming the technical limits of individual systems, reducing environmental impact, social inclusion, green economic progress involving all stakeholders, limiting the impact of human activities, etc. Over the past few years, as a result of the increasingly pronounced climate change, more and more studies are addressing these problems and stress the importance of sustainable development. The key to sustainable development are, therefore, the solutions to the problems currently encountered by various stakeholders, that together contribute to the preservation of the environment for future generations. This is no longer based on the goodwill of individuals, but has become the responsibility of the entire generation. This article presents some examples of the solutions for the problems arising from sustainable development and is an overview of recent scientific achievements in the field of sustainable development that emerged from recent Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) conferences. As such, it acts as an editorial paper for the virtual special issue of the Journal of Environmental Management, that is dedicated to the SDEWES2017 conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Systemic changes in environmental conditions, such as climate, can have a significant impact on both natural and human systems. This paper provides an improved understanding of the spatio-temporal variations in underlying climate processes, and the potential effects climate change may have on Vietnam's agricultural sector. Statistical methods were combined with geostatistical techniques to test the statistical significance of long-term trends in the climatic variables, graphically representing the distribution of climate patterns, identifying variations and trends of changes over time and their likely effects on agricultural production. By using records of monthly precipitation and temperature for a relatively long-term period (1975–2014) over a high density of 112 meteorological stations across the country, robust statistical and visual evidence of climatic change throughout Vietnam are provided. The Mann-Kendall trend test confirms the statistically significant long-term trends of rainfall and temperature in many regions across the country. The visual analysis shows remarkable changes in the spatio-temporal distribution patterns of those variables and most of the 'hotspot' areas identified by geostatistical mapping are in areas with confirmed long-term trends. The long-term significant trends are also concentrated in areas with very high proportion of agricultural land, particularly land used for rice production in the Red River and Mekong River deltas. The findings deliver a better understanding of underlying climate processes and impacts across regions of Vietnam and provide a basis to develop effective climate-related policies for agricultural production in response to changing climatic conditions. Highlights • We use data from weather stations at high spatial density recorded over a long period. • Robust visual and statistical evidence of climate change across Vietnam is provided. • We identify key rice-growing areas that are affected with pronounced climatic change. • We evaluate the likely effects of the ongoing climatic change on rice production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a well-established eco-hydrological model that has been extensively applied to watersheds across the globe. This work reviews over two decades (2002–2022) of SWAT studies conducted on Mediterranean watersheds. A total of 260 articles have been identified since the earliest documented use of the model in a Mediterranean catchment back in 2002; of which 62% were carried out in Greece, Italy, or Spain. SWAT applications increased significantly in recent years since 86% of the reviewed papers were published in the past decade. A major objective for most of the reviewed works was to check the applicability of SWAT to specific watersheds. A great number of publications included procedures of calibration and validation and reported performance results. SWAT applications in the Mediterranean region mainly cover water resources quantity and quality assessment and hydrologic and environmental impacts evaluation of land use and climate changes. Nevertheless, a tendency towards a multi-purpose use of SWAT is revealed. The numerous examples of SWAT combined with other tools and techniques outline the model's flexibility. Several studies performed constructive comparisons between Mediterranean watersheds' responses or compared SWAT to other models or methods. The effects of inputs on SWAT outputs and innovative model modifications and improvements were also the focus of some of the surveyed articles. However, a significant number of studies reported difficulties regarding data availability, as these are either scarce, have poor resolution or are not freely available. Therefore, it is highly recommended to identify and develop accurate model inputs and testing data to optimize the SWAT performance. [Display omitted] • SWAT review on Mediterranean hydro-climatic studies. • Lack of SWAT assessment on Mediterranean catchments. • A comparison of data from different Mediterranean basins. • Enhancing data availability for SWAT applications. • Developing a comprehensive knowledge of Mediterranean watersheds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is considerable interest in understanding the climate–migration relationship, particularly in the context of concerns about global climatic change, little is known about its underlying mechanisms. In the paper, we combine a rich panel data on annual bilateral international migration flows with an extensive data on climate variability across the countries to investigate in-depth the climate–migration link. We find a positive and statistically significant relationship between temperature and international outmigration only in the most agriculture-dependent countries, consistent with the widely documented adverse impact of temperature on agricultural productivity. Further, the temperature–migration relationship is nonlinear and resembles the nonlinear temperature–yield relationship. In addition, migration flows to current major destinations are especially temperature-sensitive. Policies to address issues related to climate-induced international migration would be more efficient if focused on the agriculture-dependent countries and especially people in those countries whose livelihoods depend on agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a sustainable future, we must sustainably manage not only the human/industrial system but also ecosystems. To achieve the latter goal, we need to predict the responses of ecosystems and their provided services to management practices under changing environmental conditions via ecosystem models and use tools to compare the estimated provided services between the different scenarios. However, scientific articles have covered a limited amount of estimated ecosystem services and have used tools to aggregate services that contain a significant amount of subjective aspects and that represent the final result in a non-tangible unit such as ‘points’. To resolve these matters, this study quantifies the environmental impact (on human health, natural systems and natural resources) in physical units and uses an ecosystem service valuation based on monetary values (including ecosystem disservices with associated negative monetary values). More specifically, the paper also focuses on the assessment of ecosystem services related to pollutant removal/generation flows, accounting for the inflow of eutrophying nitrogen (N) when assessing the effect of N leached to groundwater. Regarding water use/provisioning, evapotranspiration is alternatively considered a disservice because it implies a loss of (potential) groundwater. These approaches and improvements, relevant to all ecosystems, are demonstrated using a Scots pine stand from 2010 to 2089 for a combination of three environmental change and three management scenarios. The environmental change scenarios considered interannual climate variability trends and included alterations in temperature, precipitation, nitrogen deposition, wind speed, Particulate matter (PM) concentration and CO 2 concentration. The addressed flows/ecosystem services, including disservices, are as follows: particulate matter removal, freshwater loss, CO 2 sequestration, wood production, NO x emissions, NH 3 uptake and nitrogen pollution/removal. The monetary ecosystem service valuation yields a total average estimate of 361–1242 euro ha −1 yr −1 . PM 2.5 (<2.5 μm) removal is the key service, with a projected value of 622–1172 euro ha −1 yr −1 . Concerning environmental impact assessment, with net CO 2 uptake being the most relevant contributing flow, a loss prevention of 0.014–0.029 healthy life years ha −1 yr −1 is calculated for the respective flows. Both assessment methods favor the use of the least intensive management scenario due to its resulting higher CO 2 sequestration and PM removal, which are the most important services of the considered ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of existing multi-risk assessment concepts and tools applied by organisations and projects providing the basis for the development of a multi-risk methodology in a climate change perspective. Relevant initiatives were developed for the assessment of multiple natural hazards (e.g. floods, storm surges, droughts) affecting the same area in a defined timeframe (e.g. year, season, decade). Major research efforts were focused on the identification and aggregation of multiple hazard types (e.g. independent, correlated, cascading hazards) by means of quantitative and semi-quantitative approaches. Moreover, several methodologies aim to assess the vulnerability of multiple targets to specific natural hazards by means of vulnerability functions and indicators at the regional and local scale. The overall results of the review show that multi-risk approaches do not consider the effects of climate change and mostly rely on the analysis of static vulnerability (i.e. no time-dependent vulnerabilities, no changes among exposed elements). A relevant challenge is therefore to develop comprehensive formal approaches for the assessment of different climate-induced hazards and risks, including dynamic exposure and vulnerability. This requires the selection and aggregation of suitable hazard and vulnerability metrics to make a synthesis of information about multiple climate impacts, the spatial analysis and ranking of risks, including their visualization and communication to end-users. To face these issues, climate impact assessors should develop cross-sectorial collaborations among different expertise (e.g. modellers, natural scientists, economists) integrating information on climate change scenarios with sectorial climate impact assessment, towards the development of a comprehensive multi-risk assessment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early Pleistocene site of Barranco León (Guadix-Baza Basin, SE Spain), dated to 1.4 Ma (millions of years ago), records the oldest hominin occurrence in Western Europe, as evidenced by the discovery of one tooth and thousands of Mode 1 stone tools. In this paper a detailed analysis of the microvertebrate content of the D1 and D2 units from this site is presented. The early Pleistocene in the Guadix-Baza Basin is characterized by a sharp climatic deterioration, which possibly impeded the settlement of this region by the early hominin population from the southern Caucasus. Shortly afterwards, when the climatic conditions were again favorable, a hominin presence is suddenly evidenced at the units D1 and D2 of Barranco León. According to the microvertebrate analysis of these units, the mean annual temperature at the time of deposition was significantly higher than 13 °C, with prevalent humid conditions. However, although most of the species were inhabitants of water edges, an open landscape was present in the vicinity of the lake. The data reported here clearly support the idea that the early hominin occupation of Europe was strongly constrained by climatic and environmental conditions, rather than by physiography or cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating rates of biodiversity loss have led ecologists to explore the effects of species richness on ecosystem functioning and the flow of ecosystem services. One explanation of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning lies in the spatial insurance hypothesis, which centers on the idea that productivity and stability increase with biodiversity in a temporally varying, spatially heterogeneous environment. However, there has been little work on the impact of dispersal where environmental risks are more or less spatially correlated, or where dispersal rates are variable. In this paper, we extend the original Loreau model to consider stochastic temporal variation in resource availability, which we refer to as "environmental risk", and heterogeneity in species dispersal rates. We find that asynchronies across communities and species provide community-level stabilizing effects on productivity, despite varying levels of species richness. Although intermediate dispersal rates play a role in mitigating risk, they are less effective in insuring productivity against global (metacommunity-level) than local (individual community-level) risks. These results are particularly interesting given the emergence of global sources of risk such as climate change or the closer integration of world markets. Our results offer deeper insights into the Loreau model and new perspectives on the effectiveness of spatial insurance in the face of environmental risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a survey of agricultural advisors across the Midwestern U.S., this paper explores two additions to the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF)—trust in information sources and the availability heuristic. Connections between demographic factors, belief in climate change, perceived risk, and advisors' attitudes toward adaptation to climate change are examined. Three-fourths of advisors believe climate change is occurring, but disagree on the human contribution. Trust in information sources predicted agricultural advisors' belief in climate change. Consistent with the availability heuristic, perceiving variability in weather made advisors more likely to believe in anthropogenic climate change. Believing climate change is at least partly human caused increased agreement that agricultural adaptation is important. Perceiving greater risk from potential climate impacts and noticing variable weather also significantly increased adaptation attitudes. Findings suggest that trust and availability heuristic could be added to help explain the processes of social amplification and attenuation of risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Emissions of chemicals have been on the rise for years, and their impacts are greatly influenced by spatial differentiation. Chemicals are usually emitted locally but their impact can be felt both locally and globally, due to their chemical properties and persistence. The variability of environmental parameters in the emission compartment may affect the chemicals' fate and the exposure at different orders of magnitude. The assessment of the environmental fate of chemicals and the inherent spatial differentiation requires the use of multimedia models at various levels of complexity (from a simple box model to complex computational and high-spatial-resolution models). The objective of these models is to support ecological and human health risk assessment, by reducing the uncertainty of chemical impact assessments. The parameterisation of spatially resolved multimedia models is usually based on scenarios of evaluative environments, or on geographical resolutions related to administrative boundaries (e.g. countries/continents) or landscape areas (e.g. watersheds, eco-regions). The choice of the most appropriate scale and scenario is important from a management perspective, as a balance should be reached between a simplified approach and computationally intensive multimedia models. In this paper, which aims to go beyond the more traditional approach based on scale/resolution (cell, country, and basin), we propose and assess climate-based archetypes for the impact assessment of chemicals released in air. We define the archetypes based on the main drivers of spatial variability, which we systematically identify by adopting global sensitivity analysis techniques. A case study that uses the high resolution multimedia model MAPPE (Multimedia Assessment of Pollutant Pathways in the Environment) is presented. Results of the analysis showed that suitable archetypes should be both climate- and chemical-specific, as different chemicals (or groups of them) have different traits that influence their spatial variability. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the variability of the output of MAPPE for four different climatic zones on four different continents for four different chemicals (which represent different combinations of physical and chemical properties). Results showed the high suitability of climate-based archetypes in assessing the impacts of chemicals released in air. However, further research work is still necessary to test these findings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Notwithstanding ambiguities, long-term economic resurgence in Afghanistan amidst water insecurity exacerbated by climate change decisively requires a water protection strategy that will complement a multitude of agroindustrial and socioeconomic activities in an environmentally sustainable and climate resilient manner. In this paper, we begin with a perspective on institutions, legislation, and key issues in the water sector of Afghanistan. We then embark on linking the integrated water resources management (IWRM) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) approaches as a novel framework for strategic water management and subsequently propose a strategy for post-conflict water protection based on the coalesced IWRM and SEA. Context relevant good practices worldwide are presented to provide empirical evidence for this approach whereas perceived opportunities and vulnerabilities in the Afghan context are discussed. Examination of post-conflict water sector initiatives in Afghanistan reveals the critical role of foreign assistance in both water infrastructure rehabilitation and modernization of the institutional aspect of water management. The introduction of IWRM as the basis for a progressive water sector strategy has been seen as a major milestone which is detrimentally matched by substantial deficiency in national capacity for implementation. Concurrently, the role of extra-national actors in relevant policy interventions has been considered catalytic despite criticisms of proposed regulations as being anachronistic to field realities. Therefore the view is maintained to practicable policies by accelerating policy learning in the country's water and environment sectors to encourage homegrown water strategy innovations. Demonstratively, mainstreaming IWRM-SEA coalescence will bridge institutional gaps for better feedback between local and national water stakeholders, providing a venue for improved delivery of water services to sustain post-conflict socioeconomic recovery and promote environmental stewardship. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Managers and conservationists often need to prioritize which impacts from climate change to deal with from a long list of threats. However, data which allows comparison of the relative impact from climatic threats for decision-making is often unavailable. This is the case for the management of sea turtles in the face of climate change. The terrestrial life stages of sea turtles can be negatively impacted by various climatic processes, such as sea level rise, altered cyclonic activity, and increased sand temperatures. However, no study has systematically investigated the relative impact of each of these climatic processes, making it challenging for managers to prioritize their decisions and resources. To address this we offer a systematic method for eliciting expert knowledge to estimate the relative impact of climatic processes on sea turtles’ terrestrial reproductive phase. For this we used as an example the world’s largest population of green sea turtles and asked 22 scientists and managers to answer a paper based survey with a series of pair-wise comparison matrices that compared the anticipated impacts from each climatic process. Both scientists and managers agreed that increased sand temperature will likely cause the most threat to the reproductive output of the nGBR green turtle population followed by sea level rise, then altered cyclonic activity. The methodology used proved useful to determine the relative impact of the selected climatic processes on sea turtles’ reproductive output and provided valuable information for decision-making. Thus, the methodological approach can potentially be applied to other species and ecosystems of management concern. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The impacts of agricultural land use are far-reaching and extend to areas outside production. This paper provides an overview of the ecological status of agricultural systems across the European Union in the light of recent policy changes. It builds on the previous review of 2001 devoted to the impacts of agricultural intensification in Western Europe. The focus countries are the UK, The Netherlands, Boreal and Baltic countries, Portugal, Hungary and Romania, representing a geographical spread across Europe, but additional reference is made to other countries. Despite many adjustments to agricultural policy, intensification of production in some regions and concurrent abandonment in others remain the major threat to the ecology of agro-ecosystems impairing the state of soil, water and air and reducing biological diversity in agricultural landscapes. The impacts also extend to surrounding terrestrial and aquatic systems through water and aerial contamination and development of agricultural infrastructures (e.g. dams and irrigation channels). Improvements are also documented regionally, such as successful support of farmland species, and improved condition of watercourses and landscapes. This was attributed to agricultural policy targeted at the environment, improved environmental legislation, and new market opportunities. Research into ecosystem services associated with agriculture may provide further pressure to develop policy that is targeted at their continuous provisioning, fostering motivation of land managers to continue to protect and enhance them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]