| 1. |
- Bjørn, Anders, et al.
(author)
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Challenges and opportunities towards improved application of the planetary boundary for land-system change in life cycle assessment of products
- 2019
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In: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 696
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to translate the planetary boundaries (PBs) concept to the scale of decisions related to products. Existing PB-LCA methods convert quantified resource use and emissions to changes in the values of PB control variables. However, the control variable for the Land-system change PB, “area of forested land remaining”, is not suitable for use in LCA, since it is expressed at the beginning of an impact pathway and only covers forest biomes. At the same time, LCA approaches for modelling the biogeophysical impacts of land use and land-use change are immature and any interactions with other types of environmental impacts are lagging.Here, we propose how the assessment of Land-system change in PB-LCA can be improved. First, we introduce two control variables for application in LCA; surface air temperature and precipitation, and we identify corresponding provisional threshold values associated with state shifts in four comprehensive biome categories. Second, we propose simplified approaches suitable for modelling the impact of land use and land-use change in product life cycles on the values of these two control variables. Third, we propose how to quantify interactions between the PBs for Land-system change, Climate change and Freshwater use for a PB-LCA method. Finally, we identify several research needs to facilitate full implementation of our proposed approach.
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| 2. |
- Falkenmark, Malin, et al.
(author)
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Understanding of water resilience in the Anthropocene
- 2019
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In: Journal of Hydrology X. - : Elsevier BV. - 2589-9155. ; 2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Water is indispensable for Earth resilience and sustainable development. The capacity of social-ecological systems to deal with shocks, adapting to changing conditions and transforming in situations of crisis are fundamentally dependent on the functions of water to e.g., regulate the Earth's climate, support biomass production, and supply water resources for human societies. However, massive, inter-connected, human interference involving climate forcing, water withdrawal, dam constructions, and land-use change have significantly disturbed these water functions and induced regime shifts in social-ecological systems. In many cases, changes in core water functions have pushed systems beyond tipping points and led to fundamental shifts in system feedback. Examples of such transgressions, where water has played a critical role, are collapse of aquatic systems beyond water quality and quantity thresholds, desertification due to soil and ecosystem degradation, and tropical forest dieback associated with self-amplifying moisture and carbon feedbacks. Here, we aggregate the volumes and flows of water involved in water functions globally, and review the evidence of freshwater related linear collapse and non-linear tipping points in ecological and social systems through the lens of resilience theory. Based on the literature review, we synthesize the role of water in mediating different types of ecosystem regime shifts, and generalize the process by which life support systems are at risk of collapsing due to loss of water functions. We conclude that water plays a fundamental role in providing social-ecological resilience, and suggest that further research is needed to understand how the erosion of water resilience at local and regional scale may potentially interact, cascade, or amplify through the complex, globally hyper-connected networks of the Anthropocene.
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| 3. |
- Jaramillo, Fernando, et al.
(author)
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Priorities and Interactions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with Focus on Wetlands
- 2019
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In: Water. - : MDPI. - 2073-4441. ; 11:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Wetlands are often vital physical and social components of a country’s natural capital, as well as providers of ecosystem services to local and national communities. We performed a network analysis to prioritize Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for sustainable development in iconic wetlands and wetlandscapes around the world. The analysis was based on the information and perceptions on 45 wetlandscapes worldwide by 49 wetland researchers of the Global Wetland Ecohydrological Network (GWEN). We identified three 2030 Agenda targets of high priority across the wetlandscapes needed to achieve sustainable development: Target 6.3—“Improve water quality”; 2.4—“Sustainable food production”; and 12.2—“Sustainable management of resources”. Moreover, we found specific feedback mechanisms and synergies between SDG targets in the context of wetlands. The most consistent reinforcing interactions were the influence of Target 12.2 on 8.4—“Efficient resource consumption”; and that of Target 6.3 on 12.2. The wetlandscapes could be differentiated in four bundles of distinctive priority SDG-targets: “Basic human needs”, “Sustainable tourism”, “Environmental impact in urban wetlands”, and “Improving and conserving environment”. In general, we find that the SDG groups, targets, and interactions stress that maintaining good water quality and a “wise use” of wetlandscapes are vital to attaining sustainable development within these sensitive ecosystems.
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| 4. |
- Kehoe, Laura, et al.
(author)
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Make EU trade with Brazil sustainable
- 2019
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 364:6438, s. 341-
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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| 5. |
- Keys, Patrick W., et al.
(author)
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Invisible water security : Moisture recycling and water resilience
- 2019
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In: Water Security. - : Elsevier BV. - 2468-3124. ; 8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Water security is key to planetary resilience for human society to flourish in the face of global change. Atmospheric moisture recycling – the process of water evaporating from land, flowing through the atmosphere, and falling out again as precipitation over land – is the invisible mechanism by which water influences resilience, that is the capacity to persist, adapt, and transform. Through land-use change, mainly by agricultural expansion, humans are destabilizing and modifying moisture recycling and precipitation patterns across the world. Here, we provide an overview of how moisture recycling changes may threaten tropical forests, dryland ecosystems, agriculture production, river flows, and water supplies in megacities, and review the budding literature that explores possibilities to more consciously manage and govern moisture recycling. Novel concepts such as the precipitationshed allows for the source region of precipitation to be understood, addressed and incorporated in existing water resources tools and sustainability frameworks. We conclude that achieving water security and resilience requires that we understand the implications of human influence on moisture recycling, and that new research is paving the way for future possibilities to manage and mitigate potentially catastrophic effects of land use and water system change.
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| 6. |
- Singh, Chandrakant, et al.
(author)
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Assessing water stress dynamics of the Amazonian rainforest through rootzone storage capacity : A time-series approach
- 2019
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In: Geophysical Research Abstracts. - 1029-7006 .- 1607-7962. ; 21
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Extended exposure to change in rainfall patterns and permanent land-use change (LUC) have reduced the capability of the forests to withstand any external stresses, also defined as forest resilience loss. Major parts of the Amazon forest is under threat of tipping towards a treeless savanna state due to these changes in rainfall patterns and LUC. This loss in forest resilience thus also prevents the forest to return to its pre-disturbed state of the natural cycle and makes the forest more prone to tipping. Yet, this change in natural cycle is not sudden and involves a certain time lag for the forest system to respond. Previous studies determined the forest resilience, but have only considered precipitation or climatological drought to be the key influencing factor. However, neither are a direct measure of the water stress of the forest and thus do not fully reflect the hydrological dynamics underlying forest resilience loss. This study addresses the research questions: (i) do change in climatic patterns have a significant effect on forest resilience?, (ii) how does the change in rainfall patterns orLUC affect the environmental dynamics of the forest over time?, (iii) whether the quantification of rainfall, rootzone storage capacity and LUC patterns at a temporal scale better for understanding the resilience loss of the forest?The present study aims at understanding the complex dynamics of the resilience of the forest system using a time-series approach. Advanced remote sensing resources allow us to determine and understand patterns in the tipping behaviour at a temporal scale as well as to understand the hydrological dynamics and environmental triggers. For this, we combined precipitation data, root zone storage capacity and satellite-based forest cover and LUC data analyzed along a time-series. This is to better represent the resilience loss of the forest towards hydrological interactions and also provide a better understanding of the hydrological process for the forest tipping rather than a statistical relation. Landsat-7 data is ideal for determining the forest change, due to its regional time-series availability from early 2000’s until today. This study provides a better understanding of the hydrological dynamics of the rainforest by utilizing a time-series approach. Root zone storage capacity represents the water stored in the roots of the forest (a.k.a., water available to the forest) and it is a much better representation for assessing water stress of the Amazonian rainforest than precipitation. Thus, also a better parameter for evaluating forest resilience loss over time.
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