| 1. |
- Freitas, Flavio L M, et al.
(författare)
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Who owns the Brazilian carbon?
- 2018
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Ingår i: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1365-2486 .- 1354-1013. ; 24:5, s. 2129-2142
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Brazil is one of the major contributors to land-use change emissions, mostly driven by agricultural expansion for food, feed and bioenergy feedstock. Policies to avoid deforestation related to private commitments, economic incentives, and other support schemes are expected to improve the effectiveness of current command and control mechanisms increasingly. However, until recently, land tenure was unknown for much of the Brazilian territory, which has undermined the governance of native vegetation and challenged support and incentive mechanisms for avoiding deforestation. We assess the total extent of public governance mechanisms protecting aboveground carbon (AGC) stocks. We constructed a land tenure dataset for the entire nation and modeled the effects and uncertainties of major land-use acts on protecting AGC stocks. Roughly 70% of the AGC stock in Brazil is estimated to be under legal protection, and an additional 20% is expected to be protected after areas in the Amazon with currently undesignated land undergo a tenure regularization. About 30% of the AGC stock is on private land, of which roughly two-thirds are protected. The Cerrado, Amazon and Caatinga biomes hold about 40%, 30% and 20% of the unprotected AGC, respectively. Effective conservation of protected and unprotected carbon will depend on successful implementation of the Forest Act, and regularization of land tenure in the Amazon. Policy development that prioritizes unprotected AGC stocks is warranted to promote conservation of native vegetation beyond the legal requirements. However, different biomes and land tenure structures may require different policy settings considering local and regional specifics. Finally, the fate of current AGC stocks relies upon effective implementation of command and control mechanisms, considering that unprotected AGC in native vegetation on private land only accounts for 6.5% of the total AGC stock.
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| 2. |
- Mörtberg, Ulla, et al.
(författare)
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Integrating ecosystem services in the assessment of urban energy trajectories : A study of the Stockholm Region
- 2017
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Ingår i: Energy Policy. - : Elsevier. - 0301-4215 .- 1873-6777. ; 100, s. 338-349
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Urban development trajectories are changing towards compact, energy-efficient cities and renewable energy sources, and this will strongly affect ecosystem services (ES) that cities are dependent on but tend to disregard. Such ES can be provisioning, regulating and cultural ES, around which competition over land resources will increase with energy system shifts. Much of this can be foreseen to take place within urbanising regions that are simultaneously the living environment of a major part of the human population today. In order to inform critical urban policy decisions, tools for integrated assessment of urban energy and transport options and ecosystem services need to be developed. For this purpose, a case study of the Stockholm region was conducted, analysing three scenarios for the future urbanisation of the region, integrating a transport energy perspective and an ES perspective. The results showed that a dense but polycentric development pattern gives more opportunities for sustainable urban development, while the dense monocentric scenario has apparent drawbacks from an ES perspective. The methodology is compatible with a model integration platform for urban policy support and will thus enable integrated policy assessment of complex urban systems, with the goal of increasing their sustainability.
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| 3. |
- Tessema, Selome M., et al.
(författare)
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Effects of different retention parameter estimation methods on the prediction of surface runoff using the SCS curve number method
- 2014
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Ingår i: Water resources management. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0920-4741 .- 1573-1650. ; 28:10, s. 3241-3254
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quantifying different hydrological components is an initial step for sustainable water resources planning and management. One rising concern is the conflict between the environment, hydropower and agriculture mainly in lowland areas where a large share of the base flows need to be abstracted. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to understand the hydrological processes of the Upper Awash River Basin with the emphasis on analyzing the different options for surface runoff generation using the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Curve Number (CN) method. In this study, SWAT was applied incorporating two methods for estimating the retention parameter (S) for the SCS-CN method. The first allowed S to vary with soil profile moisture content (SM method) and the second allowed S to vary with accumulated plant evapotranspiration (PT method). Hydrograph comparison indicated that the PT method was better in simulating peak flows while the SM method was better in simulating the low flows. While the predicted stream flow hydrographs showed an agreement between the two methods, the simulated annual water balance indicated a disagreement in quantifying the different hydrological components. After evapotranspiration, base flow was the dominant component simulated in the SM method whereas surface runoff was the foremost in the PT method simulation. The analysis indicated that care must be taken when selecting an appropriate tool for quantifying hydrologic system to be used for decision making especially for un-gauged catchments where validation of model results is not possible.
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| 4. |
- Kalantari, Zahra, et al.
(författare)
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Accessibility of Water-Related Cultural Ecosystem Services through Public Transport-A Model for Planning Support in the Stockholm Region
- 2017
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 9:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Planning for sustainable cities involves supporting compact, energy-efficient urban form as well as maintaining attractive and liveable urban landscapes. Attractive cities depend highly on services provided by ecosystems, especially cultural ecosystem services (ES), which give direct benefits to urban citizens. Therefore, access to a diversity of urban functions and publicly available ES by walking and public transport should be considered when planning for sustainable cities. This could be facilitated by user-friendly planning support models. The aim of this study was to develop a GIS-based model for assessing accessibility to ES, more specifically, water-related cultural ecosystem services (WCES), via walking and public transport, with input from stakeholders. The model was applied to the Stockholm region in Sweden. Travel times and census data were used to derive measures and maps of accessibility to prioritised WCES in the region, today and in urbanisation scenarios for 2050. The results showed how access to WCES varied spatially within the region. The number of potential visitors to different WCES sites now and in the future urbanisation scenarios was estimated, and areas in need for future development of the public transport system as well as WCES were identified. The GIS-based accessibility model has potential to be used as planning support in urban planning.
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| 5. |
- Page, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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Open-source planning support system for sustainable regional planning : A case study of Stockholm County, Sweden
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environment and planning B. - : SAGE Publications Ltd. - 2399-8083 .- 2399-8091. ; 47:8, s. 1508-1523
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Population increases and environmental degradation are challenges for urban sustainability. Planning support systems are available to assist local authorities in developing strategies toward sustainability and resilience of urban areas, but are not always used in practice. We adapted an open-source planning support system to the case of Stockholm County, Sweden, where there is a productive working relationship between researchers, city planners, and regional planners. We employed a collaborative approach in extending and updating the planning support system and analyzed the outcomes, in order to both improve the planning support system and to investigate the process of planner engagement in planning support system development. The approach involved systematic interactions with local planning authorities and e.g. additional data processing, integrating scientific knowledge, policy, and engagement by planners in the complex process of planning for sustainable urban development. This made the planning support system more user-friendly for local planners, facilitating adoption by planning authorities through overcoming common quality and acceptance barriers to the use of planning support system in practice. Involving planners in planning support system development thus increases (i) planning support system quality, producing relevant and up-to-date outputs, and (ii) acceptance for planning support system by regional planners. Further assessment is required to determine whether planners can operate the adapted planning support system unaided.
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| 6. |
- Freitas, Flavio L. M., 1986-
(författare)
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Brazilian land use policies and the development of ecosystem services
- 2017
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Concerns related to global environmental changes due to land use changes have been driving international communities towards more sustainable land use systems. Brazil is a country of global strategic importance in this matter considering that it is the nation with the largest extension of preserved tropical native vegetation, recognised for its ecosystem services and high and unique biodiversity. Expansion of forestry and agriculture is taking place rapidly in Brazil, partly over degraded pastureland, but also over native vegetation. Regulating policies to govern and limit this expansion is crucial to ensure the preservation of the ecosystems services provided by native vegetation. This thesis aims at improving the understanding of the potential impacts of prevailing public and private policies in the conservation of nature in Brazil. For this end, the Land Use Policy Assessment (LUPA) model was employed to evaluate potential pathways of implementation of the land use policies. Paper 1 evaluated the effects of current private and public command and control regulations in the protection of above-ground carbon stocks, identifying the most relevant stakeholders holding carbon stocks. The findings suggest that about 10% of carbon stocks are unprotected, where other policy instruments based on the market will be mostly required. Paper 2 performed an assessment of the mechanism for offsetting the legal deficit of native vegetation among landholders, evaluating the different offsetting implementation practices and their impacts on nature protection and socio-economic development. The results indicate that the offsetting mechanism may have little or no additional effects on protection of native vegetation and its ecosystem services because most of the offsetting is likely to take place where native vegetation is already protected by current legislations. However, it is viable to maximise environmental and socio-economic returns from the offsetting mechanism.
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| 7. |
- Engström, Rebecka Ericsdotter, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-functionality of nature-based and other urban sustainability solutions : New York City study
- 2018
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Ingår i: Land Degradation and Development. - : Wiley. - 1085-3278 .- 1099-145X. ; 29:10, s. 3653-3662
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In an increasingly urban world, developing sustainable cities is crucial for global sustainability. Urban nature-based solutions (NBS), such as green infrastructure, are often promoted for their potential to provide several urban services. These include stormwater mitigation, improving energy efficiency of buildings, and carbon emissions mitigation, but few studies have compared the multifunctionality of NBS to conventional urban solutions providing similar services. Fewer yet have acknowledged the indirect resource (specifically climate, land, energy, water [CLEW] nexus) impacts that these solutions may have. This paper analyzes these aspects, employing a simple CLEW nexus accounting framework, and attempts a consistent comparison across different resource systems. The comparison includes direct and indirect impacts of a set of stylizedand diversesolutions, each with different primary objectives: green roofs, representing a multifunctional urban NBS; permeable pavements targeting mitigation of stormwater flows; window retrofits targeting energy efficiency; and rooftop PV installations targeting CO2 emissions mitigation. The results highlight both the direct and total (CLEW nexus) impacts of green roofs on stormwater retention, energy use, and CO2 emissions. However, also for the studied conventional solutions with primarily a single direct function, CLEW nexus impacts spread across all measured dimensions (energy, water, and CO2) to varying degrees. Although the numerical results are indicative and uncertainty needs to be further assessed, we suggest that the development of this type of multifunctional, multisystem assessment can assist urban sustainability planning, with comprehensive and consistent comparison of diverse (NBS and conventional) solutions.
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| 8. |
- Freitas, Flavio L. M., et al.
(författare)
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Legal protection over the Brazilian carbon stocks
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Brazilian native vegetation stands as one of the largest global carbon storages. Here is also where most of the emissions related to land use change take place, mostly driven by agricultural expansion. Policies of incentives and support to avoid deforestation are expected to play a significant role to improve the effectiveness of the prevailing command and control regulation and expand the protection of carbon stocks in the native vegetation. However, the limited available resources require wise targeting policies that maximise the outcomes regarding carbon protection. In this study, we conducted a quantitative assessment of the effect of command and control regulations in the protection of above-ground carbon (AGC) stocks employing a land use policy assessment (LUPA) model. The model enabled the construction of a land tenure dataset of national coverage and modelled the effects of the major pieces of land use legislation in the protection of AGC stocks. The outcomes suggest that roughly 70% of the AGC stock in Brazil is protected and additional 20% is expected to be protected after the tenure regularisation process of undesignated land. Private territory sustains about 30% of the AGC stocks, half within small or medium sized private properties which represent 98% of the Brazilian landholders and the other half in the 2% larger properties. Roughly 20% of the AGC in private land is under command and control protection, and the remaining 10% is unprotected. We argued that targeting policy may prioritise the unprotected AGC stocks; however, different biomes may require different policy settings considering the specificity of each biome.
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| 9. |
- Goldenberg, Romain, et al.
(författare)
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Distinction, quantification and mapping of potential and realized supply-demand of flow-dependent ecosystem services
- 2017
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 593, s. 599-609
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study addresses and conceptualizes the possible dependence of ecosystem services on prevailing air and/or water flow processes and conditions, and particularly on the trajectories and associated spatial reach of these flows in carrying services from supply to demand areas in the landscape. The present conceptualization considers and accounts for such flow-dependence in terms of potential and actually realized service supply and demand, which may generally differ and must therefore be distinguished due to and accounting for the prevailing conditions of service carrier flows. We here concretize and quantify such flow-dependence for a specific landscape case (the Stockholm region, Sweden) and for two examples of regulating ecosystem services: local climate regulation and storm water regulation. For these service and landscape examples, we identify, quantify and map key areas of potential and realized service supply and demand, based for the former (potential) on prevailing relatively static types of landscape conditions (such as land-cover/use, soil type and demographics), and for the latter (realized) on relevant carrier air and water flows. These first-order quantification examples constitute first steps towards further development of generally needed such flow-dependence assessments for various types of ecosystem services in different landscapes over the world.
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| 10. |
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