| 1. |
- Almeida, Rafael M., et al.
(author)
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Correspondence : Emissions from Amazonian dams
- 2013
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 3:12, s. 1005-1005
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)
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| 2. |
- Barrett, Scott, et al.
(author)
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Sensitivity of collective action to uncertainty about climate tipping points
- 2014
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 4:1, s. 36-39
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite more than two decades of diplomatic effort, concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to trend upwards, creating the risk that we may someday cross a threshold for 'dangerous' climate change. Although climate thresholds are very uncertain, new research is trying to devise 'early warning signals' of an approaching tipping point. This research offers a tantalizing promise: whereas collective action fails when threshold uncertainty is large, reductions in this uncertainty may bring about the behavioural change needed to avert a climate 'catastrophe'. Here we present the results of an experiment, rooted in a game-theoretic model, showing that behaviour differs markedly either side of a dividing line for threshold uncertainty. On one side of the dividing line, where threshold uncertainty is relatively large, free riding proves irresistible and trust illusive, making it virtually inevitable that the tipping point will be crossed. On the other side, where threshold uncertainty is small, the incentive to coordinate is strong and trust more robust, often leading the players to avoid crossing the tipping point. Our results show that uncertainty must be reduced to this 'good' side of the dividing line to stimulate the behavioural shift needed to avoid 'dangerous' climate change. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Boyd, Emily, et al.
(author)
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Building resilience to face recurring environmental crisis in African Sahel
- 2013
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In: Nature Climate Change. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 3:7, s. 631-637
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The present food shortages in the Horn of Africa and the West African Sahel are affecting 31 million people. Such continuing and future crises require that people in the region adapt to an increasing and potentially irreversible global sustainability challenge. Given this situation and that short-term weather and seasonal climate forecasting have limited skill for West Africa, the Rainwatch project illustrates the value of near real-time monitoring and improved communication for the unfavourable 2011 West African monsoon, the resulting severe drought-induced humanitarian impacts continuing into 2012, and their exacerbation by flooding in 2012. Rainwatch is now coupled with a boundary organization (Africa Climate Exchange, AfClix) with the aim of integrating the expertise and actions of relevant institutions, agencies and stakeholders to broker ground-based dialogue to promote resilience in the face of recurring crisis.
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| 4. |
- Brown, Sally, et al.
(author)
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Shifting perspectives on coastal impacts and adaptation
- 2014
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 4:9, s. 752-755
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports reflect evolving attitudes in adapting to sea-level rise by taking a systems approach and recognizing that multiple responses exist to achieve a less hazardous coast.
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| 5. |
- Castree, Noel, et al.
(author)
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Changing the intellectual climate
- 2014
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 4:9, s. 763-768
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Calls for more broad-based, integrated, useful knowledge now abound in the world of global environmental change science. They evidence many scientists' desire to help humanity confront the momentous biophysical implications of its own actions. But they also reveal a limited conception of social science and virtually ignore the humanities. They thereby endorse a stunted conception of 'human dimensions' at a time when the challenges posed by global environmental change are increasing in magnitude, scale and scope. Here, we make the case for a richer conception predicated on broader intellectual engagement and identify some preconditions for its practical fulfilment. Interdisciplinary dialogue, we suggest, should engender plural representations of Earth's present and future that are reflective of divergent human values and aspirations. In turn, this might insure publics and decision-makers against overly narrow conceptions of what is possible and desirable as they consider the profound questions raised by global environmental change.
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| 6. |
- Destouni, Georgia, et al.
(author)
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Hydroclimatic shifts driven by human water use for food and energy production
- 2013
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In: Nature Climate Change. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 3:3, s. 213-217
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hydrological change is a central part of global change(1-3). Its drivers in the past need to be understood and quantified for accurate projection of disruptive future changes(4). Here we analyse past hydro-climatic, agricultural and hydropower changes from twentieth century data for nine major Swedish drainage basins, and synthesize and compare these results with other regional(5-7) and global(2) assessments of hydrological change by irrigation and deforestation. Cross-regional comparison shows similar increases of evapotranspiration by non-irrigated agriculture and hydropower as for irrigated agriculture. In the Swedish basins, non-irrigated agriculture has also increased, whereas hydropower has decreased temporal runoff variability. A global indication of the regional results is a net total increase of evapotranspiration that is larger than a proposed associated planetary boundary(8). This emphasizes the need for climate and Earth system models to account for different human uses of water as anthropogenic drivers of hydro-climatic change. The present study shows how these drivers and their effects can be distinguished and quantified for hydrological basins on different scales and in different world regions. This should encourage further exploration of greater basin variety for better understanding of anthropogenic hydro-climatic change.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Dow, Kirstin, et al.
(author)
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COMMENTARY: Limits to adaptation
- 2013
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 3:4, s. 305-307
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- An actor-centered, risk-based approach to defining limits to social adaptation provides a useful analytic framing for identifying and anticipating these limits and informing debates over society's responses to climate change.
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| 9. |
- Eisenack, Klaus, et al.
(author)
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Explaining and overcoming barriers to climate change adaptation
- 2014
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 4:10, s. 867-872
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The concept of barriers is increasingly used to describe the obstacles that hinder the planning and implementation of climate change adaptation. The growing literature on barriers to adaptation reveals not only commonly reported barriers, but also conflicting evidence, and few explanations of why barriers exist and change. There is thus a need for research that focuses on the interdependencies between barriers and considers the dynamic ways in which barriers develop and persist. Such research, which would be actor-centred and comparative, would help to explain barriers to adaptation and provide insights into how to overcome them.
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| 10. |
- Elmendorf, Sarah C., et al.
(author)
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Plot-scale evidence of tundra vegetation change and links to recent summer warming
- 2012
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 2:6, s. 453-457
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Temperature is increasing at unprecedented rates across most of the tundra biome. Remote-sensing data indicate that contemporary climate warming has already resulted in increased productivity over much of the Arctic, but plot-based evidence for vegetation transformation is not widespread. We analysed change in tundra vegetation surveyed between 1980 and 2010 in 158 plant communities spread across 46 locations.We found biome-wide trends of increased height of the plant canopy and maximum observed plant height for most vascular growth forms; increased abundance of litter; increased abundance of evergreen, low-growing and tall shrubs; and decreased abundance of bare ground. Intersite comparisons indicated an association between the degree of summer warming and change in vascular plant abundance, with shrubs, forbs and rushes increasing with warming. However, the association was dependent on the climate zone, the moisture regime and the presence of permafrost. Our data provide plot-scale evidence linking changes in vascular plant abundance to local summer warming in widely dispersed tundra locations across the globe.
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