Climate Change Mitigation

Biochar addition to agricultural soil has been suggested to mitigate climate change through increased biogenic carbon storage and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. We measured the fluxes of N2O, CO2, and CH4 after adding 9 t ha−1 biochar on an agricultural soil in Southern Finland in May 2009. We conducted these measurements twice a week for 1.5 months, between sowing and canopy closure, to capture the period of highest N2O emissions, where the potential for mitigation would also be highest. Biochar addition increased CH4 uptake (96% increase in the average cumulative CH4 uptake), but no statistically significant differences were observed in the CO2 and N2O emissions between the biochar amended and control plots. Added biochar increased soil water holding capacity by 11%. Further studies are needed to clarify whether this may help balance fluctuations in water availability to plants in the future climate with more frequent drought periods.▶ Biochar addition to boreal agricultural soil increases CH4 uptake. ▶ Biochar addition to boreal agricultural soil increases water holding capacity. ▶ Biochar addition to boreal agricultural soil had no effect on N2O or CO2 fluxes.

This paper contributes to the limited literature of monetary valuation of the effects of natural hazards. In particular, we focus on natural hazards caused by climate change and measure willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid relevant environmental and health risks in coastal environments. We also allow short, medium and long term for the effects of mitigation measures, in order to investigate differences and/or similarities in people's WTP for these different time horizons. A choice experiment is used and implemented in Stantander, Spain, a coastal region that faces a number of significant challenges due to climate change: (a) vulnerability to marine dynamics, with effects on its beaches (and their role as focal locations for social and touristic activities) as well as built environment and businesses, (b) loss of marine biodiversity and (c) increase in exposure to medusas and other dangerous and alien species present on the beaches, which result to restriction of bathing activities due to health risks. Finally, the empirical results from this paper provide useful insights with regards to the development of optimal (economically efficient, socially acceptable and environmentally sound) risk insurance schemes against extreme natural hazards.

Cities account for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide with a large portion of emissions generated by the transportation sector.  São Paulo, Brazil’s largest municipality, is in the early stages of a socio-technical transition to sustainable urban mobility. Socio-technical transitions theorising provides significant insights for climate mitigation and sustainable urban planning. However, most of the socio-technical-focused empirical studies focus on the Global North with limited research on the Global South.  This research fills an important gap in the literature by providing an empirical study of the creation and implementation of urban mobility policies designed to transition São Paulo, an automobile-dominant city in the Global South, towards a more sustainable low-carbon mobility pathway. We identify how the first stage of a transition away from an automobile-centred system was enabled by two key moments: a change in local government in the 2012 elections; and public protests about transport policies in 2013. These events served as windows of opportunities that converged and catalysed innovations and the implementation of new policies.

Keywords: sustainable cities; climate change; sustainable urban mobility; São Paulo; socio-technical transitions.

Characterizing the carbon footprint (CF) of agricultural production offers key information for pursuing low carbon agriculture and food consumption. While China has long strived for increasing food production capacity for its large and still growing population, the high emissions cost, especially from the over use of agro-chemicals, has been widely debated for the last decade. However, the CF of China's crop production has not yet been assessed. This paper reports a basic estimate of CF of crop production using national statistical data available for the period of 1993-2007. The dataset includes the amount of individual agricultural inputs (fertilizer, pesticide, diesel, plastic film, etc.), cultivation area and total of production whole crops. Using the emission factors estimated for China's agricultural features and available abroad, the mean overall CF of China's crop production was estimated to be 0.78 ± 0.08 tCE ha −1 yr −1 and 0.11 ± 0.01 tCE t −1 yr −1 , for land use and bulk production respectively. For the duration the data covered, the carbon intensity under cultivation land use was seen to increase since 1993. Among the total, fertilizer induced emissions exerted the largest contribution of ∼60%, being 0.45 ± 0.04 tCE per ha and 0.07 ± 0.01 tCE per ton of production, on average. Compared to the UK, the estimated overall CF of China's crop production was higher in terms of cultivation land use. While there was a significant positive correlation of carbon intensity with total production, carbon efficiency was shown in a decreasing trend during 2003-2007. Therefore, low carbon agriculture should be pursued, and the priority should be given to reducing fertilizer application in agriculture of China. However, for developing best management practices for climate change mitigation in crop production of China, further studies of crop and regional specific CFs and the variation with climate conditions and agricultural managements are needed.

Over the last century, the world has seen a sustained decline in the proportion of people living in poverty. However, there is an increasing concern that climate change could slow or possibly even reverse poverty reduction progress. Given the complexities involved in analyzing climate change impacts on poverty, different approaches can be helpful; this note surveys the results of recent research on climate change impacts on poverty.

This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFID or DGIS, who can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them. This publication has been prepared for general guidance on matters of interest only, and does not constitute professional advice. You should not act upon the information contained in this publication without obtaining specific professional advice. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication, and, to the extent permitted by law, the entities managing the delivery of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network do not accept or assume any liability, responsibility or duty of care for any consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained in this publication or for any decision based on it.

The solar energy potential of underutilized urban rooftops in Peru was analyzed. • A model was elaborated for mediumsized Peruvian cities with GIS. • Life Cycle Assessment was used to compute environmental impacts. • Results demonstrate that self-sufficiency in electricity production is attainable. • Substantial climate change mitigation could be accomplished with this layout.

Patterns of national climate policy performance and their implications for the geopolitics of climate change are examined. An overview of levels of emissions performance across countries is first provided. Substantial changes in emissions trends over time are documented, notably with GHG emissions trajectories, which are shaped less and less by the developed/developing country divide. Various patterns of policy convergence and divergence in the types of policies states implement are then surveyed. Four broad types of explanation that may account for these trends are then explored: (1) variation in the institutional form of countrylevel governance regimes, (2) patterns of dependence on fossil fuel energy, (3) broad systemic differences among states (specifically in their population densities, carbon intensity, and per capita incomes, and (4) variations in the traditions of economic intervention by states. The article contributes to the growing body of work on comparative climate policy, and provides a first attempt at exploring the comparative politics of instrument choice. The analysis challenges the continued importance of a North -South divide for the future of climate policy, thus reinforcing a sense of the 'new geopolitics' of climate change. Some of the implications of the analysis for debates about the form of future international agreement on mitigation policy are also explored.

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

This paper builds on the assumption that OECD countries are (or will soon be) taking actions to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These actions, however, will not be sufficient to control global warming, unless developing countries also get involved in the cooperative effort to reduce GHG emissions. This paper investigates the best short-term strategies that emerging economies can adopt in reacting to OECD countries' mitigation effort, given the common long-term goal to prevent excessive warming without hampering economic growth. Results indicate that developing countries would incur substantial economic losses by following a myopic strategy that disregards climate in the short-run, and that their optimal investment behaviour is to anticipate the implementation of a climate policy by roughly 10 years. Investing in innovation ahead of time is also found to be advantageous. The degree of policy anticipation is shown to be important in determining the financial transfers of an international carbon market meant to provide incentives for the participation of developing countries. This is especially relevant for China, whose recent and foreseeable trends of investments in innovation are consistent with the adoption of domestic emission reduction obligations in 2030.

The transport sector contributes significantly to the emission of global greenhouse gases (GHGs) resulting in a rise in global temperature and climate change. A troubling aspect of emissions from the transport sector is that they are increasing rapidly. With the ongoing rapid increase in population, expansion of middle class in developing countries, and availability of cheaper vehicles such as Tata Nano in India, the desire to own private vehicles is within reach now than ever for millions of people in the developing world. This could have a huge implication on ongoing effort towards containment of GHG emissions. We look at the role of urban design forms e settlement density e housing and employment activities and the effects they could have in reducing travel demands, motor vehicle dependency and GHG emissions. Although urban planning has a limited effect on the reduction of GHG emissions, in the short term, due to the time needed to build up the necessary infrastructures, in the long term, it can be very effective through the shift from private vehicle dependency to public and other alternative environmentally friendly modes of transports (such as walking and cycling). A mixture of high residential and employment density could influence shorter commuter journeys and a reduction in private vehicle use if it is supported by an efficient public transport system and appropriate fiscal and regulatory instruments. Among the set of available instruments to reduce GHGs from the transport sector, urban planning, may be equally important, if not more to contain emissions from the transport sector.

Philippine forest lands have a great potential to sequester and store carbon. Here we present CFM-based climate change mitigation projects in the Philippines. Two projects are relatively advanced in developing A/R projects: the Laguna Lake project and the Sierra Madre project. For the former, the main proponents/sellers are the Municipality of Tanay and the LLDA. The implementers will be farmers in the Tanay watershed. For the project period (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014), the project will have total net carbon benefits of 3,204 tC (11,759 tCO2-e) and 1,424 (5,230 tCO2-e) under the high and low scenarios, respectively. The anticipated Total Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) Value is US$ 31,380 for the low scenario and US$70,554 for the high scenario. The buyer of carbon credits is the BioCarbon Fund of the World Bank at US$ 4 per t CO2-e. The Sierra Madre project is estimated to sequester a total of 512,000 tC for 30 years, most of which will come from the reforestation component. No buyer has yet been identified and preparation of PDD is underway.

Primer manual de mitigación de riesgos y desastres para Puerto Rico, desarrollado gracias al Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños de Hunter College (CUNY) y el Instituto de Desarrollo Empresarial y Acción Comunitaria (IdeaComún).  Define mitigación de riesgos; vincula los cursos de acción (COAs) del Informe de Recuperación del Gobernador con el área de mitigación; describe los tres programas que financian la mitigación aplicables a la recuperación de Puerto Rico: Mitigación bajo el Programa Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) de HUD; Mitigación 406 bajo el Programa de Public Assistance (PA) de FEMA; y el Hazard Mitigation Grants Program (HMGP/404) de FEMA; explica la importancia de los planes de mitigación municipales; y provee una guía y recursos de apoyo para el acceso inicial a los fondos HMGP mediante cartas de intención, entre otros.

Carbon stocks in managed forests of Ontario, Canada, and in harvested wood products originated from these forests were estimated for 2010–2100. Simulations included four future forest harvesting scenarios based on historical harvesting levels (low, average, high, and maximum available) and a no-harvest scenario. In four harvesting scenarios, forest carbon stocks in Ontario’s managed forest were estimated to range from 6202 to 6227 Mt C (millions of tons of carbon) in 2010, and from 6121 to  6428 Mt C by 2100. Inclusion of carbon stored in harvested wood products in use and in landfills changed the projected range in 2100 to 6710–6742 Mt C. For the no-harvest scenario, forest carbon stocks were projected to change from 6246 Mt C in 2010 to 6680 Mt C in 2100. Spatial variation in projected forest carbon stocks was strongly related to changes in forest age (r = 0.603), but had weak correlation with harvesting rates. For all managed forests in Ontario combined, projected carbon stocks in combined forest and harvested wood products converged to within 2% difference by 2100. The results suggest that harvesting in the boreal forest, if applied within limits of sustainable forest management, will eventually have a relatively small effect on long-term combined forest and wood products carbon stocks. However, there was a large time lag to approach carbon equality,  with more than 90 years with a net reduction in stored carbon in harvested forests plus wood products compared to nonharvested boreal forest which also has low rates of natural disturbance. The eventual near equivalency of carbon stocks in nonharvested forest and forest that is harvested and protected from natural disturbance. reflects both the accumulation of carbon in harvested wood products and the relatively young age at which boreal forest stands undergo natural succession in the absence of disturbance.

The rapidly increasing electricity demand for data center operation has motivated efforts to better understand current data center energy use and to identify strategies that reduce the environmental impact of these buildings. This paper builds on previous data center energy modeling efforts by characterizing local climate and mechanical equipment differences among data centers and then evaluating their consequences for building energy use. Cities in the United States with significant data center activity are identified. Representative climate conditions for these cities are applied to data center energy models for several different prototypical space types. Results indicate that widespread, effective economizer use in data centers could reduce energy demand for data centers by about 20e25%, equivalent to an energy efficiency resource in the US of ∼13e17 billion kWh per year. Almost half of the potential savings would result from better airflow management and proper control sequences. The total energy savings potential of economizers, although substantial, is constrained by their limited potential for use in server closets and server rooms, which together are estimated to account for about 30% of all data center energy demand. Incorporating economizer use into the mechanical systems of larger data centers would increase the variation in energy efficiency among geographic regions, indicating that as data center buildings become more energy efficient, their locations will have an increasing effect on overall energy demand. Differences among regions become even more important when accounting for greenhouse-gas emissions. Future data center development could consider site location, along with efficiency measures, to limit the environmental impact attributable to this increasingly prominent economic sector.

India is the world's tenth most forested nation with 76.87 M ha of forest and tree cover occupying 23.4% of its geographical area. Forests-with their intrinsic of carbon sequestration and storage values-are in the front line of India's climate change mitigation strategies. This paper provides estimates of sequestered carbon in India's forest and tree cover for the years 1995 and 2005 as per the IPCC good practice guidelines method. It is based on the primary data for the soil carbon pool through collecting soil samples by laying out quadrats across the country and secondary data for the growing stock of all forest and tree cover in the country. The estimates are compared with current and future projected emissions. It is found that conservation policies have resulted in increase of the country's forest carbon stocks from 6244.8 to 6621.6 Mt with an annual increment of 37.7 Mt of the carbon from 1995 to 2005. Annual CO 2 removal by the forests is enough to neutralise 9.3% of the country's 2000 level emissions. Continued removals by the forest and tree cover would offset 6.5 and 4.9% of India's projected annual emissions in 2010 and 2020 respectively. Economically, the annual value of this forest carbon in the international market is about US $188 million. The result is of use in the REDD and REDD? context for India.

The paper first describes an inventory for 2005 giving the tourism related CO 2 emission caused by global tourism, and presents a 30-year projection and a 45-year simulation. The study found that tourists cause 4.4% of global CO 2 emissions. Also these emissions are projected to grow at an average rate of 3.2% per year up to 2035. This increase is problematic as globally a reduction of emissions by 3-6% is required to avoid 'dangerous' climate change. Using contemporary scenario techniques it appeared difficult to find a future tourist travel system consistent with CO 2 emission reductions of up to 70% by 2050 with respect to 2005. Based on the model underlying the 30-year projection, 70 scenarios are presented in a 'landscape' graph exploring the effect of opportunities to reduce the emissions, but this attempt did not reach the large reductions envisaged. We therefore explored automated scenario generation as a way to define backcasting scenarios that both reach the emission reduction target and retain the highest possible economic value for the sector. The main contributions made by this study are (1) in comparing the value of different ways to approach a (desired) future and (2) giving insight into the kind of structural changes required within tourism and tourism transport in case very strong emission reductions are required. Finally the model showed signs of 'complex' behaviour.

Climate change is an immediate concern in Bangladesh. The country's geophysical characteristics expose it to extreme events, and its economy relies on agriculture, which is highly climate-sensitive. Bangladesh continues to reduce poverty but still has a long way to go, as one out of every four Bangladeshi remains poor as of 2016 (World Bank, 2017). These factors imply that the smallest shocks or stresses can push the already socioeconomically marginalised sections of the population further into poverty and deprivation. Meanwhile, rainfall patterns are already shifting, and the intensity of rainfall is projected to increase in the next few decades. Bangladesh has also been exhibiting increasing trends in annual mean temperatures. The situation will continue to worsen, indicating an urgent need to build the resilience of people and their livelihoods to climate change. Global climate projections report declines in agricultural yields as one of the direct consequences of climate change. Paddy, the staple food grain of Bangladesh, is highly sensitive to temperature changes and will be adversely affected. Meanwhile, the agriculture sector plays a vital role in accelerating Bangladesh's economic growth. About 45.1% of the labour force is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. The sector also plays an important role in attaining food security and improving the quality of life of the increasing population, as well as creating employment. It is thus vital to ensure the agricultural system in place is profitable, sustainable and environmentally friendly. Measures to ensure this need to factor in the additional risks posed by climate change. In this context, Action on Climate Today (ACT), a Department for International Development-funded initiative, in partnership with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Bangladesh, has been supporting the Cotton Development Board (CDB) in enhancing the resilience of the value chain of cotton, an important emerging commercial crop in the country. Bangladesh is the second largest readymade garments exporter in the world and one of the biggest importers of cotton. Current domestic production of cotton meets only 5% of the industry's demand and there thus exists significant scope to expand cotton production to bridge this gap. The cotton crop has certain features, such as a vertical tap root, that make it more resilient to high temperatures and salinity. Compared with paddy, it requires less water and therefore is more conducive to growth in the highlands. However, the crop is highly sensitive to changes in climate, especially shifts in rainfall patterns. Untimely rainfall during the flowering period drastically reduces the yield and quality of cotton. Cotton expansion is also at a nascent stage and tightly controlled at the processing and marketing stages. Existing bottlenecks across the value chain, along with climate change, pose problems for the wider uptake of cotton cultivation as well as for the livelihood security of cotton farmers. The overall objective of this study was to map existing processes, benefits and constraints within the cotton value chain and the additional vulnerabilities posed by climate change. Based on these, this report suggests informed measures to address value chain bottlenecks and build the resilience of the crop and its farmers to the impending impacts of climate change. These measures can be taken by the government, community-based organizations, private sector entities and other stakeholders for replication, and could involve scaling up and enhancing the value share of small and marginal farmers and other vulnerable groups in the process. A value chain approach supports integrated climate risk management through better connection of producers to markets and increased economic returns to small farmers. Thus, it is an approach not just to building climate resilience but also to providing more effective support for agriculture generally.

The coastal Isthmus of Tehuantepec region of Oaxaca, Mexico – known locally as the Istmo – is regarded as one of the best wind energy generating sites in the world. Marketed as a preeminent solution to mitigating climate change, wind energy is now applying increasing pressure on indigenous groups in the region. The article begins by outlining a definition of colonialism that assists in identifying the temporal continuity of the colonial project to understand its relationship with wind energy development. The next section briefly reviews colonial genocide studies, discussing disciplinary debates between liberal and post-liberal genocide scholars, the relevance of self-management within colonial systems, the genocide-ecocide nexus and the ‘intent’ of destructive development projects. This leads into reviewing the claims and findings that emerged from fieldwork in the Istmo, which is divided into the north and south to show the different, yet similar dynamics taking place in the region. Finally, the article concludes that wind energy development as a ‘solution’ to climate change not only distracts from its dependence on fossil fuels and mining, but renews and continues a slow industrial genocide, assimilating and targeting (indigenous) people who continue to value their land, sea and cultural relationships.

The study of international trade in agricultural products has developed rapidly over the past fifty years. In the 1960s the disarray in world agriculture caused by domestic price support policies became the focus of analytical studies. There followed attempts to measure the distortions caused by policies also in developing countries and to model their impact on world agricultural markets. Tools were advanced to explain the trends and variations in world prices and the implications of market imperfections. Challenges for the future include analyzing trade based on consumer preferences for certain production methods and understanding the impact of climate change mitigation and adaptation on trade.

Afforestation, the conversion of croplands or marginal lands into forests, results in the sequestration of carbon. As a result, afforestation is considered one of the key climatechange mitigation strategies available to governments by the United Nations 1 . However, forests are also less reflective than croplands, and the absorption of incoming solar radiation is greater over afforested areas. Afforestation can therefore result in net climate warming, particularly at high latitudes 2-5 . Here, we use a comprehensive Earth system model to assess the climate-change mitigation potential of five afforestation scenarios, with afforestation carried out gradually over a 50year period. Complete (100%) and partial (50%) afforestation of the area occupied at present by crops leads to a reduced warming of around 0.45 and 0.25 • C respectively, during the period 2081-2100. Temperature benefits associated with more realistic global afforestation efforts, where less than 50% of cropland is converted, are expected to be even smaller, indicating that afforestation is not a substitute for reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. We also show that warming reductions per unit afforested area are around three times higher in the tropics than in the boreal and northern temperate regions, suggesting that avoided deforestation and continued afforestation in the tropics are effective forestmanagement strategies from a climate perspective.

Global warming mitigation calculations require consistent procedures for handling time in order to compare 'permanent' gains from energy-sector mitigation options with 'impermanent' gains from many forest-sector options. A critical part of carbon accounting methodologies such as those based on 'ton-years' (the product of the number of tons of carbon times the number of years that each ton is held out of the atmosphere) is definition of a time horizon, or the time period over which carbon impacts and benefits are considered. Here a case is made for using a time horizon of 100 years. This choice avoids distortions created by much longer time horizons that would lead to decisions inconsistent with societal behavior in other spheres; it also avoids a rapid increase in the implied value of time if horizons shorter than 100 years are used. Selection of a time horizon affects decisions on financial mechanisms and carbon credit. Simple adaptations can allow a time horizon to be specified and used to calculate mitigation benefits and at the same time reserve a given percentage of weight in decision making for generations beyond the end of the time horizon. The choice of a time horizon will heavily influence whether mitigation options such as avoided deforestation are considered viable.

ARATI Baja ® - Biofertilizer constituents of microbial consortium that colonizes rhizosphere of the plants to improve nutrients uptake by increasing the rate of mineralization of insoluble nutrients in the soil through numerous natural process such as nitrogen fixation, phosphorous fixation etc. It promotes climate smart agriculture (CSA) and resilience agriculture.

The case for degrowth is a case for stopping the pursuit of growth and for reorienting lives and societies toward wellbeing. This chapter impels moves to build good lives for all, and shows how existing resources can be shared and invested differently to secure good living with less money, less exploitation, and less environmental degradation. Readers will be familiar with the environmental damages and with the forms of inequality and exploitation presented in this book. What is different here is that we link these troubling phenomena to the imperative of modern economies to grow, and argue that overcoming them means moving away from the relentless drive for more.  (Book preface addressing COVID is also available on this site. )

En las últimas cuatro décadas, países de todo el mundo han experimentado un crecimiento económico que ha mejorado la calidad de vida y ha conllevado en algunos casos a la reducción de la pobreza (UNDP, 2006), pero estos cambios se han logrado a expensas del deterioro de los ecosistemas del planeta y la capacidad para sostener la vida (Goudie, 1981; Francisco, 2015). Durante el último siglo el consumo de recursos por parte de la población mundial se ha cuadruplicado y con ello la generación de vertimientos y residuos y las emisiones de gases a la atmósfera han crecido hasta un punto en que la humanidad consume a un ritmo tan rápido que la tierra no se puede regenerar (Wackernagel et al., 2002; WWF, 2010). Cada día se hacen sentir las preocupaciones de los científicos y activistas socioambientales por hacer entender a los gobernantes del mundo, en especial de los países más industrializados, el grave riesgo en que estamos y del que no habrá vuelta atrás si no asumimos tareas inmediatas para disminuir los Gases de Efecto Invernadero (GEI) que aceleran el calentamiento global en la tropósfera (imagen 1), cuyos efectos sobre el clima de la Tierra afectan cada vez más diferentes zonas de nuestro planeta y, que como siempre, dejarán mayores secuelas en los países más pobres (Francisco, 2015). El calentamiento global y el cambio climático que genera, es uno de los más grandes problemas del siglo XXI, con consecuencias económicas, sociales y ambientales de gran magnitud (Pinelo et al., 2007; IPCC, 2007). Como respuesta a la amenaza del cambio climático, la comunidad internacional ha venido desarrollando e implementando numerosas iniciativas para estabilizar las concentraciones de GEI en la atmósfera. Tales iniciativas se basan en la evaluación, monitoreo, reporte y verificación de las emisiones de GEI que proporcionen información de apoyo para el establecimiento de políticas ambientales.

In scientific agricultural practices, agroforestry systems are getting wide recognition due to its healthy integration of woody perennial trees, herbaceous crops and livestock in unit areas which are socially acceptable, economically viable and ecologically sound. In the tropics, agroforestry system has been well-established practise varies significantly from region to region depending on the level of management inputs, structure and function of woody perennials, as well as environmental and ecological fitness of the system. The most common practices in the tropics include; improved fallow, allay cropping, multifunctional trees on farms and rangeland, home gardens, windbreaks, shelterbelts, silvopastoral grazing system, taungya farming and shaded perennial-crop system. The above-mentioned system has been well known for its potential in improving and sustaining agricultural production through increased soil fertility, climate change amelioration, breaking the current challenge of food insecurity and poverty circles, besides raising the livelihood of rural poor owing to diverse products derived from the systems such as food, fuelwood, timber and source of income. Poor policy, ineffective governance, less adaptability of systems by farmers due to unawareness is the major constraints behind the success of agroforestry systems. In this context, a better and effective R&D along with scientific management of agroforestry practices not only promotes agroforestry systems but also promise better resource conservation along with maintaining soil-food-climate security at the global scale.

Just transition from historically high-emissions and exclusive development to low-emissions, inclusive development. A just transition in South Africa’s electricity sector from coal to cleaner energy is critical for climate change mitigation. And to be just, the transition must leave no-one behind. A just transition transaction would finance two key components, providing  1) Transition finance to phase out coal-fired power plants faster and 2) protecting livelihoods of that communities and workers affected.

Most people think climate change and sustainability are important problems, but too few global citizens engaged in high-greenhouse-gas-emitting behavior are engaged in enough mitigating behavior to stem the increasing flow of greenhouse gases and other environmental problems. Why is that? Structural barriers such as a climate-averse infrastructure are part of the answer, but psychological barriers also impede behavioral choices that would facilitate mitigation, adaptation, and environmental sustainability. Although many individuals are engaged in some ameliorative action, most could do more, but they are hindered by seven categories of psychological barriers, or "dragons of inaction": limited cognition about the problem, ideological worldviews that tend to preclude pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, comparisons with key other people, sunk costs and behavioral momentum, discredence toward experts and authorities, perceived risks of change, and positive but inadequate behavior change. Structural barriers must be removed wherever possible, but this is unlikely to be sufficient. Psychologists must work with other scientists, technical experts, and policymakers to help citizens overcome these psychological barriers.

Climate change threatens to cause the largest refugee crisis in human history. Millions of people, largely in Africa and Asia, might be forced to leave their homes to seek refuge in other places or countries over the course of the century. Yet the current institutions, organizations, and funding mechanisms are not sufficiently equipped to deal with this looming crisis. The situation calls for new governance. We thus outline and discuss in this article a blueprint for a global governance architecture on the protection and voluntary resettlement of climate refugees—defined as people who have to leave their habitats because of sudden or gradual alterations in their natural environment related to one of three impacts of climate change: sea-level rise, extreme weather events, and drought and water scarcity. We provide an extensive review of current estimates of likely numbers and probable regions of origin of climate refugees. With a view to existing institutions, we argue against the extension of the definition of refugees under the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Key elements of our proposal are, instead, a new legal instrument specifically tailored for the needs of climate refugees—a Protocol on Recognition, Protection, and Resettlement of Climate Refugees to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—as well as a separate funding mechanism.

This chapter examines the climate-change mitigation law and policy of four major developing countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China (i.e., the BRICs). It will first analyze the case of Brazil, then India, then China and lastly Russia. The chapter explores the main causes of Brazil’s contribution to global climate change (namely deforestation, cattle ranching, agricultural expansion, and energy production). It then offers mitigation strategies for the case of India and makes the case for investing in cities, solar energy, hydropower, and electric vehicles. The chapter then explores China’s position in the mitigation of climate change by analyzing key policies such as carbon pricing, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and fossil fuels. Finally, the chapter turns to Russia to examine its domestic policies to reduce carbon emissions.

Sustainable production of renewable energy is being hotly debated globally since it is increasingly understood that first generation biofuels, primarily produced from food crops and mostly oil seeds are limited in their ability to achieve targets for biofuel production, climate change mitigation and economic growth. These concerns have increased the interest in developing second generation biofuels produced from non-food feedstocks such as microalgae, which potentially offer greatest opportunities in the longer term. This paper reviews the current status of microalgae use for biodiesel production, including their cultivation, harvesting, and processing. The microalgae species most used for biodiesel production are presented and their main advantages described in comparison with other available biodiesel feedstocks. The various aspects associated with the design of microalgae production units are described, giving an overview of the current state of development of algae cultivation systems (photo-bioreactors and open ponds). Other potential applications and products from microalgae are also presented such as for biological sequestration of CO2, wastewater treatment, in human health, as food additive, and for aquaculture.

The science of climate change is now well established. Predicted weather-related events like sea level rise, increased storm events, and extreme heat waves imply an urgent need for new approaches to settlement design to enable human and non-human species to adapt to these increased risks. A wide variety of policy responses are emerging at local and regional levels -from sustainable urban form, to alternative energy production and new approaches to biodiversity conservation. However, little attempt has been made to ensure that strategies to adapt to the inevitable impacts of enhanced climate change (such as additional open space to enable water inundation) support ongoing policies intended to mitigate local contributions to climate change (such as attempts to increase urban densities to reduce car dependency). In some cases mitigation and adaptation are complementary but in other cases these policy goals may conflict. This research examined leading case examples of land-use plans and policies designed to address climate change. Focusing predominantly on cases from the United States and Australia, we identified whether the policies address adaptation, mitigation or both and whether the practices put mitigation and adaptation in potential conflict with each other. We found that half of the actions identified contain potential conflicts to achieving adaptation and mitigation simultaneously.

This study aims to assess the state of the art of practices and technologies of energy saving and renewable energy sources in hotels. This will contribute to determining the potential of efficient and sustainable energy technologies integration. Hotel managers were interviewed face to face and information sessions were provided. Special energy and environmental awareness campaigns, sectoral tourism programs for climate change mitigation and adaptation, supportive policies and hotel energy investments and renovation programs are some recommendations elicited from the results of this study.

La presente publicación es una obra colectiva que surge del Simposio “La comunicación de la mitigación y de la adaptación al cambio climático” que se desarrolló en Sevilla los días 21, 22 y 23 de marzo en el III Congreso Internacional Comunicación y Pensamiento, celebrado en la Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de Sevilla y organizado por el Laboratorio de Estudios en Comunicación (LADECOM) y el Grupo de Investigación Comunicar.
Dicho Simposio se propuso como un foro de debate e investigación en torno a la comunicación de las dos principales respuestas al gran reto del cambio climático: la mitigación y la adaptación.

Tropical forests in countries like the Philippines are important sources and sinks of carbon (C). The paper analyzes the contribution of Philippine forests in climate change mitigation. Since the 1500s, deforestation of 20.9 M ha (10 6 ha) of Philippine forests contributed 3.7 Pg (10 15 g) of C to the atmosphere of which 2.6 Pg were released this century. At present, forest land uses store 1091 Tg (10 12 g) of C and sequester 30.5 Tg C/yr while releasing 11.4 Tg C/yr through deforestation and harvesting. In the year 2015, it is expected that the total C storage will decline by 8% (1005 Tg) and total rate of C sequestration will increase by 17% (35.5 Tg/yr). This trend is due to the decline in natural forest area accompanied by an increase in tree plantation area. We have shown that uncertainty in national C estimates still exists because they are readily affected by the source of biomass and C density data. Philippine forests can act as C sink by: conserving existing C sinks, expanding C stocks, and substituting wood products for fossil fuels. Here we analyze the possible implications of the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol to Philippine forests. Finally, we present current research and development efforts on tropical forests and climate change in the Philippines to improve assessments of their role in the nations C budgets.

An environmentally extended inputeoutput (EE-IO) analysis e environmental impacts of material flows caused by the Finnish economy e was carried out in order to improve data on production and consumption in Finland. The study resulted in the ENVIMAT model, which can be used to analyze the relationship between material flows, environmental impacts and the economy. The model is based on monetary and physical inputeoutput tables and an environmental life-cycle impact assessment. This article summarizes the main methodological aspects and findings regarding the material flows and climate impacts caused by the Finnish economy in 2002 and 2005. The Finnish model has relatively detailed input data with 150 industries and 918 products and the data on imports was assessed according to a mixed approach with the help of life-cycle inventory data. The results of the model showed that the Finnish economy uses imported material resources as much as domestic resources. Life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by imports were equivalent to 70e80% of domestic emissions. The GHG emissions embodied in imports (emissions abroad) and exports (emissions within Finland) were of the same magnitude. The analysis showed that the service sector accounted for 44% of GHG emissions caused by the domestic final use of products. Analysis of the results also showed that the indicator of total material requirement (TMR) should not be used for environmental impact comparisons of products and services. In the future, the aim is to use the ENVIMAT model for assessing temporal changes in the economy; for monitoring sustainable development; for planning climate change mitigation; and for identifying important factors in the economy and assessing their impacts.

Increased demand for agricultural produces and out-of-season products in Nigeria together with globalization presents a great opportunity for the export of agriculture. Nigeria’s agricultural sector does not lend itself easily to investment. Next to classic constraints such as insufficient infrastructure or insecure property rights, the production structure itself provides one of the most severe impediments to commercial development. Good planning and sound implementation are essential. Small-scale farmers have become vulnerable to ‘middlemen’ who have replaced marketing boards and who over time could manipulate market access, if left unregulated.  Background information on the existing agriculture value chain development developmental for rural farmers is often overlooked. This includes information on the availability of reliable and cost-efficient inputs such as extension advice, mechanization services, seeds and credit, and guaranteed and profitable markets. t also provides a reliable source of supply to the investors, from the perspective of both quantity and quality. The document describes in detail the general modus operandi of agriculture value chain development with a focus on agroecology development of agriculture infrastructure called agro-corridor to optimize the value of biodiversity, water resource, and conservation agriculture for sustainable development of agribusiness. ARATI Tool Box® was developed more than one decade to offers a better opportunity to improve, optimize, and commercialize agriculture using state-of-art agriculture called Agriculture 4.0.  Agriculture 4.0 combined internal and external interacting of farming operations, offering digital information at all farm sectors and processes represents a great opportunity to consider the variability and uncertainties that involve the agri-food production chain development. The components of ARATI Tool Box® are Agro-Corridor Development, ARATI ProSumer® , Farm Management, Contract Farming Ace 3+, Grazing / Livestock’s Breeding & Genetics, Trading Commodities - ARATI Trade X®, Human Capital Training, Farm Monitoring, Farm Surveillance, and Survey, Organic Seed Production, Renewable Energy and Solar; in Agriculture that holistically solves the agriculture sustainable issues in Millennium Development Goal (MDG). It also optimizes the operations of agriculture Universities in Nigeria towards developing crop and region-specific agendas; where agricultural Students' curriculum have ‘hand-on-skill’ within the proposed six-geo-political zones agro-corridor development. The document describes in detail the general modus operandi of agriculture value chain development with a focus on agroecology development to optimize the value of biodiversity, water resource, and conservation agriculture for sustainable development of agribusiness for the export economy and food security. ARATI Tool Box® promotes ‘regenerative agriculture’ with twin objectives of ecosystem sustainability, climate mitigation/management holistic agriculture production management systems of integrated soil nutrient management components (biofertilizer a, biopesticide b and bioherbicide c) and xenobiotic biodegradation d, e ecosystem restoration.