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This literature review deals with the understanding of ecosystem services related to the question of their applicability and appropriate methods for their valuation. We distinguish between ecological valuation methods that aim to assess the significance of landscape characteristics, conventional economic, i.e. monetary valuation and non-monetizing valuation or assessment. Ecological evaluation methods...
Health Canada reviewed national and international literature to develop a framework that identifies best practices for developing and implementing Heat Alert and Response Systems (HARS) to protect citizens from extreme heat events. A comparative case study was conducted based upon the framework and the experiences of two Canadian jurisdictions that piloted many of the best practices in the development...
This inaugural editorial introduces the research topics addressed by the journal Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems (CASES). A recent literature analysis revealed that the amount of integrative, interand transdisciplinary research activities on climate and global change, adaptive strategies, actor behaviors and response opportunities has increased significantly in the last few decades...
In many traditional societies, beliefs and taboos influence human behaviour towards the natural environment. Such beliefs and taboos are informal institutions where norms rather than official laws determine land use and nature protection in general and wildlife in particular. The present study on beliefs and taboos of the people of the northern periphery of the Korup National Park is an attempt to...
The UNESCO San Francisco Rock Paintings polygon within El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve in the Baja California Peninsula derives its moisture from the North American monsoon. There, ranchers have depended on the desert since the 18th century. More recently, the desert has depended on the environmental stewardship of the ranchers who have allayed mining exploitation and archaeological looting. Using a...
In a participatory framework, the multifunctionality of agroforestry systems was assessed by applying multicriteria and multivariate analyses to identify ecological, agronomic and administrative proxies and integrate these into factors, and evaluate their effects on system performance. The assessment framework was tested in 70 farms in the municipality of Tomé-Açú in the Brazilian Amazon, an area...
Climate change impacts will affect many important societal sectors, with potential negative consequences for human well-being and livelihoods, however an integrated and systematic measure to assess the state of livelihood conditions in this context is not available. At the same time, human livelihoods and wellbeing are an important part of (social) sustainability. Yet, aspects of human needs and well-being...
Resilience, vulnerability and adaptability have emerged as dominant concepts in the study of disturbance and change of social-ecological systems. We analyze the conceptual, methodological and operational aspects in using these concepts for the assessment and analysis of agricultural systems and try to identify differences and possible overlaps between them. The analysis is performed considering a...
Over the past decade, several climate extreme events have caused considerable economic damage and hardship in the Brazilian Amazon region, especially for small-scale producers. Based on household surveys and focus group interviews in the Municipality of Alenquer as well as secondary data analyses and a literature review at the regional level, this study seeks to assess rural small-scale producers’...
In December 2013, the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council formally adopted the new regulations for the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (2014-2020). The new regulations include three obligatory greening measures: ecological focus areas, maintaining permanent grassland, and crop diversification. We assess the impact of these measures on ecosystem services using scientific and gray literature. The...
The present study aims to assess the socioecological vulnerability of smallholders through an index of Tehri Garhwal Himalaya. The index provides a realistic approach to recognize the contributions of social and ecological factors for household welfare vulnerability to climate change. The approach puts forward various indices for each component of vulnerability to climate change - exposure, sensitivity,...
The construction of hydropower plants on transboundary rivers is seldom done with equal benefits to all riparians, and therefore presents coordination and cooperation challenges. Without a supra-national authority in charge of transboundary river basins, coordination between sectors (water, energy and environment) and cooperation between countries largely depends on willingness of the individual nation...
The paper summarizes four presentations of the session “Environment and Wellbeing: The Role of Ecosystems for Sustainable Development” at the international conference “Sustainability in the Water- Energy-Food Nexus” held on 19-20th May 2014 in Bonn, Germany. The aim of the session was to present current stresses on ecosystem services imposed by global development trajectory, potential impacts on Sustainable...
Thousands of years of development have made the production and consumption of water, energy, and food for urban environments more complex. While the rise of cities has fostered social and economic progress, the accompanying environmental pressures threaten to undermine these benefits. The compounding effects of climate change, habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation (in addition to financial constraints)...
This report explores the exposure and vulnerability of Korea and the Southern African region to climate-driven impacts in the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. It presents the building of ecological networks as a mean to address climate change - induced alterations of ecosystems and the consequences for humans and nature. Reducing the asymmetry between price and value of water resources is identified...
General warming and extreme weather events associated with climate change are expected to negatively impact water utilities. Water utilities will need to adapt to continue providing safe drinking water and wastewater services. In 2012, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) conducted a survey of 53 water utility officials to understand the expert perceptions of climate change risks and...
The novelty of the W-E-F nexus approach, given that it requires new coordination mechanisms within and between institutions and disciplines, requires new forms and types of capacities in order to be effective. This paper identifies some of the existing capacity gaps and measures to address those gaps, in order to ensure a successful implementation of the W-E-F nexus approach. Capacity development...
Water, energy and food are closely connected sectors which interact in a complex manner. Complex problems which need to be addressed in these sectors require informed decisions. The key to this information are data which need to be easily available to the decision maker. In the context of the Sustainability in the W-E-F Nexus conference May 19-20, 2014, the session on ‘Earth Observations, Monitoring...
Coordination of policies in different sectors and at multiple levels is a major task for governing the water-energy-food nexus. Nexus governance has to deal with plurality of policies that are in place (e.g., interaction of policies across levels). Based on an overview of governance challenges, this report provides insights into policy instruments and experiences in their application at the global,...
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