Search results for: climate zones
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 3502

Search results for: climate zones

3082 Study of the Process of Climate Change According to Data Simulation Using LARS-WG Software during 2010-2030: Case Study of Semnan Province

Authors: Leila Rashidian

Abstract:

Temperature rise on Earth has had harmful effects on the Earth's surface and has led to change in precipitation patterns all around the world. The present research was aimed to study the process of climate change according to the data simulation in future and compare these parameters with current situation in the studied stations in Semnan province including Garmsar, Shahrood and Semnan. In this regard, LARS-WG software, HADCM3 model and A2 scenario were used for the 2010-2030 period. In this model, climatic parameters such as maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and radiation were used daily. The obtained results indicated that there will be a 4.4% increase in precipitation in Semnan province compared with the observed data, and in general, there will be a 1.9% increase in temperature. This temperature rise has significant impact on precipitation patterns. Most of precipitation will be raining (torrential rains in some cases). According to the results, from west to east, the country will experience more temperature rise and will be warmer.

Keywords: climate change, Semnan province, Lars.WG model, climate parameters, HADCM₃ model

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3081 Impacts on Atmospheric Mercury from Changes in Climate, Land Use, Land Cover, and Wildfires

Authors: Shiliang Wu, Huanxin Zhang, Aditya Kumar

Abstract:

There have been increasing concerns on atmospheric mercury as a toxic and bioaccumulative pollutant in the global environment. Global change, including changes in climate change, land use, land cover and wildfires activities can all have significant impacts on atmospheric mercury. In this study, we use a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to examine the potential impacts from global change on atmospheric mercury. All of these factors in the context of global change are found to have significant impacts on the long-term evolution of atmospheric mercury and can substantially alter the global source-receptor relationships for mercury. We also estimate the global Hg emissions from wildfires for present-day and the potential impacts from the 2000-2050 changes in climate, land use and land cover and Hg anthropogenic emissions by combining statistical analysis with global data on vegetation type and coverage as well as fire activities. Present global Hg wildfire emissions are estimated to be 612 Mg year-1. Africa is the dominant source region (43.8% of global emissions), followed by Eurasia (31%) and South America (16.6%). We find significant perturbations to wildfire emissions of Hg in the context of global change, driven by the projected changes in climate, land use and land cover and Hg anthropogenic emissions. 2000-2050 climate change could increase Hg emissions by 14% globally. Projected changes in land use by 2050 could decrease the global Hg emissions from wildfires by 13% mainly driven by a decline in African emissions due to significant agricultural land expansion. Future land cover changes could lead to significant increases in Hg emissions over some regions (+32% North America, +14% Africa, +13% Eurasia). Potential enrichment of terrestrial ecosystems in 2050 in response to changes in Hg anthropogenic emissions could increase Hg wildfire emissions both globally (+28%) and regionally. Our results indicate that the future evolution of climate, land use and land cover and Hg anthropogenic emissions are all important factors affecting Hg wildfire emissions in the coming decades.

Keywords: climate change, land use, land cover, wildfires

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3080 Effect of Climate Variability on Honeybee's Production in Ondo State, Nigeria

Authors: Justin Orimisan Ijigbade

Abstract:

The study was conducted to assess the effect of climate variability on honeybee’s production in Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was employed to collect the data from 60 beekeepers across six Local Government Areas in Ondo State. Data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics and multiple regression model analyses. The results showed that 93.33% of the respondents were male with 80% above 40 years of age. Majority of the respondents (96.67%) had formal education and 90% produced honey for commercial purpose. The result revealed that 90% of the respondents admitted that low temperature as a result of long hours/period of rainfall affected the foraging efficiency of the worker bees, 73.33% claimed that long period of low humidity resulted in low level of nectar flow, while 70% submitted that high temperature resulted in improper composition of workers, dunes and queen in the hive colony. The result of multiple regression showed that beekeepers’ experience, educational level, access to climate information, temperature and rainfall were the main factors affecting honey bees production in the study area. Therefore, beekeepers should be given more education on climate variability and its adaptive strategies towards ensuring better honeybees production in the study area.

Keywords: climate variability, honeybees production, humidity, rainfall and temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 245
3079 Gender, Climate Change, and Resilience in Kenyan Pastoralist Communities

Authors: Anne Waithira Dormal

Abstract:

Climate change is threatening pastoral livelihoods in Kajiado County, Kenya, through water shortages, livestock deaths, and increasing poverty. This study examines how these impacts differ for men and women within these communities. Limited access to resources, limited land and livestock rights, and limited decision-making power increase women's vulnerability, which is further burdened by traditional gender roles in water procurement. The research recognizes the complexity of climate change and emphasizes that factors such as wealth, family dynamics, and socioeconomic status also influence resilience. Effective adaptation strategies must address all genders. While livestock farming provides a safety net, socioeconomic empowerment through access to credit, healthcare, and education strengthens entire communities. An intersectional perspective that takes ethnicity, social status, and other factors into account is also crucial. This research, therefore, aims to examine how gender-specific adaptation strategies interact with gender and socioeconomic factors to determine the resilience of these Kenyan pastoralist communities. Such strategies, which address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of men and women, are expected to lead to increased resilience to climate change. The aim of the study is to identify effective, gender-specific adaptation strategies that can be integrated into climate change planning and implementation. Additionally, research awaits a deeper understanding of how socioeconomic factors interact with gender to influence vulnerability and resilience within these communities. The study uses a gender-sensitive qualitative approach with focus group discussions in four different pastoral and agropastoral communities. Both qualitative and demographic data are used to capture sources of income, education level, and household size of focus group respondents to increase the power of the analysis. While the research acknowledges the limitations of specific focus sites and potential biases in self-reporting, it offers valuable insights into gender and climate change in pastoral contexts. This study contributes to understanding gender-based vulnerabilities and building resilience in these communities.

Keywords: climate adaptation strategies, climate change, climate resilience, gendered vulnerability, pastoralism

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3078 Concerns for Extreme Climate Conditions and Their Implications in Southwest Nigeria

Authors: Oyenike Eludoyin

Abstract:

Extreme climate conditions are deviation from the norms and are capable of causing upsets in many important environmental parameter including disruption of water balance and air temperature balance. Studies have shown that extreme climate conditions can foretell disaster in regions with inadequate early warning systems. In this paper, we combined geographical information systems, statistics and social surveys to evaluate the physiologic indices [(Dewpoint Temperature (Td), Effective Temperature Index (ETI) and Relative Strain Index (RSI)] and extreme climate conditions in different parts of southwest Nigeria. This was with the view to assessing the nature and the impact of the conditions on the people and their coping strategies. The results indicate that minimum, mean and maximum temperatures were higher in 1960-1990 than 1991-2013 periods at most areas, and more than 80% of the people adapt to thermal stress by changing wear type or cloth, installing air conditioner and fan at home and/or work place and sleeping outside at certain period of the night and day. With respect to livelihoods, about 52% of the interviewed farmers indicated that too early rainfall, late rainfall, prolonged dryness after an initial rainfall, excessive rainfall and windstorms caused low crop yields. Main (76%) coping strategies were changing of planting dates, diversification of crops, and practices of mulching and intercropping. Government or institutional support was less than 20%.

Keywords: coping strategies, extreme climate, livelihoods, physiologic comfort

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3077 Contact Zones and Fashion Hubs: From Circular Economy to Circular Neighbourhoods

Authors: Tiziana Ferrero-Regis, Marissa Lindquist

Abstract:

Circular Economy (CE) is increasingly seen as the reorganisation of production and consumption, and cities are acknowledged as the sources of many ecological and social problems; at the same time, they can be re-imagined through an ecologically and socially resilient future. The concept of the CE has received pointed critiques for its techno-deterministic orientation, focus on science and transformation by the policy. At the heart of our local re-imagining of the CE into circularity through contact zones there is the acknowledgment of collective, spontaneous and shared imaginations of alternative and sustainable futures through the creation of networks of community initiatives that are transformative, creating opportunities that simultaneously make cities rich and enrich humans. This paper presents a mapping project of the fashion and textile ecosystem in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Brisbane is currently the most aspirational city in Australia, as its population growth rate is the highest in the country. Yet, Brisbane is considered the least “fashion city” in the country. In contrast, the project revealed a greatly enhanced picture of distinct fashion and textile clusters across greater Brisbane and the adjacency of key services that may act to consolidate CE community contact zones. Clusters to the north of Brisbane and several locales to the south are zones of a greater mix between public/social amenities, walkable zones and local transport networks with educational precincts, community hubs, concentration of small enterprises, designers, artisans and waste recovery centers that will help to establish knowledge of key infrastructure networks that will support enmeshing these zones together. The paper presents two case studies of independent designers who work on new and re-designed clothing through recovering pre-consumer textiles and that operate from within creative precincts. The first case is designer Nelson Molloy, who recently returned to the inner city suburb of West End with their Chasing Zero Design project. The area was known in the 1980s and 1990s for its alternative lifestyle with creative independent production, thrifty clothing shops, alternative fashion and a socialist agenda. After 30 years of progressive gentrification of the suburb, which has dislocated many of the artists, designers and artisans, West End is seeing the return and amplification of clusters of artisans, artists, designers and architects. The other case study is Practice Studio, located in a new zone of creative growth, Bowen Hills, north of the CBD. Practice Studio combines retail with a workroom, offers repair and remaking services, becoming a point of reference for young and emerging Australian designers and artists. The paper demonstrates the spatial politics of the CE and the way in which new cultural capital is produced thanks to cultural specificities and resources. It argues for the recognition of contact zones that are created by local actors, communities and knowledge networks, whose grass-roots agency is fundamental for the co-production of CE’s systems of local governance.

Keywords: contact zones, circular citities, fashion and textiles, circular neighbourhoods, australia

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3076 Outdoor Thermal Environment Measurement and Simulations in Traditional Settlements in Taiwan

Authors: Tzu-Ping Lin, Shing-Ru Yang

Abstract:

Climate change has a significant impact on human living environment, while the traditional settlement may suffer extreme thermal stress due to its specific building type and living behavior. This study selected Lutaoyang, which is the largest settlement in mountainous areas of Tainan County, for the investigation area. The microclimate parameters, such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and mean radiant temperature. The micro climate parameters were also simulated by the ENVI-met model. The results showed the banyan tree area providing good thermal comfort condition due to the shading. On the contrary, the courtyard (traditionally for the crops drying) surrounded by low rise building and consisted of artificial pavement contributing heat stress especially in summer noon. In the climate change simulations, the courtyard will become very hot and are not suitable for residents activities. These analytical results will shed light on the sustainability related to thermal environment in traditional settlements and develop adaptive measure towards sustainable development under the climate change challenges.

Keywords: thermal environment, traditional settlement, ENVI-met, Taiwan

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3075 Cost Benefit Analysis of Adoption of Climate Change Adaptation Options among Rural Rice Farmers in Nepal

Authors: Niranjan Devkota , Ram Kumar Phuya, Durga Lal Shreshta

Abstract:

This paper estimates cost and benefit of adoption of climate change adaptation options available to the rural rice farmers of Nepal. Adoption of adaptation strategies, intensity of use of adaptation options, identification of labor and non-labor cost and finally per unit cost and benefit analysis of climate change adaptation were made. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to source respondents for the study and used structured questionnaire techniques to collect data from 773 households from seven districts; 3 from Terai and 4 from Hilly region of Nepal. The result revealed that there are 13 major adaptation options rice farmers practice in order to protect themselves from climatic risk. Among the given adaptation options, the first three popular adaptation options practiced by rice farmers are (i) increasing use of chemical fertilizer (60.93%) (ii) use of climate smart verities (49.29%) and (iii) change in nursery date (32.08%). Adaptation cost is obvious, based on that, the first three costly adaptation options are the alternative irrigation practice which incurred average cost of US $69.95 (US$ 1 = 102.84 Nepalese Rupees) followed by a denser plantation of local seeds ($ 20.69) and using climate smart varieties ($ 18.06). 88% farmers practiced more than one adaptation strategies on the same farm with the aim of reducing the effect of extreme climatic conditions. Total cost and revenue revealed that per unit total cost ranges from $28.34 to $32.79 whereas per unit total revenue ranges $33.4 to $49.02. Surprisingly, it is observed that farmers who do not adopt any adaptation options are able to receive highest income from per unit production. As Net Present Value (NPV) is positive and Benefit Cost Ration (BCR) is greater than one for every adaptation options that indicates the available adaptation options are profitable to the rice farmers.

Keywords: climate change, adaptation options, cost benefit analysis, rural rice farmers, Nepal

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3074 Geothermal Resources to Ensure Energy Security During Climate Change

Authors: Debasmita Misra, Arthur Nash

Abstract:

Energy security and sufficiency enables the economic development and welfare of a nation or a society. Currently, the global energy system is dominated by fossil fuels, which is a non-renewable energy resource, which renders vulnerability to energy security. Hence, many nations have begun augmenting their energy system with renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind, biomass and hydro. However, with climate change, how sustainable are some of the renewable energy resources in the future is a matter of concern. Geothermal energy resources have been underexplored or underexploited in global renewable energy production and security, although it is gaining attractiveness as a renewable energy resource. The question is, whether geothermal energy resources are more sustainable than other renewable energy resources. High-temperature reservoirs (> 220 °F) can produce electricity from flash/dry steam plants as well as binary cycle production facilities. Most of the world’s high enthalpy geothermal resources are within the seismo-tectonic belt. However, exploration for geothermal energy is of great importance in conventional geothermal systems in order to improve its economic viability. In recent years, there has been an increase in the use and development of several exploration methods for geo-thermal resources, such as seismic or electromagnetic methods. The thermal infrared band of the Landsat can reflect land surface temperature difference, so the ETM+ data with specific grey stretch enhancement has been used to explore underground heat water. Another way of exploring for potential power is utilizing fairway play analysis for sites without surface expression and in rift zones. Utilizing this type of analysis can improve the success rate of project development by reducing exploration costs. Identifying the basin distribution of geologic factors that control the geothermal environment would help in identifying the control of resource concentration aside from the heat flow, thus improving the probability of success. The first step is compiling existing geophysical data. This leads to constructing conceptual models of potential geothermal concentrations which can then be utilized in creating a geodatabase to analyze risk maps. Geospatial analysis and other GIS tools can be used in such efforts to produce spatial distribution maps. The goal of this paper is to discuss how climate change may impact renewable energy resources and how could a synthesized analysis be developed for geothermal resources to ensure sustainable and cost effective exploitation of the resource.

Keywords: exploration, geothermal, renewable energy, sustainable

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3073 Modeling Vegetation Phenological Characteristics of Terrestrial Ecosystems

Authors: Zongyao Sha

Abstract:

Green vegetation plays a vital role in energy flows and matter cycles in terrestrial ecosystems, and vegetation phenology may not only be influenced by but also impose active feedback on climate changes. The phenological events of vegetation, such as the start of the season (SOS), end of the season (EOS), and length of the season (LOS), can respond to climate changes and affect gross primary productivity (GPP). Here we coupled satellite remote sensing imagery with FLUXNET observations to systematically map the shift of SOS, EOS, and LOS in global vegetated areas and explored their response to climate fluctuations and feedback on GPP during the last two decades. Results indicated that SOS advanced significantly, at an average rate of 0.19 days/year at a global scale, particularly in the northern hemisphere above the middle latitude (≥30°N) and that EOS was slightly delayed during the past two decades, resulting in prolonged LOS in 72.5% of the vegetated area. The climate factors, including seasonal temperature and precipitation, are attributed to the shifts in vegetation phenology but with a high spatial and temporal difference. The study revealed interactions between vegetation phenology and climate changes. Both temperature and precipitation affect vegetation phenology. Higher temperature as a direct consequence of global warming advanced vegetation green-up date. On the other hand, 75.9% and 20.2% of the vegetated area showed a positive correlation and significant positive correlation between annual GPP and length of vegetation growing season (LOS), likely indicating an enhancing effect on vegetation productivity and thus increased carbon uptake from the shifted vegetation phenology. Our study highlights a comprehensive view of the vegetation phenology changes of the global terrestrial ecosystems during the last two decades. The interactions between the shifted vegetation phenology and climate changes may provide useful information for better understanding the future trajectory of global climate changes. The feedback on GPP from the shifted vegetation phenology may serve as an adaptation mechanism for terrestrial ecosystems to mitigate global warming through improved carbon uptake from the atmosphere.

Keywords: vegetation phenology, growing season, NPP, correlation analysis

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3072 University Building: Discussion about the Effect of Numerical Modelling Assumptions for Occupant Behavior

Authors: Fabrizio Ascione, Martina Borrelli, Rosa Francesca De Masi, Silvia Ruggiero, Giuseppe Peter Vanoli

Abstract:

The refurbishment of public buildings is one of the key factors of energy efficiency policy of European States. Educational buildings account for the largest share of the oldest edifice with interesting potentialities for demonstrating best practice with regards to high performance and low and zero-carbon design and for becoming exemplar cases within the community. In this context, this paper discusses the critical issue of dealing the energy refurbishment of a university building in heating dominated climate of South Italy. More in detail, the importance of using validated models will be examined exhaustively by proposing an analysis on uncertainties due to modelling assumptions mainly referring to the adoption of stochastic schedules for occupant behavior and equipment or lighting usage. Indeed, today, the great part of commercial tools provides to designers a library of possible schedules with which thermal zones can be described. Very often, the users do not pay close attention to diversify thermal zones and to modify or to adapt predefined profiles, and results of designing are affected positively or negatively without any alarm about it. Data such as occupancy schedules, internal loads and the interaction between people and windows or plant systems, represent some of the largest variables during the energy modelling and to understand calibration results. This is mainly due to the adoption of discrete standardized and conventional schedules with important consequences on the prevision of the energy consumptions. The problem is surely difficult to examine and to solve. In this paper, a sensitivity analysis is presented, to understand what is the order of magnitude of error that is committed by varying the deterministic schedules used for occupation, internal load, and lighting system. This could be a typical uncertainty for a case study as the presented one where there is not a regulation system for the HVAC system thus the occupant cannot interact with it. More in detail, starting from adopted schedules, created according to questioner’ s responses and that has allowed a good calibration of energy simulation model, several different scenarios are tested. Two type of analysis are presented: the reference building is compared with these scenarios in term of percentage difference on the projected total electric energy need and natural gas request. Then the different entries of consumption are analyzed and for more interesting cases also the comparison between calibration indexes. Moreover, for the optimal refurbishment solution, the same simulations are done. The variation on the provision of energy saving and global cost reduction is evidenced. This parametric study wants to underline the effect on performance indexes evaluation of the modelling assumptions during the description of thermal zones.

Keywords: energy simulation, modelling calibration, occupant behavior, university building

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3071 The Impact of Sports Employees' of Perceptions of Organizational Climate and Organizational Trust on Work Motivation

Authors: Bilal Okudan, Omur F. Karakullukcu, Yusuf Can

Abstract:

Work motivation is one of the fundamental elements that determine the attitudes and performance of employees towards work. In this sense, work motivation depends not only on individual and occupational factors but also on employees' perception of organizational climate and organizational trust. Organizations that are aware of this have begun to do more research on work motivation in recent years to ensure that employees have the highest possible performance. In this framework of the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of sports employees' perceptions of organizational climate and organizational trust on work motivation. In the study, it has also been analyzed if there is any significant difference in the department of sports services’ employees’ organizational climate and organizational trust perception, and work motivation levels in terms of gender, age, duty status, year of service and level of education. 278 sports managers, who work in the department of sports service’s central and field organization at least as a chief in the manager position, have been chosen with random sampling method and they have voluntarily participated in the study. In the study, the organizational climate scale which was developed by Bilir (2005), organizational trusts scale developed by koksal (2012) and work motivation scale developed by Mottaz J. Clifford (1985) have been used as a data collection tool. The questionnaire form used as a data collection tool in the study includes a personal information form consisting of 5 questions; questioning gender, age, duty status, years of service and level of education. In the study, Pearson Correlation Analysis has been used for defining the correlation among organizational climate, organizational trust perceptions and work motivation levels in sports managers and regression analysis has been used to identify the effect of organizational climate and organizational trust on work motivation. T-test for binary grouping and ANOVA analysis have been used for more than binary groups in order to determine if there is any significant difference in the level of organizational climate, organizational trust perceptions and work motivations in terms of the participants’ duty status, year of service and level of education. According to the research results, it has been found that there is a positive correlation between the department of sports services’ employees’ organizational climate, organizational trust perceptions and work motivation levels. According to the results of the regression analysis; it is understood that the sports employees’ perception of organizational climate and organizational trust are two main factors which affects the perception of work motivation. Also, the results show that there is a significant difference in the level of organizational climate and organizational trust perceptions and work motivations of the department of sports services’ employees in terms of duty status, year of service, and level of education; however, the results reveal that there is no significant difference in terms of age groups and gender.

Keywords: sports manager, organizational climate, organizational trust, work motivation

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3070 Palaeo-Environmental Reconstruction of the Wet Zone of Sri Lanka: A Zooarchaeological Perspective

Authors: Kalangi Rodrigo

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Sri Lanka has been known as an island which has a diverse variety of prehistoric occupation among ecological zones. Defining the paleoecology of the past societies has been an archaeological thought developed in the 1960s. It is mainly concerned with the reconstruction from available geological and biological evidence of past biota, populations, communities, landscapes, environments, and ecosystems. Sri Lanka has dealt with this subject, and considerable research has been already undertaken. The fossil and material record of Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone tropical forests continues from c. 38,000–34,000 ybp. This early and persistent human fossil, technical, and cultural florescence, as well as a collection of well-preserved tropical-forest rock shelters with associated 'on-site' palaeoenvironmental records, makes Sri Lanka a central and unusual case study to determine the extent and strength of early human tropical forest encounters. Excavations carried out in prehistoric caves in the low country wet zone has shown that in the last 50,000 years, the temperature in the lowland rainforests has not exceeded 5°C. When taking Batadombalena alone, the entire seven layers have yielded an uninterrupted occupation of Acavus sp and Canerium zeylanicum, a plant that grows in the middle of the rainforest. Acavus, which is highly sensitive to rainforest ecosystems, has been well documented in many of the lowland caves, confirming that the wetland rainforest environment has remained intact at least for the last 50,000 years. If the dry and arid conditions in the upper hills regions affected the wet zone, the Tufted Gray Lunger (semnopithecus priam), must also meet with the prehistoric caves in the wet zone thrown over dry climate. However, the bones in the low country wet zone do not find any of the fragments belonging to Turfed Gray Lunger, and prehistoric human consumption is bestowed with purple-faced leaf monkey (Trachypithecus vetulus) and Toque Macaque (Macaca Sinica). The skeletal remains of Lyriocephalus scutatus, a full-time resident in rain forests, have also been recorded among lowland caves. But, in zoological terms, these remains may be the remains of the Barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak), which is currently found in the wet zone. For further investigations, the mtDNA test of genetic diversity (Bottleneck effect) and pollen study from lowland caves should determine whether the wet zone climate has persisted over the last 50,000 years, or whether the dry weather affected in the mountainous region has invaded the wet zone.

Keywords: paleoecology, prehistory, zooarchaeology, reconstruction, palaeo-climate

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3069 Evaluating the Effect of Climate Change and Land Use/Cover Change on Catchment Hydrology of Gumara Watershed, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

Authors: Gashaw Gismu Chakilu

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Climate and land cover change are very important issues in terms of global context and their responses to environmental and socio-economic drivers. The dynamic of these two factors is currently affecting the environment in unbalanced way including watershed hydrology. In this paper individual and combined impacts of climate change and land use land cover change on hydrological processes were evaluated through applying the model Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in Gumara watershed, Upper Blue Nile basin Ethiopia. The regional climate; temperature and rainfall data of the past 40 years in the study area were prepared and changes were detected by using trend analysis applying Mann-Kendall trend test. The land use land cover data were obtained from land sat image and processed by ERDAS IMAGIN 2010 software. Three land use land cover data; 1973, 1986, and 2013 were prepared and these data were used for base line, model calibration and change study respectively. The effects of these changes on high flow and low flow of the catchment have also been evaluated separately. The high flow of the catchment for these two decades was analyzed by using Annual Maximum (AM) model and the low flow was evaluated by seven day sustained low flow model. Both temperature and rainfall showed increasing trend; and then the extent of changes were evaluated in terms of monthly bases by using two decadal time periods; 1973-1982 was taken as baseline and 2004-2013 was used as change study. The efficiency of the model was determined by Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) and Relative Volume error (RVe) and their values were 0.65 and 0.032 for calibration and 0.62 and 0.0051 for validation respectively. The impact of climate change was higher than that of land use land cover change on stream flow of the catchment; the flow has been increasing by 16.86% and 7.25% due to climate and LULC change respectively, and the combined change effect accounted 22.13% flow increment. The overall results of the study indicated that Climate change is more responsible for high flow than low flow; and reversely the land use land cover change showed more significant effect on low flow than high flow of the catchment. From the result we conclude that the hydrology of the catchment has been altered because of changes of climate and land cover of the study area.

Keywords: climate, LULC, SWAT, Ethiopia

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3068 Grapevine Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change and its Implication to Human Health: A Case of Dodoma, Tanzania

Authors: Felix Y. Mahenge, Abiud L. Kaswamila, Davis G. Mwamfupe

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Grapevine is a drought resistant crop, although in recent years it has been observed to be affect by climate change. This compelled investigation of grapevine farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change in Dodoma, Tanzania. A mixed research approach was adopted. Likewise, purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select individuals for the study. About 248 grapevine farmers and 64 key informants and members of focus group discussions were involved. Primary data were collected through surveys, discussions, interviews, and observations, while secondary data were collected through documentary reviews. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics by means of IBM (SPSS) software while the qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. The findings indicate that climate change has adversely affected grapevine production leading to the occurrence of grapevine pests and diseases, drought which increases costs for irrigation and uncertainties which affect grapevine markets. For the purpose of lessening grapevine production constraints due to climate change, farmers have been using several adaptation strategies. Some of the strategies include application of pesticides, use of scarers to threaten birds, irrigation, timed pruning, manure fertilisers and diversification to other farm or non-farm activities. The use of pesticides and industrial fertilizers were regarded as increasing human health risks in the study area. The researchers recommend that the Tanzania government should strengthen the agricultural extension services in the study area so that the farmers undertake adaptation strategies with the consideration of human health safety.

Keywords: grapevine farmers, adaptation, climate change, human health

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3067 Volume Estimation of Trees: An Exploratory Study on Pterocarpus erinaceus Logging Operations within Forest Transition and Savannah Ecological Zones of Ghana

Authors: Albert Kwabena Osei Konadu

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Pterocarpus erinaceus, also known as Rosewood, is tropical wood, endemic in forest savannah transition zones within the middle and northern portion of Ghana. Its economic viability has made it increasingly popular and in high demand, leading to widespread conservation concerns. Ghana’s forest resource management regime for these ecozones is mainly on conservation and very little on resource utilization. Consequently, commercial logging management standards are at teething stage and not fully developed, leading to a deficiency in the monitoring of logging operations and quantification of harvested trees volumes. Tree information form (TIF); a volume estimation and tracking regime, has proven to be an effective, sustainable management tool for regulating timber resource extraction in the high forest zones of the country. This work aims to generate TIF that can track and capture requisite parameters to accurately estimate the volume of harvested rosewood within forest savannah transition zones. Tree information forms were created on three scenarios of individual billets, stacked billets and conveying vessel basis. These TIFs were field-tested to deduce the most viable option for the tracking and estimation of harvested volumes of rosewood using the smallian and cubic volume estimation formula. Overall, four districts were covered with individual billets, stacked billets and conveying vessel scenarios registering mean volumes of 25.83m3,45.08m3 and 32.6m3, respectively. These adduced volumes were validated by benchmarking to assigned volumes of the Forestry Commission of Ghana and known standard volumes of conveying vessels. The results did indicate an underestimation of extracted volumes under the quotas regime, a situation that could lead to unintended overexploitation of the species. The research revealed conveying vessels route is the most viable volume estimation and tracking regime for the sustainable management of the Pterocarpous erinaceus species as it provided a more practical volume estimate and data extraction protocol.

Keywords: convention on international trade in endangered species, cubic volume formula, forest transition savannah zones, pterocarpus erinaceus, smallian’s volume formula, tree information form

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3066 Projection of Climate Change over the Upper Ping River Basin Using Regional Climate Model

Authors: Chakrit Chotamonsak, Eric P. Salathé Jr, Jiemjai Kreasuwan

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Dynamical downscaling of the ECHAM5 global climate model is applied at 20-km horizontal resolution using the WRF regional climate model (WRF-ECHAM5), to project changes from 1990–2009 to 2045–2064 of temperature and precipitation over the Upper Ping River Basin. The analysis found that monthly changes in daily temperature and precipitation over the basin for the 2045-2064 compared to the 1990-2009 are revealed over the basin all months, with the largest warmer in December and the smallest warmer in February. The future simulated precipitation is smaller than that of the baseline value in May, July and August, while increasing of precipitation is revealed during pre-monsoon (April) and late monsoon (September and October). This means that the rainy season likely becomes longer and less intensified during the rainy season. During the cool-dry season and hot-dry season, precipitation is substantial increasing over the basin. For the annual cycle of changes in daily temperature and precipitation over the upper Ping River basin, the largest warmer in the mean temperature over the basin is 1.93 °C in December and the smallest is 0.77 °C in February. Increase in nighttime temperature (minimum temperature) is larger than that of daytime temperature (maximum temperature) during the dry season, especially in wintertime (November to February), resulted in decreasing the diurnal temperature range. The annual and seasonal changes in daily temperature and precipitation averaged over the basin. The annual mean rising are 1.43, 1.54 and 1.30 °C for mean temperature, maximum temperature and minimum temperature, respectively. The increasing of maximum temperature is larger than that of minimum temperature in all months during the dry season (November to April).

Keywords: climate change, regional climate model, upper Ping River basin, WRF

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3065 Probing Scientific Literature Metadata in Search for Climate Services in African Cities

Authors: Zohra Mhedhbi, Meheret Gaston, Sinda Haoues-Jouve, Julia Hidalgo, Pierre Mazzega

Abstract:

In the current context of climate change, supporting national and local stakeholders to make climate-smart decisions is necessary but still underdeveloped in many countries. To overcome this problem, the Global Frameworks for Climate Services (GFCS), implemented under the aegis of the United Nations in 2012, has initiated many programs in different countries. The GFCS contributes to the development of Climate Services, an instrument based on the production and transfer of scientific climate knowledge for specific users such as citizens, urban planning actors, or agricultural professionals. As cities concentrate on economic, social and environmental issues that make them more vulnerable to climate change, the New Urban Agenda (NUA), adopted at Habitat III in October 2016, highlights the importance of paying particular attention to disaster risk management, climate and environmental sustainability and urban resilience. In order to support the implementation of the NUA, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has identified the urban dimension as one of its priorities and has proposed a new tool, the Integrated Urban Services (IUS), for more sustainable and resilient cities. In the southern countries, there’s a lack of development of climate services, which can be partially explained by problems related to their economic financing. In addition, it is often difficult to make climate change a priority in urban planning, given the more traditional urban challenges these countries face, such as massive poverty, high population growth, etc. Climate services and Integrated Urban Services, particularly in African cities, are expected to contribute to the sustainable development of cities. These tools will help promoting the acquisition of meteorological and socio-ecological data on their transformations, encouraging coordination between national or local institutions providing various sectoral urban services, and should contribute to the achievement of the objectives defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals. To assess the state of the art on these various points, the Web of Science metadatabase is queried. With a query combining the keywords "climate*" and "urban*", more than 24,000 articles are identified, source of more than 40,000 distinct keywords (but including synonyms and acronyms) which finely mesh the conceptual field of research. The occurrence of one or more names of the 514 African cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants or countries, reduces this base to a smaller corpus of about 1410 articles (2990 keywords). 41 countries and 136 African cities are cited. The lexicometric analysis of the metadata of the articles and the analysis of the structural indicators (various centralities) of the networks induced by the co-occurrence of expressions related more specifically to climate services show the development potential of these services, identify the gaps which remain to be filled for their implementation and allow to compare the diversity of national and regional situations with regard to these services.

Keywords: African cities, climate change, climate services, integrated urban services, lexicometry, networks, urban planning, web of science

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3064 Characterization of Climatic Drought in the Saiss Plateau (Morocco) Using Statistical Indices

Authors: Abdeghani Qadem

Abstract:

Climate change is now an undeniable reality with increasing impacts on water systems worldwide, especially leading to severe drought episodes. The Southern Mediterranean region is particularly affected by this drought, which can have devastating consequences on water resources. Morocco, due to its geographical location in North Africa and the Southern Mediterranean, is especially vulnerable to these effects of climate change, particularly drought. In this context, this article focuses on the study of climate variability and drought characteristics in the Saiss Plateau region and its adjacent areas with the Middle Atlas, using specific statistical indices. The study begins by analyzing the annual precipitation variation, with a particular emphasis on data homogenization and gap filling using a regional vector. Then, the analysis delves into drought episodes in the region, using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) over a 12-month period. The central objective is to accurately assess significant drought changes between 1980 and 2015, based on data collected from nine meteorological stations located in the study area.

Keywords: climate variability, regional vector, drought, standardized precipitation index, Saiss Plateau, middle atlas

Procedia PDF Downloads 45
3063 Impact of Climate Shifting-Change on Rural People and Agricultural Life

Authors: Arshad A. Narejo, M. Javed Sheikh, G. Mujtaba Khushk, Naeem A Qureshi, M. Ali Sheikh

Abstract:

Climate change not only influences on agriculture activities but also has certain effects on daily human activities, as well as on overall human health. Keeping in view the significance and huge research gap on the issues, the researchers have found an opportunity to conduct a study in Sindh province of Pakistan, in which the issue of climate shifting/change regarding temperature and precipitation were discussed with the local farmers of district Hyderabad. The quantified perception was gathered on a reliable and valid scale from 200 respondents and was analyzed through SPSS and AMOS software. The result of this study revealed that the significant changes are being occurred in summer (r²=0.96; M=6.78) and winter seasons (r²=0.71; M=6.57), therefore it is leaving bad effects on human health (r²=0.96) and behavior of the local population (r²=0.70). In addition, the change in the cropping calendar, i.e., timing of sowing (r²=0.69; M=8.42) and harvesting (r²=0.79; M=8.27) of different crops have been altered due to changes in local weather patterns. Since the local farmers are also facing seed germination (r²=0.57; M=7.98) problems, it is therefore recommended that concerned authorities/departments should revise the agricultural calendar. Besides this, respondents were in opinion that actual summer starts even before the vacation and cold season starts when winter vacations ended. Thus, the government and other concerned departments should reconsider or reschedule the vacation regulation policy (r²=0.70) at least at the provincial level.

Keywords: climate, climate shifting/change, impact on daily life, impact on agricultural activities

Procedia PDF Downloads 110
3062 The Effects of Weather Events and Land Use Change on Urban Ecosystems: From Risk to Resilience

Authors: Szu-Hua Wang

Abstract:

Urban ecosystems, as complex coupled human-environment systems, contain abundant natural resources for breeding natural assets and, at the same time, attract urban assets and consume natural resources, triggered by urban development. Land use change illustrates the interaction between human activities and environments factually. However, IPCC (2014) announces that land use change and urbanization due to human activities are the major cause of climate change, leading to serious impacts on urban ecosystem resilience and risk. For this reason, risk assessment and resilience analysis are the keys for responding to climate change on urban ecosystems. Urban spatial planning can guide urban development by land use planning, transportation planning, and environmental planning and affect land use allocation and human activities by building major constructions and protecting important national land resources simultaneously. Urban spatial planning can aggravate climate change and, on the other hand, mitigate and adapt climate change. Research on effects of spatial planning on land use change and climate change is one of intense issues currently. Therefore, this research focuses on developing frameworks for risk assessment and resilience analysis from the aspect of ecosystem based on typhoon precipitation in Taipei area. The integrated method of risk assessment and resilience analysis will be also addressed for applying spatial planning practice and sustainable development.

Keywords: ecosystem, land use change, risk analysis, resilience

Procedia PDF Downloads 392
3061 Key Success Factors of Customer Relationship Management: An Empirical Study of Tunisian Firms

Authors: Khlif Hamadi

Abstract:

Customer Relationship Management has become the main interest of researchers and practitioners especially in the domains of Management and Information Systems (IS). This paper is an overview of success factors that could facilitate successful adoption of CRM. There are 2 factors: the organizational climate and the capacity for innovation. The survey was developed with 200 CRM users. Empirical research is in the positivist paradigm based on the hypothetico-deductive method. Indeed, the approach adopted is the quantitative approach based on a questionnaire complied by Tunisian companies operating in different sectors of activity. For the data analyses, the structural equations method was used to conduct our exploratory and confirmatory analysis. The results revealed that the creative organizational climate and high innovation capacity positively influence the success of CRM practice.

Keywords: CRM practices, innovation capacity, organizational climate, the structural equation

Procedia PDF Downloads 101
3060 Malaysia as a Case Study for Climate Policy Integration into Energy Policy

Authors: Marcus Lee

Abstract:

The energy sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in Malaysia, which induces climate change. The climate change problem is therefore an energy sector problem. Tackling climate change issues successfully is contingent on actions taken in the energy sector. The researcher propounds that ‘Climate Policy Integration’ (CPI) into energy policy is a viable and insufficiently developed strategy in Malaysia that promotes the synergies between climate change and energy objectives, in order to achieve the targets found in both climate change and energy policies. In exploring this hypothesis, this paper presentation will focus on two particular aspects. Firstly, the meaning of CPI as an approach and as a concept will be explored. As an approach, CPI into energy policy means the integration of climate change objectives into the energy policy area. Its subject matter focuses on establishing the functional interrelations between climate change and energy objectives, by promoting their synergies and minimising their contradictions. However, its conceptual underpinnings are less than straightforward. Drawing from the ‘principle of integration’ found in international treaties and declarations such as the Stockholm Declaration 1972, the Rio Declaration 1992 and the United Nations Framework on Climate Change 1992 (‘UNFCCC’), this paper presentation will explore the contradictions in international standards on how the sustainable development tenets of environmental sustainability, social development and economic development are to be balanced and its relevance to CPI. Further, the researcher will consider whether authority may be derived from international treaties and declarations in order to argue for the prioritisation of environmental sustainability over the other sustainable development tenets through CPI. Secondly, this paper presentation will also explore the degree to which CPI into energy policy has been achieved and pursued in Malaysia. In particular, the strength of the conceptual framework with regard to CPI in Malaysian governance will be considered by assessing Malaysia’s National Policy on Climate Change (2009) (‘NPCC 2009’). The development (or the lack of) of CPI as an approach since the publication of the NPCC 2009 will also be assessed based on official government documents and policies that may have a climate change and/or energy agenda. Malaysia’s National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan (2010), draft National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (2014), Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (2015) in relation to the Paris Agreement, 11th Malaysia Plan (2015) and Biennial Update Report to the UNFCCC (2015) will be discussed. These documents will be assessed for the presence of CPI based on the language/drafting of the documents as well as the degree of subject matter regarding CPI expressed in the documents. Based on the analysis, the researcher will propose solutions on how to improve Malaysia’s climate change and energy governance. The theory of reflexive governance will be applied to CPI. The concluding remarks will be about whether CPI reflects reflexive governance by demonstrating how the governance process can be the object of shaping outcomes.

Keywords: climate policy integration, mainstreaming, policy coherence, Malaysian energy governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 171
3059 Climate Indices: A Key Element for Climate Change Adaptation and Ecosystem Forecasting - A Case Study for Alberta, Canada

Authors: Stefan W. Kienzle

Abstract:

The increasing number of occurrences of extreme weather and climate events have significant impacts on society and are the cause of continued and increasing loss of human and animal lives, loss or damage to property (houses, cars), and associated stresses to the public in coping with a changing climate. A climate index breaks down daily climate time series into meaningful derivatives, such as the annual number of frost days. Climate indices allow for the spatially consistent analysis of a wide range of climate-dependent variables, which enables the quantification and mapping of historical and future climate change across regions. As trends of phenomena such as the length of the growing season change differently in different hydro-climatological regions, mapping needs to be carried out at a high spatial resolution, such as the 10km by 10km Canadian Climate Grid, which has interpolated daily values from 1950 to 2017 for minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation. Climate indices form the basis for the analysis and comparison of means, extremes, trends, the quantification of changes, and their respective confidence levels. A total of 39 temperature indices and 16 precipitation indices were computed for the period 1951 to 2017 for the Province of Alberta. Temperature indices include the annual number of days with temperatures above or below certain threshold temperatures (0, +-10, +-20, +25, +30ºC), frost days, and timing of frost days, freeze-thaw days, growing or degree days, and energy demands for air conditioning and heating. Precipitation indices include daily and accumulated 3- and 5-day extremes, days with precipitation, period of days without precipitation, and snow and potential evapotranspiration. The rank-based nonparametric Mann-Kendall statistical test was used to determine the existence and significant levels of all associated trends. The slope of the trends was determined using the non-parametric Sen’s slope test. The Google mapping interface was developed to create the website albertaclimaterecords.com, from which beach of the 55 climate indices can be queried for any of the 6833 grid cells that make up Alberta. In addition to the climate indices, climate normals were calculated and mapped for four historical 30-year periods and one future period (1951-1980, 1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2017, 2041-2070). While winters have warmed since the 1950s by between 4 - 5°C in the South and 6 - 7°C in the North, summers are showing the weakest warming during the same period, ranging from about 0.5 - 1.5°C. New agricultural opportunities exist in central regions where the number of heat units and growing degree days are increasing, and the number of frost days is decreasing. While the number of days below -20ºC has about halved across Alberta, the growing season has expanded by between two and five weeks since the 1950s. Interestingly, both the number of days with heat waves and cold spells have doubled to four-folded during the same period. This research demonstrates the enormous potential of using climate indices at the best regional spatial resolution possible to enable society to understand historical and future climate changes of their region.

Keywords: climate change, climate indices, habitat risk, regional, mapping, extremes

Procedia PDF Downloads 73
3058 Impact of Climate Variability on Household's Crop Income in Central Highlands and Arssi Grain Plough Areas of Ethiopia

Authors: Arega Shumetie Ademe, Belay Kassa, Degye Goshu, Majaliwa Mwanjalolo

Abstract:

Currently the world economy is suffering from one critical problem, climate change. Some studies done before identified that impact of the problem is region specific means in some part of the world (temperate zone) there is improvement in agricultural performance but in some others like in the tropics there is drastic reduction in crop production and crop income. Climate variability is becoming dominant cause of short-term fluctuation in rain-fed agricultural production and income of developing countries. The purely rain-fed Ethiopian agriculture is the most vulnerable sector to the risks and impacts of climate variability. Thus, this study tried to identify impact of climate variability on crop income of smallholders in Ethiopia. The research used eight rounded unbalanced panel data from 1994- 2014 collected from six villages in the study area. After having all diagnostic tests the research used fixed effect method of regression. Based on the regression result rainfall and temperature deviation from their respective long term averages have negative and significant effect on crop income. Other extreme devastating shocks like flood, storm and frost, which are sourced from climate variability, have significant and negative effect on crop income of households’. Parameters that notify rainfall inconsistency like late start, variation in availability at growing season, and early cessation are critical problems for crop income of smallholder households as to the model result. Given this, impact of climate variability is not consistent in different agro-ecologies of the country. Rainfall variability has similar impact on crop income in different agro-ecology, but variation in temperature affects cold agro-ecology villages negatively and significantly, while it has positive effect in warm villages. Parameters that represent rainfall inconsistency have similar impact in both agro-ecologies and the aggregate model regression. This implies climate variability sourced from rainfall inconsistency is the main problem of Ethiopian agriculture especially the crop production sub-sector of smallholder households.

Keywords: climate variability, crop income, household, rainfall, temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 344
3057 Disaster Adaptation Mechanism and Disaster Prevention Adaptation Planning Strategies for Industrial Parks in Response to Climate Change and Different Socio-Economic Disasters

Authors: Jen-Te Pai, Jao-Heng Liu, Shin-En Pai

Abstract:

The impact of climate change has intensified in recent years, causing Taiwan to face higher frequency and serious natural disasters. Therefore, it is imperative for industrial parks manufacturers to promote adaptation policies in response to climate change. On the other hand, with the rise of the international anti-terrorism situation, once a terrorist attack occurs, it will attract domestic and international media attention, especially the strategic and economic status of the science park. Thus, it is necessary to formulate adaptation and mitigation strategies under climate change and social economic disasters. After reviewed the literature about climate change, urban disaster prevention, vulnerability assessment, and risk communication, the study selected 62 industrial parks compiled by the Industrial Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan as the research object. This study explored the vulnerability and disaster prevention and disaster relief functional assessment of these industrial parks facing of natural and socio-economic disasters. Furthermore, this study explored planned adaptation of industrial parks management section and autonomous adaptation of corporate institutions in the park. The conclusion of this study is that Taiwan industrial parks with a higher vulnerability to natural and socio-economic disasters should employ positive adaptive behaviours.

Keywords: adaptive behaviours, analytic network process, vulnerability, industrial parks

Procedia PDF Downloads 119
3056 Climate Change and Health: Scoping Review of Scientific Literature 1990-2015

Authors: Niamh Herlihy, Helen Fischer, Rainer Sauerborn, Anneliese Depoux, Avner Bar-Hen, Antoine Flauhault, Stefanie Schütte

Abstract:

In the recent decades, there has been an increase in the number of publications both in the scientific and grey literature on the potential health risks associated with climate change. Though interest in climate change and health is growing, there are still many gaps to adequately assess our future health needs in a warmer world. Generating a greater understanding of the health impacts of climate change could be a key step in inciting the changes necessary to decelerate global warming and to target new strategies to mitigate the consequences on health systems. A long term and broad overview of existing scientific literature in the field of climate change and health is currently missing in order to ensure that all priority areas are being adequately addressed. We conducted a scoping review of published peer-reviewed literature on climate change and health from two large databases, PubMed and Web of Science, between 1990 and 2015. A scoping review allowed for a broad analysis of this complex topic on a meta-level as opposed to a thematically refined literature review. A detailed search strategy including specific climate and health terminology was used to search the two databases. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied in order to capture the most relevant literature on the human health impact of climate change within the chosen timeframe. Two reviewers screened the papers independently and any differences arising were resolved by a third party. Data was extracted, categorized and coded both manually and using R software. Analytics and infographics were developed from results. There were 7269 articles identified between the two databases following the removal of duplicates. After screening of the articles by both reviewers 3751 were included. As expected, preliminary results indicate that the number of publications on the topic has increased over time. Geographically, the majority of publications address the impact of climate change and health in Europe and North America, This is particularly alarming given that countries in the Global South will bear the greatest health burden. Concerning health outcomes, infectious diseases, particularly dengue fever and other mosquito transmitted infections are the most frequently cited. We highlight research gaps in certain areas e.g climate migration and mental health issues. We are developing a database of the identified climate change and health publications and are compiling a report for publication and dissemination of the findings. As health is a major co-beneficiary to climate change mitigation strategies, our results may serve as a useful source of information for research funders and investors when considering future research needs as well as the cost-effectiveness of climate change strategies. This study is part of an interdisciplinary project called 4CHealth that confronts results of the research done on scientific, political and press literature to better understand how the knowledge on climate change and health circulates within those different fields and whether and how it is translated to real world change.

Keywords: climate change, health, review, mapping

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3055 Climate Change and Urban Flooding: The Need to Rethinking Urban Flood Management through Resilience

Authors: Suresh Hettiarachchi, Conrad Wasko, Ashish Sharma

Abstract:

The ever changing and expanding urban landscape increases the stress on urban systems to support and maintain safe and functional living spaces. Flooding presents one of the more serious threats to this safety, putting a larger number of people in harm’s way in congested urban settings. Climate change is adding to this stress by creating a dichotomy in the urban flood response. On the one hand, climate change is causing storms to intensify, resulting in more destructive, rarer floods, while on the other hand, longer dry periods are decreasing the severity of more frequent, less intense floods. This variability is creating a need to be more agile and innovative in how we design for and manage urban flooding. Here, we argue that to cope with this challenge climate change brings, we need to move towards urban flood management through resilience rather than flood prevention. We also argue that dealing with the larger variation in flood response to climate change means that we need to look at flooding from all aspects rather than the single-dimensional focus of flood depths and extents. In essence, we need to rethink how we manage flooding in the urban space. This change in our thought process and approach to flood management requires a practical way to assess and quantify resilience that is built into the urban landscape so that informed decision-making can support the required changes in planning and infrastructure design. Towards that end, we propose a Simple Urban Flood Resilience Index (SUFRI) based on a robust definition of resilience as a tool to assess flood resilience. The application of a simple resilience index such as the SUFRI can provide a practical tool that considers urban flood management in a multi-dimensional way and can present solutions that were not previously considered. When such an index is grounded on a clear and relevant definition of resilience, it can be a reliable and defensible way to assess and assist the process of adapting to the increasing challenges in urban flood management with climate change.

Keywords: urban flood resilience, climate change, flood management, flood modelling

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3054 Adaptive Approach Towards Comprehensive Urban Development Simulation in Coastal Regions: Case Study of New Alamein City, Egypt

Authors: Nada Mohamed, Abdel Aziz Mohamed

Abstract:

Climate change in coastal areas is a global issue that can be felt on local scale and will be around for decades and centuries to come to an end; it also has critical risks on the city’s economy, communities, and the natural environment. One of these changes that cause a huge risk on coastal cities is the sea level rise (SLR). SLR is a result of scarcity and reduction in global environmental system. The main cause of climate change and global warming is the countries with high development index (HDI) as Japan and Germany while the medium and low HDI countries as Egypt does not have enough awareness and advanced tactics to adapt with this changes that destroy urban areas and cause loss in land and economy. This is why Climate Resilience is one of the UN sustainable development goals 2030, which is calling for actions to strengthen climate change resilience through mitigation and adaptation. For many reasons, adaptation has received less attention than mitigation and it is only recently that adaptation has become a focal global point of attention. This adaption can be achieved through some actions such as upgrading the use and the design of the land, adjusting business and activities of people, and increasing community understanding of climate risks. To reach the adaption goals, and we have to apply a strategic pathway to Climate Resilience, which is the Urban Bioregionalism Paradigm. Resiliency has been framed as persistence, adaptation, and transformation. Climate Resilience decision support system includes a visualization platform where ecological, social, and economic information can be viewed alongside with specific geographies that's why Urban Bioregionalism is a socio-ecological system which is defined as a paradigm that has potential to help move social attitudes toward environmental understanding and deepen human-environment connections within ecological development. The research aim is to achieve an adaptive integrated urban development model throughout the analyses of tactics and strategies that can be used to adapt urban areas and coastal communities to the challenges of climate changes especially SLR and also simulation model using advanced technological software for a coastal city corridor to elaborates the suitable strategy to apply.

Keywords: climate resilience, sea level rise, SLR, coastal resilience, adaptive development simulation

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3053 The Effect of Employees' Positive Attitude and Smile and Its Impact on the Quality of Service in the Hospitality Service

Authors: Mariam Kutateladze

Abstract:

In the twenty-first century, in the customer service settings for hospitality institution’s employee management and their well-being have become a core issue since it is linked to the customers' increased demand for high-quality service. Employees' positive attitude to customers plays an essential role in the serving process; for this reason, in the hospitality institutions service with a smile is a job requirement. This research is devoted to the issues of employee management systems improvement and its effect of the genuine smile as a positive attitude expressed by the employees to the customer. Different researchers work about the effect of the genuine smile, which is analyzed in the present paper. Based on it, the link between satisfied employees from service climate and their genuine smile is determined. An investigation in local resort hotels which are located in the regions of Georgia is conducted. In the methodology of the paper, we have used linkage research, which stated that employee satisfaction in a working place depends on the existing service climate in an organization. We have prepared questioners according to eight dimensions of good service climate by linkage research, and extra questions about the effect of the smile on customers were added. Questionnaires were distributed among employees, and the results have shown that dissatisfaction from organizations’ service climate led to employees' false smile toward customers. Demanding positive emotions from frustrated employees was the mistake of the hotel management. The false smile was easily recognized by the customers, and the frustrated employee with a false smile could not provide high-quality service. The findings of the paper will help managers to realize the importance of forming the positive service climate within the institutions since it is linked to employees' well-being who are the creators of high-quality service. The conclusion drawn from this study indicates there are core issues those managers need to take into account when planning their organizations’ profit. Managers should know their employees very well, their feelings and attitudes toward work before asking them expressing a smile since forced smile does not have a good result and quite often has bad outcomes; therefore, first of all, managers should investigate service climate in the organization. Managers should take into consideration employees’ opinions about the service climate in the organization, motivate their employees, and respect their ideas. Also, they should satisfy employees' basic needs and stress more value on extrinsic goals such as competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Managers should create a positive working environment, positive service climate, which will lead to employee satisfaction and genuine feelings, as well as improve the working environment since negative working climate will cause customers disappointment because of low-quality service provided by the unsatisfied employees.

Keywords: employee management, hotel, quality of service, service climate

Procedia PDF Downloads 92