Search results for: climate governance

Authors: Huiqiang Yang, Domingo Santana

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This paper proposes a novel configuration which introduces a natural draft dry cooling tower system in a molten salt power tower. A three-dimensional numerical modeling was developed based on the novel configuration. A plan of building 20 new concentrating solar power plants has been announced by Chinese government in September 2016, and among these 20 new plants, most of them are located in regions with long winter and harsh winter climate. The innovative configuration proposed includes an external receiver concrete tower at the center, a natural draft dry cooling tower which is surrounding the external receiver concrete tower and whose shell is fixed on the external receiver concrete tower, and a power block (including a steam generation system, a steam turbine system and hot/cold molten salt tanks, and water treatment systems) is covered by the roof of the natural draft dry cooling tower. Heat exchanger bundles are vertically installed at the furthest edge of the power block. In such a way, all power block equipment operates under suitable environmental conditions through whole year operation. The monthly performance of the novel configuration is simulated as compared to a standard one. The results show that the novel configuration is much more efficient in each separate month in a typical meteorological year. Moreover, all systems inside the power block have less thermal losses at low ambient temperatures, especially in harsh winter climate. It is also worthwhile mentioning that a photovoltaic power plant can be installed on the roof of the cooling tower to reduce the parasites of the molten salt power tower.

Keywords: molten salt power tower, natural draft dry cooling, commercial scale, power block, harsh winter climate

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Authors: Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

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Introductory Statement: The effect of corruption in South Africa has seriously constrained development of the national economy and has significantly inhibited good governance in the country. The significance of this paper is a demonstration that Corruption in a South African government is greatly influenced by the culture of greed by leaders in government. Many leaders in government are not satisfied with what they receive on monthly basis in the form of salaries and allowances. Thus, the quest to accumulate, as many material possessions by cabinet ministers and public servants is what is crippling the annual budget and disadvantaging the poor masses of our people including women, children and the elderly. Basic Methodology: In order to deal with this dilemma, this paper proposes ethical leadership as a theological and ethical alternative and antidote to the culture of greed in government. Research Findings: Ethical leadership is proposed because unlike the culture of greed, it is a leadership that is based on respect for ethical principles and standards and for the dignity and privileges of others. Ethical leadership is synonymous with principles like trust, morality, consideration, equality, and justice. Conclusion: The conclusion is that ethical leadership is one of the solutions that can assist the South African government to deal with the root causes of corruption, that is, the culture of greed.

Keywords: ethical leadership, theological ethics, culture of greed, corruption, governance

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Authors: Audia Syafa'atur Rahman, Rozali Haron

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The practices of Islamic banking are more attuned to the goals of profit maximization rather than obtaining ethical profit. Ethical profit is obtained from interest-free earnings and to give an impact which benefits to the growth of society and economy. Good corporate governance practices are needed to assure the sustainability of Islamic banks in order to achieve Maqasid Shariah with the main purpose of boosting the well-being of people. The Maqasid Shariah performance measurement is used to measure the duties and responsibilities expected to be performed by Islamic banks. It covers not only unification dimension like financial measurement, but also many dimensions covered to reflect the main purpose of Islamic banks. The implementation of good corporate governance is essential because it covers the interests of the stakeholders and facilitates effective monitoring to encourage Islamic banks to utilize resources more efficiently in order to achieve the Maqasid Shariah. This study aims to provide the empirical evidence on the Maqasid performance of Islamic banks in relation to the Maqasid performance evaluation model, to examine the influence of SSB characteristics and board structures to Islamic Banks performance as measured by Maqasid performance evaluation model. By employing the simple additive weighting method, Maqasid index for all the Islamic Banks in Indonesia within 2012 to 2016 ranged from above 11% to 28%. The Maqasid Syariah performance index where results reached above 20% are obtained by Islamic Banks such as Bank Muamalat Indonesia, Bank Panin Syariah, and Bank BRI Syariah. The consistent achievement above 23% is achieved by BMI. Other Islamic Banks such as Bank Victoria Syariah, Bank Jabar Banten Syariah, Bank BNI Syariah, Bank Mega Syariah, BCA Syariah, and Maybank Syariah Indonesia shows a fluctuating value of the Maqasid performance index every year. The impact of SSB characteristics and board structures are tested using random-effects generalized least square. The findings indicate that SSB characteristics (Shariah Supervisory Board size, Shariah Supervisory Board cross membership, Shariah Supervisory Board Education, and Shariah Supervisory Board reputation) and board structures (Board size and Board independence) have an essential role in improving the performance of Islamic Banks. The findings denote Shariah Supervisory Board with smaller size, higher portion of Shariah Supervisory Board cross membership; lesser Shariah Supervisory Board holds doctorate degree, lesser reputable scholar, more members on board of directors, and less independence non-executive directors will enhance the performance of Islamic Banks.

Keywords: Maqasid Shariah, corporate governance, Islamic banks, Shariah supervisory board

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Authors: U. V. Okpala

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Flood is an overflow of water that submerges or ‘drowns’ land. In developing countries it occurs as a result of blocking of natural and man-made drainages and poor maintenance of water dams/reservoirs which seldom give way after persistent heavy down pours. In coastal lowlands and swamp lands, flooding is aided mainly by blocked channels and indiscriminate sand fling of coastal swamp areas and natural drainage channel for urban development/constructions. In this paper, the causes of flood and possible scientific, technological, political, economic and social impacts of flood disaster on the environment a case study of Anambra State have been studied. Often times flooding is caused by climate change, especially in the developed economy where scientific mitigating options are highly employed. Researchers have identified Green Houses Gases (GHG) as the cause of global climate change. The recent flood disaster in Anambra State which caused physical damage to structures, social dislocation, contamination of clean drinking water, spread of water-borne diseases, shortage of crops and food supplies, death of non-tolerant tree species, disruption in transportation system, serious economic loss and psychological trauma is a function of climate change. There is need to encourage generation of renewable energy sources, use of less carbon intensive fuels and other energy efficient sources. Carbon capture/sequestration, proper management of our drainage systems and good maintenance of our dams are good option towards saving the environment.

Keywords: flooding, climate change, carbon capture, energy systems

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Authors: Mina Ganji Morad, Maziar Azadisoleimanieh, Sina Ganji Morad

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A green roof is formed by green plants alive and has many positive impacts in the regional climatic, as well as indoor. Green roof system to prevent solar radiation plays a role in the cooling space. The cooling is done by reducing thermal fluctuations on the exterior of the roof and by increasing the roof heat capacity which cause to keep the space under the roof cool in the summer and heating rate increases during the winter. A roof garden is one of the recommended ways to reduce energy consumption in large cities. Despite the scale of the city green roofs have effective functions, such as beautiful view of city and decontaminating the urban landscape and reduce mental stress, and in an exchange of energy and heat from outside to inside spaces. This article is based on a review of 20 articles and 10 books and valid survey results on the positive effects of green roofs to prevent energy waste in the building. According to these publications, three of the conventional roof, green roof typical and green roof with certain administrative details (layers of glass) and the use of resistant plants and shrubs have been analyzed and compared their heat transfer. The results of these studies showed that one of the best green roof systems for mountainous climate is tree and shrub system that in addition to being resistant to climate change in mountainous regions, will benefit from the other advantages of green roof. Due to the severity of climate change in mountainous areas it is essential to prevent the waste of buildings heating and cooling energy. Proper climate design can greatly help to reduce energy.

Keywords: green roof, heat transfer, reducing energy consumption, mountainous areas, sustainable architecture

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Authors: A. A. Sadia, A. Emdad, E. Hossain

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The increasing importance of mushrooms as a source of nutrition, health benefits, and even potential cancer treatment has raised awareness of the impact of climate-sensitive variables on their cultivation. Factors like temperature, relative humidity, air quality, and substrate composition play pivotal roles in shaping mushroom growth, especially in Bangladesh. Oyster mushrooms, a commonly cultivated variety in this region, are particularly vulnerable to climate fluctuations. This research explores the climatic dynamics affecting oyster mushroom cultivation and, presents an approach to address these challenges and provides tangible solutions to fortify the agro-economy, ensure food security, and promote the sustainability of this crucial food source. Using climate and production data, this study evaluates the performance of three clustering algorithms -KMeans, OPTICS, and BIRCH- based on various quality metrics. While each algorithm demonstrates specific strengths, the findings provide insights into their effectiveness for this specific dataset. The results yield essential information, pinpointing the optimal temperature range of 13°C-22°C, the unfavorable temperature threshold of 28°C and above, and the ideal relative humidity range of 75-85% with the suitable production regions in three different seasons: Kharif-1, 2, and Robi. Additionally, a user-friendly web application is developed to support mushroom farmers in making well-informed decisions about their cultivation practices. This platform offers valuable insights into the most advantageous periods for oyster mushroom farming, with the overarching goal of enhancing the efficiency and profitability of mushroom farming.

Keywords: climate variability, mushroom cultivation, clustering techniques, food security, sustainability, web-application

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Authors: Shekar Babu, Amalendu Jyothishi

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The New Companies Bill-2013 in India has mandated all the companies with a certain profit to spend on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Despite the Corporate Governance (CG) compliances at the strategic level the firms have to engage in social good. For both the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) and the private companies in India the need for strategic CSR focus through operational efficiency measures are mandated. In this paper the focus is to find out if the Indian companies understand their responsibility towards the society despite government making CSR mandatory. Analyzing both the CPSEs and Private companies the researchers find out which set of companies behave responsibly towards the society. Does any particular industry group(s) impact the society by disclosing their CSR spending activities. The key financial and non-financial parameters that influence CSR spending were identified and through econometric analysis methodologies (logistic regression and OLS models) the results were analyzed. The innovative methods were developed to identify if the firms operate efficiently and at the same time complying with the new CSR laws. An innovative matrix was developed to explain how companies could operate efficiently and be compliant in parallel how some of the companies can strategically realign their spending by operating efficiently.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility(CSR), corporate governance(CG), India, logit function, ordinary least squares (OLS)

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Authors: Musyimi Mbathi

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Information regarding social, political, demographic, economic and other attributes of human settlement is important for decision makers at all levels of planning, as they have to grapple with dynamic environments often associated with settlements. At the local level, it is particularly important for both communities and urban managers to have accurate and reliable information regarding all planning attributes. Settlement mapping, in particular, informal settlements mapping in Kenya, has over the past few years been carried out using modern tools like Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing for spatial data analysis and planning. GIS tools offer a platform for integration of spatial and non-spatial data as well as visualisation of the settlements. The capabilities offered by these tools have enabled communities to participate especially in the planning and management of new infrastructure as well as settlement upgrading. Land tenure based projects within informal settlements have also relied on GIS and related tools with considerable success. Additionally, the adoption of participatory approaches and use of geo-information tools helped to provide a basis for all inclusive planning thus promoting accountability, transparency, legitimacy, and other dimensions of governance within human settlement planning. The paper examines the context and application of geo-information tools for planning within low-income settlements of Kenya. A case study of Kiambiu settlement will be used to demonstrate how the tools have been applied for planning and decision-making purposes.

Keywords: informal settlements, GIS, governance, modern tools

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Authors: Rodrigo Buaiz Boabaid

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Tokenization of Blue Bonds is an emerging Green Finance tool that has the potential to scale Blue Carbon Projects to fight climate change. This innovative solution has a huge potential to democratize the green finance market and catalyze innovations in the climate change finance sector. Switzerland has emerged as a leader in the Green Finance space and is well-positioned to drive the adoption of Tokenization of Blue & Green Bonds. This unique approach has the potential to unlock new sources of capital and enable global investors to participate in the financing of sustainable blue carbon projects. By leveraging the power of blockchain technology, Tokenization of Blue Bonds can provide greater transparency, efficiency, and security in the investment process, while also reducing transaction costs. Investments are in line with the highest regulations and designed according to the stringent legal framework and compliance standards set by Switzerland. The potential benefits of Tokenization of Blue Bonds are significant and could transform the way that sustainable projects are financed. By unlocking new sources of capital, this approach has the potential to accelerate the deployment of Blue Carbon projects and create new opportunities for investors to participate in the fight against climate change.

Keywords: blue carbon, blue bonds, green finance, Tokenization, blockchain solutions

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Authors: Jing Jiang, Wenhuan XU, Lei Zhang, Shiyi Zhang, Tongli Wang

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Climate data quality significantly affects the reliability of ecological modeling. In the Asia Pacific (AP) region, low-quality climate data hinders ecological modeling. ClimateAP, a software developed in 2017, generates high-quality climate data for the AP region, benefiting researchers in forestry and agriculture. However, its adoption remains limited. This study aims to confirm the validity of biologically relevant variable data generated by ClimateAP during the normal climate period through comparison with the currently available gridded data. Climate data from 2,366 weather stations were used to evaluate the prediction accuracy of ClimateAP in comparison with the commonly used gridded data from WorldClim1.4. Univariate regressions were applied to 48 monthly biologically relevant variables, and the relationship between the observational data and the predictions made by ClimateAP and WorldClim was evaluated using Adjusted R-Squared and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). Locations were categorized into mountainous and flat landforms, considering elevation, slope, ruggedness, and Topographic Position Index. Univariate regressions were then applied to all biologically relevant variables for each landform category. Random Forest (RF) models were implemented for the climatic niche modeling of Cunninghamia lanceolata. A comparative analysis of the prediction accuracies of RF models constructed with distinct climate data sources was conducted to evaluate their relative effectiveness. Biologically relevant variables were obtained from three unpublished Chinese meteorological datasets. ClimateAPv3.0 and WorldClim predictions were obtained from weather station coordinates and WorldClim1.4 rasters, respectively, for the normal climate period of 1961-1990. Occurrence data for Cunninghamia lanceolata came from integrated biodiversity databases with 3,745 unique points. ClimateAP explains a minimum of 94.74%, 97.77%, 96.89%, and 94.40% of monthly maximum, minimum, average temperature, and precipitation variances, respectively. It outperforms WorldClim in 37 biologically relevant variables with lower RMSE values. ClimateAP achieves higher R-squared values for the 12 monthly minimum temperature variables and consistently higher Adjusted R-squared values across all landforms for precipitation. ClimateAP's temperature data yields lower Adjusted R-squared values than gridded data in high-elevation, rugged, and mountainous areas but achieves higher values in mid-slope drainages, plains, open slopes, and upper slopes. Using ClimateAP improves the prediction accuracy of tree occurrence from 77.90% to 82.77%. The biologically relevant climate data produced by ClimateAP is validated based on evaluations using observations from weather stations. The use of ClimateAP leads to an improvement in data quality, especially in non-mountainous regions. The results also suggest that using biologically relevant variables generated by ClimateAP can slightly enhance climatic niche modeling for tree species, offering a better understanding of tree species adaptation and resilience compared to using gridded data.

Keywords: climate data validation, data quality, Asia pacific climate, climatic niche modeling, random forest models, tree species

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Authors: Pitsanu Poonpetpun

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This research aimed to study opinions of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University administrative personnel towards performance of the university council committee by addressing (1) personal characteristics of the committees; (2) duties designated by the university council; and (3) relationship between university council and university administrative personnel. The population of this study including the president, vice presidents, faculty deans, deputy deans, office heads, director of office of president, directors, deputy directors, division directors, made a total of 118 respondents. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were utilized in analyzing the data. The finding on opinions of the administrative personnel towards personal characteristics of the university council committees was averagely at a high level. The characteristic items were rated and revealed that the item gaining the highest mean score was the item stating that the university council committees obtained overall appropriate qualification. The items stating that the president of the teachers’ council acting as the university council committee had impartiality and good governance reported the lowest mean score. The opinions of the administrative personnel towards duty performance of the university council committees was averagely in a high level, in which the item gaining the highest mean score was the item stating that formulating rules and regulations or assigning governmental offices to do so was practiced with governance or fairness to all stakeholders, and the item stating that the president of the teachers’ council acting as the university council committee had impartiality good governance reported the lowest mean score. Moreover, the study found that the rating of opinions of the administrative personnel towards relationship between university council and university administrative personnel was averagely high. Relationship items were rated and revealed that the highest mean score was rated for the fact that the university president was empowered by the university council to manage the university with no violation of the policies. The fact that there was the integrity of policy between the university council and the university administrative personnel was rated the lowest score.

Keywords: performance, university council, education, university administrative personnel

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Authors: M. Soubadra Devy, Savitha Swamy, Chethana V. Casiker

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Sustainable smart cities are emerging as an important concept in response to the exponential rise in the world’s urbanizing population. While earlier, only technical, economic and governance based solutions were considered, more and more layers are being added in recent times. With the prefix of 'sustainability', solutions which help in judicious use of resources without negatively impacting the environment have become critical. We present a case study of Bangalore city which has transformed from being a garden city and pensioners' paradise to being an IT city with a huge, young population from different regions and diverse cultural backgrounds. This has had a big impact on the green spaces in the city and the biodiversity that they support, as well as on farming/gardening practices. Edible landscapes comprising farms lands, home gardens and neighbourhood parks (NPs henceforth) were examined. The land prices of areas having NPs were higher than those that did not indicate an appreciation of their aesthetic value. NPs were part of old and new residential areas largely managed by the municipality. They comprised manicured gardens which were similar in vegetation structure and composition. Results showed that NPs that occurred in higher density supported reasonable levels of biodiversity. In situations where NPs occurred in lower density, the presence of a larger green space such as a heritage park or botanical garden enhanced the biodiversity of these parks. In contrast, farm lands and home gardens which were common within the city are being lost at an unprecedented scale to developmental projects. However, there is also the emergence of a 'neo-culture' of home-gardening that promotes 'locovory' or consumption of locally grown food as a means to a sustainable living and reduced carbon footprint. This movement overcomes the space constraint by using vertical and terrace gardening techniques. Food that is grown within cities comprises of vegetables and fruits which are largely pollinator dependent. This goes hand in hand with our landscape-level study that has shown that cities support pollinator diversity. Maintaining and improving these man-made ecosystems requires analysing the functioning and characteristics of the existing structures of governance. Social network analysis tool was applied to NPs to examine relationships, between actors and ties. The management structures around NPs, gaps, and means to strengthen the networks from the current state to a near-ideal state were identified for enhanced services. Learnings from NPs were used to build a hypothetical governance structure and functioning of integrated governance of NPs and edible landscapes to enhance ecosystem services such as biodiversity support, food production, and aesthetic value. They also contribute to the sustainability axis of smart cities.

Keywords: biodiversity support, ecosystem services, edible green spaces, neighbourhood parks, sustainable smart city

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Authors: Gadinga Walter Forje, Martin Ngankam Tchamba, Nyong Princely Awazi, Barnabas Neba Nfornka

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Ecotourism is viewed as a double edge sword for the enhancement of conservation and local livelihood within a protected landscape. The Campo Ma’an National Park (CMNP) adopted ecotourism in its management plan as a strategic axis for better management of the park. The growing importance of ecotourism as a strategy for the sustainable management of CMNP and its environs requires adequate information to bolster the sector. This study was carried out between November 2018 and September 2021, with the main objective to contribute to the sustainable management of the CMNP through suggestions for enhancing the capacity of ecotourism in and around the park. More specifically, the study aimed at; 1) Analyse the governance of ecotourism in the CMNP and its surrounding; 2) Assessing the impact of ecotourism on local livelihood around the CMNP; 3) Evaluating the contribution of ecotourism to biodiversity conservation in and around the CMNP; 4) Evaluate the determinants of ecotourism possibilities in achieving sustainable livelihood and biodiversity conservation in and around the CMNP. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were obtained from household surveys (N=124), focus group discussions (N=8), and key informant interviews (N=16). Data collected were coded and imputed into SPSS (version 19.0) software and Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Findings from the Chi-square test revealed overall poor ecotourism governance in and around the CMNP, with benefit sharing (X2 = 122.774, p <0.01) and conflict management (X2 = 90.839, p<0.01) viewed to be very poor. For the majority of the local population sampled, 65% think ecotourism does not contribute to local livelihood around CMNP. The main factors influencing the impact of ecotourism around the CMNP on the local population’s livelihood were gender (logistic regression (β) = 1.218; p = 0.000); and level of education (logistic regression (β) = 0.442; p = 0.000). Furthermore, 55.6% of the local population investigated believed ecotourism activities do not contribute to the biodiversity conservation of CMNP. Spearman correlation between socio-economic variables and ecotourism impact on biodiversity conservation indicated relationships with gender (r = 0.200, p = 0.032), main occupation (r = 0.300 p = 0.012), time spent in the community (r = 0.287 p = 0.017), and number of children (r =-0.286 p = 0.018). Variables affecting ecotourism impact on biodiversity conservation were age (logistic regression (β) = -0.683; p = 0.037) and gender (logistic regression (β) = 0.917; p = 0.045). This study recommends the development of ecotourism-friendly policies that can accelerate Public Private Partnership for the sustainable management of the CMNP as a commitment toward good governance. It also recommends the development of gender-sensitive ecotourism packages, with fair opportunities for rural women and more parity in benefit sharing to improve livelihood and contribute more to biodiversity conservation in and around the Park.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, Campo Ma’an national park, ecotourism, ecotourism governance, rural livelihoods, protected area management

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Authors: Karl D. Humm

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The United Nations’ Community-based REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) (CBR+) is a programme that directly finances grassroots climate change mitigation strategies that uplift Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and other marginalised groups. A pilot for it in six countries was developed in response to criticism of the REDD+ programme for excluding IPs from dialogues about climate change mitigation strategies affecting their lands and livelihoods. Despite the pilot’s conclusion in 2017, no complete report has yet been produced on the results of CBR+. To fill this gap, this study investigated the experiences with involving IPs in the CBR+ programmes and local projects across all six pilot countries. A literature review of official UN reports and academic articles identified challenges and successes with IP participation in REDD+ which became the basis for a framework guiding data collection. A mixed methods approach was used to collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative data from CBR+ documents and written interviews with CBR+ National Coordinators in each country for a cross-country comparative analysis. The study found that the most frequent challenges were lack of organisational capacity, illegal forest activities, and historically-based contentious relationships in IP and forest-dependent communities. Successful programmes included IPs and incorporated respect and recognition of IPs as major stakeholders in managing sustainable forests. Findings are summarized and shared with a set of recommendations for improvement of future projects.

Keywords: climate change, forests, indigenous peoples, REDD+

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Authors: Raheleh Saifiabolhassan

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Gardens symbolize human effort to bring Eden to earth and are defined as the purest pleasures and the greatest inspiration for men. According to Persian mythology, a garden called "Paris" is a magical, perfumed place populated by beautiful and angelic creatures. "Pardis" comes from the word "paridaiza," which means "walled garden." Gardening has always been a worldwide attraction due to the abundance of green space, and desert gardens are no exception. Because most historical garden designs use a similar pattern, such as Chahar-Bagh, climate effects have not been considered. The purpose of studying these general designs was to determine whether location and weather conditions are affecting them. So, two gardens were chosen for comparison: a desert (Shahzadeh-Mahan) and a humid garden (Shah) and compared their geometry, irrigation system, entrances, and pavilions. The findings of the study revealed that there are several notable differences among their architectural principles. For example, the desert garden design is introverted with transparent surfaces and a single focal point, while the moderate garden is extraverted with high complexity and multiple perspectives. In conclusion, the study recognizes the richness and significance of the Persian garden concept, which can be applied in many different contexts.

Keywords: Pardis, Chahar-bagh, Persian garden, temperate, humid climate, geometry, pavilion, irrigations, culture

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Authors: Jonathan Palatz Cedeño

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The paper will seek to examine the scope and limitations of the process of construction of ordinary and extraordinary migration regulatory tools of the countries of Latin America, due to the Venezuelan diaspora in Ibero-America (2015-2018). The analysis methodology will be based on a systematic presentation of the existing advances in the subject under a qualitative approach, in which the results are detailed. We hold that an important part of the Latin American countries that used to be the emitters of migrants have had to generate, with greater or lesser success both nationally and regionally, ordinary and extraordinary migration regulatory tools to respond to the rapid intensification of the current Venezuelan migratory flows. This fact beyond implementing policies for the reception and integration of this population marks a new moment that represents a huge challenge both for the receiving States and for the young Ibero-American institutional migration system. Therefore, we can say that measures to adopt reception and solidarity policies, despite being supported by organs of the multilateral system such as UNHCR and IOM, are not found as guidelines for national and regional action, at the expense of the reactions of the respective public opinions and the influence of what to do of the neighboring countries in the face of the problem.

Keywords: Venezuela, migration, migration policies and governance, Venezuelan diaspora

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Authors: Gaoyuan Wang, Tian Chen, Junnan Liu

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Facing a period of major change that’s rarely seen in a century, China formulates the 14th Five-Year Plan and places emphasis on promoting high-quality development. In this context, the overall urban design has become a crucial and systematic tool for high-quality urban development. However, there are bottlenecks in the nature definition, content scope and transmission mechanisms of the current overall urban design in China. The paper interprets the emerging demands of the 14th Five-Year Plan on urban design in terms of new value-quality priority, new dynamic-space performance, new target-region coordination and new path-refined governance. Based on the new trend and appeal, the multi-dimensional thinking integrated with the major tasks of urban design are proposed accordingly, which is the biomass thinking in ecological, production and living element, the strategic thinking in spatial structure, the systematic thinking in the cityscape, the low-carbon thinking in urban form, the governance thinking in public space, the user thinking in design implementation. The paper explores the possibility of transforming the value thinking and technical system of urban design in China and provides a breakthrough path for the urban planning and design industry to better respond to the propositions of the country’s 14th Five-Year Plan.

Keywords: China’s 14th five-year plan, overall urban design, urban design thinking, transformation of urban design

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Authors: Bright E. Owusu, Nittaya McNeil

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Rainfall is one of the most essential quantities in meteorology and hydrology. It has important impacts on people’s daily life and excess or inadequate of it could bring tremendous losses in economy and cause fatalities. Population increase around the globe tends to have a corresponding increase in settlement and industrialization. Some countries are affected by flood and drought occasionally due to climate change, which disrupt most of the daily activities. Knowledge of trends in spatial and temporal rainfall variability and their physical explanations would be beneficial in climate change assessment and to determine erosivity. This study describes the spatial-temporal variability of daily rainfall in Australia and their corresponding long-term trend during 1950-2013. The spatial patterns were investigated by using exploratory factor analysis and the long term trend in rainfall time series were determined by linear regression, Mann-Kendall rank statistics and the Sen’s slope test. The exploratory factor analysis explained most of the variations in the data and grouped Australia into eight distinct rainfall regions with different rainfall patterns. Significant increasing trends in annual rainfall were observed in the northern regions of Australia. However, the northeastern part was the wettest of all the eight rainfall regions.

Keywords: climate change, explanatory factor analysis, Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope test, rainfall.

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Authors: Elnur Abbasov

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Energy security and climate change comprise some of the most important concerns facing humankind today and probably in the future if they are not addressed appropriately. In order to stabilize the global climate, there is the need for the world to lessen its use of fossil energy, which requires enhancement of current energy efficiency as well as the development of novel energy sources, such as energy obtained from renewable sources. There is no doubt that the steady transition towards a solar-based economy is likely to result in the development of completely new sectors, behaviours, and jobs that are pro-environmental. Azerbaijan Republic as the largest nation state in the South Caucasus Region has the potential for using and developing the renewable sources of energy in order to support the environmental challenge resolution associated with the climate change, improving the environmental situation in the country. Solar PV comprises one of the direct usages of solar energy. In this paper, sustainable PV usage scenario in residential houses was introduced to reduce negative environmental effects of land use, water consumption, air pollution etc. It was recommended by an author that, PV systems can be part of function and design of residential building components: such as roofs, walls, windows.

Keywords: energy efficiency, environmentally friendly, photovoltaic engineering, sustainable energy usage scenario

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Authors: Naci Büyükkaracığan

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Hydroclimatic observation values ​​are used in the planning of the project of water resources. Climate variables are the first of the values ​​used in planning projects. At the same time, the climate system is a complex and interactive system involving the atmosphere, land surfaces, snow and bubbles, the oceans and other water structures. The amount and distribution of precipitation, which is an important climate parameter, is a limiting environmental factor for dispersed living things. Trend analysis is applied to the detection of the presence of a pattern or trend in the data set. Many trends work in different parts of the world are usually made for the determination of climate change. The detection and attribution of past trends and variability in climatic variables is essential for explaining potential future alteration resulting from anthropogenic activities. Parametric and non-parametric tests are used for determining the trends in climatic variables. In this study, trend tests were applied to annual total precipitation data obtained in period of 1972 and 2012, in the Konya Basin. Non-parametric trend tests, (Sen’s T, Spearman’s Rho, Mann-Kendal, Sen’s T trend, Wald-Wolfowitz) and parametric test (mean square) were applied to annual total precipitations of 15 stations for trend analysis. The linear slopes (change per unit time) of trends are calculated by using a non-parametric estimator developed by Sen. The beginning of trends is determined by using the Mann-Kendall rank correlation test. In addition, homogeneities in precipitation trends are tested by using a method developed by Van Belle and Hughes. As a result of tests, negative linear slopes were found in annual total precipitations in Konya.

Keywords: trend analysis, precipitation, hydroclimatology, Konya

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Authors: Giorgia Carratta

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Since the beginning of mass production, plastic items have been crucial in our daily lives. Thanks to their physical and chemical properties, plastic materials have proven almost irreplaceable in a number of economic sectors such as packaging, automotive, building and construction, textile, and many others. At the same time, the disruptive consequences of plastic pollution have been progressively brought to light in all environmental compartments. The overaccumulation of plastics in the environment, and its adverse effects on habitats, wildlife, and (most likely) human health, represents a call for action to decision-makers around the globe. From a regulatory perspective, plastic production is an unprecedented challenge at all levels of governance. At the international level, the design of new legal instruments, the amendment of existing ones, and the coordination among the several relevant policy areas requires considerable effort. Under the pressure of both increasing scientific evidence and a concerned public opinion, countries seem to slowly move towards the discussion of a new international ‘plastic treaty.’ However, whether, how, and with which scopes such instrument would be adopted is still to be seen. Additionally, governments are establishing regional-basedstrategies, prone to consider the specificities of the plastic issue in a certain geographical area. Thanks to the new Circular Economy Action Plan, approved in March 2020 by the European Commission, EU countries are slowly but steadily shifting to a carbon neutral, circular economy in the attempt to reduce the pressure on natural resources and, parallelly, facilitate sustainable economic growth. In this context, the EU Plastic Strategy is promising to change the way plastic is designed, produced, used, and treated after consumption. In fact, only in the EU27 Member States, almost 26 million tons of plastic waste are generated herein every year, whose 24,9% is still destined to landfill. Positive effects of the Strategy also include a more effective protection of our environment, especially the marine one, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a reduced need for imported fossil energy sources, more sustainable production and consumption patterns. As promising as it may sound, the road ahead is still long. The need to implement these measures in domestic legislations makes their outcome difficult to predict at the moment. An analysis of the current international and European Union legal framework on plastic pollution, binding, and voluntary instruments included, could serve to detect ‘blind spots’ in the current governance as well as to facilitate the development of policy interventions along the plastic value chain, where it appears more needed.

Keywords: environmental law, European union, governance, plastic pollution, sustainability

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Authors: Xiping Wang，Shuran Yao, Liqin Dai

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Many studies report the winter is getting warmer and the minimum air temperature is obviously rising as the important climate warming evidences. The exacerbated air temperature fluctuation tending to bring more severe weather variation is another important consequence of recent climate change which induced more disasters to crop growth in quite a certain regions. Hebei Province is an important winter wheat growing province in North of China that recently endures more winter freezing injury influencing the local winter wheat crop management. A winter wheat freezing injury assessment Bayesian Network framework was established for the objectives of estimating, assessing and predicting winter wheat freezing disasters in Hebei Province. In this framework, the freezing disasters was classified as three severity degrees (SI) among all the three types of freezing, i.e., freezing caused by severe cold in anytime in the winter, long extremely cold duration in the winter and freeze-after-thaw in early season after winter. The factors influencing winter wheat freezing SI include time of freezing occurrence, growth status of seedlings, soil moisture, winter wheat variety, the longitude of target region and, the most variable climate factors. The climate factors included in this framework are daily mean and range of air temperature, extreme minimum temperature and number of days during a severe cold weather process, the number of days with the temperature lower than the critical temperature values, accumulated negative temperature in a potential freezing event. The Bayesian Network model was evaluated using actual weather data and crop records at selected sites in Hebei Province using real data. With the multi-stage influences from the various factors, the forecast and assessment of the event-based target variables, freezing injury occurrence and its damage to winter wheat production, were shown better scoped by Bayesian Network model.

Keywords: bayesian networks, climatic change, freezing Injury, winter wheat

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Authors: Juniarti, Yusniwati, Anwar. A, Armansyah, Febriamansyah, R.

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Simawang area is one of the critical areas (sub-optimal) that experienced drought from climate changes. Potential dry land belonging to sub-optimal in Simawang, West Sumatera, Indonesia not been fully utilized for agricultural cultivation. Simawang village, West Sumatera, Indonesia is formerly known as the rice barn, due to the climate change area is experiencing a drought, so the rice fields that were once productive now a grazing paddock because of lack of water. This study aims to calculate the soil carbon stock in Simawang village, West Sumatera Indonesia. The study was conducted in Simawang village, Tanah Datar regency, West Sumatera from October 2014 until December 2017. The study was conducted on sub-optimal land to be planted with Cymbopogon nardus L. (Sereh wangi in Indonesian language). Composite soil sampling conducted at a depth of 0-20 cm, 20 – 40 cm. Based on the depth of soil carbon stocks gained higher ground 6473 t ha-1 at a depth of 0-20 cm at a depth of 20-40 cm. Efforts to increase soil carbon is expected to be cultivated through Cymbopogon nardus L. planting has been done.

Keywords: climate changes, sereh wangi (Cymbopogon nardus L.), soil carbon stock, sub optimal land

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Authors: A. Kolendo

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Pacific Islands are one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change. Sea level rise and accelerating storm surge continuously threaten the communities' habitats on low-lying atolls. With scientific predictions of encroaching tides on their land, the Islanders have been informed about the need for future relocation planning. However, some communities oppose such retreat strategies through the reasoning that comprehends current climatic changes through the lenses of the biblical ark of Noah. This parable states God's promise never to flood the Earth again and never deprive people of their land and habitats. Several interpretations of this parable emerged in Oceania, prompting either climate action or denial. Resistance to relocation planning expressed through Christian thoughts led religion to be perceived as a barrier to dialogue between the Islanders and scientists. Since climate change concerns natural processes, the attitudes towards environmental stewardship prompt the communities' responses to it; some Christian teachings indicate humanity's responsibility over the environment, whereas others ascertain the people's dominion, which prompts resistance and sometimes denial. With church denominations and their various environmental standpoints, competing responses to climate change emerged in Oceania. Before miss-ionization, traditional knowledge had guided the environmental sphere, influencing current Christian teachings. Each atoll characterizes a distinctive manner of traditional knowledge; however, the unique relationship with nature unites all islands. The interconnectedness between the land, sea and people indicates the integrity between the communities and their environments. Such a factor influences the comprehension of Noah's story in the context of climate change that threatens their habitats. Pacific Islanders experience climate change through the slow disappearance of their homelands. However, the Western world perceives it as a global issue that will affect the population in the long-term perspective. Therefore, the Islanders seek to comprehend this global phenomenon in a local context that reads climate change as the Great Deluge. Accordingly, the safety measures that this parable promotes compensate for the danger of climate change. The rainbow covenant gives hope in God's promise never to flood the Earth again. At the same time, Noah's survival relates to the Islanders' current situation. Since these communities have the lowest carbon emissions rate, their contribution to anthropogenic climate change is scarce. Therefore, the lack of environmental sin would contextualize them as contemporary Noah with the ultimate survival of sea level rise. This study aims to defy religion constituting a barrier through secondary data analysis from a risk compensation perspective. Instead, religion is portrayed as a source of knowledge that enables comprehension of the communities' situation. By demonstrating that the Pacific Islanders utilize Noah's story as a vessel for coping with the danger of climate change, the study argues that religion provides safety measures that compensate for the future projections of land's disappearance. The purpose is to build a bridge between religious communities and scientific bodies and ultimately bring an understanding of two diverse perspectives. By addressing the practical challenges of interdisciplinary research with faith-based systems, this study uplifts the voices of communities and portrays their experiences expressed through Christian thoughts.

Keywords: Christianity, climate change, existential threat, Pacific Islands, story of Noah

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Authors: Sima Majnooni

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This paper discusses the Green Climate Fund's environmental and social management framework (GCF). The environmental and social management framework ensures the accredited entity considers the GCF's accreditation standards and effectively implements each of the GCF-funded projects. The GCF requires all accredited entities to meet basic transparency and accountability standards as well as environmental and social safeguards (ESMS). In doing so, the accredited entity sets up different independent units. One of these units is called the Grievance Mechanism. When allegations of environmental and social harms are raised in association with GCF-funded activities, affected parties can contact the entity’s grievance unit. One of the most challenging things about the accredited entity's grievance unit is the lack of available information and resources on the entities' websites. Many AEs have anti-corruption or anti-money laundering unit, but they do not have the environmental and social unit for affected people. This paper will argue the effectiveness of environmental and social grievance mechanisms of AEs by using a qualitative approach to indicate how many of AEs have a poor or an effective GRM. Some ESMSs seem highly effective. On the other hand, other mechanisms lack basic requirements such as a clear, transparent, uniform procedure and a definitive timetable. We have looked at each AE mechanism not only in light of how the website goes into detail regarding the process of grievance mechanism but also in light of their risk category. Many mechanisms appear inadequate for the lower level risk category entities (C) and, even surprisingly, for many higher-risk categories (A). We found; in most cases, the grievance mechanism of AEs seems vague.

Keywords: grievance mechanism, vague environmental and social policies, green climate fund, international climate finance, lower and higher risk category

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Authors: Israel Ropo Orimoloye, Johanes A. Belle, Olusola Adeyemi, Olusola O. Ololade

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With more than 100,000 orbits during the past 20 years, Terra has significantly improved our knowledge of the Earth's climate and its implications on societies and ecosystems of human activity and natural disasters, including drought events. With Terra instrument's performance and the free distribution of its products, this study utilised Terra MOD13Q1 satellite data to assess drought disaster events and its spatiotemporal patterns over the Free State Province of South Africa between 2001 and 2019 for summer, autumn, winter, and spring seasons. The study also used high-resolution downscaled climate change projections under three representative concentration pathways (RCP). Three future periods comprising the short (the 2030s), medium (2040s), and long term (2050s) compared to the current period are analysed to understand the potential magnitude of projected climate change-related drought. The study revealed that the year 2001 and 2016 witnessed extreme drought conditions where the drought index is between 0 and 20% across the entire province during summer, while the year 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2015 observed severe drought conditions across the region with variation from one part to the another. The result shows that from -24.5 to -25.5 latitude, the area witnessed a decrease in precipitation (80 to 120mm) across the time slice and an increase in the latitude -26° to -28° S for summer seasons, which is more prominent in the year 2041 to 2050. This study emphasizes the strong spatio-environmental impacts within the province and highlights the associated factors that characterise high drought stress risk, especially on the environment and ecosystems. This study contributes to a disaster risk framework to identify areas for specific research and adaptation activities on drought disaster risk and for environmental planning in the study area, which is characterised by both rural and urban contexts, to address climate change-related drought impacts.

Keywords: remote sensing, drought disaster, climate scenario, assessment

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Authors: Mahesh K. Jat, Ankan Jana, Mahender Choudhary

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Rapid population and economic growth resulted in changes in large-scale land use land cover (LULC) changes. Changes in the biophysical properties of the Earth's surface and its impact on climate are of primary concern nowadays. Different approaches, ranging from location-based relationships or modelling earth surface - atmospheric interaction through modelling techniques like surface energy balance (SEB) are used in the recent past to examine the relationship between changes in Earth surface land cover and climatic characteristics like temperature and precipitation. A remote sensing-based model i.e., Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), has been used to estimate the surface heat fluxes over Mahi Bajaj Sagar catchment (India) from 2001 to 2020. Landsat ETM and OLI satellite data are used to model the SEB of the area. Changes in observed precipitation and temperature, obtained from India Meteorological Department (IMD) have been correlated with changes in surface heat fluxes to understand the relative contributions of LULC change in changing these climatic variables. Results indicate a noticeable impact of LULC changes on climatic variables, which are aligned with respective changes in SEB components. Results suggest that precipitation increases at a rate of 20 mm/year. The maximum and minimum temperature decreases and increases at 0.007 ℃ /year and 0.02 ℃ /year, respectively. The average temperature increases at 0.009 ℃ /year. Changes in latent heat flux and sensible heat flux positively correlate with precipitation and temperature, respectively. Variation in surface heat fluxes influences the climate parameters and is an adequate reason for climate change. So, SEB modelling is helpful to understand the LULC change and its impact on climate.

Keywords: LULC, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, SEBAL, landsat, precipitation, temperature

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Authors: Tai-Yi Yu, Tai-Kue Yu

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Using global climate change as its main theme, this study establishes a model for understanding the environmental behavior of college students. It examines their beliefs about the environment, sustainability, and social impact. Theories about values, beliefs, norms, and planned behaviors helped establish the path relations among various latent variables, which include the students’ values regarding sustainability, environmental concern, social impact, perceived risk, environmental attitude, and behavioral intention. Personality traits were used as moderator variables in order to analyze their role in influencing environmental behaviors. The components-based partial least square (PLS) method was adopted, and the measurements and structural models were analyzed using the SmartPLS software. The proposed model complies with various test standards, including individual item reliability, composite reliability, average variance extracted, goodness-of-fit, and cross-validated redundancy. When college students are taught the concept of environmental sustainability, sustainability becomes an environmental attitude for them, and they are more likely to uphold an ethic of sustainability. The more an individual perceives the risks of global climate change, the stronger her emotional connection to the issue becomes. This positively affects the environmental attitude of college student, pushes them to participate more proactively in improvement activities, and encourages them to display their behavioral intention to improve global climate change. When considering the interaction effect among four latent variables (values regarding sustainability, social impact, environmental concern, and perceived risk), this study found that personality traits have a moderate effect on environmental attitude.

Keywords: partial least square, personality traits, social impact, environmental concern, perceived risk

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Authors: Abdullah Alotaiq

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The transition to low-carbon power generation is essential for mitigating climate change and achieving sustainability. This process, however, entails considerable costs, and understanding the factors influencing these costs is critical. This is necessary to cater to the increasing demand for low-carbon electricity across the heating, industry, and transportation sectors. A crucial aspect of this transition is identifying cost-effective and feasible paths for decarbonization, which is integral to global climate mitigation efforts. It is concluded that hybrid solutions, combining different low-carbon technologies, are optimal for minimizing costs and enhancing flexibility. These solutions also address the challenges associated with phasing out existing fossil fuel-based power plants and broadening the spectrum of low-carbon power generation options.

Keywords: review, power generation, energy transition, decarbonisation

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Authors: Shaidatul Azdawiyah Abdul Talib, Wan Mohd Razi Idris, Liew Ju Neng, Tukimat Lihan, Muhammad Zamir Abdul Rasid

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Climate change has received great attention worldwide due to the impact of weather causing extreme events. Rainfall and temperature are crucial weather components associated with climate change. In Malaysia, increasing temperatures and changes in rainfall distribution patterns lead to drought and flood events involving agricultural areas, especially rice fields. Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) is the largest rice growing area among the 10 granary areas in Malaysia and has faced floods and droughts in the past due to changing climate. Changes in rainfall and temperature patter affect rice yield. Therefore, trend analysis is important to identify changes in temperature and rainfall patterns as it gives an initial overview for further analysis. Six locations across the MADA area were selected based on the availability of meteorological station (MetMalaysia) data. Historical data (1991 to 2020) collected from MetMalaysia and future climate projection by multi-model ensemble of climate model from CMIP5 (CNRM-CM5, GFDL-CM3, MRI-CGCM3, NorESM1-M and IPSL-CM5A-LR) have been analyzed using Mann-Kendall test to detect the time series trend, together with standardized precipitation anomaly, rainfall anomaly index, precipitation concentration index and temperature anomaly. Future projection data were analyzed based on 3 different periods; early century (2020 – 2046), middle century (2047 – 2073) and late-century (2074 – 2099). Results indicate that the MADA area does encounter extremely wet and dry conditions, leading to drought and flood events in the past. The Mann-Kendall (MK) trend analysis test discovered a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05) in annual rainfall (z = 0.40; s = 15.12) and temperature (z = 0.61; s = 0.04) during the historical period. Similarly, for both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, a significant increasing trend (p < 0.05) was found for rainfall (RCP 4.5: z = 0.15; s = 2.55; RCP 8.5: z = 0.41; s = 8.05;) and temperature (RCP 4.5: z = 0.84; s = 0.02; RCP 8.5: z = 0.94; s = 0.05). Under the RCP 4.5 scenario, the average temperature is projected to increase up to 1.6 °C in early century, 2.0 °C in the middle century and 2.4 °C in the late century. In contrast, under RCP 8.5 scenario, the average temperature is projected to increase up to 1.8 °C in the early century, 3.1 °C in the middle century and 4.3 °C in late century. Drought is projected to occur in 2038 and 2043 (early century); 2052 and 2069 (middle century); and 2095, 2097 to 2099 (late century) under RCP 4.5 scenario. As for RCP 8.5 scenario, drought is projected to occur in 2021, 2031 and 2034 (early century); and 2069 (middle century). No drought is projected to occur in the late century under the RCP 8.5 scenario. Thus, this information can be used for the analysis of the impact of climate change scenarios on rice growth and yield besides other crops found in MADA area. Additionally, this study, it would be helpful for researchers and decision-makers in developing applicable adaptation and mitigation strategies to reduce the impact of climate change.

Keywords: climate projection, drought, flood, rainfall, RCP 4.5, RCP 8.5, temperature

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