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Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Air, Climate Change and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 30697

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Dr. Dariusz Graczyk

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Guest Editor

Department of Land Improvement, Environmental Development and Spatial Management, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Interests: extreme weather events; heat waves; cold waves; floods; climate change

Dr. Adam Choryński

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Guest Editor

Department of Construction and Geoengineering, Meteorology Laboratory, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Interests: resilience; extreme weather events; communities; municipalities; climate change; disaster risk reduction; adaptation; socio-ecological systems; flood risk management; heat waves

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Without any doubts, climate change has become one of the biggest challenges societies face globally. This is visible on a global scale, but it is the regional and local level where its consequences become clearer and felt more, causing individuals to struggle. Climate change impacts both ecological and social systems, bringing financial losses and threating human health.

This Special Issue aims at shredding some light on the latest discoveries in climate change research. As the challenge is giving more evidence of being an increasing threat for social and ecological systems, there is a need to revise the existing knowledge on the scale of climate change. Therefore, an update in climate analyses, especially covering regional insights, is strongly desired.

Societies are affected by the consequences of climate change differently: by disturbing their everyday routines, becoming a hazard for infrastructure, resulting in material damage, being a threat to human health and even life. There are several examples of costly and deadly floods, heat waves, and other extreme weather events, which are seen to be more frequent and more severe in the future. Societies, globally, but also at the local level, are introducing different types of actions in order to cope with the rising challenge. On the one hand, these are climate governance arrangements, on the other these are individual responses.

Nevertheless, often actions undertaken in order to reach climate resilience are not as if it could be waited for. Climate change became an extremely complex problem, encompassing not only science, but also politics, demanding social commitment. That is why implementing climate actions faces a number of problems. Understanding their nature is a necessary step for societies to become climate resilient.

With this Special Issue we would like to invite both natural and social scientists who undertake their research within the climate change scope. Our aim is to gather latest insights on the rising challenge. We welcome research describing the scale of the problem, especially showing regional results of the changing climate, but also analyses on mitigation and adaptation activities, along with the related difficulties.

Dr. Dariusz Graczyk
Dr. Adam Choryński
Guest Editors

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Keywords

climate change
adaptation
resilience
mitigation
extreme weather events
governance

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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16 pages, 1458 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Partnering for Climate Resilience: Exploring the Maturity of Private-Sector Efforts in the Great Lakes Region

by Lisa L. Greenwood, Vicki Lin, Yewande S. Abraham and Jennifer L. Schneider

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14105; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914105 - 23 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1451

Abstract

Communities and businesses continue to experience the effects of climate change as global temperatures rise and extreme weather events become more frequent. In the United States (US), the public sector has traditionally been responsible for mitigating these risks; however, engaging the private sector is crucial, given industrial impacts on and vulnerability to climate change. Private-sector mitigation and adaptation efforts are critical in the Great Lakes Region due to aging infrastructure as well as its economic, environmental, and political importance in the US and Canada. This study explores private-sector resilience efforts in three Great Lakes cities to identify opportunities and trends that could inform climate resilience strategies in the region. Climate-related commitments and actions of nine major firms in Toronto, Chicago, and Cleveland are evaluated in relation to seven climate resilience criteria on a five-level maturity scale from January to May 2022. The results indicate a moderate level of maturity, with efforts mainly at facility and community levels of engagement. Overall, this study suggests that major firms participate in climate resilience efforts, but to a limited extent, and may have varying priorities that affect the initiatives they pursue. This study could contribute to advancing climate resilience efforts in the public and private sectors from regional to global levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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29 pages, 6109 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Transect Method for Promoting Landscape Conservation in the Climate Change Context: A Case-Study in Greece

by Vassiliki Vlami, Ioannis P. Kokkoris, Ioannis Charalampopoulos, Thomas Doxiadis, Christos Giannakopoulos and Miltiades Lazoglou

Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 13266; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151713266 - 4 Sep 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2204

Abstract

Within an EU Life project aiming to boost climate change adaptation in Greece, this study develops a transect method for rapid landscape-scale assessment. The procedure applies a holistic assessment of terrestrial landscapes at three spatial scales: a broad cross-section transect zone through the Peloponnese peninsula (240 km long, 1.416.6 km²) and successively the delineation of 35 selected landscape areas and the associated landscape views. Climate change scenarios and relevant indices were incorporated to screen for climate and anthropogenic impacts, including phytoclimatic, erosion and wildfire analyses. The climatic and bioclimatic conditions were examined in three time periods (reference period: 1970–2000 and in the future periods 2031–2060 and 2071–2100). Based on the above framework, the climate change adaptation planning process is reviewed including the Regional Adaptation Action Plan (RAAP) of the Peloponnese Region. The results of this method application effectively assess both the “territorial” and “perceptual” aspects of the selected landscapes; mapping the potential threats, interpreting problems, identifying knowledge gaps and prioritizing vulnerable areas. Analyses show that combined land-use pressures and climatic shifts will cause landscape change, particularly evident in an increase of wildfires, in the near future. Currently, poor conservation measures do not adequately protect landscapes in most areas of the study from expanding anthropogenic pressures (urban sprawl, wetland draining, etc.); these conditions may further aggravate environmental safety concerns during future climate change conditions. The review also documents poor attention to landscape conservation within the current RAAP report. The proposed transect method may assist in promoting landscape appreciation by setting an “enabling framework” for landscape-scale conservation planning during the climate change adaptation process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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15 pages, 2981 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Two Hydrological Models, the HEC-HMS and Nash Models, for Runoff Estimation in Michałówka River

by Ewelina Janicka, Jolanta Kanclerz, Tropikë Agaj and Katarzyna Gizińska

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7959; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107959 - 12 May 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2169

Abstract

Floods are among the most devastating natural disasters in small suburban catchments. These phenomena, causing loss of life and massive property damage, pose a serious threat to the economy. Hydrological modeling is extremely important in terms of climate change, and the use of appropriate modeling can be a useful tool for flood risk prevention and mitigation. Rainfall–runoff modeling requires the selection of an appropriate hydrological model in order to obtain satisfactory results. Hydrological models are used in water resource planning and management to estimate catchment runoff. Small uncontrolled catchments play a particularly important role in hydrological phenomena, since changes in them affect flows in the recipient. Hydrologists are particularly interested in developing hydrological models that can be made with a minimum of data and parameters. Nash models and the Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) are examples of simple and most practical hydrologic models. These models were used in this paper to study geographic and qualitative changes in precipitation runoff due to land cover changes. The modeling was carried out for two spatial aspects relating to the years 1940 and 2018. The model allowed for the simulation of the river flow that can occur under different rainfall probabilities. The analysis of the results was used to evaluate the hydrological models used. The hundred-year flow modeled with the Nash model for 1940 was 13.4 m³∙s⁻¹, whereas the second model gave slightly lower flow values. In addition, modeling the flow for 2018 (after changing the land cover) highlighted the increase in the flow value for both models, where again the flow volume was slightly higher for the Nash model and amounted to about 19 m³∙s⁻¹. The flow differences for individual models were not too large. This made it possible to conclude that the simulated outflow hydrographs are in good agreement, and this means that the models accurately reproduce the flow of the Michałówka River. The study showed that rapid urbanization adversely affects hydrological processes. In addition, the study showed that a well-distributed model can outperform a global flood forecasting model, especially in terms of magnitude, as in the current study example. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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21 pages, 3443 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing the Implication of Climate Change to Forecast Future Flood Using SWAT and HEC-RAS Model under CMIP5 Climate Projection in Upper Nan Watershed, Thailand

by Muhammad Chrisna Satriagasa, Piyapong Tongdeenok and Naruemol Kaewjampa

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5276; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065276 - 16 Mar 2023

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3362

Abstract

Climate change will affect Southeast Asian countries, particularly Thailand. There are still insufficient studies on rainfall, streamflow, and future floods in the Upper Nan Watershed, northern Thailand. This study examined how future climate change will affect the rainfall, streamflow, and flooding in the Upper Nan Watershed. SWAT and HEC-RAS models were utilized to assess the future streamflow and flooding in this area. The models used data from 1980–2020, which were taken from seven Upper Nan meteorological stations and two discharge stations. In this study, the impact of future climate change was predicted using three GCMs, under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The historical data analyzed in this study indicated that rainfall in the study area has a positive trend. Climate change will increase further, from 18% to 19%, which will cause more fluctuations and lead to wetter conditions, both in the wet and dry seasons. Climate change delayed the hydrograph peak and the SWAT-modelled streamflow in the N1 and N64 stations by between 0.3% and 5.1%. RCP8.5 inundated all of the stations more than RCP4.5. Our models showed that in the medium future (2041–2060), the inundated area will be similar to that during the 100-year flood probability. Thus, monitoring and preparation are necessary to avoid repeating the considerable 2011 flood losses in Thailand. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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19 pages, 8369 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Impact of Winter Storm Uri on Power Outage, Air Quality, and Water Systems in Texas, USA

by Nigus Demelash Melaku, Ali Fares and Ripendra Awal

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4173; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054173 - 25 Feb 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5630

Abstract

Texas was hit by a record-setting cold snap from the 14–17 February 2021 after three decades that resulted in power outages, disruption of the public water systems, and other cascading effects. This study investigates the unprecedented impact of winter storm Uri on power outages, air quality, and water systems in Texas, USA. Analysis of the Parameter Regression of Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) gridded climate data showed that the average daily freezing temperature range was 0–−19 °C on 14 February 2021, with severe levels (−17–−19 °C) occurring in the Texas High Plains. Our results showed that the extreme freezing temperature persisted from 14–17 February 2021, significantly affecting power operation and reliability, and creating power outages across Texas. Uri impacted the public water systems and air quality on time scales ranging from a few minutes to several days, resulting in 322 boiling notices. The air quality index level exceeded the standard limit by 51.7%, 61.7%, 50.8%, and 60% in Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston–Galveston, Austin, and Lubbock regions. The level of the pollutants exceeded the EPA NAAQS standard allowable limits during winter storm Uri. In general, this study gives information on the government’s future preparedness, policies, communication, and response to storm impacts on vulnerable regions and communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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32 pages, 9591 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of CMIP6 Multi-Model Projections Worldwide: Which Regions Are Getting Warmer and Are Going through a Drought in Africa and Morocco? What Changes from CMIP5 to CMIP6?

by Ayat-Allah Bouramdane

Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 690; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010690 - 30 Dec 2022

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4494

Abstract

Although climate change is an inherently global issue, its impacts will not be felt equally across Earth’s pressure belts and continental-scale regions. This study seeks to examine which areas are becoming warmer and experiencing drought, with a particular focus on Africa, in light of its low historical emissions but poor economic capacity for mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and Morocco, whose conditional goal, which will be achieved with foreign assistance, is rated as “almost sufficient” but is not yet in compliance with the Paris Agreement’s goal. We also explore the consistency and sources of uncertainty in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models and analyze what changes from CMIP5—whose projections are based on the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs)—to Shared Socio-Economic Pathways (SSPs)-based scenarios for CMIP6. We find that strong forcing, with no additional climate policies, is projected to raise the mean annual temperature over Morocco for the long-term period by 6.25

^{°}

C. All CMIP6 models agree that warming (resp. drought) will be greater over land masses and poles (resp. tropical and coastal regions) than over oceans and equatorial regions (resp. high latitudes, equatorial, and monsoon zones), but less so on the intensity of changes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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17 pages, 1449 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Climate Change Impacts and Challenges of Combating Food Insecurity in Rural Somkhele, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

by Llewellyn Leonard

Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 16023; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142316023 - 30 Nov 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3578

Abstract

Climate change poses immense challenges for food security in most developing countries. The extent to which residents are able to reduce their impact on food resources and adapt to climate change will have implications for their livelihoods. Although climate change research has explored adaptation strategies to mitigate the negative effects on food security, empirical work on how climate change affects rural household food security in South Africa has been limited. This paper examines not only how climate change affects food security, but also residential challenges in combating climate change and food security. This paper focused on the Somkhele rural community located in the uMkhanyakude District Municipality of Northern KwaZulu-Natal, an area affected by water scarcity induced by climate change. A questionnaire was used to ascertain the views of 424 households on the impacts of climate variability on food security and the coping mechanisms and challenges involved in secure livelihoods. The results indicate that climate change has affected agricultural productivity and the use of water in households, especially since 2015. Food security is shaped by unemployment and a lack of financial capital. The local government did not assist with the required infrastructure to obtain water. Good governance and reflexive approaches are required to take into account household livelihood strategies and indigenous knowledge systems to ensure that support against the impacts of climate change is relevant Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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15 pages, 2812 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Land Use Type on Macrophyte Occurrence in Ponds in a Changing Climate

by Dariusz Świerk, Michał Krzyżaniak, Patryk Antoszewski and Adam Choryński

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11227; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811227 - 7 Sep 2022

Viewed by 2213

Abstract

Small ponds are essential environmental elements that perform many ecological functions. We tried to answer whether the macrophytes in ponds may be influenced by environmental factors and the neighboring areas’ land-use type. We also tried to determine the trend of changes in the ponds’ depth and size over the decade (2008–2018). The research was carried out on eight ponds in four types of land use (agricultural, horticultural, urban, and industrial areas). The study covered ponds’ morphometric parameters, macrophytes’ occurrence, and physicochemical water parameters. All data collected were statistically processed using CCA, linear regression, and Pearson’s correlation. The results indicated a continuous tendency for the ponds’ size and depth to decrease, particularly in urbanized areas. During the study, most macrophytes’ genera increased their area. Our research allowed us to separate two homogeneous groups of ponds in terms of environmental conditions. The first was horticultural area ponds, for which higher nutrient concentrations in water were determined. Those ponds were inhabited by Ceratophyllum and Sparganium genera. The second was urban and industrial area ponds characterized by higher water temperature, transparency, pH, and were richer in Mg and Ca. Carex, Potamogeton, and Schoenoplectus genera preferred such conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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12 pages, 5998 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatio-Temporal Variation of Precipitation in the Qinling Mountains from 1970 to 2100 Based on CMIP6 Data

by Zhaopeng Zhang, Keqin Duan, Huancai Liu, Yali Meng and Rong Chen

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8654; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148654 - 15 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1621

Abstract

Estimating future precipitation changes in the Qinling Mountains has significance, for understanding how to reveal the basic characteristics of the atmospheric water cycle in mountainous areas under the action of monsoons and the temporal- and spatial-variation mechanism of water resources in the ‘central water tower’, under the background of climate change. Based on four scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5) of the CMIP6 model, the Taylor diagram method was used to select the best regional simulation model, according to historical observation data (1970–2014). On this basis, the precipitation change and circulation background of the Qinling Mountains over the next 86 years (2015–2100) were analyzed. The results show that the simulation effect of the optimal mode is better than that of the single mode. Under the four scenarios, the variation trends of the annual precipitation in the Qinling Mountains from 2015 to 2100 were 4.4 mm/10a, 18.5 mm/10a, 18.1 mm/10a, and 19.1 mm/10a, respectively. By the middle of this century (2041–2060), compared with the reference period of 1995–2014, the average annual precipitation in the Qinling Mountains under the four scenarios will increase by 64.1 mm, 7 mm, 28.8 mm, and −51 mm, respectively. By the end of this century (2081–2100), the average annual precipitation under the four scenarios will increase by 29.5 mm, 77.2 mm, 82.9 mm, and 21.2 mm, respectively. The abnormal increase (decrease) of water vapor, transported northward from the western Pacific and the Bay of Bengal, is the main reason for the abnormal increase (decrease) of precipitation in the flood season in the Qinling Mountains. With the increase in emission scenarios, the influence of the South Asian summer monsoon on precipitation in the Qinling Mountains becomes more significant. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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20 pages, 1084 KiB

Open AccessEssay

Climate Change Science and Policy—A Guided Tour across the Space of Attitudes and Outcomes

by Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz, Adam Choryński, Janusz Olejnik, Hans J. Schellnhuber, Marek Urbaniak and Klaudia Ziemblińska

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5411; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065411 - 18 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2718

Abstract

The ongoing debate on global climate change has polarized societies since ever. The attitude of an individual towards its anthropogenic nature as well as the need and extent to which human beings should mitigate climate warming can result from a number of factors. Also, since the consequences of such alteration in global climate have no borders and became much more severe in the last decades, it is worth it to shed some more light on a current state of an interplay between scientific findings and climate policies. In this paper, we examine a low-dimensional space of possible attitudes toward climate change, its impact, attribution, and mitigation. Insights into those attitudes and evidence-based interpretations are offered. We review a range of inconvenient truths and convenient untruths, respectively, related to fundamental climate-change issues and derive a systematic taxonomy of climate-change skepticism. In addition, the media track related to climate change is reconstructed by examining a range of cover stories of important magazines and the development of those stories with global warming. In a second major step, we span a low-dimensional space of outcomes of the combined climate science-policy system, where each of the sub-systems may either succeed or fail. We conclude that the most probable outcome from today’s perspective is still the same as it was 12 years ago: a tragic triumph, i.e., the success of climate science and the simultaneous failure of climate policy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Its Consequences: Revising the Challenge and Undertaken Activities to Reach Climate Resilience)

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