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Sustainability toward a Climate Resilient World: Strengthen the Risk Management for Ecological Vulnerability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2023) | Viewed by 4191

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Engineering and Environment, Fluminense Federal University, Niteroi 24210-240, Brazil
Interests: physical oceanography; paleoceanography; data assimilation; numerical modelling; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growing anthropic influence on the dynamic and natural balance of the planet and its currently changing climate has been reported in a large amount of the modern scientific literature, converging to the consensus that the impacts in the physical, economic and social dimensions still present a strong tendency to increase in the future. In this aspect, the restoration and protection of natural ecosystems, as an important strategy for reducing the risk of disasters, seems to be a crucial point for the survival of humanity. Although many studies demonstrate the strong relationship between environmental health, vulnerability, and the risk of local populations, there is a debate in the international community about the timing and effort needed to implement policies for integral protection or sustainable use of natural resources. Climate adaptation strategies necessarily involve the correct assessment of the health of ecosystems, as well as the assessment of their vulnerability and risk to climate change projected in different future scenarios. While adaptation to climate change necessarily involves, at the local level, reducing vulnerabilities to its impacts, some strategies to strengthen risk management in natural ecosystems and their neighboring populations can be shared globally.

With this aim, here we invite the submission of original research articles and also comprehensive reviews, addressing research areas and climate-perspectives including (but not limited to) the following:

  • ecological vulnerability
  • risk management
  • risk mitigation perspectives to natural disasters
  • resilient communities and strategies
  • climate change adaptation
  • analysis on the socio-ecological dimension of vulnerability
  • anthropogenic influences on natural environments (e.g., coastal protection, pollution, erosion).

This Special Edition should also serve to disseminate and share discoveries about sustainable and smart solutions for the protection of natural ecosystems and to strengthen our adaptability to climate change. Critical reviews of the current state of ecosystems and their relationship to local communities are also invited. The objective of this Special Edition is to strengthen good practices and the advancement of methodologies and technologies, as a way of exploring sustainable and intelligent solutions for better adaptation to climate change. I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Andre Luiz Belem
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ecological vulnerability
  • risk management
  • natural disasters
  • climate change adaptation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 16887 KiB  
Article
Decadal Impacts of Climate Change on Rainfed Agriculture Community in Western Somaliland, Africa
by Mohamed Aden Sharmake, Khawar Sultan, Qamar uz Zaman, Roeya Rehman and Afzal Hussain
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 421; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010421 - 27 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3239
Abstract
The western region of Somaliland is prone to climate change and variability due to the widespread use of rainfed agriculture, which has been the practice historically since the colonization era; however, this mode of livelihood is losing its significance due to climate change. [...] Read more.
The western region of Somaliland is prone to climate change and variability due to the widespread use of rainfed agriculture, which has been the practice historically since the colonization era; however, this mode of livelihood is losing its significance due to climate change. This research aims to examine the impact of climate elements’ trends (rainfall and temperature) on rainfed agriculture communities and how these changes affect the rainfed agriculture community. The specific objectives of this study are to determine the major trends of precipitation and temperature over the past three decades, and to assess the level of awareness of climate change in communities’ perception of environmental change in terms of rainfed agriculture. Hence, the study adopted a mixed-methodology approach to concluding the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the research. The main outcome of this study was that climate change has been an active challenge in western rainfed agriculture regions of Somaliland for the last three decades. Decadal precipitation and temperature trend analysis (1985–2015) indicated reduced rainfall both annual and seasonal, and an increase in annual temperature, both in terms of the maximum and minimum. The decrease in annual total rainfall from the Awdal and Waqooyi Galbeed regions was 2 mm/year and 1.5 mm/year, respectively, while in the long rainy season, the decrease of rainfall was 1.4 mm per season and 0.88 mm per season, respectively. In the case of maximum and minimum annual temperatures, both stations depict an increase in temperature. This increase in temperature was 0.043–0.045 °C for the Awdal region and 0.06–0.02 °C for the Waqooyi Galbeed. The qualitative phase of this study supported the quantitative observations, and respondents (≥45 years of age) reported decreasing annual rainfall, a declining long rainy season, and increasing maximum and minimum temperatures. Furthermore, participants mentioned an increase in the occurrence of drought, a reduction of rainfed agriculture productivity, the disappearance of indigenous plants and animals, and an increase of exotic plant species. In addition to that, respondents outlined current adaptation practices; however, these adaptation strategies are short-term, and farmers need more appropriate and practical adaptation practices in the future. Full article
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