Download or read book An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-12-20 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Gulf of Mexico recovers from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, natural resource managers face the challenge of understanding the impacts of the spill and setting priorities for restoration work. The full value of losses resulting from the spill cannot be captured, however, without consideration of changes in ecosystem services-the benefits delivered to society through natural processes. An Ecosystem Services Approach to Assessing the Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico discusses the benefits and challenges associated with using an ecosystem services approach to damage assessment, describing potential impacts of response technologies, exploring the role of resilience, and offering suggestions for areas of future research. This report illustrates how this approach might be applied to coastal wetlands, fisheries, marine mammals, and the deep sea-each of which provide key ecosystem services in the Gulf-and identifies substantial differences among these case studies. The report also discusses the suite of technologies used in the spill response, including burning, skimming, and chemical dispersants, and their possible long-term impacts on ecosystem services.

Download or read book The Resilient Farm and Homestead written by Ben Falk and published by Chelsea Green Publishing Company. This book was released on 2013 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Resilient Farm and Homestead is a manual for developing durable, beautiful, and highly functional human habitat systems fit to handle an age of rapid transition. Ben Falk is a land designer and site developer whose permaculture-research farm has drawn national attention. The site is a terraced paradise on a hillside in Vermont that would otherwise be overlooked by conventional farmers as unworthy farmland. Falk's wide array of fruit trees, rice paddies (relatively unheard of in the Northeast), ducks, nuts, and earth-inspired buildings is a hopeful image for the future of regenerative agriculture and modern homesteading. The book covers nearly every strategy Falk and his team have been testing at the Whole Systems Research Farm over the past decade, as well as experiments from other sites Falk has designed through his off-farm consulting business. The book includes detailed information on earthworks; gravity-fed water systems; species composition; the site-design process; site management; fuelwood hedge production and processing; human health and nutrient-dense production strategies; rapid topsoil formation and remineralization; agroforestry/silvopasture/grazing; ecosystem services, especially regarding flood mitigation; fertility management; human labor and social-systems aspects; tools/equipment/appropriate technology; and much more, complete with gorgeous photography and detailed design drawings. The Resilient Farm and Homestead is more than just a book of tricks and techniques for regenerative site development, but offers actual working results in living within complex farm-ecosystems based on research from the "great thinkers" in permaculture, and presents a viable home-scale model for an intentional food-producing ecosystem in cold climates, and beyond. Inspiring to would-be homesteaders everywhere, but especially for those who find themselves with "unlikely" farming land, Falk is an inspiration in what can be done by imitating natural systems, and making the most of what we have by re-imagining what's possible. A gorgeous case study for the homestead of the future.

Download or read book Land and water systems written by Gotor, E. and published by IWMI. This book was released on 2022-11-02 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Exploring the Effects of Feedbacks on Land System Behaviour written by and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Functioning and Resilience of Tree based Land Use Systems in the Tropics written by Sophie Graefe and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Resilience Thinking written by Brian Walker and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet's well-being. The response from most quarters has been for "more of the same" that created the situation in the first place: more control, more intensification, and greater efficiency. "Resilience thinking" offers a different way of understanding the world and a new approach to managing resources. It embraces human and natural systems as complex entities continually adapting through cycles of change, and seeks to understand the qualities of a system that must be maintained or enhanced in order to achieve sustainability. It explains why greater efficiency by itself cannot solve resource problems and offers a constructive alternative that opens up options rather than closing them down. In Resilience Thinking, scientist Brian Walker and science writer David Salt present an accessible introduction to the emerging paradigm of resilience. The book arose out of appeals from colleagues in science and industry for a plainly written account of what resilience is all about and how a resilience approach differs from current practices. Rather than complicated theory, the book offers a conceptual overview along with five case studies of resilience thinking in the real world. It is an engaging and important work for anyone interested in managing risk in a complex world.

Download or read book Resilient Agriculture written by Laura Lengnick and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to the productivity and profitability of agriculture in North America. More variable weather, drought, and flooding create the most obvious damage, but hot summer nights, warmer winters, longer growing seasons, and other environmental changes have more subtle but far-reaching effects on plant and livestock growth and development. Resilient Agriculture recognizes the critical role that sustainable agriculture will play in the coming decades and beyond. The latest science on climate risk, resilience, and climate change adaptation is blended with the personal experience of farmers and ranchers to explore: The "strange changes" in weather recorded over the last decade The associated shifts in crop and livestock behavior The actions producers have taken to maintain productivity in a changing climate The climate change challenge is real and it is here now. To enjoy the sustained production of food, fiber, and fuel well into the twenty-first century, we must begin now to make changes that will enhance the adaptive capacity and resilience of North American agriculture. The rich knowledge base presented in Resilient Agriculture is poised to serve as the cornerstone of an evolving, climate-ready food system. Laura Lengnick is a researcher, policymaker, activist, educator, and farmer whose work explores the community-enhancing potential of agriculture and food systems. She directs the academic program in sustainable agriculture at Warren Wilson College and was a lead author of the report Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation.

Download or read book Desertification Land Degradation and Drought Resilience written by Chizoba Chinweze and published by Cuvillier Verlag. This book was released on 2023-05-25 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A growing body of research and scientific as well as local evidence has shown that climate change impacts is on the rise with its attendant risks/hazards for the land system, even as it relates to DLDD, these being exacerbated by anthropogenic factors; thus, pushing the earth system to a tipping point therefore requiring that society braze up its coping capacities to avert the impending danger. This book highlights the urgent need to move from desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) risk management to resilience. The aim is to provide new insight on the issues of DLDD and stir policy guide on vulnerability reduction and building adaptive capacities so as to achieve sustainable development and identify pathways to a land degradation neutral world. It is worthy to note that globally, about one fifth of earth’s land area – more than 2 billion hectares – is degraded; and this jeopardizes the livelihoods of more than 3.5 billion people, i.e., about 40% of the world population. The global population is still growing and is projected to reach 8.3 billion people by 2030. Such growth will put unprecedented pressure on the productivity of the land system from day to day.

Download or read book Land System Resilience written by Kate Trincsi and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, state policies governing land use, market integration, and poverty reduction largely determine the prospects for social-ecological resilience. In turn, land system change in the northern uplands has largely been shaped by market liberalization and the integration of ethnic minority farmers into state development practices and ideologies. Hybrid crops and plantation forestry are increasingly being adopted with important implications for local livelihoods and ecosystems, although the long-term outcomes of such land changes remain poorly understood. The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationships between state policy, land use change, and social-ecological resilience from 1999 to 2014 in Lào Cai Province, Vietnam. To do so, I draw on a conceptual framework integrating social-ecological systems, resilience, land system change, and sustainable livelihoods. Taking a mixed methods approach, I developed 15m resolution object-oriented land cover classifications, which I analyzed for change in landscape structure and function from 1999 to 2014. I also completed qualitative fieldwork including 75 semi-structured and informal interviews with government officials and Hmong, Yao, and Tày farmers. I find that there has been an important increase in plantation forestry, cash crops, and urban areas. Concurrently, total area under agricultural cultivation and secondary vegetation have declined, pointing to a land system regime shift. Farmers described an increase in opportunities to gain financial capital, yet also noted a severe degradation of natural capital. Furthermore, there has been a loss of socio-ecological resilience due to increasing incidents of extreme weather events, market price fluctuations, and pest outbreaks. Long-term resilience planning is largely absent at the household or state level, with households having to respond to ongoing disturbances mostly through short-term adaptation mechanisms such as changing crop varieties, applying increasing amounts of chemical fertilizers, and pursuing off-farm income opportunities. I conclude with context-relevant policy recommendations to increase diversity and the self-organizing capacity of the social-ecological system. " --

Download or read book Resilience and the Behavior of Large Scale Systems written by Lance H. Gunderson and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-06-22 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began to look at conditions far from the steady state where instabilities can cause a system to shift into an entirely different regime of behavior, and where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses the theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems as well as the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of the new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems. The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order; it also presents a set of mathematical metaphors to describe and deepen the reader's understanding of the ideas being discussed. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and evaluate the propositions presented in the introductory chapters. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilienc. In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker.

Download or read book Achieving food system resilience equity in the era of global environmental change written by Albie F. Miles and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-02-27 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Creating Resilient Landscapes in an Era of Climate Change written by Amin Rastandeh and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-30 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book delivers a realistic and feasible framework for creating resilient landscapes in an era of anthropogenic climate change. From across six continents, this book presents fifteen case studies of differing sociocultural, economic, and biophysical backgrounds that showcase opportunities and limitations for creating resilient landscapes throughout the world. The potential to create socio-ecological resilience is examined across a wide range of landscapes, including agricultural, island, forest, coastal, and urban landscapes, across sixteen countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Samoa, South Africa, the United States, Turkey, Uruguay, and Vanuatu. Chapters discuss current and future issues around creating a sustainable food system, conserving biodiversity, and climate change adaptation and resilience, with green infrastructure, nature-based architecture, green-tech, and ecosystem services as just a few of the approaches discussed. The book emphasizes solution-oriented approaches for an "ecological hope" that can support landscape resiliency in this chaotic era, and the chapters consider the importance of envisioning an unpredictable future with numerous uncertainties. In this context, the key focus is on how we all can tackle the intertwined impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, and large-scale land-cover conversion in urban and non-urban landscapes, with particular attention to the concept of landscape resiliency. The volume provides that much-needed link between theory and practice to deliver forward-thinking, practical solutions. This book will be of great interest to students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers who are interested in the complex relationship between landscapes, climate change, biodiversity loss, and land-based conversion at local, national and global scales.

Download or read book Homeowners and the Resilient City written by Thomas Thaler and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-01-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an important overview of how climate-driven natural hazards like river or pluvial floods, droughts, heat waves or forest fires, continue to play a central role across the globe in the 21st century. Urban resilience has become an important term in response to climate change. Resilience describes the ability of a system to absorb shocks and depends on the vulnerability and recovery time of a system. A shock affects a system to the extent that it becomes vulnerable to the event. This book focus examines how private property-owners might implement such measures or improve their individual coping and adaptive capacity to respond to future events. The book looks at the existence of various planning, legal, financial incentives and psychological factors designed to encourage individuals to take an active role in natural hazard risk management and through the presentation of theoretical discussions and empirical cases shows how urban resilience can be achieved. In addition, the book guides the reader through different conceptual frameworks by showing how urban regions are trying to reach urban resilience on privately-owned land. Each chapter focuses on different cultural, socio-economic and political backgrounds to demonstrate how different institutional frameworks have an impact.

Download or read book Enhancing Food Production System Resilience for Food Security Facing a Changing Environment written by Liming Ye and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-11-28 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the dominant source of the human food supply, the global land system underlies the foundation of the livelihood and wellbeing of humanity on Earth. On the one hand, the growth rate in the land system’s productive capacity of food has played a key role in global food provision. Technological breakthroughs in wheat and rice production during the past few decades, for instance, have greatly contributed to the maintenance of this growth rate in many parts of the world. On the other hand, however, the terrestrial food production system is facing increasing challenges from environmental stressors ranging from climate change, air pollution to land degradation. Whether and how the global land system will support the food security of more than 10 billion people in the 21st century while minimizing its environmental footprint remains an open question to debate. It is inevitable that the global food production system has to be shifted from focusing on production expansion to land system resilience so that the dual goals of sustainable production and environmental friendliness can be simultaneously achieved.

Download or read book Resilient Agriculture Expanded Updated Second Edition written by Laura Lengnick and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2022-06-14 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Real world stories from the frontlines of climate change, resilience, and the future of food Practical insights and plenty of examples of how we can reshape our food system to one that is resilient and regenerative. — Mathis Wackernagel, Ph.D., founder and president, Global Footprint Network, co-author Ecological Footprint Inspiring and practical at a time when we desperately need both. — Dr. Anne Waple, founder and CEO, Earth's Next Chapter Brilliantly argues that it isn't some vague notion of "technology" that will show us the way forward but people working together and carefully stewarding the land. — Mark Bittman, author, Animal, Vegetable, Junk and How to Cook Everything CLIMATE CHANGE PRESENTS an unprecedented challenge to food and farming in the U.S. and beyond. Damaging weather variability and extremes capture the headlines, but more subtle changes caused by hotter summer nights, warmer winters, and a longer growing season have far-reaching effects on the land, people, and communities that feed us. This expanded and updated edition of Resilient Agriculture takes you beyond the headlines and the hype to shine a light on agricultural climate solutions with the power to cultivate new American foodways that are just, sustainable, regenerative, and resilient. Updated content includes: Current and expected changes in regional weather patterns that disrupt food and farming New adaptation stories from sustainable, climate-smart, organic, and regenerative farmers and updates on the producers featured in the first edition Real-world applications of resilience thinking that connect the dots between food justice, sustainable development, regenerative economy, and planetary health A companion website with stories, videos, issue briefs, reading guides, and more. Whether you are working in food and farming or are simply an interested eater, Resilient Agriculture will take you on a journey into real-world resilience solutions with the power to regenerate the well-being of land, people, and community no matter the challenges ahead. What would a more resilient food system look like? Lengnick answers that question with this path-breaking, delightfully informative book. — Richard Heinberg, senior fellow, Post Carbon Institute, author, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival A guidepost for building a better and more resilient food system. — Dr. Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, director, Women for the Land, American Farmland Trust

Download or read book Sustainable and Resilient Communities written by Stephen J. Coyle and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-05-12 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of today's communities face an unprecedented struggle to adapt and maintain their environmental, economic, and social well-being in an era beleaguered by fiscal constraints, uncertainty about energy prices and supplies, rapid demographic shifts, and accelerated climate impacts. This step-by-step guidebook for urban planners and urban designers explains how to create and implement an actionable plan for making neighborhoods, communities, and regions more environmentally healthy, resource-conserving, and economically resilient. Sustainable and Resilient Communitiesdelineates measures for repairing, retrofitting, and transforming our built environments and supporting systems.

Download or read book Agrobiodiversity written by Karl S. Zimmerer and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-10-31 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts discuss the challenges faced in agrobiodiversity and conservation, integrating disciplines that range from plant and biological sciences to economics and political science. Wide-ranging environmental phenomena—including climate change, extreme weather events, and soil and water availability—combine with such socioeconomic factors as food policies, dietary preferences, and market forces to affect agriculture and food production systems on local, national, and global scales. The increasing simplification of food systems, the continuing decline of plant species, and the ongoing spread of pests and disease threaten biodiversity in agriculture as well as the sustainability of food resources. Complicating the situation further, the multiple systems involved—cultural, economic, environmental, institutional, and technological—are driven by human decision making, which is inevitably informed by diverse knowledge systems. The interactions and linkages that emerge necessitate an integrated assessment if we are to make progress toward sustainable agriculture and food systems. This volume in the Strüngmann Forum Reports series offers insights into the challenges faced in agrobiodiversity and sustainability and proposes an integrative framework to guide future research, scholarship, policy, and practice. The contributors offer perspectives from a range of disciplines, including plant and biological sciences, food systems and nutrition, ecology, economics, plant and animal breeding, anthropology, political science, geography, law, and sociology. Topics covered include evolutionary ecology, food and human health, the governance of agrobiodiversity, and the interactions between agrobiodiversity and climate and demographic change.