Bibliography
Welcome to our interactive bibliography. Here you can explore publications relating to Nature-based Solutions and their potential to address societal challenges, including climate change adaptation & mitigation, disaster risk reduction, ecosystem health, food & water security, and human wellbeing & development. For papers and other outputs directly produced by the Nature-based Solutions Initiative please visit our outputs page.
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711 publications found
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Integrated river basin management in the Conchos River basin, Mexico: A case study of freshwater climate change adaptation
Climate and Development (2009). Original Research.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3763/cdev.2009.0024Abstract
In Mexico, due to reduced and unevenly distributed hydrological resources and incipient water management capabilities, climate change adaptation in the water sector is recognized as an urgent issue. To derive lessons for climate change adaptation, this paper evaluates the results gained after five years of an integrated river basin management (IRBM) programme in the Conchos River in northern Mexico. Autonomous adaptation measures assessed include: modernization of irrigation practices; pilot sustainable watershed management projects in the upper basin; development of an environmental flow assessment and a proposal to improve water allocation; and the creation of the Inter-institutional Working Group as a basin organization. These measures have improved river basin management, yet adverse outcomes were also observed, such as impacts of surface water efficiency measures that were not managed in conjunction with groundwater. Key adaptation lessons derived include: the importance of multi-stakeholder participation in designing and implementing adaptive management measures; the need for significant investment in transfer of expertise and capacity building; and the positive effect of linking local, national and international institutions. These results highlight the need for more investment in ‘soft’ adaptive management in place of infrastructure. In the Rio Conchos, if these ‘no regrets’ adaptation measures are consolidated in the following years, they will serve as a foundation to develop planned and more effective climate change adaptation programmes, and enhance institutional, environmental and societal resilience.
Ecosystem-based adaptationEcosystem-based managementClimate change adaptationFood and water securityWetlandShelter from the storm? Use and misuse of coastal vegetation bioshields for managing natural disasters
Conservation Letters (2009). Systematic Review.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2009.00087.x/fullAbstract
Vegetated coastal ecosystems provide goods and services to billions of people. In the aftermath of a series of recent natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis, coastal vegetation has been widely promoted for the purpose of reducing the impact of large storm surges and tsunami. In this paper, we review the use of coastal vegetation as a “bioshield” against these extreme events. Our objective is to alter bioshield policy and reduce the long-term negative consequences for biodiversity and human capital. We begin with an overview of the scientific literature, in particular focusing on studies published since the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and discuss the science of wave attenuation by vegetation. We then explore case studies from the Indian subcontinent and evaluate the detrimental impacts bioshield plantations can have upon native ecosystems, drawing a distinction between coastal restoration and the introduction of exotic species in inappropriate locations. Finally, we place bioshield policies into a political context, and outline a new direction for coastal vegetation policy and research.
Ecosystem-based disaster risk reductionEcological engineeringDisaster risk reductionCoastlineLocal solutions to manage the effects of global climate change on a marine ecosystem: a process guide for marine resource managers
ICES Journal of Marine Science (2009). Methodological Article.
https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/66/7/1640/658770Abstract
The marine environment plays an important role in controlling the amount of CO2 that remains within the earth’s atmosphere, but it has not received as much attention as the terrestrial environment regarding climate-change effects, mitigation programmes, and action plans. Potential physical effects of climate change within the marine environment, including ocean acidification, changes in winds that drive upwelling and ocean circulation patterns, increasing global sea surface temperatures, and sea level rise, can result in dramatic changes within marine and coastal ecosystems. Often, marine resource managers feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of this issue and are therefore uncertain how to begin to take action. It may seem that they do not have the time, funding, or staff to take on a challenge as large as climate change, and fail to act as a result. Using NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary as a case study, this paper outlines the need to act now and presents an easy-to-use process guide, providing managers options to incorporate effectively the influences of climate change into management strategies, as well as mitigate these influences through community outreach and a reduction in workplace emissions.
Ecosystem-based adaptationEcosystem-based managementClimate change adaptationClimate change mitigationMarineScattered trees: a complementary strategy for facilitating adaptive responses to climate change in modified landscapes?
Journal of Applied Ecology (2009). Review.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01657.x/fullAbstract
1. Facilitating adaptive responses of organisms in modified landscape will be essential to overcome the negative effects of climate change and its interaction with land use change. Without such action, many organisms will be prevented from achieving the predicted range shifts they need to survive. 2. Scattered trees are a prominent feature of many modified landscapes, and could play an important role in facilitating climate change adaptation. They are keystone structures because of the disproportionally large ecological values and ecosystem services that they provide relative to the area they occupy in these landscapes. The provision of habitat and connectivity will be particularly relevant. 3. Scattered trees are declining in modified landscapes due to elevated tree mortality and poor recruitment often associated with intensive land use. The continuing global decline of scattered trees will undermine the capacity of many organisms to adapt to climate change. 4. Synthesis and applications. The sustainable management of scattered trees in modified landscapes could complement other strategies for facilitating climate change adaptation. They create continuous, though sparse, vegetation cover that permits multi-directional movements of biota across landscapes and ecological networks. They have the capacity to span ecosystems and climatic gradients that cannot be captured in formal reserves alone. The management of scattered trees should be an integral part of conservation objectives and agricultural activities in modified landscapes. Public investment, through mechanisms such as agri-environmental schemes, in rotational grazing, temporary set-asides, tree-planting and regulations that reduce clearing and early mortality among standing trees will improve the capacity of biota to adapt to climate change.
Ecosystem-based adaptationInfrastructure-related approachesClimate change adaptationEcosystem healthArtificial Landscapes - TerrestrialDesigning marine protected area networks to address the impacts of climate change
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (2009). Review.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/070211/abstractAbstract
Principles for designing marine protected area (MPA) networks that address social, economic, and biological criteria are well established in the scientific literature. Climate change represents a new and serious threat to marine ecosystems, but, to date, few studies have specifically considered how to design MPA networks to be resilient to this emerging threat. Here, we compile the best available information on MPA network design and supplement it with specific recommendations for building resilience into these networks. We provide guidance on size, spacing, shape, risk spreading (representation and replication), critical areas, connectivity, and maintaining ecosystem function to help MPA planners and managers design MPA networks that are more robust in the face of climate-change impacts.
Area-based approachesClimate change adaptationEcosystem healthHuman well-being & developmentMarineRestoration ecology of lowland tropical peatlands in Southeast Asia: current knowledge and future research directions
Ecosystems (2009). Review.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-008-9216-2Abstract
Studies of restoration ecology are well established for northern peatlands, but at an early stage for tropical peatlands. Extensive peatland areas in Southeast Asia have been degraded through deforestation, drainage and fire, leading to on- and off-site environmental and socio-economic impacts of local to global significance. To address these problems, landscape-scale restoration measures are urgently required. This paper reviews and illustrates, using information from on-going trials in Kalimantan, Indonesia, the current state of knowledge pertaining to (i) land-cover dynamics of degraded peatlands, (ii) vegetation rehabilitation, (iii) restoration of hydrology, (iv) rehabilitation of carbon sequestration and storage, and (v) promotion of sustainable livelihoods for local communities. For a 4500 km2 study site in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, we show a 78% reduction in forest cover between 1973 and 2003 and demonstrate that fire, exacerbated by drainage, is the principal driver of land-use change. Progressive vegetation succession follows infrequent, low-intensity fires, but repeated and high-intensity fires result in retrogressive succession towards non-forest communities. Re-wetting the peat is an important key to vegetation restoration and protection of remaining peat carbon stocks. The effectiveness of hydrological restoration is discussed and likely impacts on greenhouse gas emissions evaluated. Initial results indicate that raised water levels have limited short-term impact on reducing CO2 emissions, but could be critical in reducing fire risk. We conclude that successful restoration of degraded peatlands must be grounded in scientific knowledge, relevant to socio-economic circumstances, and should not proceed without the consent and co-operation of local communities.
Ecological restorationClimate change mitigationEcosystem healthHuman well-being & developmentWetlandLessons for climate change adaptation from better management of rivers
Climate and Development (2009). Review.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3763/cdev.2009.0021Abstract
Autonomous adaptation in the water sector is assessed to derive lessons for more successful climate change adaptation from six empirical, consistently designed river management case studies based on projects of WWF. They show that when adaptation measures are considered in the context of common problems in water management, many practical ways of building resilience to climate change through mainstream programs are evident. The cases are mainly from developing countries—India, China, Mexico, Brazil, the lower Danube basin and Tanzania—where efforts to reduce environmental degradation and enhance livelihoods have directly helped to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change. The key lessons include: the benefits of concurrent measures for improving livelihoods and reducing physical vulnerability; the need to enhance and fund local institutions to mainstream adaptation programmes; and the value in implementing ‘no and low regrets’ measures despite uncertainties.
Ecosystem-based disaster risk reductionEcosystem-based adaptationEcosystem-based managementClimate change adaptationFood and water securityArtificial Landscapes - TerrestrialCoastlineForestGrasslandWetlandTowards a climate change adaptation strategy for coffee communities and ecosystems in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, Mexico
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (2009). Original Research.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11027-009-9186-5Abstract
The mountain chain of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in southern Mexico is globally significant for its biodiversity and is one of the most important coffee production areas of Mexico. It provides water for several municipalities and its biosphere reserves are important tourist attractions. Much of the forest cover outside the core protected areas is in fact coffee grown under traditional forest shade. Unless this (agro)forest cover can be sustained, the biodiversity of the Sierra Madre and the environmental services it provides are at risk. We analyzed the threats to livelihoods and environment from climate change through crop suitability modeling based on downscaled climate scenarios for the period 2040 to 2069 (referred to as 2050s) and developed adaptation options through an expert workshop. Significant areas of forest and occasionally coffee are destroyed every year by wildfires, and this problem is bound to increase in a hotter and drier future climate. Widespread landslides and inundations, including on coffee farms, have recently been caused by hurricanes whose intensity is predicted to increase. A hotter climate with more irregular rainfall will be less favorable to the production of quality coffee and lower profitability may compel farmers to abandon shade coffee and expand other land uses of less biodiversity value, probably at the expense of forest. A comprehensive strategy to sustain the biodiversity, ecosystem services and livelihoods of the Sierra Madre in the face of climate change should include the promotion of biodiversity friendly coffee growing and processing practices including complex shade which can offer some hurricane protection and product diversification; payments for forest conservation and restoration from existing government programs complemented by private initiatives; diversification of income sources to mitigate risks associated with unstable environmental conditions and coffee markets; integrated fire management; development of markets that reward sustainable land use practices and forest conservation; crop insurance programs that are accessible to smallholders; and the strengthening of local capacity for adaptive resource management.
Ecosystem-based adaptationClimate change adaptationArtificial Landscapes - TerrestrialForestVegetation bioshields for tsunami mitigation: review of effectiveness, limitations, construction, and sustainable management
Landscape and Ecological Engineering (2009). Review.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11355-008-0058-zAbstract
Coastal vegetation has been widely recognized as a natural method to reduce the energy of tsunami waves. However, a vegetation barrier cannot completely stop a tsunami, and its effectiveness depends on the magnitude of the tsunami as well as the structure of the vegetation. For coastal rehabilitation, optimal planning of natural coastal systems, and their maintenance, we need to quantitatively elucidate the capacity of vegetation to reduce the energy of tsunami waves. The limitations of coastal forests in relation to the magnitude of a tsunami and the maintenance of forests as natural disaster buffer zones have to be understood correctly for effective coastal vegetation planning. Demerits of coastal forests have also been revealed: for example, an open gap in a forest (i.e., a road, river, difference in elevation, etc.) can channel and amplify a strong current by forcing it into the gap. Floating debris from broken trees also can damage surrounding buildings and hurt people. However, many studies have revealed that these demerits can be overcome with proper planning and management of mangroves and coastal forests, and that coastal vegetation has a significant potential to mitigate damage in constructed areas and save human lives by acting as buffer zones during extreme natural events. However, mangrove forests have been damaged by anthropogenic activities (i.e., tourism, shrimp farming, and industrial development), making coastal areas increasingly vulnerable to tsunamis and other natural disasters. The effectiveness of vegetation also changes with the age and structure of the forest. This highlights the fact that proper planning and management of vegetation are required to maintain the tsunami buffering function of coastal forests. Although many government and nongovernmental organizations have implemented coastal vegetation projects, many of them have been unsuccessful due to a lack of proper maintenance. A pilot project in Matara City, Sri Lanka, revealed that participation and support from local authorities and communities is essential to make the planting projects successful. An integrated coastal vegetation management system that includes utilization of the materials produced by the forest and a community participation and awareness program are proposed to achieve a sustainable and long-lasting vegetation bioshield.
Ecosystem-based disaster risk reductionEcological engineeringClimate change adaptationDisaster risk reductionCoastlineEcosystem-based adaptation to climate change: What role for policy-makers, society and scientists?
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (2009). Perspective.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11027-009-9193-6Abstract
In developing countries where economies and livelihoods depend largely on ecosystem services, policies for adaptation to climate change should take into account the role of these services in increasing the resilience of society. This ecosystem-based approach to adaptation was the focus of an international workshop on “Adaptation to Climate Change: the role of Ecosystem Services” held in November 2008 in Costa Rica. This article presents the key messages from the workshop.
Ecosystem-based adaptationClimate change adaptationHuman well-being & developmentUS Natural Resources and Climate Change: Concepts and Approaches for Management Adaptation
Environmental Management (2009). Review.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-009-9345-1Abstract
Public lands and waters in the United States traditionally have been managed using frameworks and objectives that were established under an implicit assumption of stable climatic conditions. However, projected climatic changes render this assumption invalid. Here, we summarize general principles for management adaptations that have emerged from a major literature review. These general principles cover many topics including: (1) how to assess climate impacts to ecosystem processes that are key to management goals; (2) using management practices to support ecosystem resilience; (3) converting barriers that may inhibit management responses into opportunities for successful implementation; and (4) promoting flexible decision making that takes into account challenges of scale and thresholds. To date, the literature on management adaptations to climate change has mostly focused on strategies for bolstering the resilience of ecosystems to persist in their current states. Yet in the longer term, it is anticipated that climate change will push certain ecosystems and species beyond their capacity to recover. When managing to support resilience becomes infeasible, adaptation may require more than simply changing management practices—it may require changing management goals and managing transitions to new ecosystem states. After transitions have occurred, management will again support resilience—this time for a new ecosystem state. Thus, successful management of natural resources in the context of climate change will require recognition on the part of managers and decisions makers of the need to cycle between “managing for resilience” and “managing for change.”
Area-based approachesEcological restorationEcosystem-based adaptationClimate change adaptationEcosystem healthCoastlineForestMarineWetlandFreshwater management and climate change adaptation: Experiences from the central Yangtze in China
Climate and Development (2009). Original Research.
https://rsa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3763/cdev.2009.0023#.WqKxKZPwZE4Abstract
The Yangtze is the largest river basin in China and home to over 400 million people. In recent history, and especially during 1950s–1970s, extensive lakes and floodplains were reclaimed as polders for agriculture and rural development. Consequently, the flood retention capacity was decreased, many lakes were disconnected from the main channel of the Yangtze by embankments and sluice gates, and eutrophication was common. It is anticipated that there will be a greater frequency of extreme floods and droughts in the basin according to climate change scenarios. WWF commenced a programme in 2002 in partnership with government agencies and local communities to reconnect three lakes (Zhangdu, Hong and Tian-e-zhou) in Hubei Province to the river by opening sluice gates seasonally and improving lake management. The resilience of the lake environment to climate change and the livelihoods of local people were enhanced. The measures assessed here highlight: (a) the need for adaptation programmes to concurrently improve livelihoods and reduce exposure to physical risks; (b) the need to build the capacity of people and institutions; and (c) the value of decentralized adaptation as compared with new infrastructure investments.
Ecosystem-based adaptationClimate change adaptationDisaster risk reductionHuman well-being & developmentWetlandEcosystem-based adaptation in marine and coastal ecosystems
Renewable Resources Journal (2009). Review.
https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20093286746Abstract
Ecosystem-based adaptation provides an opportunity to reduce the vulnerability of human societies through an improved management of marine and coastal ecosystems to continuously provide important ecosystem services on which they depend. An urgent need to develop, implement and fund ecosystem-based adaptation strategies involving coastal communities as a priority response to climate change, is discussed. A tabulated list of adaptation options for maintaining and restoring coastal wetlands and shorelines, is provided. The guiding principles and recommendations for ecosystem-based adaptation are discussed.
Ecosystem-based adaptationClimate change adaptationCoastlineMarineWetlandClimate change adaptation strategies for resource management and conservation planning.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (2009). Review.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04147.xAbstract
Recent rapid changes in the Earth’s climate have altered ecological systems around the globe. Global warming has been linked to changes in physiology, phenology, species distributions, interspecific interactions, and disturbance regimes. Projected future climate change will undoubtedly result in even more dramatic shifts in the states of many ecosystems. These shifts will provide one of the largest challenges to natural resource managers and conservation planners. Managing natural resources and ecosystems in the face of uncertain climate requires new approaches. Here, the many adaptation strategies that have been proposed for managing natural systems in a changing climate are reviewed. Most of the recommended approaches are general principles and many are tools that managers are already using. What is new is a turning toward a more agile management perspective. To address climate change, managers will need to act over different spatial and temporal scales. The focus of restoration will need to shift from historic species assemblages to potential future ecosystem services. Active adaptive management based on potential future climate impact scenarios will need to be a part of everyday operations. And triage will likely become a critical option. Although many concepts and tools for addressing climate change have been proposed, key pieces of information are still missing. To successfully manage for climate change, a better understanding will be needed of which species and systems will likely be most affected by climate change, how to preserve and enhance the evolutionary capacity of species, how to implement effective adaptive management in new systems, and perhaps most importantly, in which situations and systems will the general adaptation strategies that have been proposed work and how can they be effectively applied.
Ecological restorationEcosystem-based adaptationEcosystem-based managementClimate change adaptationEcosystem healthMangroves: Resilience, protection from tsunamis, and responses to global climate change
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (2008). Meta-Analysis.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272771407003915Abstract
This review assesses the degree of resilience of mangroves to large, infrequent disturbance (tsunamis) and their role in coastal protection, and to chronic disturbance events (climate change) and the future of mangroves in the face of global change. From a geological perspective, mangroves come and go at considerable speed with the current distribution of forests a legacy of the Holocene, having undergone almost chronic disturbance as a result of fluctuations in sea-level. Mangroves have demonstrated considerable resilience over timescales commensurate with shoreline evolution. This notion is supported by evidence that soil accretion rates in Mangroves are currently keeping pace with mean sea-level rise. Further support for their resilience comes from patterns of recovery from natural disturbances (storms, hurricanes) which coupled with key life history traits, suggest pioneer-phase characteristics. Stand composition and forest structure are the result of a complex interplay of physiological tolerances and competitive interactions leading to a mosaic of interrupted or arrested succession sequences, in response to physical/chemical gradients and landform changes. The extent to which some or all of these factors come into play depends on the frequency, intensity, size, and duration of the disturbance. Mangroves may in certain circumstances offer limited protection from tsunamis; some models using realistic forest variables suggest significant reduction in tsunami wave flow pressure for forests at least 100 m in width. The magnitude of energy absorption strongly depends on tree density, stem and root diameter, shore slope, bathymetry, spectral characteristics of incident waves, and tidal stage upon entering the forest. The ultimate disturbance, climate change, may lead to a maximum global loss of 10e15% of mangrove forest, but must be considered of secondary importance compared with current average annual rates of 1e2% deforestation. A large reservoir of below-ground nutrients, rapid rates of nutrient flux and microbial decomposition, complex and highly efficient biotic controls, self design and redundancy of keystone species, and numerous feedbacks, all contribute to mangrove resilience to various types of disturbance.
Ecosystem-based disaster risk reductionClimate change adaptationDisaster risk reductionCoastlineManaging forests for Climate Change Mitigation
Science (2008). Review.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/320/5882/1456Abstract
Forests currently absorb billions of tons of CO2 globally every year, an economic subsidy worth hundreds of billions of dollars if an equivalent sink had to be created in other ways. Concerns about the permanency of forest carbon stocks, difficulties in quantifying stock changes, and the threat of environmental and socioeconomic impacts of large-scale reforestation programs have limited the uptake of forestry activities in climate policies. With political will and the involvement of tropical regions, forests can contribute to climate change protection through carbon sequestration as well as offering economic, environmental, and sociocultural benefits. A key opportunity in tropical regions is the reduction of carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation.
Ecosystem-based mitigationClimate change mitigationForest