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Towards water, food and energy security: the global challenges and possible solutions for a holistic vision of sustainability
No full textThis invited paper gives an overview of the challenges the world is facing and offers a possible solution for water and food security within the holistic integrated concept of the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus. The paper summarizes the experience the author gained through working on various research projects at national and international levels in several countries while working for academic and research organizations, and his involvement over 30 years in various activities of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, ICID which included serving as the President of ICID for 3 years (2020–2023). The main challenge faced is the population is increasing significantly but water resources do not. Feeding the ever-growing population with no increase in natural resources requires a holistic vision that will lead to the production of more food from less natural resources. The paper is divided into four parts, the first part is related to water resources availability, constraints, the gap between supply and demand as well as the possible solutions to narrow the gap. The second part is related to the challenges to agriculture to feed 9.8 billion by 2050. The third part is dedicated to new technologies to meet the combined challenges to both water resources and agriculture. The fourth part is dedicated to ‘The WEF nexus as a holistic vision of sustainability.’ In conclusion, under a changing climate and an ever increasing population integrated natural resources management is required, within a holistic vision for sustainability that accounts for more efficient use of water resources, enhancing agriculture production with better land management and use of biotechnology, introducing new technologies, capacity building, and adopting the WEF-nexus as the best way to plan and manage the natural resources sustainably and efficiently
Assessing land use change and the impacts on semi-natural habitats across England and Wales using four time points between 1930 and 2020
No full text•Context: Habitat loss and degradation caused by human land use change is one of the major drivers of global biodiversity decline. Understanding historical patterns of land use/land cover (LULC) change over multiple time periods is essential for improving our knowledge of the magnitude and scale of habitat loss, but also for predicting future changes and targeting biodiversity conservation and restoration policy and actions.
•Objectives: This study assesses habitat loss resulting from LULC change in England and Wales between 1930 and 2020 at four different time points.
•Methods: We digitise a selection of published 1960s land use maps based on detailed field surveys, to use alongside existing published historical data (1930s) and more recent land cover datasets derived from satellite imagery (1990, 2020) for England and Wales.
•Results: Broadleaved woodland was the only semi-natural habitat to increase between the 1960s and 2020. Rough grassland, heath and wetland experienced the greatest loss between the 1930s and 1960s, predominantly through conversion to grassland. Grassland, which included species rich neutral grassland and agriculturally improved grassland was largely lost to arable land and this was greatest between the 1960s and 1990. This provides further evidence of post-war agricultural intensification as a key driver of habitat loss in England and Wales. Although this rate declined after 1990, it did not halt completely suggesting LULC change is still an important driver of biodiversity loss.
•Conclusions: The patterns revealed in this study may be used to predict where future land use changes are likely to occur or conversely where restoration of semi-natural habitats should be targeted. Knowledge of habitat loss over multiple time periods can increase the likelihood of restoration success since the location and timing of habitat destruction are both known
Antarctic Bottom Water in a changing climate
No full textAntarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is derived from dense water that sinks from the Antarctic continental shelf to the deep ocean. The sinking of AABW is balanced by a return flow of lighter water, and the resulting overturning circulation determines the density stratification of the deep ocean, regulates ocean storage of heat and carbon, and supplies oxygen to the deep sea. In this Review, we highlight progress in understanding how and why AABW is changing and the consequences for the deep overturning circulation. Since the mid-1980s, ocean heat content below 4,000 dbar has increased at a rate of 12.9 (±1.8) trillion watts, and the AABW has thinned by more than 50 dbar decade−1, with more rapid thinning observed closer to the sources of AABW. The abyssal overturning circulation has slowed in response to freshening of shelf waters by glacial melt and changes in sea ice formation. Numerical model simulations indicate that these trends will accelerate under projected increases in meltwater input. Future research priorities include sustained observations in the deep ocean and on the Antarctic continental shelf; exploration of feedbacks between ocean circulation, sea ice, dense water formation and ice shelf melt; and improved representation of AABW in ocean and climate models
Heat stress in tropical highland regions: the case of Kenya during February 2024
No full textUnderstanding and awareness about heat stress remain low in sub-Saharan countries despite high exposure and vulnerability. After the national media in Kenya reported that people had complained about unusual heat stress during February 2024, we combine in situ and reanalysis data to (i) put this event into climatological perspective, and (ii) give insights into its surface and atmospheric drivers. Temperature and Heat Index values were 3–4°C above normal during the event; a mid-tropospheric high associated with drier soils contributed to this dry heat stress event. Further research would allow documenting the heat–impacts relationship, needed to improve preparation for future heat extremes
Mo‐Isotopic Variation in the Mississippian Bowland Shale (Craven Basin, UK) Controlled by Glacio‐Eustasy and Fe‐Shuttling
No full textMolybdenum (Mo) isotopes can be used to provide insights into water-column redox variability and trace-metal fluxes and their underlying climato-environmental controls. Here, we present Mo isotopic compositions (δ98Mo) for the Bowland Shale Formation in three Visean-Serpukhovian (Upper Mississippian) sections of the Craven Basin, UK, that were influenced by glacial-interglacial cycles of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age. Abrupt shifts of δ98Mo values between different redox and salinity conditions in the basinal watermass likely indicate control by sea-level elevation and marginal sill depth: (a) sea-level falls resulted in reduced seawater inflow over marginal sills (hence, lower salinity) coupled to progradation of freshwater from nearby deltas, weakening redox and salinity gradients, which facilitated transfer of 98Mo-depleted molybdenum by an active Fe-oxide particulate shuttle to the seafloor; and (b) sea-level rises produced the opposite pattern, in which establishment of a relatively stable, saline, strongly reducing deep watermass induced reductive dissolution of Fe-oxide particulates in the water column, inhibiting accumulation of adsorbed 98Mo-depleted molybdenum in the sediment. In the uppermost part of the study succession, a shift to brackish and oxic bottom-water conditions accompanied by near-detrital δ98Mo values records the gradual progradation of the Pendle Paleodelta. The peak δ98Mo value of +1.75‰ represents a minimum estimate for the Mo isotopic composition of contemporaneous seawater and may indicate that the average redox state of the global ocean was more reducing in the Carboniferous than in the modern, providing insight into the long-term oxygenation history of the Earth's oceans
Catchment controls on the use of dissolved organic nutrients by river phytoplankton in the United Kingdom
No full text•1. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) affects the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems and can supply nitrogen and phosphorus to meet the stoichiometric needs of biota. Anthropogenic alteration of the nature and rates of DOM inputs to freshwaters may be increasing the risk of eutrophication, but most of our understanding of DOM use in phytoplankton is based on site specific assessments; little is known about landscape‐scale controls on DOM bioavailability to river phytoplankton communities, across varying landscape character. It is important to test whether our understanding of DOM use at individual sites is generalisable at larger scales and if simple measures of catchment characteristics can be used as an effective proxy to predict growth responses of riverine phytoplankton to DOM.
•2. We used bioassays to investigate the ability of phytoplankton to use dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) compounds to support growth in rivers in the United Kingdom (UK). We then assessed the extent to which statistical models built upon these data can be used to provide generalisable insights into phytoplankton growth responses at new sites based on riverine nutrient concentrations and catchment land cover.
•3. We found the greatest phytoplankton growth responses to DOM compounds occurred at lower concentrations of inorganic nutrients, although organic nutrients continued to stimulate growth even at higher inorganic nutrient concentrations. Water quality models based on bioassay responses developed in two catchments of contrasting character could adequately predict growth responses across the UK ( r 2 = 0.56 for DON; r 2 = 0.33–0.51 for DOP). However, better model fit and performance was generated by models developed at the national scale using national monitoring and bioassay datasets (overall r 2 = 0.90, fixed effects r 2 = 0.82 for DON and overall r 2 = 0.82–0.92, fixed effects r 2 = 0.39–0.51 for DOP). Models using only a lowland to upland land cover gradient could adequately predict DON use by river phytoplankton (overall r 2 = 0.90, fixed effects r 2 = 0.56) but by contrast, their DOP use was influenced more strongly by site‐ and DOM compound‐specific factors (overall r 2 = 0.83–0.92, fixed effects r 2 = 0.17–0.25).
•4. Growth stimulation of river phytoplankton by organic nutrient enrichment was widespread across the UK, even at nutrient concentrations considered non‐limiting to growth. The extent to which catchment land cover could predict DON versus DOP growth responses differed, but nutrient concentrations remained a key driver in predicting growth stimulation in UK rivers.
•5. Human‐induced perturbations to organic matter inputs to freshwaters may therefore be altering these ecosystems and changing the composition of the communities that they support. The models generated here are useful tools to identify which rivers may be more at risk from the eutrophication potential of dissolved organic nutrient inputs, such as those resulting from predicted future changes in nutrient management and land cover
A Characteristic Signature of Magnetospheric Wave-Particle Interactions Found in the Turbulent E-region
Get PDFPlasma waves in the magnetosphere scatter electrons, causing them to precipitate into Earth’s atmosphere, imparting their temporal characteristics to diffuse auroras. In a case study of conjugate radar and satellite observations, we demonstrate a close and unprecedented association between enhanced electrostatic cyclotron harmonic wave activity in the magnetosphere and the appearance of meter-scale plasma turbulence a few seconds later in the lower ionosphere on nearby magnetic field lines. Such direct structuring of the ionosphere carries implications for our understanding of space weather
The role of local knowledge in enhancing climate change risk assessments in rural Northern Ireland
Get PDFClimate risk modelling provides valuable quantitative data on potential risks at different spatiotemporal scales, but it is essential that these models are evaluated appropriately. In some cases, it may be useful to merge quantitative datasets with qualitative data and local knowledge, to better inform and evaluate climate risk assessments. This interdisciplinary study maps climatic risks relating to health and agriculture that are facing rural Northern Ireland. A large range of quantitative national climate risk modelling results from the OpenCLIM project are scrutinised using local qualitative insights identified during workshops and interviews with farmers and rural care providers. In some cases, the qualitative local knowledge supported the quantitative modelling results, such as (1) highlighting that heat risk can be an issue for health in rural areas as well as urban centres, and (2) precipitation is changing, with increased variability posing challenges to agriculture. In other cases, the local knowledge challenged the national quantitative results. For example, models suggested that (1) potential heat stress impacts will be low, and (2) grass growing conditions will be more favourable, with higher yields as a result of future climatic conditions. In both cases, local knowledge challenged these conclusions, with discomfort and workplace heat stress reported by care staff and recent experience of variable weather having significant impacts on grass growth on farms across the country. Hence, merging even a small amount of qualitative local knowledge with quantitative national modelling projects results in a more holistic understanding of the local climate risk
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