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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 21071

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Prof. Dr. António Dinis Ferreira

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Guest Editor

1. CERNAS—Centro de Estudos de Recursos Naturais, Ambiente e Sociedade, Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Bencanta, 3045-601 Coimbra, Portugal
2. Coimbra Agriculture School, Polytechnic of Coimbra, Bencanta, 3045-601 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: wildfires; sustainable land management; conservation of natural resources
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change and/or the climate vagaries increasingly manifest themselves in increasingly frequent extreme events that hinder the functioning of societies and expose individuals to extremely stressful situations that endanger the quality of life, way of life and even the lives of the societies exposed to them.

This Special Issue aims to discuss the extent to which local and regional societies are exposed to extreme events and are affected by climate change, either by droughts, famines, floods, sea level rise, forest fires, etc., and how they develop and implement strategies to mitigate or adapt to those extreme situations.

We encourage the submission of research and review papers on the several interventional levels possible, from the political and legal framework level to the strategic, methodological and action implementation level.

Prof. Dr. António Dinis Ferreira
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

Climate Change
Vulnerability
Environment and Societal impacts
Regional/National mitigation/adaptation strategies
Mitigation/adaptation techniques
Mitigation/adaptation policies and legislation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 6010 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards Understanding Variability in Droughts in Response to Extreme Climate Conditions over the Different Agro-Ecological Zones of Pakistan

by Adil Dilawar, Baozhang Chen, Arfan Arshad, Lifeng Guo, Muhammad Irfan Ehsan, Yawar Hussain, Alphonse Kayiranga, Simon Measho, Huifang Zhang, Fei Wang, Xiaohong Sun and Mengyu Ge

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6910; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126910 - 18 Jun 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2511

Abstract

Here, we provided a comprehensive analysis of long-term drought and climate extreme patterns in the agro ecological zones (AEZs) of Pakistan during 1980–2019. Drought trends were investigated using the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) at various timescales (SPEI-1, SPEI-3, SPEI-6, and SPEI-12). The results showed that droughts (seasonal and annual) were more persistent and severe in the southern, southwestern, southeastern, and central parts of the region. Drought exacerbated with slopes of −0.02, −0.07, −0.08, −0.01, and −0.02 per year. Drought prevailed in all AEZs in the spring season. The majority of AEZs in Pakistan’s southern, middle, and southwestern regions had experienced substantial warming. The mean annual temperature minimum (Tmin) increased faster than the mean annual temperature maximum (Tmax) in all zones. Precipitation decreased in the southern, northern, central, and southwestern parts of the region. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a robust increase in temperature extremes with a variance of 76% and a decrease in precipitation extremes with a variance of 91% in the region. Temperature and precipitation extremes indices had a strong Pearson correlation with drought events. Higher temperatures resulted in extreme drought (dry conditions), while higher precipitation levels resulted in wetting conditions (no drought) in different AEZs. In most AEZs, drought occurrences were more responsive to precipitation. The current findings are helpful for climate mitigation strategies and specific zonal efforts are needed to alleviate the environmental and societal impacts of drought. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coping with Climate Change at Regional Level)

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9 pages, 1777 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Growing Season Precipitation Rather than Growing Season Length Predominates Maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index in Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau

by Jiang Wei Wang, Meng Li, Guang Yu Zhang, Hao Rui Zhang and Cheng Qun Yu

Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 968; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030968 - 29 Jan 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1779

Abstract

Precipitation and growing season length (GSL) are vital abiotic and biotic variables in controlling vegetation productivity in alpine regions. However, their relative effects on vegetation productivity have not been fully understood. In this study, we examined the responses of the maximum normalized difference vegetation index (NDVImax) to growing season precipitation (GSP) and GSL from 2000 to 2013 in 36 alpine grassland sites on the Tibetan Plateau. Our results indicated that NDVImax showed a positive relationship with prolonged GSL (R² = 0.12) and GSP (R² = 0.39). The linear slope of NDVImax increased with that of GSP rather than GSL. Therefore, GSP had a stronger effect on NDVImax than did GSL in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coping with Climate Change at Regional Level)

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15 pages, 1150 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Is Technical Efficiency Affected by Farmers’ Preference for Mitigation and Adaptation Actions against Climate Change? A Case Study in Northwest Mexico

by Miguel Angel Orduño Torres, Zein Kallas, Selene Ivette Ornelas Herrera and Bouali Guesmi

Sustainability 2019, 11(12), 3291; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11123291 - 14 Jun 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3205

Abstract

Climate change has adverse effects on agriculture, decreasing crop quality and productivity. This makes it necessary to implement adaptation and mitigation strategies that contribute to the maintenance of technical efficiency (TE). This study analyzed the relationship of TE with farmers’ mitigation and adaptation action preferences, their risk and environmental attitudes, and their perception of climate change. Through the stochastic frontier method, TE levels were estimated for 370 farmers in Northwest Mexico. The results showed the average efficiency levels (57%) for three identified groups of farmers: High TE (15% of farmers), average TE (72%), and low TE (13%). Our results showed a relationship between two of the preferred adaptation actions against climate change estimated using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. The most efficient farmers preferred “change crops,” while less efficient farmers preferred “invest in irrigation infrastructure.” The anthropocentric environmental attitude inferred from the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale was related to the level of TE. Efficient farmers were those with an anthropocentric environmental attitude, compared to less efficient farmers, who exhibited an ecocentric attitude. The climate change issues were more perceived by moderately efficient farmers. These findings set out a roadmap for policy-makers to face climate change at the regional level. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coping with Climate Change at Regional Level)

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16 pages, 2215 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Resilience Approach to Community-Scale Climate Adaptation

by Onyinye Prince Choko, Laura Schmitt Olabisi, Robert Ugochukwu Onyeneke, Stella Nwawulu Chiemela, Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie and Louie Rivers III

Sustainability 2019, 11(11), 3100; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113100 - 01 Jun 2019

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 5961

Abstract

Climate risk is expected to impact rural communities in West Africa in multiple ways. However, most current research addresses resilience and climate adaptation at either the national or the household scale; very little is known about community-scale interventions. We interviewed 934 community members in six communities in southeastern Nigeria about sources of climate risk and community-based actions for climate change adaptation. We found these communities contained multiple active and engaged groups that have implemented a wide range of interventions to reduce climate risk, most of which are seen as effective by community members. Flooding was the most common form of risk in this region, but drought, windstorms, and irregular rainy seasons are also frequent, implying that effective climate adaptation will have to be sensitive to multiple types of risk. Structural interventions (constructing roads, bridges, etc.) were the most common type of intervention, suggesting that communities are capable of marshalling considerable organizational and human power for adaptation efforts, even in the absence of external assistance. Efforts to boost community resilience and adaptation to climate change would benefit from first understanding what community actions are currently underway, and working with the groups implementing these actions to support and extend them. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coping with Climate Change at Regional Level)

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Review

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20 pages, 529 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Tilapia Farming in Bangladesh: Adaptation to Climate Change

by Mohammad Lutfar Rahman, Md Shahjahan and Nesar Ahmed

Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7657; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147657 - 08 Jul 2021

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 6813

Abstract

In Bangladesh, aquaculture is critically important in terms of providing food and nutrition, sustainable livelihoods, income, and export earnings. Nevertheless, aquaculture in Bangladesh has faced recent concerns due to climate change. Aquaculture is vulnerable to a combination of climatic factors, such as global warming, rainfall variation, flood, drought, temperature fluctuation, and salinity change. Considering the vulnerability of fish production to the impacts of climate change, tilapia farming is one of the possible strategies for adaptation to climate change. The positive culture attributes of tilapia are their tolerance to low water levels and poor water quality with rainfall variation, temperature fluctuation, and salinity change. In fact, tilapia farming is possible in a wide range of water environments, including freshwater, brackish water, and saltwater conditions. We suggest that appropriate tilapia culture strategies with institutional support and collaboration with key stakeholders are needed for adaptation to environmental change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coping with Climate Change at Regional Level)

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