Increasing population and consumption are placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources. Today, approximately a billion people are chronically malnourished while our agricultural systems are concurrently degrading land, water, biodiversity and climate on a global scale. To meet the world's future food security and sustainability needs, food production must grow substantially while, at the same time, agriculture's environmental footprint must shrink dramatically. Here we analyse solutions to this dilemma, showing that tremendous progress could be made by halting agricultural expansion, closing 'yield gaps' on underperforming lands, increasing cropping efficiency, shifting diets and reducing waste. Together, these strategies could double food production while greatly reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture.

https://escholarship.org/content/qt6xw5g085/qt6xw5g085.pdf?t=ovfwpc

Solutions for a cultivated planet

Advances in the science and observation of climate change are providing a clearer understanding of the inherent variability of Earth's climate system and its likely response to human and natural influences. The implications of climate change for the environment and society will depend not only on the response of the Earth system to changes in radiative forcings, but also on how humankind responds through changes in technology, economies, lifestyle and policy. Extensive uncertainties exist in future forcings of and responses to climate change, necessitating the use of scenarios of the future to explore the potential consequences of different response options. To date, such scenarios have not adequately examined crucial possibilities, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, and have relied on research processes that slowed the exchange of information among physical, biological and social scientists. Here we describe a new process for creating plausible scenarios to investigate some of the most challenging and important questions about climate change confronting the global community.

/pdf/the-next-generation-of-scenarios-for-climate-change-research-4brdc09r2l.pdf

The next generation of scenarios for climate change research and assessment

Kenji Sumida, David L. Rogow, Jarad A. Mason, Thomas M. McDonald, Eric D. Bloch, Zoey R. Herm, Tae-Hyun Bae, Jeffrey R. Long

Carbon Dioxide Capture in Metal–Organic Frameworks

Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing

This paper contrasts the natural and anthropogenic controls on the conversion of unreactive N2 to more reactive forms of nitrogen (Nr). A variety of data sets are used to construct global N budgets for 1860 and the early 1990s and to make projections for the global N budget in 2050. Regional N budgets for Asia, North America, and other major regions for the early 1990s, as well as the marine N budget, are presented to highlight the dominant fluxes of nitrogen in each region. Important findings are that human activities increasingly dominate the N budget at the global and at most regional scales, the terrestrial and open ocean N budgets are essentially dis- connected, and the fixed forms of N are accumulating in most environmental reservoirs. The largest uncertainties in our understanding of the N budget at most scales are the rates of natural biological nitrogen fixation, the amount of Nr storage in most environmental reservoirs, and the production rates of N2 by denitrification.

/pdf/nitrogen-cycles-past-present-and-future-1zdbw0976r.pdf

Nitrogen cycles: past, present, and future

Climate Change 2007 Synthesis report

Mitigation from a cross-sectoral perspective

Foreword Preface Summary for Policymakers Technical Summary 1. Introduction 2. Sources of CO2 3. Capture of CO2 4. Transport of CO2 5. Underground geological storage 6. Ocean storage 7. Mineral carbonation and industrial uses of carbon dioxide 8. Costs and economic potential 9. Implications of carbon dioxide capture and storage for greenhouse gas inventories and accounting Annex I. Properties of CO2 and carbon-based fuels Annex II. Glossary, acronyms and abbreviations Annex III. Units Annex IV. Authors and Expert Reviewers Annex V. List of IPCC publications.

IPCC special report on carbon dioxide capture and storage

This volume of the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art and worldwide overview of scientific knowledge related to the mitigation of climate change. It includes a detailed assessment of costs and potentials of mitigation technologies and practices, implementation barriers, and policy options for the sectors: energy supply, transport, buildings, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management. It links sustainable development policies with climate change practices. This volume will again be the standard reference for all those concerned with climate change. Contents: Foreword; Preface; Summary for policymakers; Technical Summary; 1. Introduction; 2. Framing issues; 3. Issues related to mitigation in the long term context; 4. Energy supply; 5. Transport and its infrastructure; 6. Residential and commercial buildings; 7. Industry; 8. Agriculture; 9. Forestry; 10. Waste management; 11. Mitigation from a cross sectoral perspective; 12. Sustainable development and mitigation; 13. Policies, instruments and co-operative agreements. 300 figs., 50 tabs., 3 annexes.

Climate change 2007 - mitigation of climate change

Summary for policy makers Technical summary Introduction 1. Scope of the report 2. Greenhouse gas emissions: mitigation scenarios and implications 3. Technological and economic potential of GHG emissions reduction 4. Technological and economic potential of options to enhance, maintain and manage biological carbon reservoirs and geo-engineering 5. Barriers, opportunities and market potential of technologies and practices 6. Policies, measures and instruments 7. Costing methodologies for mitigation 8. Global, regional and national costs and ancillary benefits of mitigation 9. Sector costs and ancillary benefits of mitigation 10. Decision making frameworks Index.

Bert Metz

Papers

Climate Change 2007 Synthesis report

Mitigation from a cross-sectoral perspective

IPCC special report on carbon dioxide capture and storage

Climate change 2007 - mitigation of climate change

Climate Change 2001: Mitigation