Cause, conseguenze e strategie di mitigazione Proponiamo il primo di una serie di articoli in cui affronteremo l’attuale problema dei mutamenti climatici. Presentiamo il documento redatto, votato e pubblicato dall’Ipcc - Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - che illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.

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Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.

Mountains are the water towers of the world, supplying a substantial part of both natural and anthropogenic water demands 1 , 2 . They are highly sensitive and prone to climate change 3 , 4 , yet their importance and vulnerability have not been quantified at the global scale. Here we present a global water tower index (WTI), which ranks all water towers in terms of their water-supplying role and the downstream dependence of ecosystems and society. For each water tower, we assess its vulnerability related to water stress, governance, hydropolitical tension and future climatic and socio-economic changes. We conclude that the most important (highest WTI) water towers are also among the most vulnerable, and that climatic and socio-economic changes will affect them profoundly. This could negatively impact 1.9 billion people living in (0.3 billion) or directly downstream of (1.6 billion) mountainous areas. Immediate action is required to safeguard the future of the world’s most important and vulnerable water towers. The worldwide distribution and water supply of water towers (snowy or glacierized mountain ranges) is indexed, showing that the most important water towers are also the most vulnerable to socio-economic and climate-change stresses, with huge potential negative impacts on populations downstream.

Importance and vulnerability of the world’s water towers

Temperature and cooling demand reduction by green-roof types in different climates and urban densities: A co-simulation parametric study

Unleashing the convergence amid digitalization and sustainability towards pursuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A holistic review

Review: Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems By Gretchen C. Daily Reviewed by Sean T. O'Brien Florida Department of Environmental Protection Daily, Gretchen C. Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1997. 392 p. US$24.95 paper ISBN: 1-55963-475-8. Recycled, acid-free paper. Recently, I commented on the response made by the New Jersey chapter of a national conservation group to a state forestry plan. Fortunately, I had just finished reading Nature's Services and had a broadened understanding of the value of natural ecosystems to our state, and human society in general. Edited by Gretchen Daily, the Bing Interdisciplinary Research Scientist in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, Nature's Services includes 20 chapters by well-known scientists on a range of topics organized around the theme of the value of services provided by natural ecosystems to humanity. Understandably, and usefully, contributors to Nature's Services make economic arguments for conservation and tend to downplay moral and aesthetic arguments. In general, the value of ecosystems can be divided into consumptive and nonconsumptive uses. For example, consumptive uses for forests include logging and hunting; nonconsumptive uses include bird watching, appreciation of the existence of an ecosystem, flood control, and soil conservation. While consumptive uses can be valued directly based on market prices, it is harder to assign value to nonconsumptive uses. It is difficult to present nonconsumptive uses objectively in arguments about conservation of ecosystems. It is this difficulty that led to the contributors' lament [of] the near total lack of public appreciation of societal dependence upon natural ecosystems (p. xv). Given this, I was surprised that Nature's Services misses the mark, though not too widely, in its self-stated goal ...to characterize the ways in which earth's natural ecosystems confer benefits on humanity, to make a preliminary assessment of their value, and to report this in a manner widely accessible to an educated audience (p. 2) Although the first two goals are admirably addressed, they are

/pdf/nature-s-services-societal-dependence-on-natural-ecosystems-34hnfexi88.pdf

Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems

Assessment of stormwater runoff management practices and governance under climate change and urbanization: An analysis of Bangkok, Hanoi and Tokyo

https://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:6210/Bagmati.pdf

Assessment of Bagmati river pollution in Kathmandu Valley: Scenario-based modeling and analysis for sustainable urban development

This study assessed flood inundation of the Ciliwung River Basin, Greater Jakarta to improve the urban water environment under climate change and unplanned urbanization. The 1-day maximum precipitation data for 50- and 100-year return period under current and future climate conditions were used to assess the impact of climate change. Precipitation output of the MRI-CGCM3, MIROC5 and HadGEM2-ES General Circulation Models (GCM) with RCP 4.5 and 8.5 emission scenario over periods 1985–2004 and 2020–2039 representing current and future climate conditions respectively were used. Similarly, land use data of 2009 and 2030 were used to represent the current and future conditions, respectively. The HEC-HMS model was used to simulate the river discharge at Katulampa, which represents the outlet location for the hydrologic modelling and the inlet location for the flood inundation modelling. FLO-2D, a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model, was used to simulate current and future flood inundation simulations. Increasing flood inundation areas and depths (6% to 31% for different GCMs) in the future reveal the need to improve flood management tools for the sustainable development of urban water environments.

Assessment of future flood inundations under climate and land use change scenarios in the Ciliwung River Basin, Jakarta

Water is of vital and critical importance to ecosystems and human societies. The effects of human activities on land and water are now large and extensive. These reflect physical changes to the environment. Global change such as urbanization, population growth, socioeconomic change, evolving energy needs, and climate change have put unprecedented pressure on water resources systems. It is argued that achieving water security throughout the world is the key to sustainable development. Studies on holistic view with persistently changing dimensions is in its infancy. This study focuses on narrative review work for giving a comprehensive insight on the concept of water security, its evolution with recent environmental changes (e.g., urbanization, socioeconomic, etc.) and various implications. Finally, it presents different sustainable solutions to achieve water security. Broadly, water security evolves from ensuring reliable access of enough safe water for every person (at an affordable price where market mechanisms are involved) to lead a healthy and productive life, including that of future generations. The constraints on water availability and water quality threaten secured access to water resources for different uses. Despite recent progress in developing new strategies, practices and technologies for water resource management, their dissemination and implementation has been limited. A comprehensive sustainable approach to address water security challenges requires connecting social, economic, and environmental systems at multiple scales. This paper captures the persistently changing dimensions and new paradigms of water security providing a holistic view including a wide range of sustainable solutions to address the water challenges.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/4/490/pdf

Water Security in a Changing Environment: Concept, Challenges and Solutions

High fluoride (F−) groundwater causes fluorosis which might at severe stages lead to deformation of bones, bilateral lameness. The concentration of F− ranged from 0.4 to 4.8 mg/L. This study suggests that high HCO3− and Na+ in alkaline medium along with water–rock interaction plays important role in enrichment of F− in groundwater. Na-HCO3 is the dominant water type followed by Ca-HCO3 suggesting dominance of Na+, Ca2+ and HCO3− ions in groundwater. Factor analysis of water quality parameters suggests that four principal components account for 74.66% of total variance in the dataset. Factor 1 shows higher positive loading for pH, HCO3− negative loading for F−, Ca2+, SO42− depicting ion-exchange and HCO3 dominant water type responsible for F enrichment in groundwater. Saturation index for selected minerals suggests that most of the samples are oversaturated with calcite and undersaturated with fluorite. Calcite precipitation leads to the removal of Ca2+ from solution thus allowing more fluorite to dissolve. These released Ca2+ ions combine with CO32− ions to further enhance the precipitation of CaCO3.

https://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:6380/Groundwater_Gujarat.pdf

Binaya Kumar Mishra

Papers

Assessment of stormwater runoff management practices and governance under climate change and urbanization: An analysis of Bangkok, Hanoi and Tokyo

Assessment of Bagmati river pollution in Kathmandu Valley: Scenario-based modeling and analysis for sustainable urban development

Assessment of future flood inundations under climate and land use change scenarios in the Ciliwung River Basin, Jakarta

Water Security in a Changing Environment: Concept, Challenges and Solutions

Evaluation of aqueous geochemistry of fluoride enriched groundwater: A case study of the Patan district, Gujarat, Western India