This Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) has been jointly coordinated by Working Groups I (WGI) and II (WGII) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report focuses on the relationship between climate change and extreme weather and climate events, the impacts of such events, and the strategies to manage the associated risks. This Special Report, in particular, contributes to frame the challenge of dealing with extreme weather and climate events as an issue in decision making under uncertainty, analyzing response in the context of risk management. The report consists of nine chapters, covering risk management; observed and projected changes in extreme weather and climate events; exposure and vulnerability to as well as losses resulting from such events; adaptation options from the local to the international scale; the role of sustainable development in modulating risks; and insights from specific case studies. (LN)

Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. Special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

A section for the review of books is a regular feature 0fLandscape Journal. The opinions and ideas expressed in the reviews are those of the reviewers and do not necessarily depict the views of the Journal’s editors or the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. Suggestions for books to be reviewed are always welcome, as are comments regarding the reviews published. All correspondence should be sent to the Book Review editors:

Landscape and memory

The inventory and quantitative assessment of the most valuable occurrences of geodiversity are essential steps in any geoconservation strategy and in the establishment of priorities in site management. Despite the existence of many site inventories applied to different scales (countries, municipalities, parks, etc.), the criteria used for their selection are often unclear and poorly defined. This paper proposes a new approach to the concepts of geosite and geodiversity site and reviews the procedures used in the development of a systematic site inventory applied to different scales and values. Procedures to achieve a numerical evaluation of the value and degradation risk of sites are reviewed and new criteria are proposed. Finally, guidelines are presented, bearing in mind the preparation of effective geodiversity inventories, to support geoparks’ strategies. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding and use of the above-mentioned concepts, which are essential for the implementation of geoconservation actions worldwide.

/pdf/inventory-and-quantitative-assessment-of-geosites-and-573384kuu6.pdf

Inventory and Quantitative Assessment of Geosites and Geodiversity Sites: a Review

Geotourism spans a range of visitor interests, from the specialist geotourist to the more general visitor. As well as supporting geoconservation outcomes, it provides economic, cultural, relational and social benefits for both visitors and host communities. The interconnections between geoheritage and the cultural components of the landscape have antecedents in concepts of landscape aesthetics in different cultures. These interconnections provide a range of opportunities for enhancing the geotourist experience and promoting geoconservation and geoeducation by means of activities that involve aesthetic and emotional experiences and interpretation through different cultural filters that encourage the rediscovery of a sense of wonder both about the geological stories in the landscape and the human interactions. A cultural ecosystem services framework provides a holistic approach for informing conservation policy, management and planning for geotourism, enabling assessment of multiple benefits and trade-offs for visitors and communities based on the values of the geoheritage assets. Geotourism studies could also benefit from integration of existing theory, conceptual analysis and practice from broader heritage and nature-based tourism and closer collaboration with relevant social sciences. Adhering to sound geoethical practice is an essential part of geotourism, which can also play a role in the promotion of geoethics among the public and professionals.

Geoheritage, Geotourism and the Cultural Landscape: Enhancing the Visitor Experience and Promoting Geoconservation

As reflected in the ecosystem approach, conservation strategies for the natural environment are responding to society's needs and the changing climate. Ecosystem assessments, particularly the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, have reviewed the benefits that society gains from the natural environment, but they under-represent and undervalue the contribution of geodiversity. Geodiversity underpins and delivers many vital ecosystem services, informs their management and is an important element of natural capital. This includes the application of knowledge of physical processes and evidence from Quaternary archives of recent environmental change to help future-proof ecosystems and their services. Key principles include working with natural processes, based on understanding their spatial and temporal dynamics, and adopting where possible soft engineering practices to enable multiple benefits for nature and society. The ecosystem approach and the need for climate change adaptation require more integrated approaches to geodiversity, biodiversity and landscape conservation and management to enable a more sustainable future. Engaging with these issues will also demonstrate the wider relevance today of geodiversity and geoconservation. Contributing successfully in these critical areas requires closer partnership working, both across the geoscience and geoconservation communities, and with other sectors of nature conservation, policy makers, planners and communities, as well as other disciplines. Geoscience has an essential contribution to make in addressing knowledge gaps recognised in ecosystem assessment and in implementing robust solutions to broader environmental, economic and social issues.

Geodiversity and the ecosystem approach: the contribution of geoscience in delivering integrated environmental management

In the 1990s the federal forests in the Pacific Northwest underwent the largest shift in manage- ment focus since their creation, from providing a sustained yield of timber to conserving biodiversity, with an emphasis on endangered species. Triggered by a legal challenge to the federal protection strategy for the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), this shift was facilitated by a sequence of science assessments that culminated in the development of the Northwest Forest Plan. The plan, adopted in 1994, called for an extensive system of late-successional and riparian reserves along with some timber harvest on the intervening lands under a set of controls and safeguards. It has proven more successful in stopping actions harmful to conservation of old-growth forests and aquatic systems than in achieving restoration goals and economic and social goals. We make three suggestions that will allow the plan to achieve its goals: (1) recognize that the Northwest Forest Plan has evolved into an integrative conservation strategy, (2) conserve old-growth trees and forests wherever they occur, and (3) manage federal forests as dynamic ecosystems.

https://faculty.washington.edu/jff/Thomas_Franklin_Gordon_Johnson_NW_Forest_Plan_Review_CB_2006.pdf

The Northwest Forest Plan: Origins, Components, Implementation Experience, and Suggestions for Change

Geodiversity--the variability of Earth's surface materials, forms, and physical processes-is an integral part of nature and crucial for sustaining ecosystems and their services. It provides the substrates, landform mosaics, and dynamic physical processes for habitat development and maintenance. By determining the heterogeneity of the physical environment in conjunction with climate interactions, geodiversity has a crucial influence on biodiversity across a wide range of scales. From a literature review, we identified the diverse values of geodiversity; examined examples of the dependencies of biodiversity on geodiversity at a site-specific scale (for geosites <1 km(2) in area); and evaluated various human-induced threats to geosites and geodiversity. We found that geosites are important to biodiversity because they often support rare or unique biota adapted to distinctive environmental conditions or create a diversity of microenvironments that enhance species richness. Conservation of geodiversity in the face of a range of threats is critical both for effective management of nature's stage and for its own particular values. This requires approaches to nature conservation that integrate climate, biodiversity, and geodiversity at all spatial scales.

John E. Gordon

Papers

Geoheritage, Geotourism and the Cultural Landscape: Enhancing the Visitor Experience and Promoting Geoconservation

Geodiversity and the ecosystem approach: the contribution of geoscience in delivering integrated environmental management

The Northwest Forest Plan: Origins, Components, Implementation Experience, and Suggestions for Change

Why geodiversity matters in valuing nature's stage

Magnitude and geographic variation of the radiocarbon content in Antarctic marine life: Implications for reservoir corrections in radiocarbon dating