▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

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Remote sensing of the environment

Remote sensing for agricultural applications: A meta-review

The results of the Forest Resources Assessment 2000 carried out by FAO are synthetically presented and discussed. The world forest coverage is estimated equal to 38.6 million km 2 . The comparison of the estimates from the period 1990-2000 with those from the period 1980-1990 points out a certain general deceleration of the rate of net deforestation, that currently involves around 9 million hectares every year. However, the annua1 loss of tropical forests is still very large, while temperate and borea1 forests are in expansion. Overall, FRA2000 produced a relevant effort to compensate the existing technical, institutional and financial constraints and shortcomings for monitoring the world forest resources. The need to increase the quality and the frequency of forest surveys, both at national and international levels, s t a stands as a major issue to cope with.

http://ojs.aisf.it/index.php/ifm/article/download/774/738

Valutazione delle risorse forestali a livello globale

We reviewed the literature on leadership in linked social-ecological systems and combined it with the literature on institutional entrepreneurship in complex adaptive systems to develop a new theory of transformative agency in linked social- ecological systems. Although there is evidence of the importance of strategic agency in introducing innovation and transforming approaches to management and governance of such systems, there is no coherent theory to explain the wide diversity of strategies identified. Using Holling's adaptive cycle as a model of phases present in innovation and transformation of resilient social- ecological systems, overlaid by Dorado's model of opportunity context (opaque, hazy, transparent) in complex adaptive systems, we propose a more coherent theory of strategic agency, which links particular strategies, on the part of transformative agents, to phases of system change.

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A Theory of Transformative Agency in Linked Social-Ecological Systems

How can we better manage watersheds so that they can produce the products and services we desire? Most individuals want a product/service mix that includes production of food and-fiber, housing, urban services, industrial sites, wildlife habitat, water quality, etc. Many individuals, communities and states are struggling with how to manage the resources within the watershed to achieve an acceptable mix of products and services (e.g. making the right tradeoffs). Making these decisions requires greater thought about what types of data and information are needed in making informed choices. In addition, the data, information and knowledge needs to be easily accessible and usable by the decision makers and not constrained to one type of operating system or particular brand of hardware or software. One viable option is to make this data, information and decision aids accessible via the Internet where the data and decision aids reside on a central server and users can interact with them for analysis.

This paper details our ideas concerning the research needs (information and knowledge) as well as the decision making supports necessary for individuals and communities to make better choices regarding the tradeoffs among potential goods, services and levels of environmental amenities …

Research needs for water quality management in the 21st century: A spatial decision support system

Watershed land use and aquatic ecosystem response: Ecohydrologic approach to conservation policy

Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium Meetings San Diego, CA, December 14-16, 1997 and at the First Annual Conference in Global Economic Analysis, Purdue University, June 1998

This study assesses the interaction between climate change and agricultural trade policies.
We distinguish between two dimensions of agricultural trade policy: market insulation and
subsidy levels. Building on the previous work of Tsigas, Frisvold and Kuhn (1997) we find that,
in the presence of current levels of agricultural subsidies, increased price transmission --as called for under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture-- reduces global welfare in the wake of climate change. This is due to the positive correlation between productivity changes and current levels of agricultural support. Increases in subsidized output under climate change tend to
exacerbate inefficiencies in the global agricultural economy in the absence of market insulation.
However, once agricultural subsidies have also been eliminated, price transmission via the global
trading system contributes positively to economic adaptation under climate change.

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Trade Liberalization as a Vehicle for Adapting to Global Warming

Riparian restoration for protecting water quality in tropical agricultural watersheds

[1] A continued challenge in watershed management is information related to future land cover and its impact on watersheds Changes in land cover can have significant impact on the quality and quantity of water resources, both spatially and temporally This study evaluates potential implications of land cover change on the hydrology of a regional watershed Land cover change is evaluated by using Markov Chain analysis and Cellular Automation to assess future land cover based on transitional probabilities and spatial influences The hydrology of the watershed is simulated using a continuous time simulation model The land cover change was found to be significant in the watershed with increased urbanization and loss of agricultural and forest cover Land cover change increased overall surface runoff, stream flow, and sediment loading Potential land cover changes impact the timing and magnitude of seasonal events In addition to temporal variation in impacts, spatial impacts varied among subwatersheds and administrative boundaries Opportunities were identified for mitigating the impacts of land cover change through best management practices and policies that incorporate watershed-scale information to reduce impacts of changing in land cover on water quantity and quality

/pdf/spatial-modeling-of-land-cover-change-and-watershed-response-2hxl05yv12.pdf

Timothy O. Randhir

Papers

Research needs for water quality management in the 21st century: A spatial decision support system

Watershed land use and aquatic ecosystem response: Ecohydrologic approach to conservation policy

Trade Liberalization as a Vehicle for Adapting to Global Warming

Riparian restoration for protecting water quality in tropical agricultural watersheds

Spatial modeling of land cover change and watershed response using Markovian cellular automata and simulation