A novel multi-hazard risk assessment framework for coastal cities under climate change.

Coastal cities, as centres of human habitation, economic activity and biodiversity, are confronting the ever-escalating challenges posed by climate change. In this work, a novel Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment framework is presented with the focus on Coastal City Living Labs. The methodology provides a comprehensive assessment of climate-related hazards, including sea-level rise, coastal flooding, coastal erosion, land flooding, heavy precipitation, extreme temperatures, heatwaves, cold spells, landslides and strong winds. Its application is illustrated through a case study: the Coastal City Living Lab of Benidorm, Spain. The methodology incorporates remote sensing data from various satellite sources, such as ERA5, Urban Atlas and MERIT DEM, to evaluate multiple hazards through a systematic and standardized indicator-based approach, offering a holistic risk profile that allows for comparison with other European coastal cities. The integration of remote sensing data enhances the accuracy and resolution of hazard indicators, providing detailed insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of climate risks. The incorporation of local expertise through the Coastal City Living Lab concept enriches data collection and ensures context-specific adequacy. The integration of local studies and historical extreme climate events enhances the validity and context of the risk indicators. The findings align with regional trends and reveal specific vulnerabilities, particularly related to heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and coastal flooding. Despite its strengths, the MHRA methodology faces limitations, including reliance on outdated datasets and the complexity of integrating multiple hazards. Continuous updates and adaptive management strategies are essential to maintain the accuracy and relevance of risk assessments. The broader implications of the methodology for global coastal cities highlight its potential as a model for developing targeted adaptation strategies.

Index-based tools for livelihood security and resilience assessment (LiSeRA) in lower Mekong Basin.

This paper presents a framework and toolkit for assessment of multi-hazard livelihood security and resilience in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) communities. The LMB is a subsidiary region of the Mekong region in South East Asia, and is frequently exposed to hydrometeorological hazards and anthropogenic stressors that expose and directly affect the livelihoods of more than sixty-five million people living in the region. The main purpose of the study is to support decision-making and risk management planning through integration of the concepts of livelihood security and resilience into a holistic framework, and subsequently developing an index-based toolkit for conducting assessments. Firstly, dimensions, sub-dimensions and indicators for measurement of livelihood security and resilience in the LMB were identified through comprehensive literature review and expert consultation. Then, several local workshops were conducted with various stakeholders (researchers, government officials, community people) in the LMB region to validate the indicators and generate weightages. The indicators were then arranged in a matriculated form, and the weightages were used to generate the algorithm for computing the quantitative outputs of livelihood security and resilience in study area. An Excel toolkit and a 'R' programming package were developed using the algorithm for visualization of the assessment outcomes. The proposed framework and toolkit are expected to assist researchers, government officials and development professionals in generating robust resilience assessment indices for risk informed decision-making and planning. Brief outline of the method •Livelihood security and resilience concepts were integrated to generate a holistic assessment framework and an indicator library.•Weightages for indicators were generated using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) through consultation with relevant stakeholders.•The indicator library was developed into an algorithm-based Excel and 'R' programming toolkit that provides quantitative assessment outputs.

How do intrinsic and extrinsic causes interact in the extinction vulnerability of South American savanna shrub and tree species?

Although a growing body of literature recognises the importance of rarity for biodiversity conservation, it is unclear how the interaction of different forms of rarity, extrinsic causes of extinction, and protection affect species' vulnerability. Here we addressed the extinction vulnerability of 2203 shrub and tree species of the South American savanna (SAS). For this, species were attributed a form of rarity, a synergistic risk index (SRI), and a protection index (PI). The SRI combines three extrinsic causes of extinction (climate hazard, fire frequency, and human footprint). The PI is the ratio between the number of a species occurrences within protected areas and the total number of occurrences in the SAS. By combining the SRI and PI, we classified common and rare species into five vulnerability classes. Some regions of the SAS show high values of climate hazard, fire frequency, human footprint, and SRI. Each extrinsic cause of extinction is differently distributed across the SAS and shows no or low spatial congruence with the SRI. Many species show a low ratio of occurrences within PAs, which in combination with high SRI results in high vulnerability to extinction. Surprisingly, the number of common species in the higher vulnerability classes is higher than of rare species. Common and rare species in different vulnerability classes occur in somewhat different locations across the SAS and mainly constitute spatially incongruent centres with high species richness. Given our results, we propose that strategies for the effective conservation of SAS species are challenging and must be carefully designed.

Addressing the effect of meteorological factors and agricultural subsidy on agricultural productivity in India: a roadmap toward environmental sustainability.

In the last two decades, the extensive literature that has measured agricultural productivity and growth rate remains controversial and provides few strategies about its main determinants. The present study aims to find out the key determinants of food grain yield (FGY) and examine the role of climate change and agricultural subsidy (SUB) in the context of India using annually data spanning from 1991 to 2018. The current study applied the ARDL modelling to investigate the impacts of climatic factors (average rainfall (RF), mean temperature (AT), and carbon emission (CO2) and agricultural subsidy (SUB) on food grain yield (FGY) in the short-and long-term in India. The estimated outcomes indicate that climatic factors such as RF have a positive impact while AT and CO2 have a negative effect on FGY. Similarly, non-climate variables such as gross capital formation (GCF) and fertilizer usage (FERT) positively contributed to FGY, while the area under crop (LUC), SUB, and employment (AL) negatively affected FGY in India. The results from Granger causality divulge that climatic and non-climatic elements are the main determinants of food grain yield, which have been playing play a significant role in enhancing food grain production and ensuring food security in India. Based on empirical outcomes and findings, some key policy implications emerged. Precisely, government and policy developers should focus on technological innovation and precision agriculture to increase agriculture production and productivity. Government should create funds to curb the climate change problem and promote eco-friendly renewable energy.

Cardiovascular Nursing and Climate Change: A Call to Action From the CSANZ Cardiovascular Nursing Council.

This Call to Action aims to provide key considerations for cardiovascular nursing, related to climate and environmental impacts. Strategies to optimise nursing preparation, immediate response and adaptation to climate emergencies are crucial to ensure those at greatest risk, including First Nations peoples, are protected from potentially avoidable harm. Professionals who manage climate consequences must also understand the impact of their care on the root cause of the problem.

Children in All Policies (CAP) 2030 Citizen Science for Climate Change Resilience: a cross-sectional pilot study engaging adolescents to study climate hazards, biodiversity and nutrition in rural Nepal.

Background: Young people will suffer most from climate change yet are rarely engaged in dialogue about it. Citizen science offers a method for collecting policy-relevant data, whilst promoting awareness and capacity building. We tested the feasibility and acceptability of engaging Nepalese adolescents in climate change and health-related citizen science. Methods: We purposively selected 33 adolescents from two secondary schools in one remote and one relatively accessible district of Nepal. We contextualised existing apps and developed bespoke apps to survey climate hazards, waste and water management, local biodiversity, nutrition and sociodemographic information. We analysed and presented quantitative data using a descriptive analysis. We captured perceptions and learnings via focus group discussions and analysed qualitative data using thematic analysis. We shared findings with data collectors using tables, graphs, data dashboards and maps. Results: Adolescents collected 1667 biodiversity observations, identified 72 climate-change related hazards, and mapped 644 geolocations. They recorded 286 weights, 248 heights and 340 dietary recalls. Adolescents enjoyed learning how to collect the data and interpret the findings and gained an appreciation of local biodiversity which engendered 'environmental stewardship'. Data highlighted the prevalence of failing crops and landslides, revealed both under- and over-nutrition and demonstrated that children consume more junk foods than adults. Adolescents learnt about the impacts of climate change and the importance of eating a diverse diet of locally grown foods. A lack of a pre-established sampling frame, multiple records of the same observation and spurious nutrition data entries by unsupervised adolescents limited data quality and utility. Lack of internet access severely impacted feasibility, especially of apps which provide online feedback. Conclusions: Citizen science was largely acceptable, educational and empowering for adolescents, although not always feasible without internet access. Future projects could improve data quality and integrate youth leadership training to enable climate-change advocacy with local leaders.

We're building it up to burn it down: fire occurrence and fire-related climatic patterns in Brazilian biomes.

Background: Terrestrial biomes in South America are likely to experience a persistent increase in environmental temperature, possibly combined with moisture reduction due to climate change. In addition, natural fire ignition sources, such as lightning, can become more frequent under climate change scenarios since favourable environmental conditions are likely to occur more often. In this sense, changes in the frequency and magnitude of natural fires can impose novel stressors on different ecosystems according to their adaptation to fires. By focusing on Brazilian biomes, we use an innovative combination of techniques to quantify fire persistence and occurrence patterns over time and evaluate climate risk by considering key fire-related climatic characteristics. Then, we tested four major hypotheses considering the overall characteristics of fire-dependent, fire-independent, and fire-sensitive biomes concerning (1) fire persistence over time; (2) the relationship between climate and fire occurrence; (3) future predictions of climate change and its potential impacts on fire occurrence; and (4) climate risk faced by biomes. Methods: We performed a Detrended Fluctuation Analysis to test whether fires in Brazilian biomes are persistent over time. We considered four bioclimatic variables whose links to fire frequency and intensity are well-established to assess the relationship between climate and fire occurrence by confronting these climate predictors with a fire occurrence dataset through correlative models. To assess climate risk, we calculated the climate hazard, sensitivity, resilience, and vulnerability of Brazilian biomes, and then we multiplied the Biomes' vulnerability index by the hazards. Results: Our results indicate a persistent behaviour of fires in all Brazilian biomes at almost the same rates, which could represent human-induced patterns of fire persistence. We also corroborated our second hypothesis by showing that most fire-dependent biomes presented high thermal suitability to fire, while the fire-independent biome presented intermediate suitability and fire-sensitive biomes are the least suitable for fire occurrence. The third hypothesis was partially corroborated since fire-dependent and independent biomes are likely to increase their thermal suitability to fire, while fire-sensitive biomes are likely to present stable-to-decreasing thermal suitability in the future. Finally, our fourth hypothesis was partially corroborated since most fire-dependent biomes presented low climate risk, while the fire-independent biome presented a high risk and the fire-sensitive biomes presented opposite trends. In summary, while the patterns of fire persistence and fire occurrence over time are more likely to be related to human-induced fires, key drivers of burned areas are likely to be intensified across Brazilian biomes in the future, potentially increasing the magnitude of the fires and harming the biomes' integrity.