Protected areas and an ecosystem-based approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation
Author(s)
Mackey, Brendan
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2015
Metadata
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Earth’s climate is rapidly warming as the consequence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), from burning fossil fuel for energy and deforestation and land degradation. The average planetary temperature is set to increase by 3-5ºC by the end of this century under a business-as-usual scenario (IPCC, 2013a). The climate change problem is the result of the atmospheric stock of CO2 growing faster due to human pollution than the rate at which natural processes absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. To date, about 64% of the additional CO2 emissions in the atmosphere are from fossil fuel and 36% from ...
View more >Earth’s climate is rapidly warming as the consequence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), from burning fossil fuel for energy and deforestation and land degradation. The average planetary temperature is set to increase by 3-5ºC by the end of this century under a business-as-usual scenario (IPCC, 2013a). The climate change problem is the result of the atmospheric stock of CO2 growing faster due to human pollution than the rate at which natural processes absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. To date, about 64% of the additional CO2 emissions in the atmosphere are from fossil fuel and 36% from depletion of land carbon stocks (Mackey et al., 2013). Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are currently around 13 Gt C per year, of which 69% are fossil fuel emissions and 24% from land use change (IPCC, 2013b; IPCC, 2014a). The potential for further emissions is staggering from both sources as there are some 1,000 Gt C (i.e. one billion tonnes of carbon) in the remaining fossil fuel reserves (oil, coals and gas) and ~2,000 Gt land carbon in the world’s forests and other ecosystems (one tonne of fossil fuel or ecosystem carbon is the equivalent of 3.67 tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere) (IPCC, 2013b, Figure 6.1). While predicting the future is tricky, two things seem certain. First, the problem will only be solved when the world community (every nation) reduces CO2 emissions so that atmospheric concentrations stabilise at a level that limits global warming. If we are to limit warming to 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures – the agreed safeguard that will avoid much of the harm – then society can only emit a further ~300 Gt C in total; about 1/3 of estimated fossil fuel stocks and about 30 years of business as usual (IPCC, 2013a). Consequently we need deep cuts in emissions and we need them now. Second, even if we succeed in our mitigation efforts to limit the harm, we are still locked into a rapidly changing climate and all manner of climatic disruptions for a very long time; thousands of years in fact (IPCC 2013b, 2014b). Adapting to the adverse impacts of a changing climate will have to become a permanent component of conservation, natural resource management and land use planning.
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View more >Earth’s climate is rapidly warming as the consequence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), from burning fossil fuel for energy and deforestation and land degradation. The average planetary temperature is set to increase by 3-5ºC by the end of this century under a business-as-usual scenario (IPCC, 2013a). The climate change problem is the result of the atmospheric stock of CO2 growing faster due to human pollution than the rate at which natural processes absorbs carbon from the atmosphere. To date, about 64% of the additional CO2 emissions in the atmosphere are from fossil fuel and 36% from depletion of land carbon stocks (Mackey et al., 2013). Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are currently around 13 Gt C per year, of which 69% are fossil fuel emissions and 24% from land use change (IPCC, 2013b; IPCC, 2014a). The potential for further emissions is staggering from both sources as there are some 1,000 Gt C (i.e. one billion tonnes of carbon) in the remaining fossil fuel reserves (oil, coals and gas) and ~2,000 Gt land carbon in the world’s forests and other ecosystems (one tonne of fossil fuel or ecosystem carbon is the equivalent of 3.67 tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere) (IPCC, 2013b, Figure 6.1). While predicting the future is tricky, two things seem certain. First, the problem will only be solved when the world community (every nation) reduces CO2 emissions so that atmospheric concentrations stabilise at a level that limits global warming. If we are to limit warming to 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures – the agreed safeguard that will avoid much of the harm – then society can only emit a further ~300 Gt C in total; about 1/3 of estimated fossil fuel stocks and about 30 years of business as usual (IPCC, 2013a). Consequently we need deep cuts in emissions and we need them now. Second, even if we succeed in our mitigation efforts to limit the harm, we are still locked into a rapidly changing climate and all manner of climatic disruptions for a very long time; thousands of years in fact (IPCC 2013b, 2014b). Adapting to the adverse impacts of a changing climate will have to become a permanent component of conservation, natural resource management and land use planning.
View less >
Book Title
Valuing Nature: Protected Areas and Ecosystem Services
Publisher URI
Subject
Natural Resource Management