Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Climate change- Northwest India'
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Cromack, Marianne. "A glacial sedimentary system in northwest Spitzbergen." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1991. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/268051.
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The record of climate change in Signedalen and Krossfjorden, northwest Spitsbergen, since the Late Weichselian glacial maximum, has been constructed using an integrated analysis of lacustrine, terrestrial and marine sediments. Thirty-four piston cores were taken from two series of linked lakes in Signedalen, fed by three small cirque glaciers. Six further cores were taken from the fjord inlet, Signehamna, into which meltwater from the linked glacier-fed lakes and a further two glaciers drain. Signehamna drains into Lilliehookfjorden, which with Mollerfjorden, combines to form Krossfjorden, from which 16 .cores were made available. Cores were analysed for moisture content, loss-on-ignition, bulk density, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, infra-red stimulated luminescence, by X-radiography and by radioisotopic dating methods, 210Pb and 14C. Bathymetric maps were constructed following echo sounding survey of the lakes. Seventy-two water samples from the linked lakes were used to assess contemporary environmental conditions, and to aid interpretation of sedimentary structures within core sediments. Results of lichenometric survey of moraine ridges and pro-talus deposits in and around Signedalen were analysed using discriminant analysis, and compared with Werner's (1988) lichen growth curve in order to establish a chronology of moraine stabilisation. Seismic records of Krossfjorden have revealed evidence of glacier advance at least as far as the sill separating Krossfjorden from the outer parts of the fjord and shelf associated with the Late Weichselian glacial maximum (Sexton et al., in press). Overlying the basal unit of a possible till , or sediments associated with rapid glacier retreat, is a blanket of homogeneous sediment formed by ice-distal deposition during the Holocene. There is no evidence of Younger Dryas glacier expansion preserved in the marine sediments, or in terrestrial moraines. Denudation rates calculated from lacustrine sediment accumulation infer the presence of smaller glaciers in Signedalen during the Younger Dryas than at present. The early to mid Holocene appears to have been characterised by relatively warm conditions, with much reduced glacier presence in Signedalen. Evidence of Neoglacial cooling, between approximately 3,000 yr BP and 1,500 yr BP, is found in lichenometric recorckof talus deposits, although precise dating of the inception, and duration of this cooling is problematic. No moraine sediments are recorded from this period. The Little Ice Age maximum, dated by licheno~etry to AD 1890, was the most extensive glacier advance to have affected the cirque glaciers of Signedalen and the tidewater glaciers of Krossfjorden, and is associated with the highest denudation rates recorded in the lacustrine sediments. It also appears to have been responsible for the formation of rock glaciers within the protalus deposits of Signedalen. Since this date, a general retreat of glaciers has been interrupted periodically by still-stands or slight readvances when climatic conditions deteriorated.
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Najafi, Mohammad Reza. "Climate Change Impact on the Spatio-Temporal Variability of Hydro-Climate Extremes." PDXScholar, 2013. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1114.
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The rising temperature of the earth due to climate change has shown to alter the variations of hydro-climate variables, including their intensities, frequencies and durations. Extreme events such as floods are, in particular, susceptible to any disturbances in climate cycles. As such it is important to provide policymakers with sufficient knowledge about the probable impacts of climate change on hydrologic extremes and most importantly on floods, which have the highest impacts on the societies. For this reason analysis of hydro-climate extremes is commonly performed using data at each site (or grid cell), however due to the limited number of extreme events, these analyses are not robust. Current methods, such as the regional frequency analysis, which combine data from different locations are incapable of incorporating the spatial structure of the data as well as other explanatory variables, and do not explicitly, assess the uncertainties. In this thesis the spatial hierarchical Bayesian model is proposed for hydro-climate extreme analyses using data recorded at each site or grid. This method combines limited number of data from different locations, estimates the uncertainties in different stages of the hierarchy, incorporates additional explanatory variables (covariates), and can be used to estimate extreme events at un-gaged sites. The first project develops a spatial hierarchical Bayesian method to model the extreme runoffs over two spatial domains in the Columbia River Basin, U.S. The model is also employed to estimate floods with different return levels within time slices of fifteen years in order to detect possible trends in runoff extremes.
Continuing on the extreme analysis, the impact of climate change on runoff extremes is investigated over the whole Pacific Northwest (PNW). This study aims to address the question of how the runoff extremes will change in the future compared to the historical time period, investigate the different behaviors of the regional climate models (RCMs) regarding the runoff extremes, and assess the seasonal variations of runoff extremes.
Given the increasing number of climate model simulations the goal of the third project is to provide a multi-model ensemble average of hydro-climate extremes and characterize the inherent uncertainties. Outputs from several regional climate models provided by NARCCAP are considered for the analysis in all seasons. Three combination scenarios are defined and compared for multi-modeling of extreme runoffs. The biases of each scenario are calculated and the scenario with the least bias is selected for projecting seasonal runoff extremes.
The aim of the fourth project is to quantify and compare the uncertainties regarding global climate models to the ones from the hydrologic model structures in climate change impact studies.
Various methods have been proposed to downscale the coarse resolution General Circulation Model (GCM) climatological variables to the fine scale regional variables; however fewer studies have been focused on the selection of GCM predictors. Additionally, the results obtained from one downscaling technique may not be robust and the uncertainties related to the downscaling scheme are not realized. To address these issues, in the fifth study we employed Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for predictor selection which determines spatially independent GCM variables (as discussed in Appendix A). Cross validation of the independent components is employed to find the predictor combination that describes the regional precipitation over the upper Willamette basin with minimum error. These climate variables along with the observed precipitation are used to calibrate three downscaling models: Multi Linear Regression (MLR), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Adaptive-Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS).
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Manuvie, Ritumbra. "Governance of climate change related migrations in Assam (India)." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31147.
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The thesis asks two crucial questions, (a) what are the normative frameworks available for protecting the rights and status of a person migrating due to climate change related hydro-metrological changes? (b) why is there a non-uniformity and inadequacy in the deliverance of assistance from the state? To address these questions, I have analysed the perception, framing and assistance a climate change migrant receives from the state of Assam in India, while also explaining the reasons for the differential nature and deficits in protection. Based on interviews with senior bureaucratic officials (elite actors), group-discussions, field surveys, and engagements at the block and village level, the thesis makes three critical arguments. First, the sub-national government perceive climate-induced migrations as a developmental issue. Second, the way in which climate change migration is framed as a developmental issue by elite actors does not correspond with how the issue is understood by street-level bureaucratic actors. Instead, the routine judgements and discretions exercised by street-level actors are complexly tied to the political and social circumstances of local areas. Finally, while it is known that socio-political and demographic factors (such as gender, membership of a social group, and religion) contribute to forced forms of migration, the thesis argues that these demographic factors also adversely affect the performance of the programs meant to reduce climate vulnerabilities.
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Bookhagen, Bodo. "Late quaternary climate changes and landscape evolution in the Northwest Himalaya geomorphologic processes in the Indian summer monsoon domain /." Phd thesis, [S.l. : s.n.], 2004. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=974115487.
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Dimitrova, Asya 1988. "Climate change and health in India : impacts and co-benefits." Doctoral thesis, TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa), 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/673181.
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El primer estudio de esta tesis doctoral demostró que tanto las temperaturas ambientales altas como las bajas y las olas de calor son factores de riesgo de mortalidad por todas las causas en la India, y el riesgo de mortalidad aumenta de manera más pronunciada a temperaturas más altas. El segundo y tercer estudio evaluaron algunos de los beneficios colaterales para la salud relacionados con la contaminación del aire y las compensaciones de la mitigación del cambio climático en la India. Los hallazgos sugirieron que la reducción proyectada de la contaminación del aire ambiental bajo los objetivos del Acuerdo de París puede alargar la esperanza de vida al nacer, reducir la mortalidad prematura y el número de niños con retraso en el crecimiento en la India para 2050 en comparación con los negocios habituales. Sin embargo, los costos de combustible más altos en virtud de los objetivos del Acuerdo de París pueden conducir a una mayor contaminación del aire en los hogares, compensando así por completo los beneficios para el crecimiento lineal infantil de una mejor calidad del aire ambiental. Complementar las medidas de mitigación con el control de la calidad del aire al final de la tubería y las políticas para respaldar el acceso a una cocina limpia puede maximizar los beneficios colaterales para la salud y reducir las compensaciones de mitigación, especialmente entre los más desfavorecidos.The first study in this PhD thesis demonstrated that both high and low ambient temperatures and heatwaves are risk factors for all-cause mortality in India, with mortality risk increasing more steeply at higher temperatures. The second and third study assessed some of the air pollution related health co-benefits and trade-offs from climate change mitigation in India. Findings suggested that projected reduction of ambient air pollution under the Paris Agreement targets can lengthen life expectancy at birth, reduce premature mortality and the number of stunted children in India by 2050 compared to the business-as-usual. However, higher fuel costs under Paris Agreement targets can lead to higher household air pollution, thus completely offsetting the benefits for child linear growth from improved ambient air quality. Complementing mitigation measures with end-of-pipe air quality control and policies to support access to clean cooking can maximise health co-benefits and reduce mitigation trade-offs, especially among the most disadvantaged.
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Andrews, Christopher James. "Human responses to climate change during the Younger Dryas in Northwest Europe." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/276744.
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This study discusses the extent to which hunter-gatherer mobility strategies are changed by abrupt climate change events by monitoring changes in lithic assemblage compositions through the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition, from ca. 14,000 cal BP to 10,000 cal BP in northwest Europe, with a focus on the Younger Dryas Stadial event, which occurred around 12,900 cal BP to 11,700 cal BP. A set of predicted archaeological indicators were formed from existing theoretical models, based largely on Binford’s logistical and residential mobility model, with the expectation that a more residential mobility strategy would be used by hunter-gatherer-populations during warmer climatic phases (i.e. the Allerød and Preboreal) and a more logistical mobility strategy would be used during cold climatic phases (i.e. the Younger Dryas). The lithic assemblages from sites across northwest Europe were then compared with these expectations in order to determine if a shift from a more residential strategy to a more logistical strategy can be seen from the lithic record. Additionally, a further comparative dataset was collected from south Europe in order to determine if there were differences in the response to the Younger Dryas at lower latitudes where the impact of this event is assumed to be less severe. The results found that in northwest Europe there is evidence to suggest there was indeed a shift from a more residential strategy during the warm Allerød interstadial to a more logistical strategy during the Younger Dryas Stadial, and the adoption of a more residential strategy with the return of warmer conditions during the Preboreal. However, it appears that the Preboreal Interstadial shows significant differences between the Allerød Interstadial, with the Preboreal sharing more characteristics in common with the Younger Dryas. This has been interpreted as a response to the unstable climatic conditions reported from the environmental evidence in this region during the Preboreal, which may have limited the ability of hunter-gatherer populations to return to similar levels of residential mobility seen during the Allerød. The south Europe dataset provides evidence that the lesser impact of the Younger Dryas at lower latitudes brought about a more muted response by hunter-gatherer populations to this event when compared with the northwest. However, there appears to be a reversal of that seen in the northwest, with more logistically mobile populations during the Allerød and especially the Preboreal, and more residentially mobile populations during the Younger Dryas. This is despite the environmental evidence showing a very similar environmental response to the northwest, with a distinct opening of the landscape during the Younger Dryas. The apparent difference in mobility strategies appear to be more related to the available faunal species within a region and their behaviour within their environment rather than directly to the climate. In the south, species such as red deer and ibex are the main source of faunal subsistence throughout the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition, unchanged by shifts in temperature and environment, but the way in which hunter-gatherers would hunt such species would be expected to change in more wooded environments compared with more open environments. If we compare this with the northwest, there is evidence of a distinct change from hunted prey, such as red deer, during the Allerød and Preboreal, to reindeer and horse during the Younger Dryas (although faunal preservation is poor in this region). With this shift to a more mobile prey species, along with a harsher, more open environment it may be more suitable to practise a more logistical strategy. Additionally, the instability of the Preboreal may have also changed the environment on a smaller scale, which would have required the hunting of warmer climate prey in shifting local environments, much like that of the Younger Dryas in south Europe. This might explain the differences seen between the Allerød and the Preboreal. Overall, there appears to be strong evidence supporting the theory that colder, harsher climates promote a more logistically mobile response from hunter-gatherer populations as seen in the northwest of Europe, and that there was a more muted, different response to the Younger Dryas in the lower latitudes of south Europe. However, it is the opinion here that changes in human mobility are not controlled directly be climatic conditions, rather controlled by the available major prey species and their behaviour in changing environments.
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Szczurek, Anthony. "India's Temporal Imaginaries of Climate Change, 1988-2018." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/88984.
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The advent of climate change promises extreme disruptions to existing concepts of political time, namely the distinction between the modes of time adopted by modern nation-states, natural time, and the everyday life of human beings. Yet the nation-state remains the primary actor through which climate politics is shaped. India is one the most prominent actors in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and also likely to be one of the most climate-affected societies moving forward. Over the 30-year history of India's engagement at the UNFCCC, there has been a shift from constructing a secular, past-oriented imaginary to a sacred, future-oriented one. The state has fostered these temporal imaginaries through three discursive registers: international politics, climate science, and conservative Hindu ideology. These imaginaries act as a heuristic tool with which to analyze the changing dynamics of political temporality in an era of rapid and extreme climate change.Doctor of Philosophy
Climate change challenges fundamental notion of political time, the temporal relationship that embeds actors and processes. Yet this topic is underanalyzed in academic literature, especially when it comes to non-Western states. India has been one of the most prominent actors at the United Nations climate negotiations and also likely to be heavily affected by extreme climate shifts. Over the 30-year history of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Indian government has framed the temporality of climate change in two ways. First, from 1988-2004, it constructed and followed a secular, past-oriented imaginary of climate change. Beginning in 2005, and accelerating with the election of Prime Minister Modi in 2014, the government has begun to construct and follow a sacred, future-oriented imaginary. In this way, the State has moved from rhetorically framing climate change as a significant problem to an opportunity that can be met if India and other societies follow conservative Hindu precepts.
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Wilson, Hannah. "Climate Change Effects on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Prairie Plants Along a Mediterranean Climate Gradient." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12968.
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Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) provide numerous services to their plant symbionts. Understanding the effects of climate change on AMF, and the resulting plant responses, is a crucial factor in predicting ecosystem responses on a global scale. We used a manipulative climate change experiment embedded within a natural climate gradient in Oregon and Washington to examine how the effects of future climate change on AMF-plant symbioses are mediated by soil water availability, soil nutrient availability, and vegetation dynamics.
Using structural equation modeling, we found that the direct effect of increasing temperatures was to decrease AMF colonization. Indirect effects of temperature, mediated through other variables, canceled each other out. However, future shifts in these relationships could either exacerbate or mitigate the negative direct effect of temperature. As ecosystems in Mediterranean climates experience more intense droughts and heavier rains, decreases in AMF colonization could have substantial consequences for plant communities and ecosystem function.
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Freeland, Ballantyne Erin. "Sustainability's paradox : community health, climate change and petrocapitalism." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.711671.
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Fisher, Susannah Emily. "Networks for climate change : non-state and subnational actors in Indian climate politics and governance." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.610233.
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Thiede, Rasmus Christoph. "Tectonic and climatic controls on orogenic processes the Northwest Himalaya, India /." Phd thesis, [S.l.] : [s.n.], 2005. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=974306037.
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Hendricks, Lauren. "The Performance of Four Native Perennial Forb Species Along a Climate Gradient in Pacific Northwest Prairies." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/20707.
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To determine how Pacific Northwest prairies are influenced by local site factors versus. regional climate, we studied the reproduction, plant size, and density of sixteen natural populations of four perennial forb species native to Pacific Northwest prairies: Ranunculus austro-oreganus, Sidalcea malviflora spp. virgata, Microseris laciniata, and Eriophyllum lanatum. These populations were distributed along a 700 kilometer latitudinal gradient from southern Oregon to Whidbey Island, Washington. We found significant differences in plant size and reproduction among populations for all species, but correlations among edaphic and climate variables and plant size and reproduction were weak. Instead, density was more strongly correlated with both edaphic and climate variables, suggesting that this is a better indicator of long-term demographic processes. Although a few factors are important across species (e.g., nutrient availability and minimum temperature), response is idiosyncratic at the individual species level in Pacific Northwest prairies.
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York, Luke. "The impact of climate change on poor dairy producers in Odisha, India." Thesis, University of Reading, 2017. http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/75268/.
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The Indian dairy sector represents 16.7% (44.5 million milking cows) of the world's dairy cattle. Dairying is susceptible to climate change as high temperatures cause heat stress amongst cows. The sector size ensures it is a significant contributor to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and inevitable target for mitigation. Yet, gaps in the knowledge remain regarding contextually relevant adaptation and/or mitigation strategies. The study investigated the impact of climate change on poor smallholder dairy producers and evaluated the role of climate-compatible policy and practice in supporting adaptation and mitigation at a household level. Data was collected from 115 smallholder dairy producers in Puri (n=31) and Khurda (n=84) districts of Odisha, India. Odisha was selected due to the high levels of rural poverty (35.7% of households). The poor are particularly susceptibility to the effects of climate change. Deterministic modelling, systematic policy review, GHG emission inventory, emission mitigation policy comparison and cost-benefit-analysis were employed. Temperature increases (+2C and +4 QC) were found to irrevocably reduce milk yields across all breeds (Jersey crossbred and non-descript indigenous) considered. Adaptation ameliorated losses for little economic gain due to implementation cost. Predicted increases in feed price resulted in lower grade Jersey crossbreeds being the most profitable. Anaerobic digester installation and control of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) were expected to reduce emissions. Calculations indicated digester leakage increased emission intensity by 5.5% whilst FMD control reduced emission intensity by 3.6 -13.1%. However, a reduced sector size is required to reduce total emissions. A reduced sector size will be unpalatable to Indian policymakers due to the socio-cultural importance of cattle. The study concludes that adaptation and mitigation is highly complex due to a range of trade-offs. A restructuring of national policy to consider the trade-offs within a climate change framework is required to prevent climate change impacts from becoming increasingly significant and detrimental.
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Azhoni, Adani. "Adapting water management in India to climate change : institutions, networks and barriers." Thesis, Cranfield University, 2017. http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/13660.
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Climate change is experienced most through the medium of water. The ability of water institutions and the factors that enable or hinder them to purposefully adapt to the new and additional challenges brought by climate change require better understanding. Factors that influence their perception of climate change impacts and initiatives being taken for adaptation are shaped by various enabling factors and barriers through the interaction with both governmental and non-governmental institutions across administrative scales. Better understanding of these adaptation enablers and barriers is essential for devising adaptation strategies. This research aims to identify and expound the characteristics that enable or hinder institutions to adapt for water management, and hence, it evaluates the involvement of key governmental and non-governmental institutions in India and the inter-institutional networks between them. It surveyed webpages and online documents of sixty Union Government institutions and interviewed representatives from twenty-six governmental, non-governmental, research and academic institutions operating at the national level and another twenty-six institutions operating within the State of Himachal Pradesh in India to assess the characteristics that enable or hinder adaptation. While the online projection of institutional involvement and interaction among key Union Government institutions on climate change and water indicate a more centralized network pointing to Planning Commission and Ministry of Environment and Forest, the interview responses indicated a more distributed network with both Ministries of Water Resources and Environment and Forest recognized as key institutions thereby indicating a potential variation in perception of who is in-charge. Moreover, online documents show institutions that are involved in water have less mention of climate change compared to Union Government ministries involved in less climate-sensitive sectors indicating that impacts of climate change on water are potentially ignored. While it is evident that research and consulting institutions engaging with both national and state level institutions play a key role in enabling adaptation, various barriers pertaining to data and information accessibility, inadequacy of resources and implementation gaps exist particularly due to inter-institutional network fragmentations. Although barriers identified in this study bear resemblance to barriers identified by other researchers in other contexts, this research shows similar barriers can emerge from different underlying causes and are highly interconnected; thereby indicating the need for addressing adaptation barriers collectively as a wider governance issue. Since many of the adaptation barriers emerge from wider governance challenges and are related to larger developmental issues, the findings have important policy implications. Among the various issues that the government needs to address is improving the inter-institutional networks between water institutions so that information dissemination, sharing of learning experiences and data accessibility is improved and prescriptive legislations are seen to be inadequate in this regard. Restructuring the way officials in government water institutions are recruited and deployed is suggested as a potential solution for improving the inter-institutional networks. The research elucidates that inter-institutional networks and transboundary institutions are two pillars that supports adaptation and also bridges the gap between adaptive capacity and adaptation manifestation that enable water institutions to cross the chasm of adaptation barriers. Thus the thesis presents an important analysis of key characteristics that enable or hinder water management institutions to adapt to climate change which have been so far under acknowledged by other studies through the analysis of the state of climate change adaptation in India. Therefore, this study provides valuable insights for developing countries, particularly, facing similar challenges of adapting water management for climate change.
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Coirolo, Cristina. "Climate change and livelihoods in Northwest Bangladesh : vulnerability and adaptation among extremely poor people." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2013. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/45225/.
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Singh, Chandni. "Understanding water scarcity and climate variability : an exploration of farmer vulnerability and response strategies in northwest India." Thesis, University of Reading, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.631701.
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Rainfed farming in semi-arid India is marked by its vulnerability to climate variability, accelerating resource degradation, and asset constrained populations. With climate change poised to exacerbate existing stresses on smallholder farming, there is a need to understand the factors constraining and enabling farmer adaptation. Integrated watershed development has emerged as a policy instrument to encourage and institutionalise sustainable natural resource use, to diversify rural livelihoods, and to build local capacity and propel rural development. Against this backdrop, this study had three main objectives: to examine farmers ' perceptions of water scarcity and climate variability in a semi-arid rainfed region of India and see whether these perceptions are reflected in meteorological records; to understand why some farmers are more vulnerable than others to these stressors; and to examine what strategies farmers undertake in response to perceived risk, and understand the decisionmaking process behind their choice of certain strategies. The study draws from the actorcentric vulnerability framework, which places the human system (here, the farming household) at the centre and explores vulnerability through its three determinants: exposure to a stressor (water scarcity and climate variability), system sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of the system. Situating the fieldwork in Pratapgarh, a predominantly tribal district in the semiarid state of Rajasthan, data was collected over one agricultural year (2011 to 2012) covering the monsoon (kharif) and winter (rabi) seasons. Differential vulnerability was explored between villages, between households within a village, and within households to develop a clear picture of local vulnerability. Towards this, data was collected in two sites: one with a watershed intervention operational for five years and the other with no intervention except for State-run public welfare schemes. A blend of household surveys (semi-structured interviews), focus group discussions, direct observation, open-ended key informant interviews, and in-depth case histories were used to collect data. Farmer narratives demonstrated that households interpret, experience and respond to climatic and non-climatic changes concurrently. The drivers of household vulnerability were an ensemble of highly localised and individual factors (intra-household dynamics and local socio-cultural norms) and macro-scale forces (global market demand, national policies, regional climate variability). These drivers were experienced together to inform farmer response decisions and livelihood strategies. This study found that tribal farmers in Pratapgarh were far removed from the caricature of passive victims of climate change and made proactive and reactive responses to changes in their environment. However, household-level response decisions were constrained by local and cross-scale factors, as well as factors perceived as beyond the decision maker's control. The thesis demonstrates how an understanding of livelihood trajectories and dynamic vulnerability pathways that incorporates views from the vulnerable, can allow agricultural and development policy to incorporate differential vulnerability, especially in the context of increasingly interdependent and multiple-scale drivers.
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Nax, Natalie. "Looking to the Future: The Indus Waters Treaty and Climate Change." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/20461.
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This thesis aims to challenge the Indus Waters Treaty. The Treaty remains as the governing authority, however there are areas in which it could be improved. One of these areas is how the Treaty will respond to climate change. I argue that due to changing environmental conditions, what made the Treaty so successful in the past will no longer be relevant in the future. This argument is supported by relevant literature reviews of journals and reports done by policy analysts, academics, and water management experts. Additionally, I address the need to mitigate for climate change by explaining the consequences climate change will have on the ecosystem and infrastructure of India and Pakistan. Finally, I examine case studies and make suggestions about the changes that can be made in order to create a Treaty that successfully mitigates for climate change.
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Khan, Amina. "Potential impacts of climate change on ranges of commercial marine species in the northwest Atlantic." Thesis, McGill University, 2013. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=117193.
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An increase in greenhouse gas emissions has led to a rise in average global surface air and ocean temperatures. This rise in sea surface temperatures can cause changes in species' distributions, particularly those species close to their thermal tolerance limits. Thus, species may be retreating northward to higher latitudes and colder temperatures, while other species may benefit from sea surface warming. This thesis addresses the potential shifts in range of commercial marine species along the Northwest Atlantic. The study focuses on 33 marine species harvested in Canadian as well as US waters and includes macroalgae (e.g., kelp and rockweeds); shellfish (e.g., clams, mussels, oysters, crabs, and lobster); and finfish (e.g., cod, halibut, and salmon). A bioclimate envelope approach is used to determine the current sea surface temperatures associated with each species' geographical distribution and, ultimately, identify its thermal limits. Future distributions are determined using sea surface temperatures projected by Atmosphere Ocean General Circulation Models and Earth System Models prepared for the upcoming IPCC fifth assessment report (the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis CanESM2, the Met Office Hadley Centre HadGEM2-ES, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies GISS-E2-R, the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization CSIRO-Mk3.6). The output from runs from both representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5 are used to predict the potential geographic distribution of each species for the year ~2100. The shift of species ranges in response to climatic change has major implications for the management of marine resources and governance providing valuable information to build a framework for developing adaptation options.Une augmentation des émissions de gaz à effet de serre a conduit à une augmentation des températures moyennes de l'air et des océans à l`échelle du globe.. La hausse des températures de surface de la mer peut provoquer des changements dans la répartition des espèces, en particulier les espèces proches de leurs limites de tolérance thermique. Ainsi, certaines espèces peuvent se déplacer vers le nord jusqu'à des latitudes plus élevées et des températures plus froides, tandis que d'autres espèces peuvent bénéficier du réchauffement de la surface de la mer. Cette thèse examine les changements potentiels de l`aire de répartition des espèces commerciales marines dans le nord-ouest de l'Atlantique. L'étude porte sur 33 espèces marines pêchées dans les eaux américaines et canadiennes et comprend les macroalgues (par exemple, le varech et les fucus); les mollusques et crustacés (cèst à dire les palourdes, les moules, les huîtres, les crabes, et les homards) et les poissons (morue, flétan, et le saumon). Une approche bioclimatique est utilisée pour déterminer les températures actuelles de surface de la mer correspondant à l`aire de répartition géographique de chaque espèce afin d'identifier ses limites thermiques. Les répartitions futures se basent sur les projection de températures de surface de la mer obtenues avec des modèles de circulation générale atmosphère-ocean (Atmosphere Ocean General Circulation Models) et des modèles Earth System Models, préparées pour le prochain rapport IPCC fifth assessment par différentes agences (le Centre canadien de la modélisation et de l'analyse CanESM2, le Met Office Hadley Centre HadGEM2-ES, la NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies GISS-E2-R, le Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization CSIRO-Mk3.6). Les résultats concertés des RCP 4.5 et RCP 8.5 sont utilisés pour prédire la répartition géographique potentielle de chaque espèce pour l'année ~ 2100. Les changements dans l`aire de répartition des espèces en réponse au changements climatiques a des implications majeures pour la gestion des ressources marines et la gouvernance puisquèlle fournit des informations essentielles à la création d`un cadre pour l'élaboration d'options d'adaptation.
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Huang, Junyi. "How the regional water cycle responds to recent climate change in northwest aridzone of China ?" HKBU Institutional Repository, 2017. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_oa/481.
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Climate change has posed significant challenges for the world's sustainable development, and the water cycle is highly dependent on the climate system. In particular, the arid zone fragile ecosystems in northwest China are highly vulnerable to the sophisticated hydrological variations. While ground-based measurements are less capable for large scale hydrological modelling, remote sensing techniques offer enhanced and effective alternatives for various hydrological states/fluxes. With the advancement of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites, the Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS), an integrative measurement of regional hydro-climatic environment, can now be measured as well for examining the overall hydrological response to recent climate change. TWS is an essential element of the water cycle and a key state variable for land surface-atmosphere interaction. Investigating the TWS change is important for understanding the response of the water cycle to climate change. In this study, the intra-annual and inter-annual spatio-temporal change pattern of TWS in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China during 2003-2015 are characterized from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Tellus data products. Sub-regional re-analysis reveals that the increasing/decreasing rate in sub-regions, namely, Altay Mountains (ATM), Junggar Basin (JGB), Tianshan Mountains (TSM), Tarim Basin (TRB) and Kunlun Mountains (KLM), are - 3.41mm, -5.82mm, -6.76mm, -2.59mm and +3.05mm per year in unit of equivalent water height (EWH), respectively. The results suggest that TWS variation presents certain spatio-temporal patterns with spatial heterogeneity. The uncertainties from different GRACE products are also assessed. In conjunction with gridded meteorological data products and land surface model simulations of hydrological variables, the heterogeneous mechanisms of seasonal TWS change are analyzed. The correlation relationship among various hydrologic states/fluxes variables (e.g. snow water, soil water, snow amount) and climatic variables (e.g. temperature and precipitation) with GRACE-derived TWS variation in different sub-regions are investigated. The findings appear to indicate that 1) temperature month-over-month change and temperature anomaly with 4- month time lag, rather than precipitation, are more capable to explain the intra- annual TWS variation; 2) In most part of the study area, the TWS intra-annual change can be primarily attributed to the snow accumulation in winter and melt in spring. On the other hand, the glacier mass variation, which is particularly sensitive to recent climate change, could be a substantial contributor to inter-annual TWS change. The elevation trends over glaciers are estimated based on ICESat altimetry measurements. Correlation analysis results suggest that, during 2003- 2009, the inter-annual TWS loss in Tianshan Mountains (TSM) was tightly associated with glacier mass variation induced by temperature change, particularly in summer. In contrast, TWS gain in Kunlun Mountains (KLM) can be attributed to glacier mass increase. By utilizing remote sensing observation techniques/products, this study has characterized the spatio-temporal change pattern of TWS in northwest arid zone of China, as well as the underlying mechanism. It suggests that TWS is an effective indicator of regional climate change. This study contributes to a better understanding of the hydrologic and climatic processes in arid zone water cycle, and could be beneficial for regional water resources management and climate change adaptation effort.
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Miyaguchi, Takaaki. "Climate Change Impact Reduction through Corporate Community Interface -Cases from India and Indonesia-." 京都大学 (Kyoto University), 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/123773.
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Tollervey, Jonathan E. "Climate change, human well-being and livelihoods in Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, India." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.569459.
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This research aimed to determine how the potential impacts of climate change upon the hydrological cycle in Medak District, Andhra Pradesh, could affect the ability of stakeholders to achieve positive livelihood outcomes and influence human well- being, by affecting the delivery of key provisioning ecosystem services (ES). This was undertaken with reference to two physically similar but hydrologically different study sites that are considered to be hydrologically representative of each other under different climate change scenarios (as predicted by the SWAT hydrological model). Both sites are located at different points along a trajectory between being water scarce and having surplus water (the upstream site having less water). The premise was that by comparing both these sites in relation to their current respective capacities to deliver hydrologically sensitive ES, speculation could be made as to how both sites might function under climate change. By also understanding how the delivery of these ES can influence the ability of stakeholders to achieve positive livelihood outcomes and enhance human well-being, it was also possible to examine how climate change will affect these parameters in the future. A five-tiered strategy involving qualitative, semi-quantitative, quantitative, modelling and theoretical methodologies delivered meaningful understandings of site-specific relationships between stakeholders and key hydrologically sensitive ES, including those surrounding the provision of crops, fish, forest products and water resources. These assessments established that virtually every relationship contrasted to some extent across the two study sites, with downstream stakeholders normally finding it easier to achieve positive livelihood outcomes. When all the assessments were evaluated together within the context of the thesis premise, and based upon the broad assumption that at some point in the future, the overall study area will begin to deliver ES to a similar extent as the current downstream site, it was concluded that climate change will affect specific livelihood components and constituents of human well-being in a predominantly positive way. This finding starkly contrasts with those of many other studies, which predict that climate change will have significantly detrimental and negative impacts upon livelihoods and well-being in India. The overarching thesis conclusion also suggests that climate change may not always be a major obstacle towards achieving a number of the Millennium Development Goals. Furthermore, this research has helped to Increase our understanding of the links between hydrology, ecosystems (and biodiversity) in the study area and the benefits that people enjoy from nature, whilst also demonstrating that these links are both multiple and complex. Consequently, this thesis can help to inform, assist and support policy and decision makers when preparing India for the challenges that its society and economy may face in the future.
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MacKendrick, Katharine. "Climate Change Adaptation Planning for Cultural and Natural Resource Resilience: a Look at Planning for Climate Change in Two Native Nations in the Pacific Northwest U.S." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/10022.
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xii, 172 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.The literature indicates that for indigenous peoples the environmental impacts of climate change and some proposed solutions threaten lifeways, subsistence, economic ventures, future growth, cultural survivability, rights, land ownership, and access to resources. However, limited understanding and awareness of the vulnerability and capacity of American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and of climate change impacts at the local level affect climate policymaking, planning, and equity. Case studies with the Coquille and Hoopa Valley Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest U.S. explore the key considerations in planning for climate change adaptation, particularly for cultural and natural resource resilience. Document analysis and semi-structured interviews offer insight on the risks the tribes face and the role of traditional and local knowledge and experience in planning for climate change adaptation. Conclusions offer information useful in planning for climate impacts, local-level climate adaptation research, and climate policy development at the local to global levels.
Committee in Charge: Dr. Michael Hibbard, Chair; Dr. Cassandra Moseley; Kathy Lynn
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Karlsson, Viktoria, and Emma Mörlin. "Participatory climate research : impacts on the medium-sized city Kota, India." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Tema Miljöförändring, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-157311.
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This thesis aims at increasing knowledge about climate research in developing countries and how research can be constructed, implemented and evaluated to be useful for local capacity building and climate action. This has been achieved by studying a concrete research project in Kota, India. Semi-structured interviews and one workshop has been conducted with researchers, stakeholders and one research financier to identify their perspectives on the studied research project as well as future participatory climate research. In the analysis, some identified opportunities for climate research were local knowledge and engagement, stakeholder awareness about the studies issues, a common platform to discuss research outcomes and research that presents possible solutions to local problems. Identified barriers were a lack of representation of specific groups, organizational problems among stakeholders, complex texts and a lack of policies or guidelines. This thesis also suggests some important factors to consider when performing participatory projects, such as planning the project carefully with a thought about timing, evaluation and involvement of many societal groups.
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Jerstad, Heid Maria. "Weathering relationships : the intra-action of people with climate in Himalayan India." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/23510.
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Weather – cold, wet, hot and windy – pervades life, material and social. So present and obvious as to provide a challenge for research, material though ephemeral too, weather breaks boundaries and refuses categorisation. While night becomes day, the cold season warms up over weeks and annual patterns are changing on a scale of years, practices in the face of weather transitions are themselves shifting. Based on ten months of fieldwork in the small village of Gau in the Pahari Indian Himalayas this thesis interrogates the saliencies and permeations of weather in people’s lives. It investigates how people intra-act (Barad 2007) with the weather, though practices, infrastructures and relationships with others. My approach argues for the validity of weather as a means by which to learn about socio-material lives. Pahari villagers live and act within the weather that moves around them. They are subject to, but also modify, their thermal environment. Through housing, clothing and tools such as the fire and the fan they affect the impact of the weather as it meets their bodies, but also daily patterns of movement are coloured by weather considerations. This work views weather in relation to health practices (such as refraining from working during the rain so as not to fall ill), for care of others (such as domestic bovines), for house-building and hospitable relationship-building among neighbours, for negotiation of landslide-fraught access roads to elsewhere and for understandings of pollution in the air. This focus on weather is intended to connect dots for people working on climate change, both within and beyond anthropology, and to contribute to discussions in areas including human-animal relations, health and illness and housing.
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Bhardwaj, Asmita. "Responses in India towards the Clean Development Mechanism." Virginia Tech, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/37133.
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Responses in India towards the Clean Development Mechanism
Asmita Bhardwaj
Recognizing the grave danger that climate change poses to mankind, the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992 by 150 nations. Subsequent climate change negotiations were to be guided through the principles of â equity,â â common but differentiated responsibilitiesâ and respective â capabilities,â while developed countries were to take lead in combating climate change. The Kyoto Protocol amended the FCCC in 1997 and set legally binding emission reduction targets for industrialized countries. No such commitments were mandated for the developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol, however, created the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which required participation of developing countries as hosts for CDM projects. Though it faced significant opposition at the onset it was adopted by many developing countries later. This paper outlines the responses towards the CDM in India.
Many developed countries, such as the United States, have sought to include participation of developing countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions mainly through binding growth caps on future emissions. Since 1997, this call for â meaningful participationâ has stalled the US ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. In response some scholars have tried to link initiatives like CDM to â meaningful participationâ . This paper suggests that rather than relying on the CDM, this contention regarding commitments can be resolved on a long-term basis if only there is a fair and explicit allocation of GHG emission quotas incorporating â equityâ concerns. Meaningful participation, which might mean quantified commitments, does not take into consideration â equityâ , a key criteria for developing country participation. Full participation can only result when Southern demands are given equal importance.
Master of Urban and Regional Planning
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Kaur, Japneet <1991>. "Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Productivity and Food Security Resulting in Poverty in India." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/10586.
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“Tackling Climate Change is closely linked to poverty alleviation and economic development; I would call them different sides of the same coin.”
- Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
Climate change has been considered to have catastrophic effects on planet Earth. It has become a major barrier to developing economies, like India where agriculture accounts for 55 per cent of its total working population (Registrar General 2013) and constitutes about 14.1 per cent of its GDP (GoI, 2013). Moreover, due to the alteration in climate, crop productivity is being affected adversely resulting in food and livelihood security issues. This study is based on state level data of 4 major seasonal Indian crops- Rice, Wheat, Cotton, Sugarcane which comprise of Food and Cash crops for the time span of 2004 to 2013. 7 agriculturally intensive states with varied climatic conditions have been taken into consideration for the study. States under tropical zones include West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, while the subtropical regions are Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. This thesis makes an attempt to analyze the impact of climate change on Indian Agriculture and food security. It also examines the implications of climate change on food security and evaluates the multiple benefits of mitigation and adaptation. Cobb Douglas production function will be incorporated in this model to simulate this impact of climate change on agricultural productivity. Majority of the crops taken into consideration are expected to be adversely affected by the future climatic conditions. Local adaptation practices have also been scrutinized, highlighting the role of institutional support, national adaptation strategies and resilience at different scales.
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Houben, Adam James. "Effect of Shoreline Subsidence and Anthropogenic Activity on Northwest Territories’ Lakes." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35679.
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Thawing permafrost – in the form of shoreline retrogressive thaw slump events – influence adjacent arctic tundra lake systems near Inuvik, NT. Slump-affected lakes demonstrated lower organic matter and key nutrients such as phosphorus (P), as well as greater water clarity. Key terrestrial permafrost soil indicators such as U, Sr, and Li, were identified to be elevated in slump-affected lakes, while other more biologically important metals (e.g. Fe, Mn) were significantly lower in affected lakes. These physical-chemical changes led to increasing P-limitation for both phytoplankton and periphyton, resulting in lower phytoplankton biomass (Chl-a). Using P as covariate in ANCOVA analysis, slump-affected lakes were also lower in phytoplankton biomass (Chl-a) relative to other study landscapes across the Canadian low-Arctic.
Slump-affected lakes also exhibited lower organic matter leading to lower overall Hg concentrations within slump-affected lakes. However, this same reduction in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) has also led to an increase in bioavailable Hg, and increased bioaccumulation of Hg in both periphyton as well as macroinvertebrate species in our most disturbed lakes with DOC concentrations less than 6 and 9 mg DOC/L, respectively. A negative correlation between Hg bioaccumulation and DOC above these concentrations was also observed, and is the typical condition within reference lakes.
The legacy impacts of mining were also observed in lakes within 25 km of the Giant Mine roaster stack in the Yellowknife region. Increases in both arsenic (As) and methyl mercury were measured in lakes nearer to the mine, with As concentrations well above water quality guidelines in lakes within 17 km of the roaster stack. This research highlights the necessity of baseline environmental monitoring prior to resource development, as well as the potential for compounded influences of such development within sensitive permafrost regions exposed to thawing.
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Praskievicz, Sarah. "A Hierarchical Modeling Approach to Simulating the Geomorphic Response of River Systems to Climate Change." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/18375.
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Anthropogenic climate change significantly affects water resources. River flows in mountainous regions are driven by snowmelt and are therefore highly sensitive to increases in temperature resulting from climate change. Climate-driven hydrological changes are potentially significant for the fluvial geomorphology of river systems. In unchanging climatic and tectonic conditions, a river's morphology will develop in equilibrium with inputs of water and sediment, but climate change represents a potential forcing on these variables that may push the system into disequilibrium and cause significant changes in river morphology. Geomorphic factors, such as channel geometry, planform, and sediment transport, are major determinants of the value of river systems, including their suitability for threatened and endangered species and for human uses of water.
This dissertation research uses a hierarchical modeling approach to investigate potential impacts of anthropogenic climate change on river morphology in the interior Pacific Northwest. The research will address the following theoretical and methodological objectives: 1) Develop downscaled climate change scenarios, based on regional climate-model output, including changes in daily minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation. 2) Estimate how climate change scenarios affect river discharge and suspended-sediment load, using a basin-scale hydrologic model. 3) Examine potential impacts of climate-driven hydrologic changes on stream power and shear stress, bedload sediment transport, and river morphology, including channel geometry and planform.
The downscaling approach, based on empirically-estimated local topographic lapse rates, produces high-resolution climate grids with positive forecast skill. The hydrologic modeling results indicate that projected climate change in the study rivers will change the annual cycle of hydrology, with increased winter discharge, a decrease in the magnitude of the spring snowmelt peak, and decreased summer discharge. Geomorphic modeling results suggest that changes in reach-averaged bedload transport are highly sensitive to likely changes in the recurrence interval of the critical discharge needed to mobilize bed sediments. This dissertation research makes an original contribution to the climate-change impacts literature by linking Earth processes across a wide range of spatial scales to project changes in river systems that may be significant for management of these systems for societal and ecological benefits.
This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material.
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Trainor, Paul Girvin. "Mid to late Holocene climate change in the tree-line region of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2016. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.713453.
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This study examined both the present and mid to late Holocene vegetation and eco-limnological characteristics across the latitudinal tree-line region. The study region comprises the tree-line environmental gradient in the central Northwest Territories, Canada north of the city of Yellowknife. The study region is defined in terms of three ecozones, these are the boreal, transitional and tundra ecozones. The modern eco-limnological parameters of the study region were retrieved through a transect of lake surface sediment taken from 57 lake sites. This included pollen and diatom analysis of the lake sediment samples as well as the collection of supplementary data on water chemistry, surrounding vegetation and climatological data. The study was concerned with improving our understanding of mid to late Holocene tree-line dynamics. Two tundra lakes were selected for freeze coring (Horseshoe Lake and Carleton Lake). A chronological framework for the cores was established trough radiocarbon dating and Bayesian age depth modelling, pollen and diatom analysis was then carried out. Through analysis of the pollen record an inferred vegetation history for the study region was developed, interpretation of the diatom record allowed more specific limnological changes to be reconstructed. An integration of the results from the modern surface transect allowed further development of interpretations of the fossil record.
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Pal, Indrani. "Rainfall trends in India and their impact on soil erosion and land management." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/224798.
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Under the threat of global warming it is vital to determine the impact that future changes in climate may have on the environment and to what extent any adverse effects can be mitigated. In this research an assessment was carried out on the impact that climate trends may have on soil erosion and contaminant transport in India and examined the potential for top soil management practices to improve or maintain soil quality. Historical rainfall data from 50-135 years and extreme temperature data for 103 years were analysed and long term trends were assessed for various aspects of Indian climates using suitable statistical techniques. Results indicated that intra-region variability for extreme monsoon seasonal rainfall is large and mostly exhibited a negative tendency leading to increasing frequency and magnitude of monsoon rainfall deficit and decreasing frequency and magnitude of monsoon rainfall excess everywhere in India except in the peninsular Indian region. This is further exacerbated by increased and more variable extreme temperatures. Intra-region rainfall variability in India is linked to the pacific Southern Oscillation, where the associations of monsoon drought and El-Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the regions near to coast are greatest. 50-years high resolution daily gridded rainfall data was analysed to set up certain indices for the extreme daily rainfalls to assess their changes for the six gridded regions of Kerala, the extreme south western state of India where monsoon rainfall initiates every year. This was also done for two study sites, namely Bhoj wetland area of west central India and Sukinda chromite mining site of central north east India. Significant decrease was found in monsoon and spring rainfall extremes and increase in winter and autumn rainfall extremes in Kerala that would affect the tendency of change in seasonal total rainfall as well. Decrease in monsoon rainfall in Kerala also indicate that monsoon rainfall is decreasing in India as a whole, increased occurrence of floods is expected in winter and autumn seasons, together with water scarcity are expected to be felt both in spring and monsoon seasons with a delaying monsoon onset in Kerala. Soil erosion studies were conducted for two northern most gridded regions of Kerala as an extended work of the related MPhil study, and contaminant transport with eroded sediments was looked at for the Bhoj and Sukinda sites using RUSLE2 model software and other suitable numerical methods. It was found that soil erosion depended on a complex interaction of climate, soil properties, topography, and cover management. An assessment on extreme climate patterns for Bhoj and Sukinda showed an increasing tendency of seasonal and annual rainfall extremes and temperatures leading to an increasing pattern of soil erosion at both the sites. However, a certain consensus was difficult to reach because of the complex interaction of climate and soil carbon that is a very important deciding factor for soil erosion potential. Vegetative cover and plant residue was found providing essential soil nutrients, enhancing soil properties and retarding rainfall impact on bare top soil leading to reduction of soil erosion. Therefore, a soil erosion and contaminant transport prevention plan should take care of the top soil such that it is not kept bare especially when rainfall intensity is high in a given year. This work as a whole has highlighted the importance of regional climatological analysis with the large scale spatial averages especially at local decision making level, which is very useful for the broad scenarios such as climatological and ecological risk management.
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Buechler, Stephanie. "Gendered vulnerabilities and grassroots adaptation initiatives in home gardens and small orchards in Northwest Mexico." Springer, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622829.
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With the retreat of the state under neoliberalism, the lack of (or negligible) government and non-governmental support reasserts grassroots initiatives as a global-change strategy. A feminist political ecology approach and the concept of adverse inclusion were used to facilitate an analysis of social differences shaping local-level adaptive responses. Adaptive responses of small farmers in the border village of San Ignacio, Sonora, Mexico, who are increasingly vulnerable to climate change, water scarcity, and changing labor markets were studied. Gender differences in production sites translate into diverse vulnerabilities and adaptive strategies. Local capacities and initiatives should be a focus of research and policy to avoid viewing women and men as passive in the face of global change. The dynamic strategies of San Ignacio women and men in home gardens and small orchards hold lessons for other regions particularly related to adaptation to climate change via agrobiodiversity, water resource management, and diversified agricultural livelihoods.
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Akhter, Feroz Raisin. "Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for Sustainable Urban Development : A Study on Slum Population of Kota, India." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Tema vatten i natur och samhälle, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-108959.
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The urban centres are becoming more vulnerable to climate change because of the rapid urbanization and the inequality of urban development. This study assesses the urban vulnerability in an integrated approach focusing the slum people as the targeted group. The slum people are severely exposed to climate risks in terms of city‟s overall development. The negative indications of the indicators of person‟s vulnerability represent their high sensitivity to the adverse impact of climate change. The determinants of adaptive capacity also confirm that the slum people are more vulnerable to climate change with having lower adaptive capacity; though, the city is possessing high development indexes. In this context, an institutional structure is developed to build multi-level urban climate governance with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders based on the case study and literature review to integrate the vulnerable group in development planning for climate change adaptation.
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Le, Masson Virginie. "Exploring disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation from a gender perspective : insights from Ladakh, India." Thesis, Brunel University, 2013. http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/7504.
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Both Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) aim at reducing the vulnerabilities and enhancing the capacities of men and women when facing natural hazards and climate change. Despite conceptual bridges existing between both sectors, the literature suggests a lack of practical integration of objectives and approaches in the design and implementation of climate change-related and DRR initiatives as well as a lack of attention to gender issues. In parallel, studies repeatedly stress the necessity to (i) provide more empirical studies that re-contextualise climate change as just one of many issues faced on a daily basis by local communities, and (ii) emphasise the gender dimension of vulnerability to understand differences between men’s and women’s realities in relation to disasters and climate change. This research explores the local dimension of the (lack of) integration of DRR and CCA through using gender as a lens. It uses the case study of the Himalayan province of Ladakh in India where the predicted impacts of climate change could seriously undermine inhabitants’ access to water. Embedded within the theoretical frames of DRR and feminist political ecology, this research draws on concepts of gender, marginalisation, vulnerability and capacity in order to understand the local impacts of environmental degradation and the implications for policies and development projects. When analysing the ways in which Ladakhi communities experience climate change and natural hazards in relation to their everyday risks, the vulnerability and capacity assessment conducted in this research shows that men and women face different everyday constraints which shape their views of their environment. The gender sensitive methodology and analysis also contribute to focus the attention away from hazards to emphasise the way people’s vulnerabilities are inherently linked to unsustainable development which stresses the importance of designing integrated responses. Yet, when examining current interventions to tackle disaster risk and climate change in relation to Ladakhi communities’ contexts, priorities and needs, a focus on gender and DRR highlights the gap between theories, policies and practices. Evidence from Ladakh contributes to show the dichotomy between the ineffectiveness of top-down interventions targeting climate change and disasters, and the gendered experiences of local communities in the face of a multitude of everyday risks that extend beyond climate change and natural hazards. Current DRR and CCA policies and projects reproduce a dominant focus on hazards and do not challenge established development models that are male-dominated and which promote people’s (and disproportionately women’s) vulnerability. However, development interventions, in the context of Ladakh, appear more adequate to improve people’s livelihoods with greater scope for inputs from the community level, which contribute to enhancing their capacities. Therefore, this thesis argues that emphasis should be placed on sustainable development practices in order to better address disaster risk and climate change as well as communities’ everyday risks. It finally underscores the need to recognise and assess the interconnection of different structures and their impacts on people’s daily lives at the onset of development strategies and to ensure that these are part of a sustainable, holistic and integrated approach to reducing vulnerability.
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Torney, Diarmuid. "A leader without followers? : European Union relations with China and India on climate change, 1990-2009." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:38fb3450-73dd-46f3-a23c-e51ff0e76cf1.
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The EU has, for a long time, portrayed itself as an international leader on climate change. Previous studies have tended to focus on the characteristics of EU leadership, but have failed to examine the extent to which EU leadership generates “followership”. Going beyond these existing approaches, this dissertation analyzes not just EU attempts at leadership but also the response of two potential followers: China and India. Based on extensive fieldwork, the dissertation explains the pattern of EU engagement and the response to engagement in each case, and makes three key arguments. First, EU engagement was driven by a desire to build the international role of the EU, but also from 2000 onwards in particular by growing normative concern and material interest within the EU regarding combating climate change. The development of engagement was also conditioned by the broader development of EU relations with China and India. Second, EU engagement took the form of institutionalized dialogue and capacity-building projects. These were generally more extensive in the EU-China case; the EU-India relationship was significantly more limited. Both cases were characterized by a lack of EU capacity—particularly the EU-India case—and to some extent by inconsistency and incoherence. Third, the Chinese Government responded through limited normative emulation and limited but growing lesson-drawing through bilateral cooperation in specific sectors. While the Indian Government also responded through limited normative emulation, the principal Indian response was resistance. Moreover, both the Chinese and Indian Governments resisted the EU approach to the international climate change negotiations. This pattern of engagement and significant resistance stemmed partly from the EU’s failure to develop sufficient capacity for effective engagement, but also partly due to significant differences in the way each side has framed the issue of climate change. Based on these findings, the dissertation concludes that while the EU was not entirely a leader without followers, it has acted as a highly restricted leader in its relations with China and India on climate change.
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Coetzee, Kim. "The elephant in the room: The rise and role of India in the climate change negotiations." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20287.
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The climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have been ongoing since the first conference of the parties in 1995. Twenty years on there has been little progress reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the climate regime is in a state of flux and the role of developing countries therein is changing. During this period the majority of the work on climate change from within the International Relations discipline has been framed in a neoliberal institutionalist or neorealist frame. Studies in the climate policy canon have been predominantly similarly located, albeit implicitly. In its focus on India this dissertation provides a bridge between the climate policy literature and the theoretically framed climate change policy studies in the International Relations literature. This dissertation employs the Critical International Relations theoretical framework of Robert Cox. His theory outlines a 'framework for action' that enables and constrains how states act, and how they conceive of their agency. This framework, or historical structure, is created by a particular configuration of the forces exerted by ideas, institutions, and material capabilities, which when aligned, create a hegemonic historical structure. In the climate negotiations, India has been a vocal proponent of the ideas of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities from the earliest days of the Convention. India's changing material circumstances and geo-political status in the past decade raised the question of its role in the regime in relation to its long-supported ideas. This is a qualitative case study using documentary evidence triangulated with interview data from a range of key Indian stakeholders. I found that in the transition from abstract principle to operational precept the intersubjective idea of addressing climate change did not transmute into an intersubjectively shared idea of differentiation. Furthermore, once the idea of differentiation was to be operationalised in the negotiations, its primacy, indeed its very "intersubjectiveness", was contested by the idea of symmetry of obligations and responsibility. The ongoing regime flux is the outcome of this contestation between ideas held collectively by groups, as no stabilising hegemonic historical structure has been created. India's emergence has been insufficient to reinstate differentiation as an intersubjectively held idea and it is thus unable to secure a hegemonic historical structure in favour of differentiation.
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Kumar, Navneet [Verfasser]. "Impacts of Climate change and Land use change on the Water resources of the Upper Kharun Catchment, Chhattisgarh, India / Navneet Kumar." Bonn : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn, 2014. http://d-nb.info/1077268912/34.
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Saxena, Alark. "Evaluating the resilience of rural livelihoods to change in a complex social-ecological system| A case of village Panchayat in central India." Thesis, Yale University, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3663589.
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This dissertation thesis details an interdisciplinary research project, which combines the strengths of resilience theory, the sustainable livelihood framework, complex systems theory, and modeling. These approaches are integrated to develop a tool that can help policy-makers make decisions under conditions of uncertainty, with the goals of reducing poverty and increasing environmental sustainability.
Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, including reducing poverty and hunger, and increasing environmental sustainability, has been hampered due to global resource degradation and fluctuations in natural, social, political and financial systems. Climate change further impedes these goals, especially in developing countries. The resilience approach has been proposed to help populations adapt to climate change, but this abstract concept has been difficult to operationalize.
The sustainable livelihood framework has been used as a tool by development agencies to evaluate and eradicate poverty by finding linkages between livelihood and environment. However, critiques highlight its inability to handle large and cross-scale issues, like global climate change and environmental degradation.
Combining the sustainable livelihood framework and resilience theory will enhance the ability to simultaneously tackle the challenges of poverty eradication and climate change. However, real-life systems are difficult to understand and measure. A complex-systems approach enables improved understanding of real-life systems by recognizing nonlinearity, emergence, and self-organization. Nonetheless, this approach needs a framework to incorporate multiple dimensions, and an analytical technique.
This research project attempts to transform the concept of resilience into a measurable and operationally useful tool. It integrates resilience theory with the sustainable livelihood framework by using systems modeling techniques. As a case-study, it explores the resilience of household livelihoods within a local village Panchayat in central India.
This method integrated the 4-step cross-scale resilience approach with the sustainable livelihood framework through the use of a system dynamics modeling technique. Qualitative and quantitative data on social, economic and ecological variables was collected to construct a four-year panel at the panchayat scale. Socio-economic data was collected through questionnaires, focus group discussions, participant observation, and literature review. Ecological data on forest regeneration, degradation and growth rates was collected through sample plots, literature review of the region's forest management plans, and expert opinions, in the absence of data.
Using these data, a conceptual, bottom-up model, sensitive to local variability, was created and parameterized. The resultant model (tool), called the Livelihood Management System, is the first of its kind to use the system dynamics technique to model livelihood resilience.
Model simulations suggest that the current extraction rates of forest resources (non-timber forest produce, fuelwood and timber) are unsustainable. If continued, these will lead to increased forest degradation and decline in household income. Forest fires and grazing also have severe impacts on local forests, principally by retarding regeneration. The model suggests that protection from grazing and forest fires alone may significantly improve forest quality. Examining the dynamics of government-sponsored labor, model simulation suggests that it will be difficult to achieve the Government of India's goal of providing 100 days' wage labor per household through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Based on vulnerability analysis under the sustainable livelihood framework, eight risks to livelihoods were identified based on which six scenarios were created. One scenario was simulated to understand the resilience of local livelihoods to external shocks. Through these simulations, it was found that while climate change is a threat to local livelihoods, government policy changes have comparatively much larger impacts on local communities. The simulation demonstrates that reduced access to natural resources has significant impacts on local livelihoods. The simulation also demonstrates that reduced access drives forced migration, which increases the vulnerability of already risk-prone populations.
Through the development and simulation of the livelihood model, the research has been able to demonstrate a new methodology to operationalize resilience, indicating many promising next steps. Future undertakings in resilience analysis can allow for finding leverage points, thresholds and tipping points to help shift complex systems to desirable pathways and outcomes. Modeling resilience can help in identifying and prioritizing areas of intervention, and providing ways to monitor implementation progress, thus furthering the goals of reducing extreme poverty and hunger, and environmental sustainability.
Many challenges, such as high costs of data collection and the introduction of uncertainties, make model development and simulation harder. However, such challenges should be embraced as an integral part of complex analysis. In the long run, such analysis should become cost- and time-effective, contributing to data-driven decision-making processes, thus helping policy-makers take informed decisions under complex and uncertain conditions.
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Mahachi, Heather. "Towards zero emissions and zero poverty in the Global South: a comparative analysis of South Africa, India and Mexico's approach to development and climate change mitigation." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29360.
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Among the foremost challenges of the 21st century are sustainable development and climate change mitigation. In light of these challenges, this thesis seeks to analyse and compare the extent to which development and climate change mitigation are aligned on a policy level in three countries in the global south, namely South Africa, India and Mexico. These three middle-income countries are plagued by high levels of poverty and large inequality gaps, and address the challenge of reducing GHG emissions in this context. The objectives of this study are fourfold: (1) an analysis of each country’s climate change policies mainly its Nationally Determined Contributions and climate response strategies and assesses to which extent development is addressed; (2) analysis of each country’s national development plans and the extent to which climate change mitigation is addressed; (3) based on the initial analysis, assessing the overall extent to which the development and climate policies are aligned; and (4) a comparative analysis of how each country performed in this regard. The study found that South Africa, India and Mexico are in pursuit of lower carbon development in the years to come. Targets for reducing their emissions in light of climate change considerations have been set and sectoral approaches to low carbon development are illustrated to varying degrees. South Africa was found to have done relatively well in integrating development and poverty alleviation into its national climate policy. The detailed analysis presented in the thesis found this at national scale, while a focus on co-benefits was particularly well integrated in Mexico’s and India’s climate policy. Thus the thesis shows that each country could learn or adopt some approaches to alignment from the other – and that there are several benefits associated with aligning development and climate policies. More research would need to be conducted at a finer scale to identify the trade-offs of certain mitigation actions and this information should be used in future national and sectoral development.
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Egan, Joanne. "Impact and significance of tephra deposition from Mount Mazama and Holocene climate variability in the Pacific Northwest USA." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2016. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/impact-and-significance-of-tephra-deposition-from-mount-mazama-and-holocene-climate-variability-in-the-pacific-northwest-usa(41efd2d2-b864-4d92-bdf5-b744c3cd71f2).html.
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The mid-Holocene climactic eruption of Mount Mazama in Oregon, USA (Volcanic Explosivity Index, VEI-7) was among the largest eruptions globally during the Holocene. Despite evidence for possible hemispheric climatic impacts, the age of the eruption is not well-constrained and little is known about the environmental impacts of distal tephra deposition with previous studies showing no clear consensus. Further, the eruption occurred during a time of global climatic warming, raising questions about the impacts of tephra deposition in the context of longer-term change. Thus the aim of this thesis is to investigate the terrestrial and aquatic impacts of distal tephra deposition from the climactic eruption of Mount Mazama approximately 7700 years ago, and to reconstruct Holocene environmental change in the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Mazama tephra forms an important isochronous marker horizon. A refined age of 7682-7584 cal. years BP (95.4% probability range) for the eruption was acquired through Bayesian statistical modelling of 81 previously published radiocarbon age estimations. Through high resolution palaeoecological and statistical analyses (stratigraphy, tephra geochemistry, radiocarbon dating, pollen, diatoms and ordination) the aquatic and terrestrial impacts of tephra deposition are assessed. Records were examined from the centre and fringe of Moss Lake, Washington to elucidate regional and local effects on vegetation and to determine whether the observed aquatic impacts were consistent throughout the lake, or whether the diatoms were responding to other factors, such as climate or catchment changes. Tephra deposition from the climactic eruption of Mount Mazama caused a statistically significant local terrestrial impact with changes to open habitat vegetation (Cyperaceae and Poaceae) and changes in aquatic macrophytes (Myriophyllum spicatum, Equisetum) and alga (Pediastrum), but there was no significant regional impact of distal tephra deposition. Statistical testing suggests the regional changes observed were climate-driven, evidenced by longer-term, underlying environmental change. Tephra deposition had a statistically significant impact on the aquatic system with decreases of epiphytic taxa (Fragilaria brevistriata and Staurosira venter) and increases of epipelic (Brachysira brebissonii) and tychoplanktonic taxa (Aulacoseira sp.) indicating a change in habitat and an increase of the Si:P ratio, lasting approximately 150 years. Variance partitioning demonstrated tephra to be a significant environmental variable; however, directional change exerted most influence and interactions between variables are evident. This study clearly demonstrates that there are complex interactions between drivers of change which is evidenced through time series analysis of the diatom Holocene record, revealing periodicities of approximately 2000 years, 1300 years, and 450 years attributed to solar variation and ocean-atmosphere interactions. Overall, tephra had a significant local effect on the environment, but no significant impact on the region independent of underlying environmental changes. More studies of similar nature are needed to evaluate the wider regional significance of the localised impacts shown at Moss Lake.
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Sun, Bo. "The spatio-temporal pattern of snow cover and its relations to climate change in western aridzone of China." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2014. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_oa/79.
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Global climatic change as well as its consequences such as extreme weather events and sea-level rising has become a focusing issue in the contemporary world. Alpine snow cover is increasingly regarded as a good and sensitive indicator of climatic change due to the less direct interference by human. In western aridzone of China, majority of mountainous areas are covered by snow in winter seasons. This region is one of the most important seasonal snow cover regions in China and also a typical alpine snow cover region in the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Being less affected by economic development and human activities in the history, the change of permanent and seasonal snow cover in this region echoes the global climatic and environmental change. In addition, snow melt water, which provides the major water supply in the region, is vital for living beings in the arid and harsh environment. It is therefore necessary to understand the snow cover change during the past decades. This study aims to investigate the spatio-temporal pattern of snow cover in the western aridzone of China in the past 30 years by using remote sensing technology and to analyze the relationship between the change of snow cover and global climate. The reliability of remote sensing-derived global snow data is firstly examined. Data consistency and accuracy are assessed against the ground measurements. In order to undertake a down-scale snow depth analysis with other high-resolution environmental data, a method that fuses the low-resolution passive microwave and high-resolution optical snow cover images is proposed. A linear mixture model is adopted in spectral unmixing for modifying snow depth estimates. Time series analysis method is utilized to describe the long-term trend and periodic features. The analysis is applied not only to the whole region but also to the local scale represented by a pixel so that the spatial pattern of the change can be illustrated. Using the result and climatic data, the relationship between snow cover and global/regional climatic change is established. The results make contribute to the understanding of the impacts of climatic change, at regional level, on the spatio-temporal pattern of snow cover in the western aridzone of China. Keywords: Snow and ice, alpine snow cover, remote sensing, spatio-temporal pattern, long-term trend, climatic change, western aridzone of China
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Bovy, Kristine M. "Effects of human hunting, climate change and tectonic events on waterbirds along the Pacific Northwest coast during the late Holocene /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6548.
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Hazlewood, Julianne Adams. "GEOGRAPHIES OF CO2LONIALISM AND HOPE IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC FRONTIER TERRITORY-REGION OF ECUADOR." UKnowledge, 2010. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/52.
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This dissertation investigates the human dimensions of environmental transformations spurred by international climate change mitigation agreements—such as the Kyoto Protocol—that encourage lowering greenhouse gas emissions with ‘green’ market strategies like biofuel and ecological services development projects. It is methodologically grounded in “collaborative activist geographical methods” and theoretically based at the nexus of development, political ecologies, neoliberalization of Nature, and geographies of hope literatures. It examines the contradictory and complex ways that state “climate change mitigation development” projects surround and infiltrate the Indigenous and Afro-ecuadorian ancestral territories of the canton of San Lorenzo (Esmeraldas Province), located in the “Northwest Pacific Fronter Territory-region of Ecuador”.
This research asks to what degree the Ecuadorian state’s support and investment in oil palm plantation expansion—designed to meet biofuel crop demands—in the coastal rainforest regions results in the rearrangement, and often times, devastation of Indigenous Awá and Chachi and Afro-ecuadorian communities’ natural and human geographies. It also inquires into the Ecuadorian government’s recently approved (October 2008) state level conservation incentives project called Socio-Bosque (Forest Partners) developed to do the following: protect the rainforests and its ecological services, alleviate poverty in rural areas, and position the country as an ‘environmental world leader’ for taking concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from avoided deforestation. Socio Bosque claims to be progressive and even revolutionary, but may enact new forms of exploitation and governance in Indigenous and Afro-ecuadorian territories that are specific to time and place, but are enduringly colonial.
Nevertheless, this research also highlights geographies of hope by demonstrating that, contrary to the surrounding sea of monoculture oil palm plantations and the CO2lonial air of contradictory laws in relation to biofuel and ecological services development, Awá, Chachi, and Afro-ecuadorian communities maintain sustainable practices and enhance agricultural diversity within their territories. Additionally, it emphasizes the emergent place-based social movements in relation to defense of their territories and identities; Indigenous and Afro-ecuadorian communities avoid conflict pressures by creating interethnic networks. By casting social nets between their territories, their communities stay connected and, together, defend their rights to territorial self-determination and “Living Well” and the rights of Nature.
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Lorkowski, Ina [Verfasser], and Carsten [Akademischer Betreuer] Eden. "The Carbon Pump of the Northwest-European Shelf : Variability due to Phytoplankton Dynamics and Climate Change / Ina Lorkowski. Betreuer: Carsten Eden." Hamburg : Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, 2013. http://d-nb.info/103389141X/34.
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Mizuno, Emi Ph D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Cross-border transfer of climate change mitigation technologies : the case of wind energy from Denmark and Germany to India." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39947.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 380-407).
This research investigated the causal factors and processes of international development and diffusion of wind energy technology by examining private sector cross-border technology transfer from Denmark and Germany to India between 1990 and 2005. The motivation stemmed from the lack of active private sector participation in transfer of climate change mitigation technologies. Special attentions were paid to the role and effects of: government policy and institutional settings; co-evolution of policy, market, industry, and technology; and industrial competitiveness management. The research found that the centrality of government policy, in particular market value creation/rewarding policy, in successful wind energy technology development and diffusion at the technology frontier of Denmark and Germany. Sources of technological change were complex, but it was the policy-induced substantial market size and performance-oriented demand characteristics that determined the speed and direction of technology development and diffusion. Yet, the change was only materialized by the successful establishment of co-evolving mechanism of policy, market, industry, and technology; again, policy was central in the creation and timely adjustment of such virtuous cycle.
(cont.) The research also found strong connections between technological characteristics/specificity and industrial competitiveness management, and their intertwined transformations. On the Indian side, the increasing technology gaps in both product and capability with the frontier and the transformed structural relationship between market development and the number of new technology introduction were evident from the mid 1990s. Non-performance-oriented market mechanism, policy inconsistency, institutional problems of power sector, persistent infrastructure deficiency, along with the intertwined competitiveness management and technology transformations at the frontier, all contributed to the structural transformation; the failed virtuous cycle creation was due to strong technology- and industry-related external factors and weak demand-pull and supply push internal policy. India lost the potentials for replicable technology transfer and the larger development benefits.
by Emi Mizuno.
Ph.D.
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Never, Babette [Verfasser], and Cord [Akademischer Betreuer] Jakobeit. "Knowledge Systems and Change in Climate Governance : Comparing India and South Africa 2007-2010 / Babette Never. Betreuer: Cord Jakobeit." Hamburg : Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg, 2013. http://d-nb.info/103175671X/34.
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Weber, Mary Catherine. "Modeling groundwater quality in an arid agricultural environment in the face of an uncertain climate: the case of Mewat District, India." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2015. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1794.
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The salinization of groundwater resources is a widespread problem in arid agricultural environments. In Mewat, the amount of solutes dissolved in the water has become too high to use for drinking or agriculture. The only fresh water recharge to this bowl-shaped region is through precipitation, which is focused at the foothills of the mountain. The freshest water is found closest to the mountains and the salinity of the groundwater increases as the distance from the mountains increase. The pumps that supply the region with fresh water are located in the shrinking freshwater zone. Locally-monitored wells show the movement of salinity in the region, as the saline water encroaches upon the freshwater. This study aims to answer the following questions: How long until the region runs out of fresh water? What would it take to have sustainable fresh water supplies? Is it even possible to have sustainable fresh water supplies in this environment? In order to answer these questions, we will quantify potential futures for an arid, groundwater-dependent location in rural India, using numerical groundwater modeling to quantify interactions between human water use, infrastructure, and climate. Outcomes of this modeling study will inform sustainable management of groundwater resources
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Aggarwal, Ashish. "The promise and performance of carbon forestry : analyzing carbon, biodiversity and livelihoods in two projects from India." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2014. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-promise-and-performance-of-carbon-forestry-analyzing-carbon-biodiversity-and-livelihoods-in-two-projects-from-india(0e569b5c-1e89-4bb7-b33e-51fba79381b7).html.
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Carbon forestry projects have proliferated over last few years on the premise of cost efficient climate mitigation along with co-benefits of biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement. Multilateral, bilateral, public and private sources have invested billions of dollars in the carbon forestry projects based on these claims. However, there is little empirical evidence to support the enthusiasm. This gap is further accentuated by the insufficient understanding of the governance challenges of these projects. These issues are social, political and ecological in nature and hence require a multidisciplinary political ecology framework for a comprehensive analysis. This thesis explores the multiple benefit claims and governance issues by analysing two forestry-based Clean Development Mechanism projects from India. One, in Haryana state focuses on private lands, the other in Himachal involves three different types of lands viz. community, public and private for plantation activities. This thesis examines the carbon, biodiversity and livelihood benefits of each project, and the governance challenges associated with them. I show that both projects have sequestered substantially less carbon than was originally predicted, which has serious implications for carbon revenues and hence economic viability of these projects. In the case of biodiversity, the results are mixed. In Haryana, the tree and herb biodiversity has improved in the project plots as compared to control plots, whereas shrub biodiversity has marginally declined. In case of Himachal project, biodiversity has declined at tree, shrub and herb levels. I have analysed livelihood impacts in terms of foregone crop, fodder and fuel wood benefits across small, medium and large category of farmers. Both the projects have adverse livelihood impacts on the participants, more so in Haryana because of the plantations on private lands. Although the project has adversely affected the livelihoods of all three categories of farmers, however it has affected small farmers the most due to their low incomes and risk-bearing capacities. Hence, these projects have serious equity implications. This thesis also explores the governance challenges of carbon forestry in terms of their interaction with existing policy mechanisms, especially the Forest Rights Act of 2006, which recognises the ownership and use rights of forest dependent communities comprehensively first time in independent India. The analysis suggests that there are various issues that carbon forestry projects pose for the implementation of the Act due to which civil society groups are opposing these projects. This thesis contributes to our understanding of the multiple benefit claims of carbon forestry projects with empirical evidence and a political ecological analysis. It shows that there is possibility of tradeoffs and many other scenarios in carbon forestry projects rather than just the projected 'win-win-win' outcomes. It contributes to the political economy literature by establishing that changes in global commodity markets can influence land use choices at local level, affecting the sustainability of such efforts. This thesis also advances the literature on governance of carbon forestry projects by reflecting on various policy and implementation level issues related to property rights, community institutions, transparency and accountability.
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Franczyk, Jon J. "The Effects of Climate Change and Urbanization on the Runoff of the Rock Creek Basin." PDXScholar, 2008. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2237.
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Climate changes brought on by global warming are expected to have a significant affect on the Pacific Northwest hydrology during the 21st Century. Current research anticipates higher mean annual temperatures and an intensification of the hydrological cycle. This is of particular concern for highly urbanized basins, which are considered more vulnerable to changes in climate. Because the majority of previous studies have addressed the influences of either climate or urban land cover changes on runoff, there is a lack of research investigating the combined effect of these factors. The Rock Creek basin (RCB), located in the Portland, OR, metropolitan area, has been experiencing rapid urban growth throughout the last 30 years, making it an ideal study area for assessing the affect of climate and land cover changes on runoff. Methods for this assessment include using a combination of climate change and land cover change scenarios for 2040 with the semi distributed AVSWAT-X (Arc View Soil and Water Assessment Tool) hydrological model to determine changes in mean runoff depths at the monthly, seasonal, and annual scales. Statistically downscaled climate change results from the ECHAM5 general circulation model (GCM) found that the region would experience an increase of 1.2°C in the average annual temperature and a 6% increase in average annual precipitation between 2030 and 2059. The model results revealed an amplification of runoff from either climate or urbanization. Projected climate change plus low-density, sprawled urban development for 2040 produced the greatest change to mean annual runoff depth (+5.5%), while climate change plus higher-density urban development for 2040 resulted in the smallest change (+5.3%), when compared to the climate and land cover of 2001. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the combination of both climate change and urbanization would amplify the runoff from the RCB during the 21st Century. This has significant implications for water resource managers attempting to implement adaptive water resource policies to future changes resulting from climate and urbanization.
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Rajan, Mukund Govind. "India and the north-south politics of global environmental issues : the case of ozone depletion, climate change and loss of biodiversity." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1994. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:065449d2-6c0f-4aec-8ba9-a84cab137be9.
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The cooperation of developing countries is commonly assumed to be essential for the establishment of effective regimes to manage global environmental interdependence. Yet their policies and perceptions have been inadequately studied. This thesis seeks to partially fill this gap in the literature with a detailed analysis of Indian policy on global environmental issues. It examines the cases of ozone depletion, climate change, and loss of biodiversity, and discusses developments up to the 1992 Earth Summit. The study addresses four broad questions about Indian policy: the process of policy making; the character of Indian interests and preferences; the nature and evolution of India's bargaining strategy; and the outcome of international negotiations for India. It reveals a complex picture of continuity and change in Indian policy. It demonstrates the enduring importance of traditions and values such as the "poverty is the greatest polluter" orthodoxy and the concepts of sovereignty, equity and Third World solidarity. It also highlights the impact of perceptions of vulnerability in relation to the North. It argues that Indian policy did not reflect purely powermaximising goals; policy makers were sometimes uncertain about where India's interests precisely lay, and felt constrained both by economic weakness and by the recognition of the mutual interest of all states in global environmental protection. This was reflected in the moderation in India's bargaining strategy. The Indian case suggests that developing countries did not regard their cooperation in the resolution of global environmental issues purely as a bargaining chip with which to extract concessions from the North. Still less did they perceive these issues as providing an opportunity to pose a macro-challenge to the North, linking agendas across issue areas. Instead, their goals reflected perceptions of constraints and mutual interests in bargaining with the North. Their bargaining strategy thus tended to be moderate and flexible, unlike the confrontational approach of the 1970s.
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Cullen, William. "A Comparative Analysis to Understand the Subnational Motivations for Renewable Energy Development in India." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2019. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2175.
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Providing energy security and diversifying the energy production in India align with the country’s rising power ambitions and policy goals to industrialize. Renewable energy provides a useful tool for the state to meet these policy goals without producing more air pollution and additional environmental degradation. The Central Government has international ambitions of with becoming a rising responsible power; these aspirations have created new resources, incentives, and policy ideas for the subnational states in India. The purpose of this thesis is to map out the motivations, interests, and incentives of subnational elites in devising policies to promote renewable energy development in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. I develop an analytical framework based on four variables: 1) state-level party politics, 2) financial space/ indebtedness of state distribution companies, 3) institutional knowledge in state-level nodal renewable energy agencies, and 4) state-level linkages with the private sector to examine different modes of vertical alignment that subnational actors employ to develop renewable energy policies. I find that environmental concerns weren’t the primary driver of renewable energy development; instead, environmental benefits were an unintended outcome of private sector actors and state elites coordinating with the Central Government to address the pressing needs of ensuring reliable energy for industry leaders. In particular, Kerala demonstrates that even when active environmental movements and popular support exists for renewable energy, unless there are active private sector linkages, renewable energy development will remain slow. These findings may be very helpful for central government officials in India and state-level bureaucrats trying to devise climate change mitigation policies on the subnational level. Moreover, international climate change negotiators could use these findings to engage with India more to accelerate renewable energy development to slow anthropogenic climate change.