114 research outputs found

    Environmental challenges and traditional food practices: The indigenous lundayeh of long pasia, sabah, borneo

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    In this paper we focus on the Lundayeh indigenous minority in Long Pasia, Sabah by examining how their traditional food practices help them navigate environmental challenges. Deforestation and logging threaten the very core of the Lundayeh identity because the community’s livelihood as subsistence farmers depends on hunting as well as gathering forest resources. This paper argues that, despite the continuous challenges, Lundayeh food practices, albeit exercised in modified forms, provide an avenue to revisit past traditions in order for the community’s indigeneity and sovereignty to survive and be safeguarded. The findings of this research project suggest that through hunting techniques, foraging, paddy cultivation, agricultural cooperative work, as well as religiously sensitive food adaptation practices, the Lundayeh’s relationship with the land endures, which in turn, secures the community’s indigenous identity

    Future global climate: scenario-based projections and near-term information

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    This chapter assesses simulations of future global climate change, spanning time horizons from the near term (2021–2040), mid-term (2041–2060), and long term (2081–2100) out to the year 2300. Changes are assessed relative to both the recent past (1995–2014) and the 1850–1900 approximation to the pre-industrial period

    Attribution of Declining Western U.S. Snowpack to Human Effects

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    Observations show snowpack has declined across much of the western United States over the period 1950–99. This reduction has important social and economic implications, as water retained in the snowpack from winter storms forms an important part of the hydrological cycle and water supply in the region. A formal model-based detection and attribution (D–A) study of these reductions is performed. The detection variable is the ratio of 1 April snow water equivalent (SWE) to water-year-to-date precipitation (P), chosen to reduce the effect of P variability on the results. Estimates of natural internal climate variability are obtained from 1600 years of two control simulations performed with fully coupled ocean–atmosphere climate models. Estimates of the SWE/P response to anthropogenic greenhouse gases, ozone, and some aerosols are taken from multiple-member ensembles of perturbation experiments run with two models. The D–A shows the observations and anthropogenically forced models have greater SWE/P reductions than can be explained by natural internal climate variability alone. Model-estimated effects of changes in solar and volcanic forcing likewise do not explain the SWE/P reductions. The mean model estimate is that about half of the SWE/P reductions observed in the west from 1950 to 1999 are the result of climate changes forced by anthropogenic greenhouse gases, ozone, and aerosols.Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory///Estados UnidosScripps Institution of Oceanography//SIO/Estados UnidosMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology///JapónCalifornia Energy Commission///Estados UnidosProgram of Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison/[DOE-W-7405-ENG-48]/PCMDI/Estados UnidosUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigaciones Geofísicas (CIGEFI

    Detection and Attribution of Temperature Changes in the Mountainous Western United States

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    Large changes in the hydrology of the western United States have been observed since the mid-twentieth century. These include a reduction in the amount of precipitation arriving as snow, a decline in snowpack at low and midelevations, and a shift toward earlier arrival of both snowmelt and the centroid (center of mass) of streamflows. To project future water supply reliability, it is crucial to obtain a better understanding of the underlying cause or causes for these changes. A regional warming is often posited as the cause of these changes without formal testing of different competitive explanations for the warming. In this study, a rigorous detection and attribution analysis is performed to determine the causes of the late winter/early spring changes in hydrologically relevant temperature variables over mountain ranges of the western United States. Natural internal climate variability, as estimated from two long control climate model simulations, is insufficient to explain the rapid increase in daily minimum and maximum temperatures, the sharp decline in frost days, and the rise in degree-days above 0°C (a simple proxy for temperature-driven snowmelt). These observed changes are also inconsistent with the model-predicted responses to variability in solar irradiance and volcanic activity. The observations are consistent with climate simulations that include the combined effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and aerosols. It is found that, for each temperature variable considered, an anthropogenic signal is identifiable in observational fields. The results are robust to uncertainties in model-estimated fingerprints and natural variability noise, to the choice of statistical downscaling method, and to various processing options in the detection and attribution method.California Energy Commission///Estados UnidosU.S. Department of Energy/[DE-AC52-07NA27344]//Estados UnidosUniversidad de Costa Rica//UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Båsicas::Centro de Investigaciones Geofísicas (CIGEFI

    Identifying a safe and just corridor for people and the planet

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    Keeping the Earth system in a stable and resilient state, in order to safeguard Earth's life support systems while ensuring that Earth's benefits, risks and related responsibilities are equitably shared, constitutes the grand challenge for human development in the Anthropocene. Here, we describe a framework that the recently formed Earth Commission will use to define and quantify target ranges for a ‘safe and just corridor’ that meets these goals. Although ‘safe’ and ‘just’ Earth system targets are interrelated, we see safe as primarily referring to a stable Earth system and just targets as being associated with meeting human needs and reducing exposure to risks. To align safe and just dimensions, we propose to address the equity dimensions of each safe target for Earth system regulating systems and processes. The more stringent of the safe or just target ranges then defines the corridor. Identifying levers of social transformation aimed at meeting the safe and just targets and challenges associated with translating the corridor to actors at multiple scales present scope for future work
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