Agricultural biodiversity in climate change adaptation planning

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to food production worldwide. Recently, an increasing number of initiatives have embraced the concept of climate smart agriculture to respond to climate change adaptation and mitigation challenges. A central component of this approach is the use of agricultural biodiversity at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels for increasing productivity, adaptability and resilience of agricultural production systems. This paper analyses the extent to which the use of agricultural biodiversity is included in the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) developed by 50 least developed countries to guide their actions in relation to climate adaptation. The results of the analyses indicate that in the majority of the NAPAs, agricultural biodiversity has not been incorporated in a comprehensive manner and that increased efforts can be done at national and international levels for effectively making agricultural biodiversity work for most vulnerable countries’ adaptation to climate change

Enhancing farmers’ agency in the global crop commons through use of biocultural community protocols

Crop genetic resources constitute a ‘new’ global commons, characterized by multiple layers of activities of farmers, genebanks, public and private research and development organizations, and regulatory agencies operating from local to global levels. This paper presents sui generis biocultural community protocols that were developed by four communities in Benin and Madagascar to improve their ability to contribute to, and benefit from, the crop commons. The communities were motivated in part by the fact that their national governments’ had recently ratified the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol, which make commitments to promoting the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities and farmers, without being prescriptive as to how Contracting Parties should implement those commitments. The communities identified the protocols as useful means to advance their interests and/or rights under both the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol to be recognized as managers of local socio-ecological systems, to access genetic resources from outside the communities, and to control others’ access to resources managed by the community

Importance of boreal rivers in providing iron to marine waters.

This study reports increasing iron concentrations in rivers draining into the Baltic Sea. Given the decisive role of iron to the structure and biogeochemical function of aquatic ecosystems, this trend is likely one with far reaching consequences to the receiving system. What those consequences may be depends on the fate of the iron in estuarine mixing. We here assess the stability of riverine iron by mixing water from seven boreal rivers with artificial sea salts. The results show a gradual loss of iron from suspension with increasing salinity. However, the capacity of the different river waters to maintain iron in suspension varied greatly, i.e. between 1 and 54% of iron was in suspension at a salinity of 30. The variability was best explained by iron:organic carbon ratios in the riverine waters--the lower the ratio the more iron remained in suspension. Water with an initially low iron:organic carbon ratio could keep even higher than ambient concentrations of Fe in suspension across the salinity gradient, as shown in experiments with iron amendments. Moreover, there was a positive relationship between the molecular size of the riverine organic matter and the amount of iron in suspension. In all, the results point towards a remarkably high transport capacity of iron from boreal rivers, suggesting that increasing concentrations of iron in river mouths may result in higher concentrations of potentially bioavailable iron in the marine system

Data from: Importance of boreal rivers in providing iron to marine waters

This study reports increasing iron concentrations in rivers draining into the Baltic Sea. Given the decisive role of iron to the structure and biogeochemical function of aquatic ecosystems, this trend is likely one with far reaching consequences to the receiving system. What those consequences may be depends on the fate of the iron in estuarine mixing. We here assess the stability of riverine iron by mixing water from seven boreal rivers with artificial sea salts. The results show a gradual loss of iron from suspension with increasing salinity. However, the capacity of the different river waters to maintain iron in suspension varied greatly, i.e. between 1 and 54% of iron was in suspension at a salinity of 30. The variability was best explained by iron:organic carbon ratios in the riverine waters – the lower the ratio the more iron remained in suspension. Water with an initially low iron:organic carbon ratio could keep even higher than ambient concentrations of Fe in suspension across the salinity gradient, as shown in experiments with iron amendments. Moreover, there was a positive relationship between the molecular size of the riverine organic matter and the amount of iron in suspension. In all, the results point towards a remarkably high transport capacity of iron from boreal rivers, suggesting that increasing concentrations of iron in river mouths may result in higher concentrations of potentially bioavailable iron in the marine system

Data underlying the conclusions made in the paper

Monitoring and experimental data

Changes in median iron and organic matter concentrations in the rivers since the beginning of monitoring until 2012.

<p>The first and third quartiles are given within brackets.</p><p>Changes in median iron and organic matter concentrations in the rivers since the beginning of monitoring until 2012.</p

Relationship between the fraction of initial iron remaining in solution (iron transport capacity) at a salinity of 30 and the molar iron:organic carbon ratio of the river water (r² = 0.54, p<0.05).

<p>Relationship between the fraction of initial iron remaining in solution (iron transport capacity) at a salinity of 30 and the molar iron:organic carbon ratio of the river water (r² = 0.54, p<0.05).</p

Iron and organic matter concentrations and organic matter quality indicators of the experimental waters.

<p>Iron and organic matter concentrations and organic matter quality indicators of the experimental waters.</p

Yearly mean iron concentrations in the river mouths of three different rivers from 1976–2012.

<p>Lines denote the linear regression equations, which were µmol Fe L⁻¹ = 0.212× year – 413.2 (r² = 0.56, p<0.001); µmol Fe L⁻¹ = 0.477× year – 924.0 (r² = 0.40, p<0.001); and 0.716× year – 1398.4 (r² = 0.51, p<0.001) for Emån, Lyckebyån and Helgeån respectively.</p

Differences in iron and organic matter in suspension in river waters at 0 and 30 salinity.

<p>A) ratio between iron and organic carbon, B) ratio of absorbance at 465 and 665 nm, C) specific UV absorbance at 254 nm and D) fluorescence index (ratio of emission at 470 and 520 nm and an excitation of 370 nm).</p