Nordic National Climate Adaptation and Tourism Strategies – (How) Are They Interlinked?

The tourism sector is affected by climate change worldwide. Nordic tourism destinations offering various activities for tourists have also experienced changes, such as changing precipitation patterns, lack of snow in winter, and shifts in seasons. The tourism sector has to implement adaptation strategies but it is unclear whether the current public climate policy is sufficient to support considering adaptation actions. We reviewed national climate strategies of the Nordic countries from the perspectives of tourism, but excluding the transport sector. We also reviewed Nordic national tourism strategies from the perspective of climate change, particularly the extent to which they address climate adaptation concerns. We found out that the national climate strategies do not pay enough attention to tourism adaptation needs, nor do the national tourism strategies present adaptation actions that tourism actors could consider to implement. To connect these national level strategies, there is a need to review currently available and potential adaptation actions for tourism within the national adaptation framework supported by research based evidence. Next, by means of Nordic cooperation, guidance for both public and private tourism actors within and across Nordic countries can be provided. This can particularly enhance the competitiveness and resilience of the Nordic tourism supply and contribute to the development of economically, environmentally and socially sustainable tourism in the region

Urban air quality: Sources and concentrations

Michael Evan Goodsite, Ole Hertel, Matthew Stanley Johnson, Nana Rahbek Jørgense

A 6,000-years record of atmospheric mercury accumulation in the high Arctic from peat deposits on Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada

There is a growing interest in the atmospheric transport, deposition, and accumulation of anthropogenic Hg in the Arctic. To quantify the impact of industrial Hg emissions, the natural rate of atmospheric Hg accumulalion must be known. Mercury concentration measilrements and age dating oi peatfrom the Canadian Arctic show that natural “background” Hg flux rather constant (ca. 1 microgram per sq. m per yr.) throughout the past 6,000 years. Mercury concentrations in surface peat layers are much higher, but chronology ofthese changes cannot be interpreted until more age dates are available. The elevated Hg concentrations in surface layers, however, are out of proportion with Br and Se, suggesting that there has been a significant human impact. Peat cores from southern Canada provide a record of atmospheric Hg accumulation extending back nine thozisand years, with similar backgroundfluxes. Thus, pre-anthropogenic Hg fluxes in the High Arctic were not significantly differentfrom atmospheric Hg fluxes in the temperate Zone

Collaboration between the natural, social and human sciences in Global Change Research

In nearly all domains of Global Change Research (GCR), the role of humans is a key factor as a driving force, a subject of impacts, or an agent in mitigating impacts and adapting to change. While advances have been made in the conceptualisation and practice of interdisciplinary Global Change Research in fields such as climate change and sustainability, approaches have tended to frame interdisciplinarity as actor-led, rather than understanding that complex problems which cut across disciplines may require new epistemological frameworks and methodological practices that exceed any one discipline.GCR studies must involve from their outset the social, human, natural and technical sciences in creating the spaces of interdisciplinarity, its terms of reference and forms of articulation. We propose a framework for funding excellence in interdisciplinary studies, named the Radically Inter- and Trans-disciplinary Environments (RITE) framework. RITE includes the need for a realignment of funding strategies to ensure that national and international research bodies and programmes road-map their respective strengths and identified areas for radical interdisciplinary research; then ensure that these areas can and are appropriately funded and staffed by talented individuals who want to apply their creative scientific talents to broader issues than their own field in the long term, rather than on limited scope (5 year and less) research projects. While our references are mostly to Europe, recommendations may be applicable elsewhere

Adaptation decision-making in the Nordic countries: Assessing the potential for joint action

In a global context, the outlook for the Nordic region is relatively favourable, given its relatively stronger resiliency to climate change impacts in comparison to many other geo-political regions of the world. Overall, the projected climatic changes include increases in mean temperatures and in precipitation, although regional variations can be significant. The countries' robust institutions and economies give them a strong capacity to adapt to these changes. Still, the need for adaptation to the changing climate has been and still is substantial, and in most of the region, there has been progress on the issue. This paper explores the potential for Nordic cooperation on adaptation; specifically, for the development of a regional adaptation strategy. In particular, it addresses two questions (1) What is the current state of adaptation in the Nordic countries? and (2) What are the potential benefits and weaknesses of a Nordic strategy for adaptation? In order to answer these two questions, this paper examines reviews the current national adaptation policies of each Nordic country and discusses the challenges facing a Nordic strategy and finally assesses the potential for common Nordic adaptation policy and further cooperation

Accumulation rates and predominant atmospheric sources of natural and anthropogenic Hg and Pb on the Faroe Islands

A monolith representing 5420 14C yr of peat accumulation was collected from a blanket bog at Myrarnar, Faroe Islands. The maximum Hg concentration (498 ng/g at a depth of 4.5 cm) coincides with the maximum concentration of anthropogenic Pb (111 μg/g). Age dating of recent peat accumulation using 210Pb (CRS model) shows that the maxima in Hg and Pb concentrations occur at AD 1954 ± 2. These results, combined with the isotopic composition of Pb in that sample (206Pb/207Pb = 1.1720 ± 0.0017), suggest that coal burning was the dominant source of both elements. From the onset of peat accumulation (ca. 4286 BC) until AD 1385, the ratios Hg/Br and Hg/Se were constant (2.2 ± 0.5 × 10-4 and 8.5 ± 1.8 × 10-3, respectively). Since then, Hg/Br and Hg/Se values have increased, also reaching their maxima in AD 1954. The age date of the maximum concentrations of anthropogenic Hg and Pb in the Faroe Islands is consistent with a previous study of peat cores from Greenland and Denmark (dated using the atmospheric bomb pulse curve of 14C), which showed maximum concentrations in AD 1953. The average rate of atmospheric Hg accumulation from 1520 BC to AD 1385 was 1.27 ± 0.38 μg/m2/yr. The Br and Se concentrations and the background Hg/Br and Hg/Se ratios were used to calculate the average rate of natural Hg accumulation for the same period, 1.32 ± 0.36 μg/m2/yr and 1.34 ± 0.29 μg/m2/yr, respectively. These fluxes are similar to the preanthropogenic rates obtained using peat cores from Switzerland, southern Greenland, southern Ontario, Canada, and the northeastern United States. Episodic volcanic emissions and the continual supply of marine aerosols to the Faroe Islands, therefore, have not contributed significantly to the Hg inventory or the Hg accumulation rates, relative to these other areas. The maximum rate of Hg accumulation was 34 μg/m2/yr. The greatest fluxes of anthropogenic Hg accumulation calculated using Br and Se, respectively, were 26 and 31 μg/m2/yr. The rate of atmospheric Hg accumulation in 1998 (16 μg/m2/yr) is comparable to the values recently obtained by atmospheric transport modeling for Denmark, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland

Halogens and their role in polar boundary-layer ozone depletion

During springtime in the polar regions, unique photochemistry converts inert halide salt ions (e.g. Br-) into reactive halogen species (e.g. Br atoms and BrO) that deplete ozone in the boundary layer to near zero levels. Since their discovery in the late 1980s, research on ozone depletion events (ODEs) has made great advances; however many key processes remain poorly understood. In this article we review the history, chemistry, dependence on environmental conditions, and impacts of ODEs. This research has shown the central role of bromine photochemistry, but how salts are transported from the ocean and are oxidized to become reactive halogen species in the air is still not fully understood. Halogens other than bromine (chlorine and iodine) are also activated through incompletely understood mechanisms that are probably coupled to bromine chemistry. The main consequence of halogen activation is chemical destruction of ozone, which removes the primary precursor of atmospheric oxidation, and generation of reactive halogen atoms/oxides that become the primary oxidizing species. The different reactivity of halogens as compared to OH and ozone has broad impacts on atmospheric chemistry, including near complete removal and deposition of mercury, alteration of oxidation fates for organic gases, and export of bromine into the free troposphere. Recent changes in the climate of the Arctic and state of the Arctic sea ice cover are likely to have strong effects on halogen activation and ODEs; however, more research is needed to make meaningful predictions of these changes

Collaboration between the natural, social and human sciences in Global Change Research

In nearly all domains of Global Change Research (GCR), the role of humans is a key factor as a driving force, a subject of impacts, or an agent in mitigating impacts and adapting to change. While advances have been made in the conceptualisation and practice of interdisciplinary Global Change Research in fields such as climate change and sustainability, approaches have tended to frame interdisciplinarity as actor-led, rather than understanding that complex problems which cut across disciplines may require new epistemological frameworks and methodological practices that exceed any one discipline. GCR studies must involve from their outset the social, human, natural and technical sciences in creating the spaces of interdisciplinarity, its terms of reference and forms of articulation. We propose a framework for funding excellence in interdisciplinary studies, named the Radically Inter- and Trans-disciplinary Environments (RITE) framework. RITE includes the need for a realignment of funding strategies to ensure that national and international research bodies and programmes road-map their respective strengths and identified areas for radical interdisciplinary research; then ensure that these areas can and are appropriately funded and staffed by talented individuals who want to apply their creative scientific talents to broader issues than their own field in the long term, rather than on limited scope (5 year and less) research projects. While our references are mostly to Europe, recommendations may be applicable elsewhere