Multiple small monthly doses of dicyandiamide (DCD) did not reduce denitrification in Waikato dairy pasture

The effectiveness of multiple small doses of the nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) to decrease denitrification under warm moist conditions was tested in a 1-year field trial on a grazed dairy pasture. DCD was applied approximately every 4 weeks as an aqueous spray onto ten replicate plots 3 days after rotational grazing by dairy cows. Each application was at the rate of 3 kg DCD ha⁻¹, with a total annual application of 33 kg ha⁻¹. Denitrification was assessed 5 days after each DCD application using the acetylene block method. At the end of the trial, the rate of degradation of DCD under summer conditions was measured. DCD significantly decreased the mean annual nitrate concentration by about 17%. Denitrification and denitrification enzyme activity were highly variable and no significant effect of DCD in decreasing denitrification was detected. In the summer month of December, DCD degraded rapidly with an estimated half-life of 5 ± 3 days (mean and standard deviation)

Putting 'vulnerable groups' at the centre of adaptation interventions by promoting transformative adaptation as a learning process

Report submitted to the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)This report is a follow up and deepening of the working paper, “Climate change interventions and vulnerability reduction in developing countries: Challenges and leverage points for transformation”. In that backgrounder, we highlighted that many adaptation interventions inadvertently reinforce, redistribute or create new sources of vulnerability (Eriksen et al. 2021a), which is also reflected in the concept of ‘maladaptation’ that was recently foregrounded in the recent IPCC AR6 WGII Report (IPCC 2022). Maladaptation frequently stems from overly technical adaptation programming that is top-down and driven by outside objectives and knowledge. Instead, there is increasing recognition of adaptation as a socio-political process that addresses the root causes of the vulnerability of communities or segments of the population and, in so doing, builds the capacities of impacted populations and communities to engage climate challenges. This approach is termed ‘transformative adaptation’ and requires engagement with governance and institutional questions about whose values and perspectives are embraced within adaptation planning, and considering justice in these processes. This background paper highlights the kinds of practice that can help avoid maladaptive outcomes and promote transformative adaptation. Through case study examples of projects that - at least partially - embody aspects of a reflexive approach, the paper identifies ‘checklists’ of positive features to encourage and ‘red flags’ to be questioned or avoided in project proposal evaluation.NORA

Adaptation to Climate Change: The New Challenge for Development in the Developing World

This paper addresses adaptation measures that reduce vulnerability to climate change as critical, especially in many countries where the risks are here and now. It is intended provide policymakers with a starting point, including background information and questions for further reflection

Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation and Human Security: A Commissioned Report for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) Project

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore, in an effort to ‘contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind’. In the wake of the 2007 award, the relationship between climate change and security has surfaced as a key concern among national governments and international institutions

Identifying environmental and management factors that may be associated with the quality of life of kennelled dogs (Canis familiaris)

Abstract This paper describes the use of a validated quality of life assessment tool (described elsewhere) to identify environmental and management factors that may affect quality of life in dogs kennelled in rehoming centres. Dogs were allocated to one of four treatment groups, all of which had a positive (0.0 - 1.0) average quality of life score: long stay dogs with an enriched routine had a mean score of 0.477; long stay dogs with a standard routine had a mean score of 0.453; newly admitted dogs with an enriched routine had a mean score of 0.399; and newly admitted dogs with a standard routine had a mean score of 0.362. Only 2 of the dogs had a negative score (-1.0 - 0.0). Thirteen rehoming centre managers completed a questionnaire relating to the kennel environment and management practices of their rehoming centres. The environmental and management factorsâ�� associations with quality of life scores, collected from 202 dogs from the 13 rehoming centres using this scoring system, were analysed as fixed factors in a linear mixed-effect model, with rehoming centre fitted as a random factor, and a multiple linear regression model. There was a statistically significant association between quality of life scores and rehoming centre (H(12) = 54.153, p <0.001), however, the fitted linear mixed-effect model did not improve upon the null model and therefore cannot be used to explain the 29 variance in quality of life scores attributed to rehoming centre. The multiple linear regression model explained 42 of the variation in quality of life scores (F(10,131) = 9.318, p < 0.001): the provision of bunk beds increased quality of life scores by 0.3 (t = 3.476, p < 0.001); provision of 30 minutes or more of staff or volunteer interaction increased scores by 0.26 (t = -2.551, p = 0.012); grooming dogs decreased scores by 0.404 (t = 3.326, p = 0.001); exercising dogs more than once a day decreased scores by 0.173 (t = -3.644, p = <0.001), whereas exercising dogs for 30 minutes or more increased quality of life scores by 0.213 (t = -2.374, p = 0.019) and the provision of less common types of exercise increased scores by 0.504 (t = 5.120, p < 0.001); training dogs for 30 minutes or more every day increased scores by 0.688 (t = 3.040, p = 0.003) and training dogs less than daily decreased scores by 0.393 (t = -4.245, p < 0.001); feeding a diet of dry and wet food compared to dry food alone decreased scores by 0.08 (t = -2.331, p = 0.021); and a quiet environment increased scores by 0.275 (t = -3.459, p < 0.001). These results suggest that environmental design and kennel management have an impact on the quality of life of kennelled dogs and should be considered carefully in decision-making processes. However, further study may be required as grooming and exercising dogs more than once per day decreased quality of life scores, which are not obviously intuitive results

Delirium in older COVID-19 patients:Evaluating risk factors and outcomes

Objectives: A high incidence of delirium has been reported in older patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to identify determinants of delirium, including the Clinical Frailty Scale, in hospitalized older patients with COVID-19. Furthermore, we aimed to study the association of delirium independent of frailty with in-hospital outcomes in older COVID-19 patients. Methods: This study was performed within the framework of the multi-center COVID-OLD cohort study and included patients aged ≥60 years who were admitted to the general ward because of COVID-19 in the Netherlands between February and May 2020. Data were collected on demographics, co-morbidity, disease severity, and geriatric parameters. Prevalence of delirium during hospital admission was recorded based on delirium screening using the Delirium Observation Screening Scale (DOSS) which was scored three times daily. A DOSS score ≥3 was followed by a delirium assessment by the ward physician In-hospital outcomes included length of stay, discharge destination, and mortality. Results: A total of 412 patients were included (median age 76, 58% male). Delirium was present in 82 patients. In multivariable analysis, previous episode of delirium (Odds ratio [OR] 8.9 [95% CI 2.3–33.6] p = 0.001), and pre-existent memory problems (OR 7.6 [95% CI 3.1–22.5] p < 0.001) were associated with increased delirium risk. Clinical Frailty Scale was associated with increased delirium risk (OR 1.63 [95%CI 1.40–1.90] p < 0.001) in univariable analysis, but not in multivariable analysis. Patients who developed delirium had a shorter symptom duration and lower levels of C-reactive protein upon presentation, whereas vital parameters did not differ. Patients who developed a delirium had a longer hospital stay and were more often discharged to a nursing home. Delirium was associated with mortality (OR 2.84 [95% CI1.71–4.72] p < 0.001), but not in multivariable analyses. Conclusions: A previous delirium and pre-existent memory problems were associated with delirium risk in COVID-19. Delirium was not an independent predictor of mortality after adjustment for frailty

Ten new insights in climate science 2022

Non-technical summary We summarize what we assess as the past year's most important findings within climate change research: limits to adaptation, vulnerability hotspots, new threats coming from the climate–health nexus, climate (im)mobility and security, sustainable practices for land use and finance, losses and damages, inclusive societal climate decisions and ways to overcome structural barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C. Technical summary We synthesize 10 topics within climate research where there have been significant advances or emerging scientific consensus since January 2021. The selection of these insights was based on input from an international open call with broad disciplinary scope. Findings concern: (1) new aspects of soft and hard limits to adaptation; (2) the emergence of regional vulnerability hotspots from climate impacts and human vulnerability; (3) new threats on the climate–health horizon – some involving plants and animals; (4) climate (im)mobility and the need for anticipatory action; (5) security and climate; (6) sustainable land management as a prerequisite to land-based solutions; (7) sustainable finance practices in the private sector and the need for political guidance; (8) the urgent planetary imperative for addressing losses and damages; (9) inclusive societal choices for climate-resilient development and (10) how to overcome barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C. Social media summary Science has evidence on barriers to mitigation and how to overcome them to avoid limits to adaptation across multiple fields

Adaptation interventions and their effect on vulnerability in developing countries: Help, hindrance or irrelevance?

This paper critically reviews the outcomes of internationally-funded interventions aimed at climate change adaptation and vulnerability reduction. It highlights how some interventions inadvertently reinforce, redistribute or create new sources of vulnerability. Four mechanisms drive these maladaptive outcomes: (i) shallow understanding of the vulnerability context; (ii) inequitable stakeholder participation in both design and implementation; (iii) a retrofitting of adaptation into existing development agendas; and (iv) a lack of critical engagement with how ‘adaptation success’ is defined. Emerging literature shows potential avenues for overcoming the current failure of adaptation interventions to reduce vulnerability: first, shifting the terms of engagement between adaptation practitioners and the local populations participating in adaptation interventions; and second, expanding the understanding of ‘local’ vulnerability to encompass global contexts and drivers of vulnerability. An important lesson from past adaptation interventions is that within current adaptation cum development paradigms, inequitable terms of engagement with ‘vulnerable’ populations are reproduced and the multi-scalar processes driving vulnerability remain largely ignored. In particular, instead of designing projects to change the practices of marginalised populations, learning processes within organisations and with marginalised populations must be placed at the centre of adaptation objectives. We pose the question of whether scholarship and practice need to take a post-adaptation turn akin to post-development, by seeking a pluralism of ideas about adaptation while critically interrogating how these ideas form part of the politics of adaptation and potentially the processes (re)producing vulnerability. We caution that unless the politics of framing and of scale are explicitly tackled, transformational interventions risk having even more adverse effects on marginalised populations than current adaptation

Ten new insights in climate science 2023

Non-technical summary. We identify a set of essential recent advances in climate change research with high policy relevance, across natural and social sciences: (1) looming inevitability and implications of overshooting the 1.5°C warming limit, (2) urgent need for a rapid and managed fossil fuel phase-out, (3) challenges for scaling carbon dioxide removal, (4) uncertainties regarding the future contribution of natural carbon sinks, (5) intertwinedness of the crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, (6) compound events, (7) mountain glacier loss, (8) human immobility in the face of climate risks, (9) adaptation justice, and (10) just transitions in food systems. Technical summary. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports provides the scientific foundation for international climate negotiations and constitutes an unmatched resource for researchers. However, the assessment cycles take multiple years. As a contribution to cross- and interdisciplinary understanding of climate change across diverse research communities, we have streamlined an annual process to identify and synthesize significant research advances. We collected input from experts on various fields using an online questionnaire and prioritized a set of 10 key research insights with high policy relevance. This year, we focus on: (1) the looming overshoot of the 1.5°C warming limit, (2) the urgency of fossil fuel phase-out, (3) challenges to scale-up carbon dioxide removal, (4) uncertainties regarding future natural carbon sinks, (5) the need for joint governance of biodiversity loss and climate change, (6) advances in understanding compound events, (7) accelerated mountain glacier loss, (8) human immobility amidst climate risks, (9) adaptation justice, and (10) just transitions in food systems. We present a succinct account of these insights, reflect on their policy implications, and offer an integrated set of policy-relevant messages. This science synthesis and science communication effort is also the basis for a policy report contributing to elevate climate science every year in time for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Social media summary. We highlight recent and policy-relevant advances in climate change research – with input from more than 200 experts