Dr J.S. Pandey was a Plenary Speaker at the 2009
Conference. Dr. Pandey has been the Deputy Director & Science Secretary at the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in Nagpur, India since May 1987.
Dr Pandey’s paper Inter-disciplinarity of Issues Connected with Climate Change, Food Security and Energy Alternatives has been published as part of The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses.
Abstract: In association with the impact on forests, the major impacts of climate change in India would be on the land-surface and ground water hydrology and the agricultural food-production. The critical ecological challenge in future will be whether the available natural resources are sufficiently available to support food production as well as to generate ecosystem services. There already is a significant pressure on ecosystems because of continuously increasing population and extensive land use changes. Sustainable use of land and water resources requires that these scarce resources be appropriately allocated among various competing human activities. World-over, there is a realization now that climate change research calls for a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach. Moreover, it becomes important that at local and regional scales mechanisms of GHG-interactions with water, light, nutrients and temperature should be investigated, and the effects integrated in such a fashion as to quantify the cumulative impact of GHG- increase. This article, inter alia, focuses on the above-mentioned issues and delineates some of the activities related to the research being carried out in India. Some of the worth-mentioning recent research activities in India pertain to the quantification of environmental water demand (EWD), methane emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs, investigations into the inter-dependencies between bio-geochemical cycling and climatic perturbations, linkages between food-crisis, ecological foot-printing, ecological risk assessment and ecological economics.
Dr. Prakash Rao was a Plenary Speaker at the 2009 Conference. Dr Rao has 25 years of experience in the field of biological conservation and ecology related subjects in India and overseas.
Dr Rao’s paper Glacial Melt and Climate Change in the Himalayas: Building Adaptive Strategies for the Future has been published as part of The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses. The paper is by Prakash Rao, Gopala Areendran and Rajesh Kumar.
Abstract: According to the recent IPCC report, the mean global surface temperature has increased by 0.74C over the last 100 years (1906-2005). Eleven of the twelve warmest years have been recorded in the past twelve years. The findings of the IPCC Assessment Report (2007) suggest that there has been a significant decline in the mountain glaciers and snow cover, which has contributed to the increased sea levels. From 1961 to 2003, the global mean sea level rose by 1.8 (+0.5) mm per year and the the global temperature of the oceans increased by 0.10oC from surface to depth of 700m from 1961- 2003 and 80% of the heat added to the climate system is being absorbed by the ocean. Other long term climatic changes that have been observed include extreme droughts, intensity of tropical cyclones, changes in the salinity of the ocean and wind patterns. In the later half of 20th century, a threefold increase in the rate of retreat has been observed in Himalayan Glaciers with an increased rate of retreat since advent of industrialisation . There are definite linkages seen with excessive increments in earth’s average global surface temperature as brought by various studies around the world.
The first volume of The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses, is now complete.
The volume comprises four separate issues:
The second volume is now in production.
Congratulations to Vivek Prasad, Monique Helfrich and Susan A. Crate, the winners of the International Award for Excellence in the area of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses for their paper Social Capital as a Source of Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in Developing Countries
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore adaptation to the impacts of global climate change, specifically focusing on adaptation in the agricultural sectors of developing countries. Case studies were conducted using two countries, India and Bangladesh that were considered representative of these developing countries. In our case study analysis, we placed special emphasis on developing an understanding of the dynamics of the relationship between social capital and adaptation in resource dependent communities. Of particular interest are insights related to the relationship between adaptation and social capital, the implications of social capital on the resilience of individuals and their communities, and their flexibility in responding to changing circumstances. Insights from these case studies help to identify areas of future research. Perhaps most importantly, while the existing literature indicates a link between social capital and climate change adaptation, there is a need for additional data to further understand this human-environment interaction.
If you have read the paper you may wish to add a review.
Congratulations to all of the International Award for Excellence finalists:
- Lilly Rose Amirtham, Monsingh David Devadas and Mohana Perumal: Mapping of Micro-Urban Heat Islands and Land Cover Changes: A Case in Chennai City, India
- Ambika Badh, Adnan Akyuz, Gary Vocke and Barbara Mullins: Impact of Climate Change on the Growing Seasons in Select Cities of North Dakota, United States of America
- Jagtar Bhatti, Oleg Chertov and Alexander Komarov: Influence of Climate Change, Fire, Insect and Harvest on Carbon Dynamics for Jack Pine in Central Canada: Simulation Approach with the EFIMOD Model
- Paul Bernard Carney: Education for Inheriting the Earth: A Comprehensive Approach to Education for Sustainable Living from Australia
- John J. McDonnell and Jennifer L. Bartlett: Marketing to Change Public Opinion on Climate Change: A Case Study
- Abdulwasey Mohammed, Paul C. Stoy and Tim J. Malthus: Information Preservation and Change Detection across Spatial Scales in the Assessment of Global CH4 Emission Estimates from Wetlands
- Wayan Suparta, Mohd. Alauddin Mohd. Ali and Baharudin Yatim: Characterization of Water Vapour Variability Based on GPS Sensing
- Davy Vanham and Wolfgang Rauch: Climate Change and its Influence on Mountain Snow Covers: Implication for Driving Water in the European Alps (to be published in the next issue)
The International Journal of Climate Change: Impacts and Responses has been accepted for inclusion in Ulrich’s listings.
Ulrichs is an authoritative knowledgebase of information about more than 300,000 serials of all types from around the world—academic and scholarly journals, peer-reviewed titles, online publications, newspapers and other resources. Bibliographic records provide details such as ISSN and title, publisher, online availability, language, subject area, abstracting & indexing coverage, searchable tables of contents, and full-text reviews.
Common Ground Publishing has launched a new imprint, On Climate.
You can now submit proposals or completed manuscript submissions of:
Books should be between 30,000 words to 150,000 words in length. They will be published simultaneously in print and electronic formats.
