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This Review article looks at options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector, including technical and management interventions, sustainable intensification of production and moderation of demand for livestock products.
Scenario analyses suggest that negative emissions technologies (NETs) are necessary to limit dangerous warming. Here the authors assess the biophysical limits to, and economic costs of, the widespread application of NETs.
Two competing theories suggest that Arctic communities are either highly vulnerable to climate change, or demonstrate significant adaptive capacity. A review of the research shows that the challenge of Arctic adaptation is formidable, but can be overcome.
This Review considers recent advances in our understanding of regional climate change, critically discusses outstanding issues, and recommends targets for future research.
Water, energy and food security in southern Africa are interdependent and exposed to the climate. This Review considers the extent to which spatial and sectoral interdependencies can be, and are being, considered.
This Review looks at the state of knowledge on the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a natural climate phenomenon. It discusses recent advances and insights into how climate change will affect this natural climate varibility cycle.
Understanding past climate should help reduce uncertainties in projections of future climate. This Review of palaeosimulation evaluations suggests that existing models capture broad patterns of climate change, but that further improvement is needed.
Policies aimed at mitigating climate change, adapting to it and minimizing its impacts must take into account human behaviours and motivations. Psychology can therefore inform efforts to address climate change, but further research is required.
In this Review, temperature trends in mountainous regions around the world and the mechanisms that contribute to elevation-dependent warming are discussed.
Several approaches are used to assess species’ vulnerability to climate change. Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of such methods should help conservationists minimize biodiversity losses.
Tropical forests provide many ecosystem and climatic services. This Review provides a synthesis of the effects of tropical deforestation on climate and implications for agriculture, both in the tropics and worldwide.
Experts using integrated assessment models to analyse the effects of climate change policy, have recently engaged in model inter-comparison projects (MIPs) to generate conclusions robust to different models' specifications. This Review synthesises results from the most comprehensive MIP that focuses on the different possible outcomes of post-2020 climate negotiations, recently announced pledges and their relation to the 2°C target.
The authors of this Review argue that changes to carbonate dissolution in an acidifying ocean, which have been relatively overlooked, are potentially more important than calcification for the future accretion and survival of coral reef ecosystems.
The increased use of bioenergy is mired in a controversy over the environmental and social risks of escalating biomass production. Assessments of global biomass potential published over the past 20 years are reviewed, showing how different levels of deployment necessitate assumptions that could have far-reaching consequences for global agriculture, forestry and land use. Critical future challenges that can be addressed by the scientific community are also identified.
This Review considers the evolving relationship between land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. Despite the intensification of agriculture over the past decade or so, deforestation has decreased, resulting in reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, inequality in land ownership and city growth fuelled by rural–urban migration remain pressing issues for policymakers.
Marine vegetated habitats occupy a small fraction of the ocean surface, but contribute about 50% of the carbon that is buried in marine sediments. In this Review the potential benefits of conservation, restoration and use of these habitats for coastal protection and climate change mitigation are assessed.
Satellite remote sensing has advanced the understanding of the climate system in the short period of observations. This study highlights remote sensing discoveries that were not detected by climate models or conventional observations, and suggests future challenges for the robust determination of climate trends.
