Articles in 2011

Biofuels could be an important energy source, but they compete with food for cropland. An analysis of current crop production suggests that increasing yields of biofuel crops on existing cropland could avoid agricultural expansion and its associated impacts.

The United Nations programme to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) has matured substantially in the past year. Now the field must innovate to accommodate its growth, says Anna Petherick.

The inspirational political leadership needed to tackle dangerous climate change may be lacking, but some business leaders are taking the initiative.

Rotting food and other biological waste produce potent greenhouse-gas emissions. Tapping these gases and improving recycling rates would reap multiple benefits, reports Sonja van Renssen.

Public policy and investments alone cannot reduce vulnerability to climate change. Research shows that, with adequate institutional mechanisms, private adaptation choices can play an important role in improving society's climate resilience.

Biologist Petteri Vihervaara gathered together specialists in geography, ecology, forestry, cultural studies and ethnography to analyse people's attitudes about the ecosystem services of different plantations in the context of rapid afforestation in Uruguay.

Drought has emerged as a major threat to the world's forests. A study shows that tree mortality in Canada's boreal forests has increased by nearly 5% per year — much higher than expected — owing to water stress from regional warming.

Drought-induced forest dieback has emerged as a global concern and is expected to increase worldwide under projected future climate change. A study using long-term forest plots now provides a quantitative estimate of drought-induced increase in tree mortality across Canada's boreal forests—one of the most important terrestrial carbon sinks.

A significant proportion of the US public believe that climate scientists widely disagree about climate change. Now a survey-based study investigates whether this misperception is important and finds that individuals who believe there is broad scientific disagreement tend to feel less certain that global warming is occurring and show less support for climate policy.

Decisions about how soon, how quickly and by how much carbon dioxide emissions are reduced will determine whether the climate target of limiting warming to 2 °C can be met. Research reveals that it will probably only be possible if ambitious reductions are implemented within the next two decades and emissions eventually fall to zero.