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The climate movement is failing to engage a diverse set of stakeholders in efforts to address climate change, and a lack of diversity within the climate community itself may be, in part, to blame. Research-informed solutions are urgently needed to address the problem and help build a more inclusive and influential movement.
Climate models have increased in complexity over time as more processes have been included. Now we need to return to the underpinning basics in the models and ensure they are the best they can be.
The definition of baselines is a major step in determining the greenhouse-gas emissions of bioenergy systems. Accounting frameworks with a planning objective might require different baseline attributes and designs than those with a monitoring objective.
Recent studies show that current IUCN Red List assessment methods can identify species vulnerable to extinction because of climate change. But species must be assessed more completely and more regularly, and adaptation actions initiated swiftly once threatened species are identified.
Direct experience of global warming is expected to increase the number of people who accept that it is real and human-caused. A study now shows that people's perceptions about abnormal temperatures mostly match actual measurements but do not affect climate change beliefs.
Interactions between soil microbes, the physical soil environment and vegetation will determine the magnitude of the terrestrial carbon sink under climate change.
Non-genetic transgenerational acclimation cannot always be relied upon to provide populations with an effective, short-term response to climatic changes.
Climate change research is necessarily interdisciplinary in nature. This Perspective takes stock of research done at the cutting edge of economics and ecology with the aim of stimulating future collaborative work through the sharing of research methods and insights.
The linkage of bottom-up climate policies is now widely favoured over the top-down approach exemplified by the Kyoto Protocol. This Perspective critiques this new received wisdom, and argues for a balance of top-down and bottom-up approaches.
Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an approach to the development of agricultural systems intended to help support food security under climate change. This Perspective outlines a set of CSA actions needed from public, private and civil society stakeholders: building evidence; increasing local institutional effectiveness; fostering coherence between climate and agricultural policies; and linking climate and agricultural financing.
The linkages between the two goals of achieving universal access to modern energy and mitigating climate-altering emissions are assessed for the case of India.
The evidence that climatic conditions influence beliefs about anthropogenic climate change is mixed. Now research analyses the extent to which US state-level winter temperature anomalies influence the likelihood of perceiving warmer-than-usual temperatures, and the attribution of such temperatures to global warming. Results show that temperature anomalies have a strong influence on perception, whereas attribution is mainly driven by perceived scientific consensus and political orientation.
Mean summer temperature in Eastern China has increased by 0.82 °C since the 1950s and five of the hottest summers have occurred since 2000. This study estimates anthropogenic influence to have caused a greater than 60-fold increase in the likelihood of extreme summer heat and projects that hot summers will continue to increase in frequency.
There is concern that ocean acidification will negatively affect the sensory abilities and behaviour of marine fishes. This study shows that negative impacts of elevated CO2 on fish behaviour are not diminished by transgenerational acclimation.
Mass bleaching of coral caused by extreme thermal events is likely to intensify unless greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced. Modelling suggests that Pacific coral reefs will benefit from emissions reductions sooner than Caribbean reefs.
A significant challenge for policies aiming to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation is the avoidance of international carbon leakage. Research now shows, however, that even globally implemented forest conservation schemes could allow another type of carbon leakage through cropland expansion into non-forested areas.
Much uncertainty in the response of soil organic carbon (SOC) to climate change relates to the relative effects of microbial priming and mineral protection. Now research indicates that although protected C provides an important constraint on microbial priming, it is not sufficient to prevent reduced SOC storage in most terrestrial areas.
A project to develop an approach to adaptation to sea-level rise with a local community is described. The result is a theoretically informed, empirically tested and locally supported adaptation pathway.
Millions of people in China lack ready access to clean water and sanitation. Projected impacts of climate change may delay China’s progress towards reducing the burden of water-, sanitation- and hygiene-attributable infectious disease.