Impacts Exam Flashcards
Brief timeline of earth and the human activity on it
World 4.5 bn years. To 544m not very much happened. Then ‘Cambrian explosion’ = big explosion of diversity of life, animals and plants.
From there we have had various periods and epochs, up until most recent; Holocene 0.01 m which was due to agricultural expansion, followed by a mining expansion.
On top of the Holocene, geologists are now uniformly agreed since 2017 that we have entered a new epoche “ANTHROPOCENE”.
- Due to changing surface of the planet; our impacts penetrating layers of the earth where our influence now spans from space to crust (planetary boundaries) – plastics, fly ash, metals, pesticides, GHG concentrations.
Our impact of time and result in environment?
We basically arrived 15 min to midnight, yet changes to the natural environment:
- Land use intensity, warming planet, raised sea levels, eroded ozone layer, acidified oceans, increased rate of extinction, mining activities alone move more sediment than all world’s oceans.
Meanwhile for humans: human life expectancy and living standards are rising = at odds – time scales – we haven’t caught up.
How do we measure the human impact on the planet?
- Human footprint
- Burden of planetary illness
- Planetary boundary approach
HUMAN FOOTPRINT?
Multidimensional index of human pressure on planet.
Broken up into 823 ecoregions of which majority degraded and footprint increased.
Burden of Planetary Illness?
= indicators of our influence
- POPULATION: Took 200,000 years to get to 1st bn in 1804 – now adding 1bn every 11-13 years.
- CONSUMPTION: 20kg fish; 40kg meat/year
- LAND: 320 kg grain = 1% soil lost/year
- Every meal = 10kg of soil = 35 football fields forest lost/min
- Animals: 6th mass extinction; 8 species per hour and 58% decline in vertebrate abundance.
Planetary Boundary Approach?
“Safe Operating Space” = based on idea of “Planetary boundaries” = space to crust human influence: the layers naturally create a safe operating space for us, but the extent to which we can manipulate these before it falls away is questioned.
- This conceptual framework shows us safe operating space, zone of uncertainty, position of threshold and areas of high risk. You have:
- X axis: control variable (pertubation)
- Y function for that system.
- We monitor to see what happens when we mess with things – tipping points, vs. diminishing functions of a system.
The 7 planetary boundaries?
(these are the big systems we are thinking about) – and some we can’t yet measure. Climate change is only 1 of these.!!
Red (high risk zone)
- Biochemical Flows
- Biosphere integrity – genetic & functional diversity
Yellow (uncertainty):
- Climate Change
- Land-system change
Green – safe still
- Freshwater use
- Ocean acidification
- Stratospheric ozone depletion
Climate change is one result of our human influence, which exacerbates other underlying conditions of our other impacts on the planet. E.g. extinction of species is due to land use change rather than climate change.
World Economic Forum top 10 impacts and Likelihood Risks for Global 10-year time horizon?
Of the top 10 global risks in terms of likelihood: 1) Conflict 2) extreme weather 7) Failure Climate Change
Of the top 10 global risks in terms of impact: 1) water crisis 2) disease 3) weapons mass destruction 4) conflict 5) failure climate change.
Definition climate change?
A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer.
- due to natural internal processes or external forcings
- modulations of the solar cycles
- volcanic eruptions
- anthropogenic impacts on the atmosphere or in land use
UNFCC specifies in its definition the HUMAN influence: “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition (above and beyond) to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”
Main trends of Climate Change:
Sea ice is melting, C02 concentrations, surface temp; heat content upper ocean; sea level; extreme events (mean/variance); unequivocal human influence.
Definition of Impacts?
Effects on:
- natural and human systems of extreme weather and climate events and of climate change.
- lives, livelihoods, health, ecosystems, economies, societies, cultures, services, and infrastructure
due to the interaction of climate changes or hazardous climate events occurring within a specific time period and the vulnerability of an exposed society or system.
Also referred to as consequences and outcomes.
Physical impacts: subset of climate change impacts on geophysical systems, including floods, droughts, and sea level rise
Definition of Hazard?
The potential occurrence of an event or trend or impact that may:
- cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts
- damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, ecosystems, and environmental resources.
Definition of Exposure?
The presence of something (e.g., people, livelihoods, species or ecosystems, environmental functions, services, and resources, infrastructure, or economic, social, or cultural assets) in places and settings that could be adversely affected.
Definition of Vulnerability?
The propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected.
- sensitivity or susceptibility to harm
- lack of capacity to cope and adapt.
Definition of Risk?
The potential for consequences where something of value is at stake and where the outcome is uncertain recognizing the diversity of values
- often represented as probability of occurrence of hazardous events or trends multiplied by the impacts if these events or trends occur
- results from the interaction of vulnerability, exposure, and hazard.
Definition of Adaptation and the two types?
process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects.
- seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities.
- may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects.
Incremental adaptation: Adaptation actions where the central aim is to maintain the essence and integrity of a system or process at a given scale.
Transformational adaptation: Adaptation that changes the fundamental attributes of a human or natural system.
Definition of Resilience?
Capacity of social, economic, and environmental systems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance, responding or reorganizing in ways that maintain their essential function, identity, and structure, while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning, and transformation.
How do we know and keep track of everything? Evidence and Communication?
Developed a calibrated language that communicates the strength of scientific understanding, including uncertainties and areas of disagreement
- Each finding is supported by a ‘traceable’ account of the evaluation of evidence and agreement
- Virtually certain = 99%; Extremely likely = 95%; Very likely = 90%; Likely 66%; More likely than not = 50%
What is Climate Change awareness like?
- High levels in developed world (Europe, Japan, America)
- Never heard of in developing (Africa, Asia, Middle East) – but here perceived biggest threat.
What happens when you move from Climate Change trends to Impacts? Evidence of impacts?
- Becomes less and less scientific – more qualitative matters of opinion, which is why IPCC ranks everything and why we need the calibrated language.
- Large growth in evidence, some sectors more than others due to more published material & searches; especially for natural and human systems – deviations from historical conditions
- Still limited robust attribution studies and meta-analyses that link biological and physical responses to anthropogenic climate change
- “Detection of impacts” = evidence for whether a system is changing beyond a specified baseline that characterizes its behaviour in the absence of climate change
- Why detection and attribution are so important
How can we detect and attribute/what do we look at?
Assessing the causal relationship between one or more drivers and a responding system by direct and indirect links.
Earth system separated into three components: Climate, Natural and Human. Differentiate between climate change impacts (easier) and anthropogenic climate change impacts (more difficult).
2 broad approaches: pattern analysis and regression analysis – huge uncertainty components – big focus to try and capture, hugely challenging problem.
What are the main challenges related to detection and attribution?
- Observations, 2. Process understanding, 3. Need high quality, 4. long-term data, 5. Processes can be non-linear (e.g., thresholds), 6. local and non-local (both space and time), 7. Based on “synthesis of findings in the scientific literature” = Find and correct potential biases (IPCC no own research).
What are the main observed impacts denoted by the IPCC?
IPCC synthesizes finding in a massive tabulation exercise where they rank everything by confidence, likelihood, attribution and trend.
- MAIN IMPACTS: GHG; Global mean surface temp; GMST - top of the list; thereafter follows sectoral impacts. Also geographical regions.
What are the sectors impact assessments are broken down into? (10)
Freshwater Resources, Terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, Coastal and low lying systems, Marine systems, Food security and food production systems, Urban system, Economic sectors and services, Human health, Human security, Livelihoods and poverty