Samenvatting
Summary Governance of Global Sustainability
Summary of all articles and lectures.
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Voorbeeld van de inhoud
Governance of Global SustainabilityIntroduction
Humanity deals with complex socio-environmental problems
Nature and ecosystems globally are threatened and under increasing deterioration
It is important to develop critical knowledge, understanding and perspectives about socio-environmental
Alternative theories about sustainability challenges
Deal with the political dimension of the environment
Reading: Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity, Rockström et al.
- Planetary boundaries: safe operating space for humanity with respect to the functioning of the Earth system->
stable Holocene to Anthropocene
- Thresholds: non-linear transitions in the functioning of coupled
human-environmental systems -> desired to undesired state
- Boundaries: human-determined values of control variable set at a
‘safe’ distance from a dangerous level or from its global
threshold
- Uncertainty: lack of scientific knowledge about biophysical
thresholds, how complex systems behave, ways in which
biophysical processes such as feedback mechanisms interact with
primary control variable and allowed time of overshoot of a
crucial control variable -> zone of uncertainty
- Three branches scientific inquiry: scale of human action in
relation to Earths capacity to sustain it, essential Earth System
processes and framework of resilience and its links to complex dynamics and self-regulation of living
- Limits-to-growth, safe minimum standard, precautionary principle and tolerable windows
- Boundaries represent dynamic biophysical ‘space’ of earth system-> irrespective of people yet they influence
these boundaries
- Nine planetary boundaries:
Climate change
Ocean acidification
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Atmospheric aerosol loading
Biogeochemical flows: interference with phosphorus and nitrogen cycle
Global freshwater use
Land-system change
Rate of biodiversity loss
Chemical pollution
- Some uncertain (aerosol loading and chemical pollution), some directly
related to continental or planetary boundaries (radiative forcing) and some slow process (sinks and fluxes)
- Identifiable planetary thresholds driven by systemic global processes (top-down), and local and regional scales
(bottom-up)
- Climate change; limit to 2 degrees-> dual approach: CO2 concentration and radiative forcing-> climate
sensitivity only includes fast feedbacks but there are also slow feedbacks -> history: above 450 ppm there was
no ice-> thus danger zone of 350-550 ppm -> non CO2 forcing could change thus change boundary
- Ocean acidification: dissolution of CO2 by seawater and marine organisms -> bad for marine life -> depletion of
aragonite-forming: threshold of 1 aragonite saturation-> boundary at 80% or higher of average global pre-
industrial surface seawater -> to keep high-latitude surface waters above aragonite undersaturation and to ensure
adequate conditions for most coral systems
- Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: hole in the atmosphere by ozone-depletion substances and polar stratospheric
clouds-> tipping point depends on anthropogenic ozone-depletion substances and local impacts but thinning of
layer larger impact humans and ecosystems-> boundary <5% decrease -> saved due to Montreal Protocol
- Interference with the global phosphorus and nitrogen cycle: can push aquatic and marine systems over
thresholds-> non-linear change in terrestrial, aquatic and marine system but also slow driver climate change->
fertilizers: more nitrogen than Earth produces -> pollution-> first guess at boundary is 25% of current value-> P
from fossil fuels-> phosphorus inflow can cause ocean anoxic event: boundary is <10 times natural background
weathering flux of P with uncertainty range to <100
- Rate of biodiversity loss: species important ecosystems and resilience -> hard to set boundary-> 10-100 E/MSY,
humans transgressed it already-> not all species as important
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, - Global Freshwater use: loss of soil moisture, use and shift in runoff volumes and patters and impact climate
regulation due to water vapor feedback-> humans influenced water cycle-> 4 000 km3 yr-1 for blue water->
increasing water demand putting pressure on boundary
- Land-System Change: deforestation and converting to cropland-> boundary: 15% to cropland -> must be in
productive areas -> tip into irreversible transformation -> need architecture that: reserves the most productive
land for agricultural use, maintains high conservation-value forests and other ecosystems in their current states,
and maintains carbon-rich soils and ecosystems in their undisturbed or carefully managed condition-> already at
13%
- Aerosol loading: influence climate system and adverse effect human health -> reradiates but bad for health ->
hard to define boundary
- Chemical pollution: through a global, ubiquitous impact on the physiological development and demography of
humans and other organisms with ultimate impacts on ecosystem functioning and structure and by acting as a
slow variable that affects other planetary boundaries-> bad health humans and ecosystems-> need estimate
chemicals-> global distribution and unacceptable-long-term and large-scale effects on living organisms-> hard to
set boundary-> sub-boundaries of individual chemicals
- Interactions: feedback loops at regional level-> some boundaries change with other boundaries, just slower->
shrinking safe operating space
- Spatial variability and patchiness in terms of impacts and feedbacks-> only quantify three-> transgressing one
threatens the others-> knowledge gaps
- Fast feedbacks (loss of Arctic sea ice) already happening and slow feedbacks longer periods (loss of land-based
ice)
Reading: The Global Food-Energy-Water Nexus, D’Odorico et al.
- Water important food production-> competition food and energy industry -> food-energy-water nexus: the
growing societal needs for food and energy rely on the same pool of limited freshwater resources, a situation that
is generating new questions on the environmental, ethical, economics, and policy implications of human
appropriation of water resources
- Food
Production rise-> population rise-> globalized
Driven by demographic growth and improvements in incomes-> richer diets-> stronger burden natural
resources and environment
Bennett’s law: as incomes rise, people eat relatively fewer calorie-dense starchy staple foods and relatively
more nutrient-dense meats, oils, sweeteners, fruits, and vegetables
Malthus-> technology: green revolution-> Haber-Bosch process-> food security-> environmental cost->
global interdependencies-> stagnating agricultural yields -> investing in developing world-> curbing demand
Sustainable diet is environmentally friendly and nutritious-> less meat-> 2/3 vegetable, 1/3 nuts, small amount
seafood and milk for small carbon footprint but 4/5 vegetable, 1/5 starchy roots and small amount of seafood
for small water footprint-> where is the food produced and how is it prepared-> less meat more vegetables:
vegetarian, pescatarian or Mediterranean diets
Food security: availability, access to adequate nutritional properties-> malnourished (2 billion) is caloric and
nutrient intake not meet per capita requirements, undernourished (800 million) caloric intake not sufficient for
healthy productive live, over nourishment excessive nutrient intake causing diseases, undernutrition not eating
enough food or rapid nutrient loss and poor absorption-> wasting losing or not able to gain weight: acute
malnutrition-> stunting insufficient growth in height with respect to age; chronic malnutrition-> positive
feedback of undernutrition: poor mother can’t provide for family causing them to be malnourished thus less
likely to get education etc.-> urbanization-> nutrition transition
More food for livestock -> livestock revolution: crop production allowed crop as food for animals ->
emerging economies and rising middle class depend more on feed import
Increase demand for fish
Rise in demand biofuels-> clean energy -> higher food prices, increased market volatility-> competition crop
use and resources food production
Food waste
Intensification agriculture-> extensive environmental consequences supported by policy and subsidies-> most
extensive ways humanity has modified the environment -> meat production the worst compared to nutritional
value -> GHG, land use and water consumption -> pets also contribute largely
Reductions food production resulting from climate change has been overcome with production gains
Yield gains disproportionately contributed by small fraction of highly productive croplands whereas yields in
other cultivated areas have increased more slowly -> high yield production driven by increasing prevalence of
large farms less nutritionally diverse set of crops causing dwindling amounts of key nutrients
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, Desertification, soil salinization, urbanization, excess surface ozone
Overfishing-> aquaculture production: unevenly distributed (Asia)-> demand for food rising-> nutritious
value-> need small scale
Food revolution: industrial revolution, Green revolution, trade revolution, technical revolution
- Water
Food production highest water consumption-> rising need for water due to urbanization etc.> more rainfall but
unevenly distributed-> drought and floods
Rely on freshwater-> desalinization remains limited-> freshwater in soil or surface-water bodies and
groundwater aquifers: green water in soil, blue water in surface-water bodies and groundwater aquifers->
green evaporates, blue flows in ocean
Main consumptive use blue water is irrigation-> increases green water flows-> human induced disruption of
water cycle -> increase evapotranspiration and colling near-surface atmosphere-> enhance precipitation
downwind of irrigated areas and induce mesoscale circulations
Water is renewable-> freshwater can be depleted when rates exceed natural replenishment-> e.g. groundwater
Impact downstream ecosystems
Land use change-> altered water and biogeochemical cycles-> deforestation-> lower evapotranspiration,
lower infiltration rates-> higher runoff
Land use change-> surface energy balance and land-atmospheric interaction-> modify near-surface
temperature, boundary layer stability and trigger convection and convective precipitation-> modify rat of
emission of aerosols -> regional precipitation patterns change-> reduce precipitation overall and increase
diurnal temperatures
Fluid, renewable and difficult to quantify-> water availability affected by water quality and quantity->
scarcity or stress
Water markets based on neoliberal governance approaches; privatization, liberalization and propriety rights->
commodity-> FEW nexus: water market economy water for other things than food
The contemporary neoliberal trends of water commodification, that is, the multidimensional process through
which goods that traditionally are not priced enter the world of money and markets-> contrast water as human
right
Water can be: commodity, human right, political good, ecosystem medium and security asset-> structural
market failures, large externalities and interconnectedness
Water as commodity criticism of inequality and violation fundamental human rights
Good water governance is difficult to define: need multiple institutions-> complexity of socio-hydrological
dynamics, the variability of institutional settings, and the interdependencies of water with other key
dimensions, such as food and energy, could benefit from innovative adaptive governance approaches
Water governance: influence political agendas on critical resource such as water-> normative elements differ-
> good water governance depends on narrative and models -> historical-political dynamics, political-
economic and development status and scale of phenomenon -> water management pattern in development:
emphasis on infrastructures and engineering to economic dimension and eventually to management and
governance dynamic -> complex systems, such as socio-environmental and socio-hydrological systems, could
benefit by being co-managed in an adaptive fashion that includes collaboration, public participation,
experimentation, and focus on the bioregional scale
Growth model: investments in infrastructure are required to develop irrigation systems for higher crop yields-
> prevent unpredictable water stress-> investments in dam and other grey infrastructures (canals, pipelines
etc.)-> can cause environmental damage and serve need large-scale commercial agribusiness -> build small
decentralized water harvesting and storage facilities-> reduce cost conveyance and distribution systems
1.1 Drivers and causes of unsustainability
- Planetary boundaries: to identify key Earth System processes and attempt to quantify for each process the
boundary level that should not be transgressed if we are to avoid unacceptable global environmental change
Unacceptable change is here defined in relation to the risks humanity faces in the transition of the planet from
the Holocene to the Anthropocene (human induced
environmental change)
- The earth system is interconnected -> cycles with
feedback loops and interaction
- Planetary boundaries: nine dimensions and tries to
quantify the boundaries
Threshold and boundaries
Threshold: a non-linear transitions in the
functioning of coupled human– environmental
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, systems-> Thresholds are intrinsic features of those systems and are often defined by a position along
one or more control variables
Boundary: A human- determined values of
the control variable set at a “safe” distance
from a dangerous level-> Determining a safe
distance involves normative judgments of
how societies choose to deal with risk and
uncertainty
Uncertainty in quantifying boundaries
Normative implications
- Some have global scale impacts others global-> some
are more systemic whilst others are more aggregated->
some more slow process withtout global scale
thresholds and then some have process with global
scale thresholds
- Climate change:
Boundary is based on
the analysis of the equilibrium sensitivity of the climate system to greenhouse gasses
Behaviour of the large polar ice sheets under climates warmer than those of the Holocene
Observed behaviour of the climate system at a current CO2 concentration.
- Change in biosphere integrity
Global extinction rate.
Biodiversity Intactness Index assesses change in population abundance as a result of human impacts, such as
land or resource use, across a wide range of taxa and functional groups at a biome or ecosystem level using
pre-industrial era abundance as a reference point
- Stratospheric ozone depletion
Ozone concentration in DU (Dobson units).
This boundary is only transgressed over Antarctica in the austral spring, when O3 concentration drops to
about 200 DU.
This is an example in which, after a boundary has been transgressed regionally, humanity has taken effective
action to return the process back to within the boundary
- Ocean acidification
This boundary is intimately linked with one of the control variables, CO2, for the climate change boundary.
- Biogeochemical flows
The original boundary was formulated for P & N only.
Now is being argued in favour of a more generic boundary to encompass human influence on biogeochemical
flows in general.
- Land-system change
Land-system change, driven primarily by agricultural expansion and intensification, contributes to global
environmental change, with the risk of undermining human well-being and long-term sustainability
No more than 15% of the global ice-free land surface should be converted to cropland
- Freshwater use
The global-level boundary is the use of blue water from rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and renewable groundwater
stores as the control variable
The basin-scale boundary is about the maximum rate of blue water withdrawal in the river system to avoid
regime shifts in the functioning of flow-dependent ecosystems
- Atmospheric aerosol loading (local)
It focuses on the effect of aerosols on regional ocean-atmosphere circulation.
It adopts aerosol optical depth (AOD) as the control variable and uses the south Asian monsoon as a case
study, based on the potential of widespread aerosol loading over the Indian subcontinent to switch the
monsoon system to a drier state.
- Current status of the boundaries: biogeochemical flows and biosphere integrity already in danger zone-> some
technical challenge of boundary-> novel entities: update
- Boundary interactions: they interact-> biosphere integrity: impacts climate change is major-> but ozone
depletion for instance weak effect or for instance biodiversity loss doesn’t add to ocean acidification but ocean
acidification impacts biodiversity very much
- Economic and social development within the biophysical limits of a stable earth systems-> normative
implications
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