Biodiversity can benefit from climate stabilization despite adverse side effects of land-based mitigation

Land use as climate change mitigation.

As the international community works to develop a postKyoto framework for responding to climate change over the next several decades, policymakers should give serious consideration to broadening the range of management strategies beyond those conventionally defined as “mitigation”. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) mitigation concerns “implementing policies to re...

Warnings of adverse side effects can backfire over time.

Warnings that a promoted product can have adverse side effects (e.g., smoking cigarettes can cause cancer) should dampen the product's allure. We predicted that with temporal distance (e.g., when an ad relates to future consumption or was viewed some time earlier), this common type of warning can have a worrisome alternative consequence: It can ironically boost the product's appeal. Building on...

Land-use and carbon cycle responses to moderate climate change: implications for land-based mitigation?

Climate change has impacts on agricultural yields, which could alter cropland requirements and hence deforestation rates. Thus, land-use responses to climate change might influence terrestrial carbon stocks. Moreover, climate change could alter the carbon storage capacity of the terrestrial biosphere and hence the land-based mitigation potential. We use a global spatially explicit economic land...

Ecosystem management and land conservation can substantially contribute to California’s climate mitigation goals

Modeling efforts focused on future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy and other sectors in California have shown varying capacities to meet the emissions reduction targets established by the state. These efforts have not included potential reductions from changes in ecosystem management, restoration, and conservation. We examine the scale of contributions from selected activities in nat...

Climate change and biodiversity : inter - linkages , impact , mitigation and adaptation