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This paper examines the relationship between global energy security and climate change policy. There are growing concerns about the sustainability of the future supply of hydrocarbons. The energy system is the single largest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, therefore it is no surprise that decarbonising the supply of energy services is a key element of climate change policy. The central proposition of this paper is that the world faces a global energy dilemma: can we have secure, reliable and affordable supplies of energy and, at the same time, manage the transition to a low-carbon energy system? The paper is divided into five sections. The first section considers the contemporary challenges to global energy security, focusing on the possibility that in the future oil production might not be able to meet demand. The second section considers how the perils of climate change are forcing us to rethink the very meaning of energy security such that a low-carbon energy revolution is now called for. The third section explains that while the developed world is largely responsible for the anthropogenic carbon emissions currently in the atmosphere, a global shift in energy demand is underway and over the next 20 years it is the developing world that will contribute an ever-increasing share of global emissions. The fourth section introduces the notion of the global energy dilemma nexus to explain how the processes of globalisation are the driving force behind this global shift in energy demand and carbon emissions. The final section explains how the global energy dilemma nexus plays itself out in different ways across the globe. The conclusions suggest that human geography can make a significant contribution to social science research on energy security and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is already occurring in the Arctic and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment recently concluded that future climate change could be devastating for Inuit. This paper characterises vulnerability to climate change in two Inuit communities in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, focusing on the resource harvesting sector. In both communities, Inuit have demonstrated significant adaptability in the face of current changes in climatic conditions. This adaptability is facilitated by traditional Inuit knowledge, strong social networks, flexibility in resource use, and institutional support. Changing Inuit livelihoods, however, have undermined certain aspects of adaptive capacity and have resulted in emerging vulnerabilities. Global and regional climate projections indicate that climatic conditions which currently pose risks are expected to be negatively affected by future climate change. These projections are not without precedent and analysis of current vulnerability and identification of adaptation constraints by Inuit in the two communities indicate the continued importance of traditional coping mechanisms. The ability to draw on these coping mechanisms in light of future climate change, however, will be unequal and the research indicates that young Inuit and those without access to economic resources, in particular, are vulnerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the potential impact of future climate change on the nature and extent of land degradation in South Africa. The basis of the assessment is the comprehensive review published by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEA&T) as a contribution to the South African effort in respect of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. The DEA&T report is founded on information collated from 34 workshops, one in each of the agricultural regions of South Africa, involving some 453 participants consisting mainly of agricultural extension officers and soil conservation technicians. This analysis reveals that land degradation is underpinned by poverty and its structural roots in colonial and apartheid political planning. Nevertheless, future climate change represents a key challenge to the developing economies of countries like South Africa. Regionally downscaled models predicting the nature and degree of rainfall changes in the future are used to assess the possible impact of future change on the South African land degradation situation. It is concluded that the most severely degraded areas of the country, including large areas of the former ‘homeland’ states, are likely to become even more susceptible under predicted climate change scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a mixed methods approach to characterise the experience of food insecurity among Inuit community members in Igloolik, Nunavut, and examine the conditions and processes that constrain access, availability, and quality of food. We conducted semi-structured interviews ( n= 66) and focus groups ( n= 10) with community members, and key informant interviews with local and territorial health professionals and policymakers ( n= 19). The study indicates widespread experience of food insecurity. Even individuals and households who were food secure at the time of the research had experienced food insecurity in the recent past, with food insecurity largely transitory in nature. Multiple determinants of food insecurity operating over different spatial-temporal scales are identified, including food affordability and budgeting, food knowledge and preferences, food quality and availability, environmental stress, declining hunting activity, and the cost of harvesting. These determinants are operating in the context of changing livelihoods and climate change, which in many cases are exacerbating food insecurity, although high-order manifestations of food insecurity (that is, starvation) are no longer experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how double exposure to economic and environmental stressors – and the interaction between the two – affect smallholder farmers in Mozambique's Limpopo River Basin. Studying two case study villages we find that people, in general, are resilient to environmental stressors. However, most households show less resilience to the socioeconomic stressors and shocks that have been introduced or intensified by economic globalisation. Our findings indicate that economic change brought about by structural adjustment policies pressures rural people to alter their approach to farming, which makes it more difficult for them to respond to environmental change. For example, smallholder farmers find it difficult to make a transition to commercial farming within the Limpopo Basin, in part because farming techniques that are well adapted to managing environmental variability in the region – such as seeding many small plots – are not well suited to the economies of scale needed for profitable commercial agriculture. People use a variety of strategies to cope with interactive environmental and economic stressors and shocks, but many face considerable constraints to profitably exploiting market-based opportunities. We conclude that economic stressors and shocks may now be causing small-scale agriculture to be less well adapted to ecological and climate variability, making smallholders more vulnerable to future climate change. Some local level policy interventions, including those that support and build on local environmental knowledge, could assist rural agricultural societies in adapting to future environmental change in the context of economic globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With so many other social, economic and environmental factors at work establishing linear, causative relationships between anthropogenic climate change and population dynamics it has been difficult to pinpoint the specific human consequences of climate change on respective populations. Qualitative information was examined based on interviewees’ testimonies and personal experience, as well as a descriptive analysis of population records, climate-change related impacts, and consequences of uneven development in the Republic of Kiribati and Tuvalu, two low-lying atoll nations in the Pacific region taken as examples to illustrate the issues involved. Strong evidence was found that recent influxes in population movements to urban central islands from rural outer islands experienced in these countries can be attributed to a combination of the adverse impacts of climate change and socioeconomic factors inherit in small island developing states. Moreover, internal migrants cannot be accommodated in their states of origin, putting pressure on local infrastructure and services. This, combined with a recent population boom, has led to a decline in human development indicators and a general livelihood decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seasonal climate forecasts have been promoted as a means to increase the resilience of marginal groups in Africa. The manifestations of this are still to be seen. This paper argues that successful dissemination and adoption of the forecast requires an in-depth profile of the characteristics and needs of user groups. The case study of a mountainous village in southern Lesotho is used to highlight the decisions which one group of marginal users – smallholder farmers – might make in response to the forecast. A participatory role-play exercise explores what information households presently receive and how new climate forecast information could be integrated into seasonal decision making. Results show that there are a number of low-input options available to these farmers for responding to the forecast. Adoption, however, is going to require repeated exposure to the forecast in conjunction with forecast development that is suited to users’ needs. The case study is linked back to the larger scale by suggesting paths that seasonal climate forecast development could take if it is to contribute to improving livelihood sustainability among marginal groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the link between urbanization and global environmental changes. Several factors contributing to regional land use change include the clearing of land for cities and roads and the demand for goods and resources. A chart is presented that lists the causes of urban warming. There are several strategies to mitigate urban warming. One of these is to reduce surface temperatures.

This article examines the impact of climatic changes on the transformation of urban centers and international migration in Senegal. The main response of populations affected by the ecological crisis between 1970 and 1980 was the intensification of internal and international migration. Dakar, the capital of Senegal, has been the main destination for the rural exodus and the principal site for observing problems associated with migration and accelerated urbanization.

Presents a study which examined the variations of regional climatic gradient and their congruence with scenarios of future climatic change in northern Europe. Discussion on the trends and role of the North Atlantic Oscillation; Methodology; Components and environmental consequences of changing climatic gradients.