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Local authorities are important actors in sustainability transformations, but smaller municipalities generally do not have the same capacities as larger ones to work strategically with climate‐related risks and long‐term sustainability issues. Our study analyses the efforts of two Swedish local authorities to build capacity for transformative climate governance, paying attention to how structural factors and multi‐level governance relations shape local capacity building. Drawing on interviews with municipal staff and the analysis of policy documents we show that both local authorities are increasingly applying experimental climate governance approaches. In Enköping, innovative governance processes support sustainability objectives and promote public–private collaboration. In Kiruna, the necessity to move the town centre has advanced innovation capacity but steals attention from other issues. We conclude that vertical and horizontal multi‐level governance relations facilitate capacity building, but in a national context where climate action is largely voluntary, more support is needed for smaller municipalities with limited resources to reach their climate goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the increasing fire events in addition to climate change due to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as other greenhouse gases exerts huge pressure on natural resources and their management. This phenomenon is more severe in the tropical region due to increasing population, urbanization, industrialization, existing pressures, and limiting conditions. In the present study, carbon (C) stock, carbon sequestration (Cseq), CO2 mitigation potential, C budget, and C flux of the seasonally dry forest ecosystem of Chhattisgarh under the influence of wildfire in the protected area and its proximity were evaluated. Four sites namely, high fire zone (HFZ), medium fire zone (MFZ), low fire zone (LFZ), and non‐fire zone (NFZ) were selected and marked based on fire return intervals (frequency) and extent of damage. The present work is a novel approach that assesses the impact of different fire frequencies on C dynamics of fire‐affected zones. The stratified sampling technique was used within a permanent plot of 1 hectare. Forest stands on each site were analyzed using 10 randomly placed quadrats (each 10 × 10 m in size) and data were collected from each site. Across the sites higher tree density was observed at NFZ and the lowest at HFZ.Total tree biomass ranged between 116.0 and 358.4 t ha−1 across the fire regimes. Total vegetation C stock ranged between 59.1 and 169.5 t ha−1 in different sites. The C mitigation and Cseq potential ranged between 186.2 and 575.3 t ha−1, and 7.1 and 15.9 t ha−1, respectively being highest in NFZ and lowest in HFZ. The species such as Anogeissus latifolia, Buchanania lanzan, Shorea robusta, Lannea coromandelica, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Ougeinia oojeinensis, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia tomentosa are the major contributor in biomass, C stock, C mitigation, and Cseq potential in different fire regimes. Thus, our findings would be highly useful in the restoration process of fire‐affected zones through the plantation of selective plant species. Therefore, the aforementioned species could be effectively utilized while going for an afforestation/reforestation program, and will be helpful in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies under different fire zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to review how Science and Technology Studies (STS) has contributed to climate change mitigation research. We focus on large‐scale infrastructures as a key topic of both mitigation efforts and recent STS scholarship. The paper assesses the conceptual and methodological treatments in this field, uses literature evidence to identify research gaps, and suggests potential topics for future research. Our research firstly contributes to the use of STS approaches in the novel field of climate change mitigation infrastructure, asking how scholarship in the field has learned from STS and developed STS further. Second, we examine how infrastructures are approached in this literature and conclude that the reviewed works almost exclusively associate infrastructure with physical supply systems. This is paradoxical since several of them also advocate a socio‐technical perspective on infrastructures, which would require much more substantiation of the social aspects than they seem to provide. Third, we explore the fits between theoretical frameworks and methods in this field and discover a strong reliance on case studies, literature reviews, and theoretical‐conceptual discussions. This situation suggests that methodological advancements in STS infrastructure studies has still been untapped in this area. This article is categorized under:The Carbon Economy and Climate Mitigation > Decarbonizing Energy and/or Reducing Demand [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural forests are crucial for climate change mitigation and adaptation, but deforestation and degradation challenges highly reduce their value. This study evaluates the potential of natural forest carbon stock and the influence of management interventions on enhancing forest carbon storage capacity. Based on forest area cover, a study was conducted in nine purposely selected forest patches across various forest ecosystems. Data on diameter, height, and environmental variables from various forest management approaches were collected and analyzed with R Ver. 4.1. The findings revealed a substantial difference (p.029) in carbon stock between environmental variables and management interventions. The findings revealed a strong connection between environmental variables and the overall pool of carbon stock within forest patches (p.029). Carbon stocks were highest in the Moist‐montane forest ecosystem (778.25 ton/ha), moderate slope (1019.5 ton/ha), lower elevation (614.50 ton/ha), southwest‐facing (800.1 ton/ha) and area exclosures (993.2 ton/ha). Accordingly, natural forests, particularly unmanaged parts, are sensitive to anthropogenic stresses, decreasing their ability to efficiently store carbon. As a result, the study highlighted the importance of sustainable forest management, particularly area exclosures and participatory forest management, in increasing forest carbon storage potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When young people engage with climate change education, they are often left feeling disempowered and daunted. But past research has shown that there are ways to design and deliver climate change education that can be empowering and enabling. The delivery of climate change education was further challenged in 2020 by the shift to online learning driven by the COVID‐19 pandemic restrictions. However, the challenges of the pandemic context also offered an opportunity to engage new audiences and establish new collaborations in climate change education. In this paper, we explore how the shift to online research, collaboration and education can also be harnessed to develop interdisciplinary coastal adaptation training for young people interested in better understanding the complexities of our coastal environments. The resulting 'More than Maps' framework draws on qualitative and quantitative data collected over a two‐year programme focused on the design and delivery of an international climate change research capacity building workshop series, across the United Kingdom, Ghana, Jamaica and Australia. Carried out by an interdisciplinary team of early career researchers and established academics, 15 workshops were developed on coastal adaptation research methods, targeting a range of 'young' audiences who are and will continue to be impacted by climate change. Building on reflections from the workshops' design and delivery, we developed a scalable framework to aid researchers in sharing open‐access, replicable methods for studying climate change mitigation and adaptation. This work demonstrates that our workshop participants had increased confidence, sought to apply learned methods to other contexts, and wanted to share this knowledge with others. We conclude that the COVID‐19 online workspace facilitated rather than hindered the international collaboration and delivery of these coastal adaptation research methods workshops, and we provide best practice tips to researchers delivering climate change education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the effects of weather and climate on agricultural production is crucial for designing policies related to climate change adaptation and mitigation. A large body of literature has identified the detrimental effects of climate change on crop yields worldwide, and farm‐level adaptation has been shown to mitigate the adverse effects on agricultural production. In this study, we employ a structural model to examine farm production responses to ongoing weather trends. We investigate how farmers adjust output and input decisions by estimating a system of output supply and input demand functions, controlling for nonrandom crop selection. Using panel data with 14,796 observations reflecting 1638 German crop farms (1996–2019), we find that both the expected and realized weather determine farmers' production decisions. In the event of a drought, the supply of most considered crops and the demand for fertilizer decrease. The drought shock has also lasting effects on farmers' production decisions, with a reduced supply of protein crops and an increased level of root crops production in subsequent years. These findings highlight the need to account for farm‐level production responses when assessing weather and climate impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is no longer a myth that climate change‐related disasters are on the rise globally, with severe and devastating consequences in developing countries, particularly in Sub‐Saharan Africa, where many of the world's poor people reside. Thus, the emphasis on adaptation to climate change is no longer a choice or a deferred problem into the future, but rather an urgent matter of concern which must be considered a policy priority. As a response to retrogressive climate change challenges on social‐economic development and environmental degradation, the government of South Africa has in the last two and half decades, embarked on the progressive formulation of different policy instruments and strategic frameworks to curb and minimize the impacts of climate change on all sub‐sectors of the economy. Although much remains to be achieved, some level of success has been realized, particularly in the space of policy formulation, albeit the poor record of implementation. Using research methods inspired by the tradition of qualitative research and an appraisal of existing literature, this paper discusses the complexities of climate change adaptation governance at a local government level in South Africa, focusing on the Eastern Cape Province. It is argued in the paper that one of the major challenges for climate change governance at local municipality levels in South Africa emanates from the gap between aspirations and actions across the entire national governance system. The absence of an integrated climate change governance system has posed significant systemic challenges, and these have tended to constrain decision‐making and implementation processes. These issues have been discussed within the broader discourse of the sustainable development goals, particularly goals number 13, 16 and 17. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration of chlorophyll‐a (CHL) is an important proxy for autotrophic biomass and primary production in the ocean. Quantifying trends and variability in CHL are essential to understanding how marine ecosystems are affected by climate change. Previous analyses have focused on assessing trends in CHL mean, but little is known about observed changes in CHL extremes and variance. Here we apply a quantile regression model to detect trends in CHL distribution over the period of 1997–2022 for several quantiles. We find that the magnitude of trends in upper quantiles of global CHL (>90th) are larger than those in lower quantiles (≤50th) and in the mean, suggesting a growing asymmetry in CHL distribution. On a regional scale, trends in different quantiles are statistically significant at high latitude, equatorial, and oligotrophic regions. Assessing changes in CHL distribution has potential to yield a more comprehensive understanding of climate change impacts on CHL. Plain Language Summary: The marine environment is essential to nature and society, as it provides food and other important services such as Earth's climate regulation and habitat for species. Marine primary productivity is increasingly stressed due to global climate change. Detecting the impact of climate change on primary producers should be a priority given their critical role in the climate system. Most studies focus on the impact of climate change by evaluating the mean state of primary productivity, but little is known about whether and how climate change is impacting variance and extremes. Here we assess changes in chlorophyll‐a (CHL), which is an important proxy for primary production of marine ecosystems. We quantify long‐term changes in different aspects of the CHL distribution (mean, variance, and extremes) using a quantile regression model. We find that CHL high extremes and variability are slightly intensified globally during the 26 years of observational record. Trends in regional scales, especially in high‐latitude and North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, show that CHL high extremes have been increasing since 1997. Our results suggest that more emphasis should be put into understanding the impact of climate change on the variance and extremes of primary productivity for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Key Points: Long‐term changes are detected in different aspects of the distribution of chlorophyll‐a (not just the mean state)Oceanic chlorophyll‐a high extremes are changing faster than chlorophyll‐a mean globally during 1997–2022On a regional scale, chlorophyll‐a extremes trends are predominant at high latitude (+), equatorial (−), and oligotrophic regions (−) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Montana State University has been awarded $10 million by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish an environmental justice resource center. The center, called the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center (EJ TCTAC), will provide technical assistance and training to organizations in EPA Region 8, which includes Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and 28 Tribal nations. Rice University has launched the WaTER Institute, which aims to address water-related challenges such as safe drinking water access and water-related natural disasters. The institute will focus on public health, energy transitions, and resilient infrastructure, and will collaborate with other research institutes at Rice University. Michigan State University, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, has established the Agricultural Climate Resiliency Program to help Michigan's plant agriculture mitigate and adapt to climate change. The program will provide funding for research and extension positions, as well as competitive grants for faculty and extension specialists. [Extracted from the article]

Mature conifer‐dominated forests are an important component of the Pacific Northwest landscape, and the conservation of species associated with late‐successional forests has been a primary management focus in these forests for decades. Increasingly, these forests are also valued as carbon stores, with considerable climate change mitigation potential. However, there are also increasing concerns about the effects of climate change, particularly drought, on late‐successional forests. Despite the complexity of balancing these diverse management concerns, few studies have examined the compatibility of biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, and drought adaptation. We used a spatially and temporally synchronous empirical dataset from mature Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stands representing three alternative management strategies, passive management ("unmanaged"), thinning, and retention harvest, to examine trade‐offs among management objectives related to drought adaptation, carbon storage, and the conservation of early‐successional and late‐successional forest songbirds. Although previous studies have evaluated drought adaptation in Douglas‐fir, none have focused on mature stands. Therefore, we also examined tree resistance and resilience to the 2001 drought. Trees in retention harvest stands displayed significantly higher drought resistance and resilience than trees in thinned or unmanaged stands, but no differences were observed between trees in the latter two management conditions, potentially due to the long (average of 22 years) period between treatment and drought in our thinned stands. Despite this, thinned stands provided a better multiobjective compromise than unmanaged or retention harvest stands in our trade‐off analysis. Across all mature stands, trade‐offs were largest for objective combinations that involved early‐ or late‐successional forest birds. While our analysis supports the consistency of managing late‐successional forest birds and carbon storage, trade‐offs between early‐successional birds and carbon storage were much larger. Given projected changes in climate, the substantial trade‐offs that we observed between drought adaptation and late‐successional forest birds are notable and imply that achieving these two objectives will be challenging at the stand scale. Our results suggest that a diversity of management approaches, incorporating both active management and reserve‐based strategies, may be necessary to foster a combination of drought adaptation, carbon storage, and biodiversity conservation goals in these forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and community resilience are fundamental for sustainable development. However, cultural and political‐institutional barriers hinder governments from progressing towards sustainability. We propose a redesign of social impact assessment (SIA) to make it more applicable to the field of regional and urban planning, and we discuss the role SIA can have in enhancing community resilience to achieve DRR and sustainable development in localities. We argue that, to convert SIA into a tool that can inform regional recovery and development planning, a rethinking of SIA and of the role of SIA practitioners is needed. We therefore expound the SIA Framework for Action and we enhance it to be a community‐based process focussed on informing regional policies and plans and decisions about the projects to be included in such plans. Application of the SIA Framework for Action will help governments overcome the barriers to DRR and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue contributes to building an integrated social science perspective on resilience and resilience‐building. The articles in this issue provide theoretical reflections and empirical insights on two dimensions that characterize resilience in society. The first (local community dimension) comprises the set of community resources, services, adaptive, transformative and coping capacities, processes, actions and behaviors that enable communities to learn from crises, disasters and past failures and transform toward sustainability in localities (community resilience). The second (governance dimension) comprises the set of adaptive and transformative governance strategies and assessment frameworks that enable social learning and sustainability transformation to be strengthened in localities and scaled up across multiple governance levels (social resilience). This special issue provides a theoretical common‐ground and practical pathways to define resilience and to support recovery and development planning to enhance resilience in society in order to achieve effective disaster risk reduction and climate action for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Tree seedlings from populations native to drier regions are often assumed to be more drought tolerant than those from wetter provenances. However, intraspecific variation in drought tolerance has not been well‐characterized despite being critical for developing climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, and for predicting the effects of drought on forests.We used a large‐scale common garden drought‐to‐death experiment to assess range‐wide variation in drought tolerance, measured by decline of photosynthetic efficiency, growth, and plastic responses to extreme summer drought in seedlings of 73 natural populations of the two main varieties of Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii and var. glauca).Local adaptation to drought was weak in var. glauca and nearly absent in menziesii. Var. glauca showed higher tolerance to drought but slower growth than var. menziesii. Clinal variation in drought tolerance and growth species‐wide was mainly associated with temperature rather than precipitation. A higher degree of plasticity for growth was observed in var. menziesii in response to extreme drought.Genetic variation for drought tolerance in seedlings within varieties is maintained primarily within populations. Selective breeding within populations may facilitate adaptation to drought more than assisted gene flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North American Forest Soils Conference (NAFSC) provides a venue for forest soil scientists and affiliated scientists to share their emerging research results through discourse and thoughtful engagement. My task at the 14th NAFSC was to share my perspective on what it means to be a forest soil scientist and the unique contribution forest soil scientists, and in particular, our contribution to addressing the significant environmental challenges that currently face society. In this context, I provide 10 characteristics of a forest soil scientist and reflect on how we might differ from other branches of our academic tree. Forest soil scientists provide an important and impactful perspective on the role that sustainable forest management plays in climate change mitigation and adaptation and within this charge, they support the conservation and sustainable management of our forest soil resource. Core Ideas: The North American Forest Soils Conference is an important venue for advancing important knowledge.Forest soil science plays an important role in addressing global environmental challenges.I present 10 important characteristics of a forest soil scientist.Forest soil science plays an important role in advancing a holistic understanding of soils and soil function.Forest soil science provides a unique perspective on sustainable land management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimated global climate change signals at different latitudes for four main Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). Five evaluation metrics were integrated using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution to quantify the historical reproducibility of 25 CMIP6 General Circulation Models (GCMs) with Global Precipitation Climatology Centre precipitation and Climatic Research Unit temperature as the reference. The most suitable GCMs for simulating climate over different latitudes, selected based on evaluation metrics, were used to prepare a multimodel ensemble and project the future annual and seasonal precipitation and temperature in the near (2031–2065) and far future (2066–2100). The results showed that GCMs estimated the historical mean temperature efficiently but underestimated the monthly precipitation compared to the reference data. The changes in precipitation and temperature at mid‐latitudes (N45.5°–60°) showed the highest variability for all scenarios. The maximum increases in both climate variables for SSP5‐8.5 were 80.5% and 4.8% at N45.5°–60°, respectively. In contrast, the temperature and precipitation at S30.5°–45° revealed a decreasing pattern. Mid‐latitude winter (S30.5°–45°) would be drier in the future than in the base period (1980–2014). This study showed that precipitation variability and the mean temperature in the northern hemisphere would be larger for SSPs with higher radiative forcing. Therefore, the results of this study help improve knowledge of global future climate change by latitudes. Plain Language Summary: Climate change is already contributing to various unpredictable phenomena in many fields. A well‐known organization that periodically evaluates the impacts of climate change and actionable response strategies, the IPCC assessment report states that climate change is already directly impacting ecosystems, water cycles, and human activities. Therefore, sufficient exploration of the future climate change is vital for systematically developing a plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenario contains various factors such as social, economic, and physics, making it reasonable for projecting the future climate. This study evaluated the historical monthly temperature and precipitation reproducibility of CMIP6 General Circulation Model (GCM) using various metrics. Based on this, multi‐model ensemble was built using Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution, a multi‐criteria decision‐making technique, for a reasonable future climate assessment. The results of this study showed that the monthly precipitation of CMIP6 GCM over the historical period is overestimated than the reference data, but the monthly temperature performance is stable. For projected future climate, high latitudes in the northern hemisphere are most vulnerable to changes in temperature and precipitation, and the southern hemisphere captured robust dryness for the future. Key Points: General Circulation Models' performances are different by each latitude and their simulations were overestimated for rainfall and well‐estimated for temperatureThe region in N75‐N90 would be most vulnerable to climate change in the future, and the area in S30‐S60 would be drier in the futureVariability of the northern hemisphere would increase more for high emission scenarios but seasonal trends are more chaotic than in the past [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing historical environmental conditions linked to habitat colonization is important for understanding long‐term resilience and improving conservation and restoration efforts. Such information is lacking for the seagrass Zostera marina, an important foundation species across cold‐temperate coastal areas of the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we reconstructed environmental conditions during the last 14,000 years from sediment cores in two eelgrass (Z. marina) meadows along the Swedish west coast, with the main aims to identify the time frame of seagrass colonization and describe subsequent biogeochemical changes following establishment. Based on vegetation proxies (lipid biomarkers), eelgrass colonization occurred about 2,000 years ago after geomorphological changes that resulted in a shallow, sheltered environment favoring seagrass growth. Seagrass establishment led to up to 20‐ and 24‐fold increases in sedimentary carbon and nitrogen accumulation rates, respectively. This demonstrates the capacity of seagrasses as efficient ecosystem engineers and their role in global change mitigation and adaptation through CO2 removal, and nutrient and sediment retention. By combining regional climate projections and landscape models, we assessed potential climate change effects on seagrass growth, productivity and distribution until 2100. These predictions showed that seagrass meadows are mostly at risk from increased sedimentation and hydrodynamic changes, while the impact from sea level rise alone might be of less importance in the studied area. This study showcases the positive feedback between seagrass colonization and environmental conditions, which holds promise for successful conservation and restoration efforts aimed at supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the provision of several other crucial ecosystem services. Plain Language Summary: This study investigated the historical colonization of eelgrass (Zostera marina), an important marine vascular plant in cold‐temperate coastal regions. Sediment cores from eelgrass meadows on the Swedish west coast dating back as far as 14,000 years were examined to understand the time‐course of eelgrass colonization and the subsequent modification of the environment. We found that eelgrass colonization began approximately 2,000 years ago, coinciding with the development of shallow, sheltered conditions that favored eelgrass growth. As eelgrass became established, this led to substantial habitat and sediment changes, including a 20‐ and 24‐fold increase in carbon and nitrogen accumulation, respectively. This highlights the crucial role of eelgrass as a provider of important ecosystem services, such as regulation of climate, nutrient retention, and sediment protection. We also examined the potential effects of climate change on eelgrass growth and health, predicting that decreased water clarity and altered water flow pose the greatest risks. Overall, this study adds valuable insights into the relationship between eelgrass and its environment, aiding in conservation and restoration efforts to mitigate climate change and maintain essential ecosystem services. It emphasizes the importance of specific environmental conditions for successful eelgrass colonization and restoration. Key Points: Decreased hydrodynamics and water depth created a favorable environment for eelgrass establishment about 2,000 years agoCarbon and nitrogen burial increased in order of magnitudes following seagrass colonizationPaleoecological information on environmental conditions linked to seagrass colonization can aid conservation and restoration efforts [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mangroves are one of the most carbon‐dense forests on the Earth and have been highlighted as key ecosystems for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Hundreds of studies have investigated how mangroves fix, transform, store, and export carbon. Here, we review and synthesize the previously known and emerging carbon pathways in mangroves, including gains (woody biomass accumulation, deadwood accumulation, soil carbon sequestration, root and litterfall production), transformations (food web transfer through herbivory, decomposition), and losses (respiration as CO2 and CH4, litterfall export, particulate and dissolved carbon export). We then review the technologies available to measure carbon fluxes in mangroves, their potential, and their limitations. We also synthesize and compare mangrove net ecosystem productivity (NEP) with terrestrial forests. Finally, we update global estimates of carbon fluxes with the most current values of fluxes and global mangrove area. We found that the contributions of recently investigated fluxes, such as soil respiration as CH4, are minor (<1 Tg C year−1), while the contributions of deadwood accumulation, herbivory, and lateral export are significant (>35 Tg C year−1). Dissolved inorganic carbon exports are an order of magnitude higher than the other processes investigated and were highly variable, highlighting the need for further studies. Gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) per area of mangroves were within the same order of magnitude as terrestrial forests. However, ER/GPP was lower in mangroves, explaining their higher carbon sequestration. We estimate the global mean mangrove NEP of 109.1 Tg C year−1 (7.4 Mg C ha−1 year−1) or through a budget balance, accounting for lateral losses, a global mean of 66.6 Tg C year−1 (4.5 Mg C ha−1 year−1). Overall, mangroves are highly productive, and despite losses due to respiration and tidal exchange, they are significant carbon sinks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoring and preserving the world's forests are promising natural pathways to mitigate some aspects of climate change. In addition to regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, forests modify surface and near‐surface air temperatures through biophysical processes. In the eastern United States (EUS), widespread reforestation during the 20th century coincided with an anomalous lack of warming, raising questions about reforestation's contribution to local cooling and climate mitigation. Using new cross‐scale approaches and multiple independent sources of data, we uncovered links between reforestation and the response of both surface and air temperature in the EUS. Ground‐ and satellite‐based observations showed that EUS forests cool the land surface by 1–2°C annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest cooling effect during midday in the growing season, when cooling is 2–5°C. Young forests (20–40 years) have the strongest cooling effect on surface temperature. Surface cooling extends to the near‐surface air, with forests reducing midday air temperature by up to 1°C compared to nearby non‐forests. Analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape. Locations surrounded by reforestation were up to 1°C cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the EUS. Our work indicates reforestation contributed to the historically slow pace of warming in the EUS, underscoring reforestation's potential as a local climate adaptation strategy in temperate regions. Plain Language Summary: A century of eastern US reforestation has had a cooling effect that helps to explain a lack of regional warming in the 20th century, which stands in contrast to warming trends across the rest of North America during the same period. Our study shows that forests across much of the eastern United States have a substantial adaptive cooling benefit for surface temperature, and for the first time, we demonstrate that this benefit also extends to near‐surface air temperature. Therefore, reforestation in temperate zones could provide a complementary set of benefits: mitigating climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also helping with adaptation to rising temperatures by cooling surface and air temperatures over large areas. Key Points: Reforestation in the eastern United States (EUS) contributes to cooling the land surface and near‐surface air temperatureThe biophysical impacts of reforestation help explain the anomalous lack of 20th‐century warming in the EUSReforestation in temperate regions can provide biophysical climate adaptation benefits by cooling surface and air temperatures [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing urgency for improved public and commercial services to support a resilient, secure, and thriving United States (US) in the face of mounting decision‐support needs for environmental stewardship and hazard response, as well as for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Sustained space‐based Earth observations are critical infrastructure to support the delivery of science and decision‐support information with local, national, and global utility. This is reflected in part through the United States' sustained support of a suite of weather and land‐imaging satellites. However, outside of these two areas, the US lacks an overarching, systematic plan or framework to identify, prioritize, fund, and implement sustained space‐based Earth observations to meet the Nation's full range of needs for science, government policy, and societal support. To aid and accelerate the discussion on our nation's needs, challenges and opportunities associated with sustained critical space‐based Earth observations, the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) sponsored a multi‐week think‐tank study to offer ways forward. Based on this study, the KISS study team suggests the establishment of a robust coordination framework to help address US needs for sustained Earth observations. This coordination framework could account for: (a) approaches to identify and prioritize satellite observations needed to meet US needs for science and services, (b) the rapidly evolving landscape of space‐based Earth viewing architecture options and technology improvements with increasing opportunities and lower cost access to space, and (c) the technical and programmatic underpinnings required for proper and comprehensive data stewardship to support a wide range of research and public services. Plain Language Summary: The Keck Institute of Space Studies has carried out a think tank study to codify best practices, articulate successes, and identify challenges and opportunities in the prioritization, acquisition, curation, and stewardship of sustained space‐based Earth observations. The goal of the study is to accelerate discussion and plans for a greater and more impactful US contribution to the global satellite observing system that will support decision‐making regarding climate change, environmental hazards, and national security. Based on this study, the KISS study team suggests the establishment of a nimble and responsive coordination framework to help guide and shepherd US concerns regarding sustained Earth observations. This coordination framework should account for: (a) approaches to identify and prioritize satellite observations needed to meet US needs for science and services, (b) the rapidly evolving landscape of space‐based Earth viewing architecture options and technology improvements with increasing opportunities and lower cost access to space and (c) the technical and programmatic underpinnings required for proper and comprehensive data stewardship with a broad science and services user base in mind. Key Points: There is growing urgency for improved public and commercial services to support a resilient, secure, and thriving USSpace‐based Earth observations represent an essential component of the infrastructure needed to support the delivery of needed informationThe US would benefit from an overarching plan for sustained Earth observations to support our science, policy, and resilience goals [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is a key function of natural and semi-natural ecosystems. Restoring this property in terrestrial ecosystems has become central to the EU's climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. However, SOC sequestration is a widely misunderstood concept. The different methodological approaches used to investigate and compare SOC stock under sustainable agricultural practices play a key role in reinforcing misconceptions about this complex process. This commentary paper aimed not only to provide a clear definition of SOC sequestration, but also to interpret the results that can be obtained for SOC stock change estimation using the SOC stock difference and the paired comparison methods, as well as to identify the soil carbon-related processes that achieve climate mitigation. SOC sequestration can be defined as the progressive increase in a site's SOC stock compared with pre-intervention via a net depletion and transfer of atmospheric CO2 into the soil, where it is retained as soil organic matter (SOM), by plants, plant residues, or other organic solids such as the material derived from the organic fraction of farming solid waste, which can be used as a fertilizer (e.g., manure, compost, biochar, and digestate), and that is produced or derived from that land unit. To date, the most appropriate way to determine whether a land unit's soil is a sink or rather a source of atmospheric CO2 is to implement the SOC stock difference method, provided the non-occurrence of carbon exchange between ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Climate Action Handbook" by Heidi A. Roop provides 100 actions that address climate change. The book covers various categories such as energy production, transportation, travel, food and farming, shopping, actions around the house, conservation, health and well-being, civic and community engagement, and education. Roop emphasizes that while climate change is happening, it is not too late to act, and our collective actions can impact the scale and severity of the risks we face. The book is a practical and accessible resource for anyone interested in mitigating and adapting to climate change. [Extracted from the article]

The book review titled "Climate change and sustainable development" discusses the importance of sustainable development in addressing the global environmental challenge of climate change. The book, edited by M. H. Fulekar and Rama Shanker Dubey, features contributions from experts around the world and provides an overall framework for understanding climate change. It covers topics such as the impact of climate change on ecosystems, agriculture, and water sources, as well as mitigation and adaptation strategies. The book also explores international and national policies on climate change and emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to address the issue. Overall, the book provides valuable information for researchers, policymakers, and individuals interested in climate change action. [Extracted from the article]