The Rufiji Estuary: Climate Change, Anthropogenic Pressures, Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptive Management Strategies

2016 ◽  
pp. 183-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg M. Wagner ◽  
Rose Sallema-Mtui
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Management ◽  
Vulnerability Assessment ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures

scholarly journals Conservation management of rivers and wetlands under climate change - a synthesis

2011 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Kingsford
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Management ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Environmental Flows ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Flow Regimes ◽  
Regulated Rivers ◽  
Socioeconomic Impacts ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales

Dams, diversion of water, invasive species, overharvesting and pollution are degrading rivers and wetlands. Climate change may exacerbate impacts of these threats through predicted reductions in rainfall and increased temperature, decreasing flow and altering timing and variability of flow regimes. Papers in this special issue identify conservation-management strategies for wetlands and rivers through recovery of flow regimes, alteration of dam operations, protected-area management and improved governance and adaptive management. On most regulated rivers, flow regimes should be recovered by increasing environmental flows. Alteration of dam operations can also improve river health through structures on dams (e.g. fishways, multi-level offtakes), reinstating floodplains and improving flow delivery. Further, time-limited licensing for dams and accompanying regular assessments of safety and of environmental and socioeconomic impacts could improve operations. Protected areas remain the core strategy for conservation, with recent improvements in their identification and management, supported by analytical tools that integrate across large spatial and temporal scales. Finally, effective conservation requires good governance and rigorous adaptive management. Conservation management of rivers and wetlands can be significantly improved by adopting these strategies although considerable challenges remain, given increasing human pressures on freshwater resources, compounded by the impacts of climate change.

scholarly journals An Innovative Approach to Determine Coastal Scenic Beauty and Sensitivity in a Scenario of Increasing Human Pressure and Natural Impacts due to Climate Change

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Alexis Mooser ◽  
Giorgio Anfuso ◽  
Allan T. Williams ◽  
Rosa Molina ◽  
Pietro P. C. Aucelli
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Tidal Range ◽  
Sensitivity Index ◽  
Human Pressure ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Sustainable Usage

Coasts worldwide face a great variety of environmental impacts, as well as increased anthropogenic pressures due to urbanization and rapid population growth. Human activities menace ecosystem services and the economy of coastal countries, often based on “Sun, Sea and Sand” (3S) tourism. The five parameters of greatest importance (the “Big Five”) for beach visitors are safety, facilities, water quality, no litter and scenery, and the characterization of the latter was recently carried out by means of a checklist of 26 natural and human parameters, parameter weighting matrices and fuzzy logic, according to the “Coastal Scenic Evaluation System” (CSES) methodology. In order to propose sound coastal management strategies, the main aim of this paper is to propose a method to determine the scenic sensitivity of (i) natural parameters to coastal natural processes in a Climate Change context and (ii) human parameters to visitors’ pressure in a scenario of increasing tourism and coastal developments. Regarding natural parameters, the sensitivity of “Beach face” and “Dunes” parameters is determined according to an Erodibility Index with a Correction Factor, taking into account wave forcing characteristics, tidal range and trends at a local scale of Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge. This establishes a Sensitivity Index to natural processes. A site’s scenic sensitivity to human pressure/activities was determined by considering the sensitivity of several human parameters of the CSES method according to beach typology and access difficulty together with the Protection Area Management Category to which a site belongs. A Human Impact Index is obtained, which is afterwards corrected by taking into account local trends of tourism pressure, establishing a Sensitivity Index to human pressure. Finally, a total Sensitivity Index considering both natural processes and human pressure is obtained, and sites divided into three sensitive groups. The results can be useful to limit and prevent environmental degradation linked to natural processes and tourism development, and also to suggest measures to improve the scenic value of investigated sites and their sustainable usage. The method was tested for 29 sites of great scenic quality along the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia, Spain.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document