We talk to the pioneering climate-change researcher Prof. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber about the role of decency in fighting climate change, and why excellent climate science requires freedom and trust.
Prof. Paweł Rowiński, Vice-President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, talks about how climate change will affect Poland and what signs of it should we look for in our rivers.
It’s difficult to imagine a more curious continent: Antarctica, once very austere and inhospitable, is now becoming greener as a result of climate change.
Any effective response to ecological crisis calls for collaboration of all parties involved.
Prof. Tandong Yao and Prof. Fahu Chen describe our growing understanding of climate change impacts in the “Pan-Third Pole” region, discussing both coping strategies and research initiatives focusing on the region.
Air quality and climate change, as two crucial environmental emergencies confronting our societies, are still generally viewed as separate problems requiring different research and policy frameworks. However, they should rightfully be viewed as two sides of the same coin. What we truly need to seek, therefore, are “win-win” solutions.
Uncertainties as to how the climate will change and how it will influence the necessities and trends of irrigation development lead to a number of serious questions to be answered in the near future. How irrigation and water systems will have to adapt to climate changes is a challenge that planners, designers and O&M services will have to cope with.
It is widely accepted that air temperature in Poland will increase of 2–4°C, however a total yearly precipitation will not vary yet its pattern during the year may change towards higher in winter and lower in summer. Evapotranspiration and crop water demand may rise due to both an increase in temperature and duration of crop growth cycles.
Three main factors are expected to exert an accelerating influence on the development of irrigation: increased frequency and intensity of droughts and long-lasting precipitation-free periods with the high insolation and high air temperatures resulting from climate change; the intensification of agricultural production (e.g. in horticulture, orchards, seed crops), being forced by both domestic and European free-market competition; the necessity of reaching high level of quality for the majority of agricultural products.
To mitigate negative effects of climate change and extreme events, appropriate adaptation methods and adaptation strategies should be developed and implemented in existing irrigation and water control systems. A number of technological and organisational steps should be taken to improve operation, management, administration and decision making processes.
Pewien buddyjski mnich wybierał się w długą i uciążliwą podróż. Jako towarzysza podroży wziął służącego, który znany był z krnąbrności i kłótliwości. Zapytany o powód tego wyboru oświadczył, że chce się ćwiczyć w cierpliwości i skromności. Dla mnie taką nauką były trzy lata prowadzenia międzynarodowego projektu CHIHE.
Climate change has been affecting plants over the last century and caused
changes in life history features such as the flowering time. Herbarium specimens provide
a snapshot of the past environmental conditions during their collection. The collection
date in a herbarium specimen is a good proxy to determine the flowering period (phenology).
In this study, phenological data from subarctic plant specimens collected over
100 years were gathered by using one of the largest herbarium databases in the World.
The collection dates of 7146 herbarium specimens were analyzed and significant shifts
in the phenology of subarctic plants were detected. In this study, most of the analyzed
142 species in a subarctic biogeographic region tended to flower earlier in the 1950–2018
period compared to the 1900–1949 as a possible result of the climate change. Flowering
time shifted from 8 to 26 days in some species. Changes in flowering time may
alter species interactions, community composition, and species distribution in a region.
Therefore, results of this study may shed light on the possible shifts in phenology and
plant responses under the climate change.
Prof. Zbigniew Kundzewicz from the PAS Institute of Agricultural and Forest Environment in Poznań talks about the negative impact of climate change on our lives and what we can do to save ourselves.
Prof. Patrick Meire of the University of Antwerp discusses subtle interdependencies in marine ecosystems and the transformations that they undergo under the influence of climate change.
In 1979, Pope John Paul II spent just nine days in his home country, Poland. This historic pilgrimage lead to a ‘spiritual revolution’ that culminated in the peaceful collapse of the authoritarian regime in Poland, and eventually to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Could leaders of the Christian churches today spark a similar ‘spiritual revolution’ to combat manmade climate change?
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