Global climate change is the major and most urgent global environmental issue. Australia is already experiencing climate change as evidenced by higher temperatures and more frequent and severe droughts. These impacts are compounded by increasing land use pressures on natural resources and native ecosystems. This paper provides a synthesis of the interactions, feedbacks and risks of natural climate variability, climate change and land use/land cover change (LUCC) impacting on the Australian continent and how they vary regionally.

The remaining Atlantic Forest fragments are structurally isolated by a matrix of pastures, plantations, or urban areas, and most remnants are small (

Sub-Saharan Africa is large and diverse with regions of food insecurity and high vulnerability to climate change. This project quantifies carbon stocks and fluxes in the humid forest zone of Ghana, as a part of an assessment in West Africa. The General Ensemble biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS) was used to simulate the responses of natural and managed systems to projected scenarios of changes in climate, land use and cover, and nitrogen fertilization in the Assin district of Ghana.

Changes in hydrological cycle have been experienced as the result of the global climate change which may have caused undetermined increase or decrease in the location and reserve of water resources which are already undetermined in various parts of the world.

This paper examines the changes in land use/cover types in the degraded environment of central Tanzania over the last 45 years, and how such changes have influenced agricultural and livelihoods sustainability, especially in the Irangi Hills. Changes of land use/cover were measured through aerial photographs interpretations, while local perceptions and description of change were addressed through household interviews and field observations. The results of this study show that there have been variations over the years in terms of both the areas and spatial distribution of cultivated fields.

Frequent alteration in land cover often leads to decreased stability of ecosystems which can also increase the vulnerability of rural communities to externalities of environmental change. This study carried out in parts of the coast of southwestern Nigeria utilized topographic base maps and two-time Landsat TM imageries to assess the trend in land cover changes and ecosystems degradation for the three time periods 1965, 1986 and 2001. Remote sensing, geographic information systems and landscape pattern analysis were employed for data processing and analysis.

We investigated whether accounting for land cover could improve bioclimatic models for eight species of anurans and three species of turtles at a regional scale. We then tested whether accounting for spatial autocorrelation could significantly improve bioclimatic models after statistically controlling for the effects of land cover. Nova Scotia, eastern Canada. Species distribution data were taken from a recent (1999-2003) herpetofaunal atlas. Generalized linear models were used to relate the presence or absence of each species to climate and land-cover variables at a 10-km resolution.

In the Low Arctic, a warming climate is increasing rates of permafrost degradation and altering vegetation. Disturbance associated with warming permafrost can change microclimate and expose areas of ion-rich mineral substrate for colonization by plants. Consequently, the response of vegetation to warming air temperatures may differ significantly from disturbed to undisturbed tundra.

The paper is based on an on-going 3-year study in the wetland communities of Kampala. The study uses participatory methods and aims to contribute to (i) the development of low-income wetland communities, (ii) to prepare these communities to become less dependent on wetlands without receding into poverty, and (iii) the better management of the wetlands. The communities in direct dependence and intimate interaction with Nakivubo wetlands are mainly poor, live and work under hazardous conditions, and their activities pose a threat to the ecological function of the wetlands.

Global efforts to reduce deforestation rely heavily on protected areas and land use restrictions. The effect of these restrictions on local communities is currently the subject of heated debate among conservation and development experts. Measuring the social impacts of protected areas is difficult because the effects cannot be isolated from other factors, given the nonrandom placement of protection.

Little information is available about the effects of global warming and land management on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration in soil solution in the field. Here, for the first time, we used a free-air temperature enhancement (FATE) system in a controlled warming-grazing experiment in 2006 and 2007 to test the hypothesis that grazing modifies the response of soil solution DOC concentration to experimental warming.

The Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax is one of the most threatened steppe bird species in Europe, due mainly to agricultural intensification. Despite the relative importance of the Iberian population (approximately 50% of the global population) little is known about its dynamics and trends, especially in core distribution areas. This study evaluates the influences of meteorological factors and land management on the oscillations and medium-term trends of two Little Bustard populations in Central Spain.