GLOBAL SYSTEMS INSTITUTE

Publications

The need for bottom-up assessments of climate risks and adaptation in climate-sensitive regions

Publication ID: pub.1117303696

Publication date: 17/06/2019

Keywords: Adaptation; Africa; Asia; Bottom-up Approach; Climate Change; Climate Risk; Climate Signals; Climate-sensitive Systems; Modelled Impacts; Top-down Approach; Vulnerability; Warming

Studies of climate change at specific intervals of future warming have primarily been addressed through top-down approaches using climate projections and modelled impacts. In contrast, bottom-up approaches focus on the recent past and present vulnerability. Here, we examine climate signals at different increments of warming and consider the need to reconcile top-down and bottom-up approaches. […]

Climate change and cultural resilience in late pre-Columbian Amazonia

Publication ID: pub.1117288764

Publication date: 17/06/2019

Keywords: Amazonia; Archaeology; Brazil; Climate Change; Forests; Rainforest

The long-term response of ancient societies to climate change has been a matter of global debate. Until recently, the lack of integrative studies using archaeological, palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological data prevented an evaluation of the relationship between climate change, distinct subsistence strategies and cultural transformations across the largest rainforest of the world, Amazonia. Here we review […]

Impact hotspots of reduced nutrient discharge shift across the globe with population and dietary changes

Publication ID: pub.1117156659

Publication date: 14/06/2019

Keywords: Africa; Asia; Atmosphere; Dietary Proteins; Environmental Monitoring; Eutrophication; Feeding Behavior; Global; Humans; Models, Theoretical; Nutrients; Population Dynamics; Socioeconomic Factors; Urbanization; Waste Water; Water Purification; Water Resources

Reducing nutrient discharge from wastewater is essential to mitigating aquatic eutrophication; however, energy- and chemicals-intensive nutrient removal processes, accompanied with the emissions of airborne contaminants, can create other, unexpected, environmental consequences. Implementing mitigation strategies requires a complete understanding of the effects of nutrient control practices, given spatial and temporal variations. Here we simulate the environmental impacts […]

Modelling the future impacts of urban spatial planning on the viability of alternative water supply

Publication ID: pub.1117068810

Publication date: 13/06/2019

Keywords: City Planning; Conservation of Natural Resources; England; Greater Southeast of England; Housing; Rain; Recycling; UK; Water Supply

Greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting have the potential to increase the resilience of water management and reduce the need for investment in conventional water supply schemes. However, their water-savings would partly depend on the location and built-form of urban development and hence its household sizes and rainwater per dwelling. We have therefore tested how spatial […]

Occupy and the constitution of anarchy

Publication ID: pub.1117131481

Publication date: 13/06/2019

Keywords: Anarchism; Constitutionalising; London; Oakland; Occupy Wall Street Movement; Power; UK; US; Wall Street

Abstract: This article provides the first comparative reading of the minutes of the General Assemblies of three iconic Occupy camps: Wall Street, Oakland and London. It challenges detractors who have labelled the Occupy Wall Street movement a flash-in-the-pan protest, and participant-advocates who characterised the movement anti-constitutional. Developing new research into anarchist constitutional theory, we construct […]

Climate as a risk factor for armed conflict

Publication ID: pub.1117069665

Publication date: 12/06/2019

Keywords: Armed Conflicts; Climate; Climate Change; Global; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Risk Reduction Behavior; Socioeconomic Factors; Uncertainty

Research findings on the relationship between climate and conflict are diverse and contested. Here we assess the current understanding of the relationship between climate and conflict, based on the structured judgments of experts from diverse disciplines. These experts agree that climate has affected organized armed conflict within countries. However, other drivers, such as low socioeconomic […]