Barry Turner

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The convention was produced at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development with the stated aim of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to ‘a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human induced) interference with the climate system’. Signatories agreed to take account of climate change in their domestic policy and to develop national programmes that would slow its progress. However, no mandatory targets were established for the reduction of emissions so the treaty remained legally non-binding. Instead it operates as a ‘framework’ document, with provisions for regular updates and amendments.

A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science

Global environmental change and sustainability science increasingly recognize the need to address the consequences of changes taking place in the structure and function of the biosphere. These changes raise questions such as: Who and what are vulnerable to the multiple environmental changes underway, and where? Research demonstrates that vulnerability is registered not by exposure to hazards (perturbations and stresses) alone but also resides in the sensitivity and resilience of the system experiencing such hazards. This recognition requires revisions and enlargements in the basic design of vulnerability assessments, including the capacity to treat coupled human–environment systems and those linkages within and without the systems that affect their vulnerability. A vulnerability framework for the assessment of coupled human–environment systems is presented.

The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths

Common understanding of the causes of land-use and land-cover change is dominated by simplifications which, in turn, underlie many environment-development policies. This article tracks some of the major myths on driving forces of land-cover change and proposes alternative pathways of change that are better supported by case study evidence. Cases reviewed support the conclusion that neither population nor poverty alone constitute the sole and major underlying causes of land-cover change worldwide. Rather, peoples’ responses to economic opportunities, as mediated by institutional factors, drive land-cover changes. Opportunities and

The emergence of land change science for global environmental change and sustainability

Land change science has emerged as a fundamental component of global environmental change and sustainability research. This interdisciplinary field seeks to understand the dynamics of land cover and land use as a coupled human–environment system to address theory, concepts, models, and applications relevant to environmental and societal problems, including the intersection of the two. The major components and advances in land change are addressed: observation and monitoring; understanding the coupled system—causes, impacts, and consequences; modeling; and synthesis issues. The six articles of the special feature are introduced and situated within these components of study.

Changes in land use and land cover: a global perspective

Part I. Introduction: 1. Global land-use and land-cover change: an overview Part II. Working Group Reports: 2. A wiring diagram for the study of land use/cover change: Report of Working Group A 3. Towards a typology and regionalization of land-cover and land-use change: Report of Working Group B 4. Land-use and land-cover projections: Report of Working Group C Part III. Changes in Land Use and Land Cover: 5. Forests and tree cover 6. Grasslands 7. Human settlements Part IV. Environmental Consequences: 8. Atmospheric chemistry and air quality 9. Soils 10. Hydrology and water quality Part V. Human Driving Forces: 11. Population and income 12. Technology 13. Political-economic institutions 14. Culture and cultural change Part VI. Issues In Data and Modeling: 15. Modeling land-atmosphere interactions: a short review 16. Modeling global change in an integrated framework: a view from the social sciences 17. Data on global land-cover change: acquisition, assessment, and analysis Appendices Index.

Illustrating the coupled human- environment system for vulnerability analysis: Three case studies

The vulnerability framework of the Research and Assessment Systems for Sustainability Program explicitly recognizes the coupled human–environment system and accounts for interactions in the coupling affecting the systems responses to hazards and its vulnerability. This paper illustrates the usefulness of the vulnerability framework through three case studies: the tropical southern Yucatán, the arid Yaqui Valley of northwest Mexico, and the pan-Arctic. Together, these examples illustrate the role of external forces in reshaping the systems in question and their vulnerability to environmental hazards, as well as the different capacities of stakeholders, based on their access to social and biophysical capital, to respond to the changes and hazards. The framework proves useful in directing attention to the interacting parts of the coupled system and helps identify gaps in information and understanding relevant to reducing vulnerability in the systems as a whole.

Some practical aspects of qualitative data analysis: One way of organising the cognitive processes associated with the generation of grounded theory

ConclusionsThis paper has presented practical details of a tested and tried procedure which it is hoped will be of use to researchers facing the problem of analysing qualitative data, and particularly to those interested in the use of grounded theory. Behind the presentation of this procedure lies a concern that the processes of research should be as open as possible, so that neither the processes of research nor their findings are subjected to mystifications which conceal their true nature from other researchers, from the subjects of research, or from those seeking to understand the research findings when they are reported. There is, of course, an element of risk in advocating such frankness, for the researcher who lays his procedures open to public scrutiny may suddenly discover that, like the emperor, he has no clothes. But it would seem, in general, that the interests of social research can only be furthered by more discussion of the details of research procedures, particularly those which are close to the creative centre of theory building.

Risk and criticality: Trajectories of regional environmental degradation

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Agricultural intensification and changes in cultivated areas, 1970–2005

Does the intensification of agriculture reduce cultivated areas and, in so doing, spare some lands by concentrating production on other lands? Such sparing is important for many reasons, among them the enhanced abilities of released lands to sequester carbon and provide other environmental services. Difficulties measuring the extent of spared land make it impossible to investigate fully the hypothesized causal chain from agricultural intensification to declines in cultivated areas and then to increases in spared land. We analyze the historical circumstances in which rising yields have been accompanied by declines in cultivated areas, thereby leading to land-sparing. We use national-level United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization data on trends in cropland from 1970–2005, with particular emphasis on the 1990–2005 period, for 10 major crop types. Cropland has increased more slowly than population during this period, but paired increases in yields and declines in cropland occurred infrequently, both globally and nationally. Agricultural intensification was not generally accompanied by decline or stasis in cropland area at a national scale during this time period, except in countries with grain imports and conservation set-aside programs. Future projections of cropland abandonment and ensuing environmental services cannot be assumed without explicit policy intervention.

Regions at risk : comparisons of threatened environments

Critical environmental regions - concepts, distinctions and issues Amazonia the Aral Sea basin the Nepal middle mountains the Ukambani region of Kenya the Llano Estacado of the American Southern High Plains the Basin of Mexico the North Sea the Ordos Plateau of China the eastern Sunderland region of South-East Asia comparisons and conclusions.