Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Drought is a natural part of the historical climate variability in the northern Rocky Mountains and high plains region of the United States. However, recent drought impacts and climate change projections have increased the need for a systematized way to document and understand drought in a manner that is meaningful to public land and resource managers. The purpose of this exploratory study was to characterize the ways in which some federal and tribal natural resource managers experienced and dealt with drought on lands managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and tribes in two case site examples (northwest Colorado and southwest South Dakota) that have experienced high drought exposure in the last two decades. The authors employed a social–ecological system framework, whereby key informant interviews and local and regional drought indicator data were used characterize the social and ecological factors that contribute to drought vulnerability and the ways in which drought onset, persistence, severity, and recovery impact management. Results indicated that local differences in the timing, decisions, and specific management targets defined within the local social–ecological natural resource contexts are critical to understanding drought impacts, vulnerabilities, and responses. These findings suggest that manager-defined social–ecological contexts are critically important to understand how drought is experienced across the landscape and the indices that are needed to inform adaptation and response strategies.

Great Plains : social-ecological setting (climate-environment-society) natural resources and wildlife aspects --Characteristics of agricultural system and energy resources --Climate conditions and scenarios of change across the Great Plains --Water management --Ecosystem and biodiversity conservation issues --Energy considerations --Agriculture and land management --Great Plains societal considerations : impacts and consequences, vulnerability and risk, adaptive capacity, response options --Collaborative research and management interactions in response to climate change

Prepared for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and a landmark study in terms of its breadth and depth of coverage, Great Plains Regional Technical Input Report is the result of a collaboration among numerous local, state, federal, and nongovernmental agencies to develop a comprehensive, state of the art look at the effects of climate change on the eight states that encompass the Great Plains region. The Great Plains States are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, and will likely continue to experience warming temperatures, more extreme precipitation events, reduced snow and ice cover and rising relative sea levels. The book presents a review of the historic, current, and the projected future climate of the region; describes interactions with important sectors of the Northeast and examines cross-sectoral issues, namely climate change mitigation, adaptation, and education and outreach. Rich in science and case studies, it examines the latest climate change impacts, scenarios, vulnerabilities, and adaptive capacity and offers decision makers and stakeholders a substantial basis from which to make informed choices that will affect the well-being of the region's inhabitants in the decades to come