This special issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (COSUST) collaborates with the UNFCCC Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism to bring together a collection of articles on environmental sustainability in relation to those adverse climate impacts –slow onset events--which unfold gradually over time. Sometimes these slow onset events interact with rapid-onset hazard events and often irreversible in nature relative to human society. The articles review and synthesize literature which evaluate the nature of slow onset events and highlight emerging topics in the scientific literature. The special issue helps identify the gaps and challenges in understanding slow onset events and their local, national, and regional impacts, and possible approaches to manage these. The guest editors hope that these papers will enhance the knowledge base and highlight potential approaches to assess and address such adverse impacts of climate change at the local, national and regional levels that can support the development and accessibility of tools, which inform national planning and policymaking processes in assessing and addressing the impacts and risks associated with slow onset events and response options
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
This paper reviews the evidence on slow-onset events presented in the Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), both published in 2019. It analyses how the reports, and recent literature cited in them, deal with the eight types of slow-onset events, specified by the UNFCCC: increasing temperatures, sea level rise, salinization, ocean acidification, glacial retreat, land degradation, desertification and loss of biodiversity.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
A growing scientific evidence reaffirms that slow onset climate events such as desertification, sea level rise and loss of biodiversity will place an increasing number of people at risk of poverty and social marginalization. Establishing national social protection systems aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement could be a key policy approach to address increasing risks from long-term changes to the climate system.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Many studies have assessed the concept of geodiversity. Most studies have focused on large spatial scales, ranging from watersheds to landscapes. Recent studies from the Israeli drylands indicate that shrubs and trees growing in low-geodiversity sites experience mass mortality following long-term droughts, whilst those in high-geodiversity sites demonstrate high durability. Our objective was to review the relevance of small-scale geodiversity to the slow onset effects of climate change defined by the UN-FCCC, including land and forest degradation, biodiversity loss, and desertification.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Based on a systematic review of journal articles, books and book chapters, and policy papers, we evaluate possible sources of finance for addressing loss and damage from slow onset climate events in developing countries. We find that most publications explore insurance schemes which are not appropriate for most slow onset events. From this, we determine that only a few sources are sustainable. Levies and taxes are seen as relatively fair, predictable, adequate, transparent, and additional.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
The processes of salinisation and alkalinisation of soil that caused the formation of different types of saline (halomorphic) soils are characteristic of the northern part of Serbia — the area of Vojvodina. These soils are characterized by poor physical and chemical properties due to a high content of salt and/or adsorbed Na+ ions because of which are being used to a limited extent in agricultural production, and more as pastures.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Effective management of slow-onset impacts such as coastal erosion, desertification and sea level rise and their often-transformative impacts on communities and countries has remained relatively unexplored in terms of policy and finance responses. Drawing on relevant global experience, this paper investigates recent approaches to planned relocation as one possible response to climate change impacts and considers principles to inform the design of a fair and effective funding system.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Slow-onset events (SOE) such as sea level rise, desertification, salinisation, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity and forests or glacial retreat fall under loss and damage (L&D) from climate change impacts under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and are increasingly threatening the environment and people's livelihoods. Irreversible SOE are closely linked to non-economic losses (NEL) such as health, human mobility or loss of ecosystem services. Neither L&D from SOE nor NELs have a dedicated funding stream.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
The negative effects of slow onset events (SOEs) related to climate change are already affecting developing countries, with the resulting impacts likely to increase significantly. With an increasing urgency to act on SOEs, this paper systematically reviewed and synthesized literature on SOEs in Southeast Asia (SEA), which is a region of several highly climate vulnerable countries.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
The climate policy discourse on Loss and Damage has been considering options for averting, minimizing and addressing critical and increasingly systemic climate-related risks in vulnerable countries. Research has started to identify possible finance sources and mechanisms, but stopped short of positioning those options along a comprehensive risk management framework in line with the whole scope of Loss&Damage.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 50, June 2021
Slow onset processes have been increasingly linked to human mobility in the global policy space. Yet, land and forest degradation and desertification (LFDD) as a driver of human displacement and its implications for long-term development policy have received less attention. This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating to what extent the topic has been integrated into the national climate and desertification policy frameworks of countries in Latin American and the Caribbean – a region threatened by significant LFDD.
