Adapting agricultural land management to climate change: a regional multi-objective optimization approach

In several regions of the world, climate change is expected to have severe impacts on agricultural systems. Changes in land management are one way to adapt to future climatic conditions, including land-use changes and local adjustments of agricultural practices. In previous studies, options for adaptation have mostly been explored by testing alternative scenarios. Systematic explorations of land management possibilities using optimization approaches were so far mainly restricted to studies of land and resource management under constant climatic conditions. In this study, we bridge this gap and exploit the benefits of multi-objective regional optimization for identifying optimum land management adaptations to climate change. We design a multi-objective optimization routine that integrates a generic crop model and considers two climate scenarios for 2050 in a meso-scale catchment on the Swiss Central Plateau with already limited water resources. The results indicate that adaptation will be necessary in the study area to cope with a decrease in productivity by 0–10 %, an increase in soil loss by 25–35 %, and an increase in N-leaching by 30–45 %. Adaptation options identified here exhibit conflicts between productivity and environmental goals, but compromises are possible. Necessary management changes include (i) adjustments of crop shares, i.e. increasing the proportion of early harvested winter cereals at the expense of irrigated spring crops, (ii) widespread use of reduced tillage, (iii) allocation of irrigated areas to soils with low water-retention capacity at lower elevations, and (iv) conversion of some pre-alpine grasslands to croplands.

Glacier advances in northeastern Turkey before and during the global Last Glacial Maximum

Abstract Our study in the Başyayla Valley in northeastern Anatolia showed evidence of four glacier advances that built terminal and lateral moraines. Surface exposure dating of boulders on these moraines showed that the Maximum Ice Extent (MIE) was asynchronous with the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; 22.1 ± 4.3 thousand years; ka). The local {MIE} took place at least 57.0 ± 3.5 ka ago. The extent of the Başyayla Glacier during this advance is not known exactly because the boulders are only preserved on a lateral moraine. The next advance was prior to 41.5 ± 2.5 ka, and it descended down the valley to approximately 2320 m above sea level (m a.s.l.), with a glacier length of 5.3 km. During the early global LGM, the Başyayla Glacier extended for a distance of 4.9 km down to approx. 2430 m a.s.l. The last recorded advance occurred during the global LGM. This extension was 0.7 km smaller than the local {MIE} and its terminus reached 2490 m a.s.l. only. The exposure ages of boulders in a retreat position at an altitude of approx. 3045 m a.s.l. indicate that the valley has remained ice-free since the Lateglacial period. Therefore, the Lateglacial extent was limited to the cirque system in the uppermost part of the catchment. Furthermore, Holocene glacier oscillations seem to be either absent or restricted to solifluction in the whole catchment and to rock glacier movements in the southern tributary of the Başyayla Valley system.

Prekarisierungen. Arbeit, Sorge und Politik

Der Band versteht sich als Debattenbeitrag zu einer feministischen Analyse gegenwärtiger Prekarisierungsprozesse, bei der theoretische Herausforderungen und Optionen der Kritik ausgelotet, die analytische Reichweite und Grenzen des Konzepts der Prekarisierung abgewogen sowie aktuelle empirische Ergebnisse präsentiert werden. Mit dem Konzept der Prekarisierung werden über Gegenwartsbeschreibungen hinaus epistemologische Fragen – beispielsweise an das »Soziale« und Möglichkeiten des Handelns – und empirische Phänomene neu verhandelt. In vier Themenschwerpunkten wird der Vielfältigkeit prekärer/prekarisierender Dynamiken aus unterschiedlichen Theorieperspektiven nachgegangen: Wie verflechten sich Prekarisierungspolitiken mit weiteren Konstellationen sozialer Rasterungen? Welche Effekte hat die Krise aktueller Sorgeverhältnisse für die Prekarisierung von Lebensbedingungen? Welche neuen sozialen Einbindungen werden geschaffen? Wie ist das Verhältnis von Gesellschaft, Gemeinschaft und Politischem unter den Bedingungen der Prekarisierung zu verstehen?