Eco-retrofitting with building integrated living systems

Building integrated living systems (BILS), such as green roofs and living walls, could mitigate many of the challenges presented by climate change and biodiversity protection. However, few if any such systems have been constructed, and current tools for evaluating them are limited, especially under Australian subtropical conditions. BILS are difficult to assess, because living systems interact with complex, changing and site-specific social and environmental conditions. Our past research in design for eco-services has confirmed the need for better means of assessing the ecological values of BILS - let alone better models for assessing their thermal and hydrological performance. To address this problem, a research project is being developed jointly by researchers at the Central Queensland University (CQ University) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), along with industry collaborators. A mathematical model under development at CQ University will be applied and tested to determine its potential for predicting their complex, dynamic behaviour in different contexts. However, the paper focuses on the work at QUT. The QUT school of design is generating designs for living walls and roofs that provide a range of ecosystem goods and services, or ‘eco-services’, for a variety of micro-climates and functional contexts. The research at QUT aims to develop appropriate designs, virtual prototypes and quantitative methods for assessing the potential multiple benefits of BILS in subtropical climates. It is anticipated that the CQ University model for predicting thermal behaviour of living systems will provide a platform for the integration of ecological criteria and indicators. QUT will also explore means to predict and measure the value of eco-services provided by the systems, which is still largely uncharted territory. This research is ultimately intended to facilitate the eco-retrofitting of cities to increase natural capital and urban resource security - an essential component of sustainability. The talk will present the latest range of multifunctional, eco-productive living walls, roofs and urban space frames and their eco-services.

Eco-retrofitting - from managerialism to design

As all environmental problems are caused by human systems of design, sustainability can be seen as a design problem. Given the massive energy and material flows through the built environment, sustainability simply cannot be achieved without the re-design of our urban areas. ‘Eco-retrofitting’, as used here, means modifying buildings and/or urban areas to create net positive social and environmental impacts – both on site and off site. While this has probably not been achieved anywhere as yet, myriad but untapped eco-solutions are already available which could be up-scaled to the urban level. It is now well established that eco-retrofitting buildings and cities with appropriate design technology can pay for itself through lower health costs, productivity increases and resource savings. Good design would also mean happier human and ecological communities at a much lower cost over time. In fact, good design could increase life quality and the life support services of nature while creating sustainable‘economic’growth. The impediments are largely institutional and intellectual, which can be encapsulated in the term ‘managerial’. There are, however, also systems design solutions to the managerial obstacles that seem to be stalling the transition to sustainable systems designs. Given the sustainability imperative, then, why is the adoption of better management systems so slow? The oral presentation will show examples of ways in which built environment design can create environments that not only reduce the ongoing damage of past design, but could theoretically generate net positive social and ecological outcomes over their life cycle. These illustrations show that eco-retrofitting could cost society less than doing nothing - especially given the ongoing renovations of buildings - but for managerial hurdles. The paper outlines on how traditional managerial approaches stand in the way of ‘design for ecosystem services’, and list some management solutions that have long been identified, but are not yet widely adopted. Given the pervasive nature of these impediments and their alternatives, they are presented by way of examples. A sampling of eco-retrofitting solutions are also listed to show that ecoretrofitting is a win-win-win solution that stands ready to be implemented by people having management skills and/or positions of influence.

The importance of a triple bottom line approach for safeguarding urban water quality

Water environments are greatly valued in urban areas as ecological and aesthetic assets. However, it is the water environment that is most adversely affected by urbanisation. Urban land use coupled with anthropogenic activities alters the stream flow regime and degrade water quality with urban stormwater being a significant source of pollutants. Unfortunately, urban water pollution is difficult to evaluate in terms of conventional monetary measures. True costs extend beyond immediate human or the physical boundaries of the urban area and affect the function of surrounding ecosystems. Current approaches for handling stormwater pollution and water quality issues in urban landscapes are limited as these are primarily focused on ‘end-of-pipe’ solutions. The approaches are commonly based either on, insufficient design knowledge, faulty value judgements or inadequate consideration of full life cycle costs. It is in this context that the adoption of a triple bottom line approach is advocated to safeguard urban water quality. The problem of degradation of urban water environments can only be remedied through innovative planning, water sensitive engineering design and the foresight to implement sustainable practices. Sustainable urban landscapes must be designed to match the triple bottom line needs of the community, starting with ecosystem services first such as the water cycle, then addressing the social and immediate ecosystem health needs, and finally the economic performance of the catchment. This calls for a cultural change towards urban water resources rather than the current piecemeal and single issue focus approach. This paper discusses the challenges in safeguarding urban water environments and the limitations of current approaches. It then explores the opportunities offered by integrating innovative planning practices with water engineering concepts into a single cohesive framework to protect valuable urban ecosystem assets. Finally, a series of recommendations are proposed for protecting urban water resources within the context of a triple bottom line approach.

An environmental assessment model for knowledge-based urban development

Purpose – In recent years, knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) has introduced as a new strategic development approach for the regeneration of industrial cities. It aims to create a knowledge city consists of planning strategies, IT networks and infrastructures that achieved through supporting the continuous creation, sharing, evaluation, renewal and update of knowledge. Improving urban amenities and ecosystem services by creating sustainable urban environment is one of the fundamental components for KBUD. In this context, environmental assessment plays an important role in adjusting urban environment and economic development towards a sustainable way. The purpose of this paper is to present the role of assessment tools for environmental decision making process of knowledge cities. Design/methodology/approach – The paper proposes a new assessment tool to figure a template of a decision support system which will enable to evaluate the possible environmental impacts in an existing and future urban context. The paper presents the methodology of the proposed model named ‘ASSURE’ which consists of four main phases. Originality/value –The proposed model provides a useful guidance to evaluate the urban development and its environmental impacts to achieve sustainable knowledge-based urban futures. Practical implications – The proposed model will be an innovative approach to provide the resilience and function of urban natural systems secure against the environmental changes while maintaining the economic development of cities.

Wheat Production Systems And Global Climate Change

About this book: Over 100 authors present 25 contributions on the impacts of global change on terrestrial ecosystems including:key processes of the earth system such as the CO2 fertilization effect, shifts in disturbances and biome distribution, the saturation of the terrestrial carbon sink, and changes in functional biodiversity,ecosystem services such the production of wheat, pest control, and carbon storage in croplands, and sensitive regions in the world threaten by rapid changes in climate and land use such as high latitudes ecosystems, tropical forest in Southeast Asia, and ecosystems dominated by Monsoon climate.The book also explores new research developments on spatial thresholds and nonlinearities, the key role of urban development in global biogeochemical processes, and the integration of natural and social sciences to address complex problems of the human-environment system.

The international regulation of sustainable forest management : doctrinal concepts, governing institutions and implementation

The overarching objective of the research was to identify the existence and nature of international legal principles governing sustainable forest use and management. This research intended to uncover a set of forest legal considerations that are relevant for consideration across the globe. The purpose behind this, is to create a theoretical base of international forest law literature which be drawn upon to inform future international forestry research. This research will be of relevance to those undertaking examination of a particular forest issue or those focusing on forests in a particular region. The thesis explains the underlying legal issues in forest regulation, the dominant international regulatory approaches and makes suggestions as to how international and national forest policy could be improved.

Growing biodiverse carbon-rich forests

Regrowing forests on cleared land is a key strategy to achieve both biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation globally. Maximizing these co-benefits, however, remains theoretically and technically challenging because of the complex relationship between carbon sequestration and biodiversity in forests, the strong influence of climate variability and landscape position on forest development, the large number of restoration strategies possible, and long time-frames needed to declare success. Through the synthesis of three decades of knowledge on forest dynamics and plant functional traits combined with decision science, we demonstrate that we cannot always maximize carbon sequestration by simply increasing the functional trait diversity of trees planted. The relationships between plant functional diversity, carbon sequestration rates above-ground and in the soil are dependent on climate and landscape positions. We show how to manage ‘identities’ and ‘complementarities’ between plant functional traits in order to achieve systematically maximal co-benefits in various climate and landscape contexts. We provide examples of optimal planting and thinning rules that satisfy this ecological strategy and guide the restoration of forests that are rich in both carbon and plant functional diversity. Our framework provides the first mechanistic approach for generating decision-making rules that can be used to manage forests for multiple objectives, and supports joined carbon credit and biodiversity conservation initiatives, such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation REDD+. The decision framework can also be linked to species distribution models and socio-economic models in order to find restoration solutions that maximize simultaneously biodiversity, carbon stocks and other ecosystem services across landscapes. Our study provides the foundation for developing and testing cost-effective and adaptable forest management rules to achieve biodiversity, carbon sequestration and other socio-economic co-benefits under global change.

Eutrophication weakens stabilizing effects of diversity in natural grasslands

Studies of experimental grassland communities have demonstrated that plant diversity can stabilize productivity through species asynchrony, in which decreases in the biomass of some species are compensated for by increases in others. However, it remains unknown whether these findings are relevant to natural ecosystems, especially those for which species diversity is threatened by anthropogenic global change. Here we analyse diversity-stability relationships from 41 grasslands on five continents and examine how these relationships are affected by chronic fertilization, one of the strongest drivers of species loss globally. Unmanipulated communities with more species had greater species asynchrony, resulting in more stable biomass production, generalizing a result from biodiversity experiments to real-world grasslands. However, fertilization weakened the positive effect of diversity on stability. Contrary to expectations, this was not due to species loss after eutrophication but rather to an increase in the temporal variation of productivity in combination with a decrease in species asynchrony in diverse communities. Our results demonstrate separate and synergistic effects of diversity and eutrophication on stability, emphasizing the need to understand how drivers of global change interactively affect the reliable provisioning of ecosystem services in real-world systems.

Analysis of the needs of the East Coast cluster regional natural resource management bodies in relation to planning for climate change adaptation

The Climate Change Adaptation for Natural Resource Management (NRM) in East Coast Australia Project aims to foster and support an effective “community of practice” for climate change adaptation within the East Coast Cluster NRM regions that will increase the capacity for adaptation to climate change through enhancements in knowledge and skills and through the establishment of long‐term collaborations. It is being delivered by six consortium research partners: * The University of Queensland (project lead) * Griffith University * University of the Sunshine Coast * CSIRO * New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage * Queensland Department of Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts (Queensland Herbarium). The project relates to the East Coast Cluster, comprising the six coastal NRM regions and regional bodies between Rockhampton and Sydney: * Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) * Burnett‐Mary Regional Group (BMRG) * SEQ Catchments (SEQC) * Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority (CMA) (NRCMA) * Hunter‐Central Rivers CMA (HCRCMA) * Hawkesbury Nepean CMA (HNCMA). The aims of this report are to summarise the needs of the regional bodies in relation to NRM planning for climate change adaptation, and provide a basis for developing the detailed work plan for the research consortium. Two primary methods were used to identify the needs of the regional bodies: (1) document analysis of the existing NRM/ Catchment Action Plans (CAPs) and applications by the regional bodies for funding under Stream 1 of the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund, and; (2) a needs analysis workshop, held in May 2013 involving representatives from the research consortium partners and the regional bodies. The East Coast Cluster includes five of the ten largest significant urban areas in Australia, world heritage listed natural environments, significant agriculture, mining and extensive grazing. The three NSW CMAs have recently completed strategic level CAPs, with implementation plans to be finalised in 2014/2015. SEQC and FBA are beginning a review of their existing NRM Plans, to be completed in 2014 and 2015 respectively; while BMRG is aiming to produce a NRM and Climate Variability Action Strategy. The regional bodies will receive funding from the Australian Government through the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund (NRM Fund) to improve regional planning for climate change and help guide the location of carbon and biodiversity activities, including wildlife corridors. The bulk of the funding will be available for activities in 2013/2014, with smaller amounts available in subsequent years. Most regional bodies aim to have a large proportion of the planning work complete by the end of 2014. In addition, NSW CMAs are undergoing major structural change and will be incorporated into semi‐autonomous statutory Local Land Services bodies from 2014. Boundaries will align with local government boundaries and there will be significant change in staff and structures. The regional bodies in the cluster have a varying degree of climate knowledge. All plans recognise climate change as a key driver of change, but there are few specific actions or targets addressing climate change. Regional bodies also have varying capacity to analyse large volumes of spatial or modelling data. Due to the complex nature of natural resource management, all regional bodies work with key stakeholders (e.g. local government, industry groups, and community groups) to deliver NRM outcomes. Regional bodies therefore require project outputs that can be used directly in stakeholder engagement activities, and are likely to require some form of capacity building associated with each of the outputs to maximise uptake. Some of the immediate needs of the regional bodies are a summary of information or tools that are able to be used immediately; and a summary of the key outputs and milestone dates for the project, to facilitate alignment of planning activities with research outputs. A project framework is useful to show the linkages between research elements and the relevance of the research to the adaptive management cycle for NRM planning in which the regional bodies are engaged. A draft framework is proposed to stimulate and promote discussion on research elements and linkages; this will be refined during and following the development of the detailed project work plan. The regional bodies strongly emphasised the need to incorporate a shift to a systems based resilience approach to NRM planning, and that approach is included in the framework. The regional bodies identified that information on climate projections would be most useful at regional and subregional scale, to feed into scenario planning and impact analysis. Outputs should be ‘engagement ready’ and there is a need for capacity building to enable regional bodies to understand and use the projections in stakeholder engagement. There was interest in understanding the impacts of climate change projections on ecosystems (e.g. ecosystem shift), and the consequent impacts on the production of ecosystem services. It was emphasised that any modelling should be able to be used by the regional bodies with their stakeholders to allow for community input (i.e. no black box models). The online regrowth benefits tool was of great interest to the regional bodies, as spatial mapping of carbon farming opportunities would be relevant to their funding requirements. The NSW CMAs identified an interest in development of the tool for NSW vegetation types. Needs relating to socio‐economic information included understanding the socio‐economic determinants of carbon farming uptake and managing community expectations. A need was also identified to understand the vulnerability of industry groups as well as community to climate change impacts, and in particular understanding how changes in the flow of ecosystem services would interact with the vulnerability of these groups to impact on the linked ecologicalsocio‐economic system. Responses to disasters (particularly flooding and storm surge) and recovery responses were also identified as being of interest. An ecosystem services framework was highlighted as a useful approach to synthesising biophysical and socioeconomic information in the context of a systems based, resilience approach to NRM planning. A need was identified to develop processes to move towards such an approach to NRM planning from the current asset management approach. Examples of best practice in incorporating climate science into planning, using scenarios for stakeholder engagement in planning and processes for institutionalising learning were also identified as cross‐cutting needs. The over‐arching theme identified was the need for capacity building for the NRM bodies to best use the information available at any point in time. To this end a planners working group has been established to support the building of a network of informed and articulate NRM agents with knowledge of current climate science and capacity to use current tools to engage stakeholders in NRM planning for climate change adaptation. The planners working group would form the core group of the community of practice, with the broader group of stakeholders participating when activities aligned with their interests. In this way, it is anticipated that the Project will contribute to building capacity within the wider community to effectively plan for climate change adaptation.

Contributions of the private sector to global biodiversity protection: case study of the Fortune 500 companies

Since the inception of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992, little progress has been achieved in terms of involving the business community in protecting biological diversity worldwide. This article assesses the current activities of US Fortune 500 companies with respect to global biodiversity protection and the goals of the CBD. Data and information collected from 500 companies within eight major industrial sectors were further categorized at the company level to assess each company's involvement in global biodiversity protection. Our findings show that although companies' business profiles highly influence their decision-making process regarding the adoption of biodiversity protection policies and measures, their revenue profiles are less influential. We show that despite generating low revenues, companies in the utility sector are more active in the adoption of biodiversity protection policy than those in the financial sector, which generate high revenues. This study also demonstrates that companies must be convinced of the major effects of biodiversity loss on their bottom lines to be motivated to protect biological diversity. Companies' business and business-related risk profiles can also influence the adoption of biodiversity protection policies within the company. The study further demonstrates that a measurable biodiversity impact indicator is necessary for the companies to get seriously involved in the mitigation action. Finally, this study proposes a three-step biodiversity loss mitigation action framework that is drawn upon the assessment of the 500 companies that can contribute to develop an elaborative framework of business sector-specific mitigation plan. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Diverse urban plantings managed with sufficient resource availability can increase plant productivity and arthropod diversity

Buildings structures and surfaces are explicitly being used to grow plants, and these “urban plantings” are generally designed for aesthetic value. Urban plantings also have the potential to contribute significant “ecological values” by increasing urban habitat for animals such as arthropods and by increasing plant productivity. In this study, we evaluated how the provision of these additional ecological values is affected by plant species richness; the availability of essential resources for plants, such as water, light, space; and soil characteristics. We sampled 33 plantings located on the exterior of three buildings in the urban center of Brisbane, Australia (subtropical climatic region) over 2, 6 week sampling periods characterized by different temperature and rainfall conditions. Plant cover was estimated as a surrogate for productivity as destructive sampling of biomass was not possible. We measured weekly light levels (photosynthetically active radiation), plant CO2 assimilation, soil CO2 efflux, and arthropod diversity. Differences in plant cover were best explained by a three-way interaction of plant species richness, management water regime and sampling period. As the richness of plant species increased in a planter, productivity and total arthropod richness also increased significantly—likely due to greater habitat heterogeneity and quality. Overall we found urban plantings can provide additional ecological values if essential resources are maintained within a planter such as water, light and soil temperature. Diverse urban plantings that are managed with these principles in mind can contribute to the attraction of diverse arthropod communities, and lead to increased plant productivity within a dense urban context.

Emerging Planning Frameworks for Climate Adaptation

This chapter focuses on the more strategic activities that lead people in the regional community to decide how they want to respond to climate change. Such strategic activities include analysing, prioritising and deciding upon the best course of action. Planning for climate adaptation (usually seen to include the setting of visions and objectives, the determination of key strategies and the monitoring of broad outcomes) encompasses the strategic activities involved in the system of governance for climate adaptation. Planning occurs at all scales from global to the business, property, family and even individual scales. Applying a rapid appraisal technique, this chapter analyses the system of planning for climate adaptation as it relates to the achievement of adaptation outcomes within the Wet Tropics Cluster. It finds that some aspects of the system are healthier than others, and identifies several actions that regional NRM bodies may consider (either collectively or individually) to enhance adaptation outcomes by improving the planning system within the cluster.

Climate change, sustainability and science education

The world and its peoples are facing multiple, complex challenges and we cannot continue as we are (Moss, 2010). Earth‘s “natural capital” - nature‘s ability to provide essential ecosystem services to stabilize world climate systems, maintain water quality, support secure food production, supply energy needs, moderate environmental impacts, and ensure social harmony and equity – is seriously compromised (Gough, 2005; Hawkins, Lovins & Lovins, 1999). To further summarize, current rates of resource consumption by the global human population are unsustainable (Kitzes, Peller, Goldfinger & Wackernagel, 2007) for human and non-human species, and for future generations. Further, continuing growth in world population and global political commitment to growth economics compounds these demands. Despite growing recognition of the serious consequences for people and planet, little consideration is given, within most nations, to the social and environmental issues that economic growth brings. For example, Australia is recognised as one of the developed countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Yet, to date, responses (such as carbon pricing) have been small-scale, fragmented, and their worth disputed, even ridiculed. This is at a time referred to as ‘the critical decade’ (Hughes & McMichael, 2011) when the world’s peoples must make strong choices if we are to avert the worst impacts of climate change.

Positive development and assessment

Purpose – There has been a tendency in sustainability science to be passive. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an alternative positive framework for a more active and direct approach to sustainable design and assessment that de-couples environmental impacts and economic growth. Design/methodology/approach – This paper deconstructs some systemic gaps that are critical to sustainability in built environment management processes and tools, and reframes negative “sustainable” decision making and assessment frameworks into their positive counterparts. In particular, it addresses the omission of ecology, design and ethics in development assessment. Findings – Development can be designed to provide ecological gains and surplus “eco-services,” but assessment tools and processes favor business-as-usual. Despite the tenacity of the dominant paradigm (DP) in sustainable development institutionalized by the Brundtland Report over 25 years ago, these omissions are easily corrected. Research limitations/implications – The limitation is that the author was unable to find exceptions to the omissions cited here in the extensive literature on urban planning and building assessment tools. However, exceptions prove the rule. The implication is that it is not too late for eco-positive retrofitting of cities to increase natural and social capital. The solutions are just as applicable in places like China and India as the USA, as they pay for themselves. Originality/value – Positive development (PD) is a fundamental paradigm shift that reverses the negative models, methods and metrics of the DP of sustainable development. This paper provides an example of how existing “negative” concepts and practices can be converted into positive ones through a PD prism. Through a new form of bio-physical design, development can be a sustainability solution.

Waste not want not: Applying an old adage to the modern issue of pharmaceutical waste

Our predecessors taught us, ‘waste not, want not’ – if we did not waste anything we would always have enough. Unfortunately, we did not heed their sage advice. Over the last three centuries, human kind’s wastefulness, or lack of respect for the finite resources of this planet, has contributed to climate change and negatively impacted on ‘ecosystem services’ with a significant, irreversible loss of biodiversity...