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Tropical deforestation is responsible for around one tenth of total anthropogenic carbon emissions, and tropical protected areas (PAs) that reduce deforestation can therefore play an important role in mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services. While the effectiveness of PAs in reducing deforestation has been estimated, the impact on global carbon emissions remains unquantified. Here we show that tropical PAs overall reduced deforestation carbon emissions by 4.88 Pg, or around 29%, between 2000 and 2012, when compared to expected rates of deforestation controlling for spatial variation in deforestation pressure. The largest contribution was from the tropical Americas (368.8 TgC y −1 ), followed by Asia (25.0 TgC y −1 ) and Africa (12.7 TgC y −1 ). Variation in PA effectiveness is largely driven by local factors affecting individual PAs, rather than designations assigned by governments.

Biochar is the carbon-rich organic matter that remains after heating biomass under the minimization of oxygen during a process called pyrolysis. There are a number of reasons why biochar systems may be particularly relevant in developing-country contexts. This report offers a review of what is known about opportunities and risks of biochar systems. Its aim is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge regarding biochar science. In that sense the report also offers a reconciling view on different scientific opinions about biochar providing an overall account that shows the various perspectives of its science and application. This includes soil and agricultural impacts of biochar, climate change impacts, social impacts, and competing uses of biomass. The report aims to contextualize the current scientific knowledge in order to put it at use to address the development climate change nexus, including social and environmental sustainability. The report is organized as follows: chapter one offers some introductory comments and notes the increasing interest in biochar both from a scientific and practitioner's point of view; chapter two gives further background on biochar, describing its characteristics and outlining the way in which biochar systems function. Chapter three considers the opportunities and risks of biochar systems. Based on the results of the surveys undertaken, chapter four presents a typology of biochar systems emerging in practice, particularly in the developing world. Life-cycle assessments of the net climate change impact and the net economic profitability of three biochar systems with data collected from relatively advanced biochar projects were conducted and are presented in chapter five. Chapter six investigates various aspects of technology adoption, including barriers to implementing promising systems, focusing on economics, carbon market access, and sociocultural barriers. Finally, the status of knowledge regarding biochar systems is interpreted in chapter seven to determine potential implications for future involvement in biochar research, policy, and project formulation.

During the past two decades, the Maritime Continent (MC) has experienced increased deforestation. Here we show, with ensemble idealized deforestation experiments, that the MC deforestation could potentially alter the complexity (i.e., event‐to‐event differences) of the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in terms of its spatial pattern and temporal evolution. The deforestation model run increases the occurrences of the Central Pacific and multi‐year types of ENSO compared to the control experiments. This change in ENSO complexity can be attributed to MC's intensification of the subtropical ENSO dynamics, commonly known as the seasonal footprinting mechanism. The deforestation amplifies the mean state of the subtropical high over the northeastern Pacific, leading to an increased dominance of subtropical ENSO dynamics in determining the ENSO pattern and evolution. This idealized coupled climate modeling study suggests that MC deforestation has a potential to alter ENSO's complexity, making El Niño more complex and less predictable. Plain Language Summary This study examines how the deforestation in the maritime continent (MC) could induce a teleconnection that further alter the characteristics of El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Using the fully‐coupled Community Earth System Model, the researchers found that the sea level pressure over the North Pacific was strengthened in the idealized deforestation experiments. The anomalous high enhanced the air‐sea coupling in the subtropical northeastern Pacific which can spread into the tropical Pacific to affect ENSO properties. Climate model simulations indicate that deforestation has the potential to increases the occurrence of Central Pacific (CP) and multi‐year types of ENSO events compared to the control experiment. More CP and multi‐year ENSO events increase the challenge of predicting the characteristics of ENSO and its global impacts. This study unveils that the potential of MC deforestation in alter ENSO properties, which could have potentially serious implications for society. Key Points Maritime Continent deforestation has a potential to alter El Niño and La Niña complexities in spatial pattern and temporal evolutions Deforestation can strengthen subtropical El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dynamics causing more Central Pacific and multi‐year ENSOs The strengthened subtropical ENSO dynamics results from a deforestation‐induced intensification of the mean northeastern Pacific high

By accounting for most of the poleward atmospheric heat and moisture transport in the tropics, the Hadley circulation largely affects the latitudinal patterns of precipitation and temperature at low latitudes. To increase our preparednesses for human-induced climate change, it is thus critical to accurately assess the response of the Hadley circulation to anthropogenic emissions 1 – 3 . However, at present, there is a large uncertainty in recent Northern Hemisphere Hadley circulation strength changes 4 . Not only do climate models simulate a weakening of the circulation 5 , whereas atmospheric reanalyses mostly show an intensification of the circulation 4 – 8 , but atmospheric reanalyses were found to have artificial biases in the strength of the circulation 5 , resulting in unknown impacts of human emissions on recent Hadley circulation changes. Here we constrain the recent changes in the Hadley circulation using sea-level pressure measurements and show that, in agreement with the latest suite of climate models, the circulation has considerably weakened over recent decades. We further show that the weakening of the circulation is attributable to anthropogenic emissions, which increases our confidence in human-induced tropical climate change projections. Given the large climate impacts of the circulation at low latitudes, the recent human-induced weakening of the flow suggests wider consequences for the regional tropical–subtropical climate. Analysis of sea-level pressure measurements shows that, in agreement with the latest suite of climate models, the Hadley circulation has considerably weakened in the Northern Hemisphere over recent decades, driven by anthropogenic emissions.

Forests sustain regional humid climates crucial for the Earth System. Deforestation, through biophysical and biochemical processes, alters regional climates, particularly impacting aridity. However, deforestation's comprehensive impacts on land‐atmosphere interactions and aridity remain unclear. An idealized deforestation experiment was used to isolate its impacts. We focus on combined changes in Soil Moisture (SM) and Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) as indicators of land‐atmosphere system aridity. Results show that the Northern Hemisphere experiences a wetter land‐atmosphere system (62.3%) following deforestation, with increased SM and decreased VPD. Over 30% of regions exhibit weakened land‐atmosphere coupling, highlighting enhanced limitations in SM. Drier systems occur more in non‐arid areas, while arid regions tend to become wetter. The study also examines the physical processes underlying these changes in two contrasting regions: the drier India and the wetter Europe. Findings offer policymakers insights into regional variations in SM and VPD responses when making ecological and agricultural policies.

Fires were historically rare in tropical forests of West and Central Africa, where dense vegetation, rapid decomposition, and high moisture limit available fuels. However, increasing heat and drought combined with forest degradation and fragmentation are making these areas more susceptible to wildfires. We evaluated historical patterns of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer active fires in African tropical forests from 2003 to 2021. Trends were mostly positive, particularly in the northeastern and southern Congo Basin, and were concentrated in areas with high deforestation. Year‐to‐year variation of fires was synchronized with increasing temperature and vapor pressure deficit. There was anomalously high fire activity across the region during the 2015–2016 El Niño. These results contrast with the drier African woodlands and savannas, where fire has been decreasing. Further attention to fires in African tropical forests is needed to understand their global impacts on carbon dynamics and their local implications for biodiversity and human livelihoods. Plain Language Summary Fires have historically been rare in the moist tropical forests of West and Central Africa. However, these forests are becoming more vulnerable to fire because climate change is causing higher temperatures and drought stress in the tropics. Human activities such as agriculture, logging, and mining also fragment the remaining forests and make them more susceptible to fire. We used measurements of actively burning fires from Earth observing satellites to study how the amount of fire in African tropical forests has changed from 2003 to 2021. There were several areas with strong trends of increasing fire, mainly in the Congo Basin. In contrast, there were almost no locations where fire was decreasing. The increasing fire trends occurred in locations where deforestation was occurring and climate was becoming warmer and drier. During 2015–2016 global weather patterns caused by an exceptionally strong El Niño event were associated with higher‐than‐normal fire activity throughout the tropical forests in West and Central Africa. Increasing fire is a concern because it can release greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, reduce the amount of carbon stored in the African tropics, degrade habitats for species that live in tropical forests, and decrease the amounts of wood, food, medicine and other resources that forests provide for humans. Key Points Active fire detections increased from 2003 to 2021 across Central Africa, with positive fire trends concentrated in the Congo Basin Fire increased in areas with high deforestation and the trends were synchronized with increasing temperature and vapor pressure deficit There was higher‐than‐usual fire activity in tropical African forests associated with the exceptionally strong 2015–2016 El Niño event

In 2009, Greenpeace launched an aggressive campaign against Nestlé, accusing the organization of driving rainforest deforestation through its palm oil suppliers. The objective was to damage the brand image of Nestlé and, thereby, force the organization to make its supply chain more sustainable. Prominent cases such as these have led to the prevailing view that sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is primarily reactive and propelled by external pressures. This research, in contrast, assumes that SSCM can contribute positively to the reputation of an organization as a \"good citizen\" and, thereby, counter the impression that external stakeholder pressure is the only driver of SSCM. The study draws on Resource Dependence Theory in analyzing the three competing models of the potential stakeholder, SSCM and the corporate sustainability performance relationship. A dataset of 1,621 organizations allows the statistical comparison of these three models. Findings suggest that stakeholder pressure and SSCM both contribute to an organization's sustainability performance. Thus, supply chain managers will perceive benefits from SSCM other than merely the reduction of risk from reputational damage through stakeholder activism.

Protected areas (PAs) cover a quarter of the tropical forest estate. Yet there is debate over the effectiveness of PAs in reducing deforestation, especially when local people have rights to use the forest. A key analytic problem is the likely placement of PAs on marginal lands with low pressure for deforestation, biasing comparisons between protected and unprotected areas. Using matching techniques to control for this bias, this paper analyzes the global tropical forest biome using forest fires as a high resolution proxy for deforestation; disaggregates impacts by remoteness, a proxy for deforestation pressure; and compares strictly protected vs. multiple use PAs vs indigenous areas. Fire activity was overlaid on a 1 km map of tropical forest extent in 2000; land use change was inferred for any point experiencing one or more fires. Sampled points in pre-2000 PAs were matched with randomly selected never-protected points in the same country. Matching criteria included distance to road network, distance to major cities, elevation and slope, and rainfall. In Latin America and Asia, strict PAs substantially reduced fire incidence, but multi-use PAs were even more effective. In Latin America, where there is data on indigenous areas, these areas reduce forest fire incidence by 16 percentage points, over two and a half times as much as naïve (unmatched) comparison with unprotected areas would suggest. In Africa, more recently established strict PAs appear to be effective, but multi-use tropical forest protected areas yield few sample points, and their impacts are not robustly estimated. These results suggest that forest protection can contribute both to biodiversity conservation and CO2 mitigation goals, with particular relevance to the REDD agenda. Encouragingly, indigenous areas and multi-use protected areas can help to accomplish these goals, suggesting some compatibility between global environmental goals and support for local livelihoods.

In the field of respiratory clinical practice, the importance of measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations cannot be overemphasized. Within the body, assessment of the arterial partial pressure of CO2 (PaCO2) has been the gold standard for many decades. Non-invasive assessments are usually predicated on the measurement of CO2 concentrations in the air, usually using an infrared analyzer, and these data are clearly important regarding climate changes as well as regulations of air quality in buildings to ascertain adequate ventilation. Measurements of CO2 production with oxygen consumption yield important indices such as the respiratory quotient and estimates of energy expenditure, which may be used for further investigation in the various fields of metabolism, obesity, sleep disorders, and lifestyle-related issues. Measures of PaCO2 are nowadays performed using the Severinghaus electrode in arterial blood or in arterialized capillary blood, while the same electrode system has been modified to enable relatively accurate non-invasive monitoring of the transcutaneous partial pressure of CO2 (PtcCO2). PtcCO2 monitoring during sleep can be helpful for evaluating sleep apnea syndrome, particularly in children. End-tidal PCO2 is inferior to PtcCO2 as far as accuracy, but it provides breath-by-breath estimates of respiratory gas exchange, while PtcCO2 reflects temporal trends in alveolar ventilation. The frequency of monitoring end-tidal PCO2 has markedly increased in light of its multiple applications (e.g., verify endotracheal intubation, anesthesia or mechanical ventilation, exercise testing, respiratory patterning during sleep, etc.).

Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes analysis is one of the most useful methodologies to understand how the land was used in the past years, what types of detections are to be expected in the future, as well as the driving forces and processes behind these changes. In Ethiopia, Africa, the rapid variations of LULC observed in the last decades are mainly due to population pressure, resettlement programs, climate change, and other human- and nature-induced driving forces. Anthropogenic activities are the most significant factors adversely changing the natural status of the landscape and resources, which exerts unfavourable and adverse impacts on the environment and livelihood. The main goal of the present work is to review previous studies, discussing the spatiotemporal LULC changes in Ethiopian basins, to find out common points and gaps that exist in the current literature, to be eventually addressed in the future. A total of 25 articles, published from 2011 to 2020, were selected and reviewed, focusing on LULC classification using ArcGIS and ERDAS imagine software by unsupervised and maximum likelihood supervised classification methods. Key informant interview, focal group discussions, and collection of ground truth information using ground positioning systems for data validation were the major approaches applied in most of the studies. All the analysed research showed that, during the last decades, Ethiopian lands changed from natural to agricultural land use, waterbody, commercial farmland, and built-up/settlement. Some parts of forest land, grazing land, swamp/wetland, shrubland, rangeland, and bare/ rock out cropland cover class changed to other LULC class types, mainly as a consequence of the increasing anthropogenic pressure. In summary, these articles confirmed that LULC changes are a direct result of both natural and human influences, with anthropogenic pressure due to globalisation as the main driver. However, most of the studies provided details of LULC for the past decades within a specific spatial location, while they did not address the challenge of forecasting future LULC changes at the watershed scale, therefore reducing the opportunity to develop adequate basin-wide management strategies for the next years.