An Analysis of Liberia’s Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Context of Least Developed Countries (LDCs): A Review

Climate change is an alarming global challenge, particularly affecting the least developed countries (LDCs) including Liberia. These countries, located in regions prone to unpredictable temperature and precipitation changes, are facing significant challenges, particularly in climate-sensitive sectors such as mining and agriculture. LDCs need more resilience to adverse climate shocks but have limited capacity for adaptation compared to other developed and developing nations. This paper examines Liberia’s susceptibility to climate change as a least developed country, focusing on its exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. It provides an overview of LDCs and outlines the global distribution of carbon dioxide emissions. The paper also evaluates specific challenges that amplify Liberia’s vulnerability and constrain sustainable adaptation, providing insight into climate change’s existing and potential effects. The paper emphasizes the urgency of addressing climate impacts on Liberia and calls for concerted local and international efforts for effective and sustainable mitigation efforts. It provides recommendations for policy decisions and calls for further research on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

A Study of English Translation Strategies of Subtitles of the Domestic Animated Film Chang’an from the Perspective of Eco-translatology

This article conducts an analysis and exploration of the English subtitles translation of the domestic animated film Chang’an from the perspective of eco-translatology.Taking three-dimensional transformation as the entry point,it analyzes the adaptation and selection of subtitle translators in the translation process from the dimensions of language,culture,and communication in Chang’an,aiming to enrich the practical analysis of eco-translatology and provide valuable insights and references for the theoretical construction and practical application of eco-translatology.This article enriches the practical analysis of eco-translatology and also validates to a certain extent the applicability of“three-dimensional”transformation.

Trend of Salt Lake Changes in the Background of Global Warming and Tactics for Adaptation to the Changes

Salt lakes are a mirror of climatic changes and provide holographic records of environmental changes of lakes. According to a study of geological hazards in typical salt lake areas in China and other regions, the authors explain how geological hazards in salt lake areas are caused by natural agents and how humans can seek benefits, avoid hazards and reduce losses on the premise that they have monitored and mastered the trend of salt lake changes in advance and even can store flood and recharge water in lakes and extract saline resources. The climate in western China is probably turning from warm-dry to warm-moist. The authors analyze the change trend of salt lakes sensu lato (with salinity≥0.3 wt% (NaCl)eq) and salt lakes sensu stricto (with salinity ≥3.5 wt% (NaCl)eq) in China in such climatic conditions and distinguish three types of salt lake areas (i.e. lake water rising type, lake water falling type and lake water rising and unstable type) according to the characteristics of lake water rising and shrinking. In order to conform to the climatic and lake changes in China's salt lake areas, the authors propose to add and improve hydrological and meteorological observation stations and integrate observations with remote sensing monitoring in important salt lake areas and set up multidisciplinary and interdepartmental basic projects to monitor and study recent climatic and environmental changes in salt lake areas of western China. Moreover, it is necessary to build additional flood-control and drought-preventing water conservancy facilities in key salt lake areas and work out measures for ecological protection in salt lake areas. Full consideration should be given to the influence of flooding when building saltfields and implementing capital projects.

A Lane Change Model Considering the Stability of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control Platoon Fleet

In this article,lane change models for mixed traffic flow under cooperative adaptive cruise control(CACC)platoon formation are established.The analysis begins by examining the impact of lane changes on traffic flow stability.The influences of various factors such as lane change locations,timing,and the current traffic state on stability are discussed.In this analysis,it is assumed that the lane change location and the entry position in the adjacent lane have already been selected,without considering the specific intention behind the lane change.The speeds of the involved vehicles are adjusted based on an existing lane change model,and various conditions are analyzed for traffic flow disturbances,including duration,shock amplitude,and driving delays.Numerical calculations are provided to illustrate these effects.Additionally,traffic flow stability is factored into the lane change decision-making process.By incorporating disturbances to the fleet into the lane change income model,both a lane change intention model and a lane change execution model are constructed.These models are then compared with a model that does not account for stability,leading to the corresponding conclusions.

Effects of the adaptations to climate changes on the income of herdsmen in Qinghai Province

This study aims to implement the empirical analysis of the effects of the adaptive measures on the income of herdsmen in the context of the climate change with the positive mathematical programming(PMP)model.The survey was first implemented in three counties in the Three Headwaters Region.Finally the measures and recommendations suitable for the economic development in the ecologically fragile areas were proposed.The main conclusions are as follows:priority can be given to the measures to prevent the damage from rats and the engineering measures for pasture maintenance in Zeku County,where the geological conditions and grass quality are inferior,while the fiscal subsidy can be prioritized in Tongde County where the grassland area is relatively less.These recommendations can not only provide good reference for the protection of grassland resources,but they also lay a foundation for the implementation of more suitable measures to help the herdsmen in the ecologically fragile areas to adapt to the climate change.

Dosimetric consequences of tumor volume changes after kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography for non-operative lung cancer during adaptive intensity-modulated radiotherapy or fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate tumor volume changes with kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography （kV-CBCT） and their dosimetric consequences for non-operative lung cancer during intensity-modulated radiotherapy （IMRT） or fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy. Methods Eighteen patients with non-operative lung cancer who received IMRT consisting of 1.8-2.2 Gy/fraction and five fractions per week or stereotactic radiotherapy with 5-8 Gy/fraction and three fractions a week were studied, kV-CBCT was performed once per week during IMRT and at every fraction during stereotactic radiotherapy. The gross tumor volume （GTV） was contoured on the kV-CBCT images, and adaptive treatment plans were created using merged kV-CBCT and primary planning computed tomogra- phy image sets. Tumor volume changes and dosimetric parameters, including the minimum dose to 95% （D95） or 1% （D1） of the planning target volume （PTV）, mean lung dose （MLD）, and volume of lung tissue that received more than 5 （Vs）, 10 （Vl0）, 20 （V20）, and 30 （V30） Gy were retrospectively analyzed. Results The average maximum change in GTV observed during IMRT or fractionated stereotactic radio- therapy was -25.85% （range, -13.09% --56.76%）. The D95 and Dr of PTV for the adaptive treatment plans in all patients were not significantly different from those for the initial or former adaptive treatment plans. In patients with tumor volume changes of 〉20% in the third or fourth week of treatment during IMRT, adap- tive treatment plans offered clinically meaningful decreases in MLD and V5, V10, V20, and V30; however, in patients with tumor volume changes of 〈 20% in the third or fourth week of treatment as well as in patients with stereotactic radiotherapy, there were no significant or clinically meaningful decreases in the dosimetric parameters. Conclusion Adaptive treatment planning for decreasing tumor volume during IMRT may be beneficial for patients who experience tumor volume changes of 〉20% in the third or fourth week of treatment.

Characterizing Vulnerability of Crop-Based Rural Systems to Climate Change and Variability: Agro-Ecology Specific Empirical Evidence from the Dabus Watershed, North-West Ethiopia

Climate change is impacting climate sensitive rural livelihood systems. Exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of agricultural livelihoods to climate variability and change differ across agro-ecologies and these pose a challenge to climate resilient development strategy. This study assesses agro-ecology specific vulnerability of smallholder farmers to climate change and variability in the Dabus Watershed (North-west Ethiopia), based on a survey of 734 farm households complemented with focus group discussion and key informant interviews. Recognizing the physiographic and climatic diversity that exists across agro-ecologies in the study area, Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) framed within the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) vulnerability framework (LVI-IPCC) is adapted to assess agro-ecology specific vulnerability in two local agro-ecologies, namely wet lowland and dry lowland. For each agro-ecology, exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity indices as well as LVI-IPCC vulnerability score was calculated. The result shows that the dry lowland agro-ecology has a relatively higher exposure and sensitivity to climate stresses with a comparatively limited adaptive capability. On the other hand, the wet lowland agro-ecology exhibits intermediate vulnerability with a relatively lower perceived exposure and higher adaptive capacity. Higher exposure relative to adaptive capacity resulted in a positive LVI-IPCC score in the dry lowland agro-ecology and positioned it in more vulnerable level than the wet lowland. A higher adaptive capacity relative to exposure unveils a negative LVI-IPCC score for the wet lowland agro-ecology and positioned it in a moderate vulnerability category. In line with the findings, there is a need to set agro-ecology specific priorities for intervention that is most needed to cop up with the effects of climate variability and change in each agro-ecology. Climate risk exposure levels can be reduced through timely provision of climate specific information and early warning systems aimed at enhancing preparedness of farm households to extreme events. It is also crucial to expand availability of infrastructural facilities such as market, health services, and veterinary services so as to enhance adaptive capacity. Supporting alternative livelihood options and enhancing water harvesting practices for supplementary irrigation also call policy attention.

A Review of Assessment and Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change Impacts on the Coastal Areas in South China

This paper reviews assessment of climate change impacts on economy, society and ecological environment in the coastal areas of South China based on published literatures; it also proposes suitable adaptation strategies and counter- measures. Review shows that climate change has resulted in sea level rise in the coastal areas of South China, increasing the occurrence and intensity of storm surges, aggravating the influence of saltwater intrusion, coastal erosion, urban drainage and flood control, threatening the coastal facility and infrastructures, inundating lowland areas, offsetting mudflat silting, and degrading mangroves and corm reef ecosystem. Therefore, in order to reduce the adverse effects of climate change and to support the sustainable development in the coastal areas of South China, it is critical to improve the monitoring and early warning system, enhance prevention criteria, fortify coastal protection engineering, strengthen saltwater prevention, and reinforce the ecological restoration and protection.

A history of tourism at the Mer de Glace: Adaptations of glacier tourism to glacier fluctuations since 1741

Climate change induces profound changes in mountain territories that affect the activities pursued there.Tourism is one activity that is strongly impacted by these changes.Most research on tourism in mountain regions has focused on winter sports tourism,but glacier tourism,a summer activity,is also severely affected by climate change-induced phenomena,including glacier retreat and other geomorphological processes.Given that Alpine glacier tourism has been pursued since the 18th century and glaciers have been changing throughout this period,this article aims to examine the adaptations implemented by glacier tourism operators since the activity’s beginnings.Through analysis of historical documents,glaciological surveys and semi-structured interviews,this paper reveals how tourism activities around the Mer de Glace(the largest French glacier)have been impacted by glacier fluctuations since the first visit to the area in 1741.The study reveals that these developments have mainly been driven by glacier retreat and associated paraglacial dynamics.More recently,the shortening of the period of snow cover on the glacier has also impacted tourism activities.Most of the adaptation strategies implemented by tourism operators during the period in question are found to be reactive,consisting in the installation of safety equipment,the renovation of access points or the building of new structures to allow tourist activities to continue despite the consequences of glacier retreat.Other strategies,such as the adoption of new activities by workers previously specialised in another,are identified that could be considered transformative strategies,although these were only adopted by workers when their activity was no longer feasible.The analysis of materials from 1741 to the present also reveals that the recent impacts of climate change on glacier tourism are much more significant and diverse than those produced by past fluctuations.Therefore,it is important that stakeholders take suitable measures to ensure the sustainable future of the Mer de Glace and other glacier tourism destinations.

Irrigated Agriculture Facing the Challenge of Climate Change: Adaptation Strategies for Farmers in the Irrigated Perimeters of Môle Saint-Nicolas, Haiti

Môle Saint-Nicolas, like all other communes in the Republic of Haiti, faces increasing climate variability, impacting agricultural production and water resources. Consequently, there is a pressing need for adaptation to these climatic changes. This research aims to showcase the adaptation strategies deployed by farmers to cope with the increasing climate variability. Surveys were conducted through group and individual discussions with a randomly selected cohort of 150 farmers. Two types of analysis were performed: quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative data analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The findings reveal that farmers have perceived changes in rainfall patterns, temperature, wind, and their environment. These changes manifest as irregular rainfall, higher temperatures, prolonged drought periods, violent winds accompanied by rain, premature cessation of rains, and reduced flow from water sources. In response, the most common adaptation strategies adopted include selecting new cultivars, early-maturing varieties, crop rotation and diversification, canal dredging, new soil preparation methods, upstream water source protection, and micro-watershed management. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to enhancing farmers’ adaptive capacities by alerting stakeholders in the irrigated perimeters about the consequences of climate change, thereby incorporating the real needs of farmers in future projects.

Farmers’ Knowledge and Perceptions of the Effects of Climate Variability and Pollution on Crop Production and Their Varying Adaptation Strategies in The Gambia

Crop and livestock production is critical to food security in The Gambia. Over the years, the country has experienced a reduced yield due to perceived climate change events with limited studies on how climate change and pollution affect crop production. This study assesses farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of the effects of climate variability and pollution on crop production and their varying adaptation strategies in The Gambia. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. The sample size for quantitative data collection was calculated as 432 while the qualitative data involves both the focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The focus group discussions comprised two districts in each of the six agricultural regions and two farming communities engaged in crop production were chosen from each district. Furthermore, eight key informant interviews from relevant institutions were conducted. The study shows that The Gambia is highly vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Although most farmers opined that agricultural land contamination emanates from farm runoff and indiscriminate waste dumping, they had little knowledge of heavy metal pollution and bioremediation. The results showed that farmers experienced constraints such as inadequate access to credit, water, and irrigation facilities, insufficient access to efficient inputs, salt intrusion, etc. which threatened food security. The study concludes that crop farmers acknowledged the existence and impacts of climate change, and therefore recommend the availability and affordability of climate change resilient crops and promote variability awareness campaigns to address climate change impacts in The Gambia.

The Use of Indigenous Knowledge in Predicting Changes in Seasonal Rainfall by Smallholder Farmers of Ruteete Subcounty, Kabarole District

Climate change has become a serious global challenge. Developing countries are the worst affected due to poor response mechanism to associated disasters. This study examined the application of the indigenous knowledge (IK) methods to predict the changes in seasonal rainfall. The study used data collected through individual interviews using a structured questionnaire. The study found vegetation changes (i.e. shading off leaves, excessive branching);changes in animal behavior (i.e. eating soil, restlessness), and other atmospheric indicators (i.e. changes in wind, color of stars and moon, earthquake, migrating of birds, swarming of bees, cold windy mornings and warm nights) being used to observe and monitor the changes in rainfall over the season. The study recommends a more detailed study to validate the IK and integrate it with the scientific knowledge so as to reduce local farmers’ vulnerability, increase resilience and strengthen their adaptive capacity to cope with climate change effects.

Perceptions of Bark Beetle Landscape Disturbance Effects on Natural Resources and Drinking Water: Assessing Communication and Knowledge Exchange in the Rocky Mountain Region, USA

Widespread changes to forested watersheds affected by the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) epidemic across western North America raised concerns about the effects of this climate-induced disturbance on drinking water and natural resources. Effective communication and knowledge exchange across scientists and stakeholders (i.e., drinking water managers) is essential for constructively responding to such landscape scale disturbances, providing improved adaptive capacity through knowledge sharing. An assessment of stakeholder knowledge levels, information needs, primary concerns, and suggested communication strategies were conducted via an online elicitation survey and World Science Café workshops. Knowledge levels, assessed via a survey of local water managers and experts, were relatively low with approximately half of the respondents reporting little to no knowledge of the effects of mountain pine beetle on drinking water quality and quantity, thereby indicating limited knowledge exchange between scientists and drinking water stakeholders. Increased accessibility and dissemination of research findings pertinent to the mountain pine beetle epidemic’s effects on drinking water quality and quantity is necessary for natural resource management. Recommendations for improved communication among scientists and drinking water stakeholders in particular and forest health in general include dispersal of non-academic research summaries, information exchange through existing media and community resources, demonstration projects, and information clearinghouses. This information provides a better understanding of the challenges, concerns, and first-hand experience of stakeholders of a landscape disturbance issue to apply this knowledge to enhance land management practice and how researchers on this overall project enhanced science communication efforts.

The Role of Certificates and Labels for Cocoa in the Face of Climate Change: A Scientific Review

Climate change threatens cocoa quality, raising concerns regarding sustainable premium cocoa production. Evaluating the effectiveness of certification standards is imperative to address this concern effectively. A multi-stage method was employed for a systematic review of 39 peer-reviewed articles to highlight the impacts of climate change on the biophysical environment of cocoa and its implications for adapting Geographical Indications (GIs). Additionally, a comprehensive review was conducted on climate-relevant standards of certificates in Ecuador, Indonesia, and Ghana. The findings of this study provide practical insights into possible difficulties that cocoa-producing countries may encounter in maintaining the distinctive flavours and quality trademarks of cocoa in the face of changing climate. Moreover, the findings emphasize the need for producer countries to prioritize viable adaptation and product differentiation strategies that meet sustainable marketing standards to protect GIs or place-based intellectual property. Furthermore, the findings indicate certificates require effective multi-level climate change management and environmental-social-governance principles that promote scientifically proven mitigation strategies, such as increasing soil organic carbon, zero deforestation, and reducing emissions while striving to leverage local adaptation policies to reduce location-specific vulnerability. Finally, certificates can accelerate the expansion, intensification, and redistribution of sustainable production for gains that outweigh the inconveniences caused by climate change.

Understanding Farmers’ Perceptions of and Adaptations to Climate Change and Variability: The Case of the Maritime, Plateau and Savannah Regions of Togo

Togolese agriculture is predominantly rain-fed and hence fundamentally dependent on the vagaries of weather. Thus, it is negatively affected by climate change. The present study assesses farmers’ perceptions and adaptation to climate change to enhance policy towards tackling the challenges climate change poses to the farmers in the study area. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logit (MNL) were used to analyze data obtained from a cross-sectional survey executed during the 2013/2014 agricultural production year in the maritime, plateau and savannah regions of Togo. The analysis of farmers’ perception to climate change reveals high increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall. These results are in line with the trend analysis of climate data that records from 1961 to 2013 about the study area especially on the temperature. Furthermore, the results show that crop diversification, change in crops, find off-farm jobs, change of the amount of land, change of the planting date and plant short season variety are the adaptation methods employed by the farmers. Moreover, with respect to the multinomial logit analysis, the results highlight that education level, farming experience, access extension services, access to credit and access to climate information are the factors that enhance farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change and variability. Thus, there is room for better adaptation if government intensifies activities of extension workers and ensures that farmers have access to affordable credit schemes to increase their ability and flexibility to adopt adaptation measures. There is also a need to include climate change communication to facilitate exchange of climatic information that could enable smallholder farmers to adapt to changing planting dates. Finally, investment in education systems and creation of off-farm job opportunities in the rural areas can be underlined as a good policy option.

Development of a Web-Based GIS of Flood Zones in the Municipality of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso

This document describes the creation of an informative Web GIS aimed at mitigating the impacts of flooding in the municipality of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, a region that is highly sensitive to climate change. Burkina Faso, which is undergoing rapid urbanization, faces major natural threats, particularly flooding, as demonstrated by the severe floods of 2009 that caused loss of life, injury, structural damage and economic losses in Ouagadougou. The aim of this research is to develop a web map highlighting the municipality’s flood-prone areas, with a view to informing and raising awareness of flood risk reduction. Using the Leaflet JavaScript mapping library, the study uses HTML, CSS and JavaScript to implement web mapping technology. Data on Ouagadougou’s flood zones is generated by a multi-criteria analysis combining Saaty’s AHP method and GIS in QGIS, integrating seven (7) parameters including hydrography, altitude, slope, rainfall, soil types, land use and soil moisture index. QGIS processes and maps the themes, PostgreSQL with PostGIS serves as the DBMS and GeoServer functions as the map server. The Web GIS platform allows users to visualize the different flood risks, from very low to very high, or the high-risk areas specific to Ouagadougou. The AHP calculations classify the municipality into five flood vulnerability zones: very low (24.48%), low (27.93%), medium (23.01%), high (17.11%) and very high (7.47%). Effective risk management requires communication and awareness-raising. This online mapping application serves as a tool for communication, management and flood prevention in Ouagadougou, helping to mitigate flood-related natural disasters.

From Climate to Global Change:Following the Footprint of Prof.Duzheng YE's Research

To commemorate 100 years since the birth of Professor Duzheng YE, this paper reviews the contribution of Ye and his research team to the development from climate to global change science in the past 30 or so years, including：（1） the role of climate change in global change;（2） the critical time scales and predictability of global change;（3） the sensitive regions of global change—transitional zones of climate and ecosystems; and（4） orderly human activities and adaptation to global change, with a focus on the development of a proactive strategy for adaptation to such change.

Indicator of Agriculture Vulnerability to Climatic Extremes. A Conceptual Model with Case Study for the Northeast Brazil

The Northeast Brazil (NEB) is known for its temporal and spatial variability of precipitation. Several studies have investigated this variability in order to understand the damaging episodes such as droughts and floods. The phenomenon of drought in the NEB is a complex topic due to affecting?millions of people and being?the object of study in several fields of knowledge. One way to try to argue about this phenomenon is through the concept of vulnerability. The “operability” of this broad concept in natural disasters is a complex task. In order to measure an indicator of vulnerability it is necessary large amount of data from different areas of knowledge, among which?include: meteorology, socio-environmental, economic, public health, among other areas. The main objective of this study is to create an index of vulnerability to climate extremes (drought and flood) for the NEB and to compare this rate with those found in the scientific literature. The data that will be used in this study are from ANA (Agência Nacional das águas), IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Georgrafia e Estatística), and Ministry of National integration.

On Sustainable Development and the Adaptation to the Impact of Global Change

In this paper, the relationship between sustainable development and the adaptation to the impacts of global change is discussed. With relevant issues in northwestern and coastal areas of China as examples, it is shown that both the problems of adaptation and sustainable development are of a systematic nature.

Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity Assessment of the Moroccan Coastal Zone to the Future Sea Level Rise

The coast of Morocco is,in many locations, physically and socio-economically vulnerable to accelerated sea-level rise,due to its low topography and its high ecological,economic and touristic values. Assessment of the potential land loss by inundation and erosion,based on a modeling approach and Geographical Information Systems(GIS),has enabled to identify both locations and the socioeconomic sectors that