Sustainably developing global blue carbon for climate change mitigation and economic benefits through international cooperation.

Blue carbon is the carbon storage in vegetated coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrass. It is gaining global attention as its role in climate change mitigation and local welfare growth. However, a global assessment on the long-term spatiotemporal sustainable development status of blue carbon has not been conducted, and the relations among blue carbon ecosystems, driving forces for climate change mitigation, and socioeconomic interventions for development capacity on a global scale are still unclear. Here, we constructed a blue carbon development index (BCDI), comprising three subsystems: driving force, resource endowment, and development capacity, to assess the sustainable development level of 136 coastal countries' blue carbon over 24 consecutive years and explore the relationship among subsystems. We further propose a cooperation model to explore the feasibility of global blue carbon cooperation and quantify benefit allocation to specific countries. The results showed an upward trend in BCDI scores with variations in regional performance over the past two decades, and we found a positive correlation between development capacity and blue carbon resource endowment. Based on the scenario simulations of global cooperation, we found that coastal countries could improve the global average BCDI score, add 2.96 Mt of annual carbon sequestration, and generate $136.34 million in 2030 under Global Deep Cooperation scenario compared with the Business-As-Usual scenario.

Scoping review of climate change and mental health in Germany - Direct and indirect impacts, vulnerable groups, resilience factors.

Background: Climate change is a major threat to human health and has direct and indirect impacts on the human psyche. Methods: To assess the state of knowledge on the impact of climate change on mental health in Germany, a scoping review was conducted for the focus topics extreme weather events, temperature increase, intra-psychological processing, sociological aspects, and resilience factors. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria of the searches in the databases Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, PubPsych, PubMed, and PsychInfo. The majority of the studies looked at correlative relationships in a cross-sectional design. Results: There are indications of an accumulation of psychiatric disorders after extreme weather events; in addition, the risk of suicide increases with higher temperatures and it appears there is an increase in aggressive behaviour. The majority of people surveyed in Germany report concerns about the consequences of climate change, although these currently rarely lead to clinically significant impairments in mental health. Conclusions: Overall, the evidence for Germany must be classified as insufficient. In addition to the absolute priority of climate protection (mitigation) by reducing emissions, there is a particular need for additional research with a focus on vulnerable groups and possibilities for prevention and adaptation.

Perceptions, attitudes, awareness and perspectives towards sustainability practices and climate change among nurses: a systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Climate change has been described as the most significant threat to humanity and human health to have emerged this century. It is widely accepted that contemporary human activities are the major causes of climate change. It is also acknowledged that damaging human activities could be amenable to change through proactive environmental behaviours. Healthcare professionals have the potential to promote climate advocacy and mitigation through collective effort and individual actions. However, research suggests that nurses may not be aware of their potential to effect positive action. This review will synthesise evidence regarding nurses' perceptions, attitudes, awareness and perspectives towards sustainable nursing practices and climate change. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for mixed-methods systematic reviews will be applied to this proposed systematic review. It will be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. CINAHL, PsycINFO, SCOPUS and PubMed databases will be searched. Data appraisal will be completed using the JBI and Mixed Methods Assessment Tool critical appraisal tool. Data synthesis and integration will follow the JBI convergent integrated approach. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: In compliance with university ethics requirements for secondary research and postgraduate researchers, ethical approval will be sought from the Coventry University Ethics Committee, UK. Dissemination of findings will be achieved through peer-review publications, conference presentations and seminars with local, national and international audiences.

Review article: Scoping review of the characteristics and outcomes of adults presenting to the emergency department during heatwaves.

As a result of climate change heatwaves are expected to increase in frequency and intensity and will have detrimental impacts on human health globally. EDs are often the critical point of care for acute heat illnesses and other conditions associated with heat exposure. Existing literature has focused on heatwave-related hospitalisation and mortality. This scoping review aimed to identify, evaluate and summarise current literature regarding patient characteristics and outcomes of ED admissions from heatwaves. A scoping review of the literature was conducted using six databases: Medline, EMBASE, EMCARE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus, using MeSH terms and keywords related to 'heatwave' and 'Emergency Department'. Articles were included if they were: published in English from January 2000 to August 2021, related to ED, and examined high temperature periods consistent with heatwave criteria. Articles were appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Thirty-one studies were included, mostly from the United States, Australia, and France. The study designs include retrospective case analysis, case-control, and time-series analysis. Eight studies examined known heatwaves, 21 used different criteria to identify heatwave occurrence, and two focused on heat-related illness. The selected articles display a moderate-high quality on MMAT. ED admissions for both heat-related illnesses and other conditions increased during heatwaves, with up to 18.5 times risk increase. The risk was elevated for all population groups, and substantially in the elderly, male patients with certain comorbidities, medications, or lower socioeconomic status. Outcomes including hospitalisation and mortality rates after ED admissions showed positive associations with heatwaves. The heatwaves resulting from climate change will place increasing demands on EDs providing care for increasingly susceptible populations. Significant public heatwave planning across multiple sectors is required to reduce the risk of overwhelming EDs with these patients.

Measurement scales of mental health related to climate change: a scoping review protocol using artificial intelligence.

INTRODUCTION: Human actions have influenced climate changes around the globe, causing extreme weather phenomena and impacting communities worldwide. Climate change has caused, directly or indirectly, health effects such as injury and physical injuries, which impact morbidity and mortality. Similarly, there is evidence that exposure to climatic catastrophes has serious repercussions on psychological well-being, and rising temperatures and drought have detrimental effects on mental health.Despite the recent effort of researchers to develop specific instruments to assess the effects of climate change on mental health, the evidence on measures of its impact is still scarce, and the constructs are heterogeneous. The aim of this scoping review is to describe the instruments developed and validated to assess the impact of mental health related to climate change. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This review is registered at Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/zdmbk). This scoping review will follow the reporting elements chosen for systematic review and meta-analysis (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). We proposed a PO question, as it places no restrictions on the participants (P), and the outcome (O) are measurement instruments on mental health related to climate change. A search will be conducted in different databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO). We will use an open-source artificial intelligence screening tool (ASReview LAB) for the title and abstract review. The full-text review will be performed by three researchers. If there is a disagreement between two independent reviewers, a third reviewer will take the final decision. We will use the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments tool to assess the risk of bias for each included study. The review will be conducted starting in September 2023. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The planned scoping review does not require ethical approval since it will not involve an ethical risk to the participants. The results obtained from this study will be presented at conferences, congresses and scientific publications.

The cost of movement: assessing energy expenditure in a long-distant ectothermic migrant under climate change.

Migration is an energetically taxing phenomenon as animals move across vast, heterogeneous landscapes where the cost of transport is impacted by permissible ambient conditions. In this study, we assessed the energetic demands of long-distance migration in a multigenerational ectothermic migrant, the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). We tested the hypotheses that temperature-dependent physiological processes reduce energy reserves faster during migration than previously estimated, and that increasing climatic temperatures resulting from the climate crisis will intensify baseline daily energy expenditure. First, we reared monarchs under laboratory conditions to assess energy and mass conversion from fifth instar to adult stages, as a baseline for migratory adult mass and ontogenetic shifts in metabolic rate from larvae to adult. Then, using historical tag-recapture data, we estimated the movement propensity and migratory pace of autumn migrants using computer simulations and subsequently calculated energy expenditure. Finally, we estimated the energy use of monarchs based on these tag-recapture data and used this information to estimate daily energy expenditure over a 57 year period. We found support for our two hypotheses, noting that incorporating standard metabolic rate into estimates of migratory energy expenditure shows higher energy demand and that daily energy expenditure has been gradually increasing over time since 1961. Our study shows the deleterious energetic consequences under current climate change trajectories and highlights the importance of incorporating energetic estimates for understanding migration by small, ectothermic migrants.

Epidemiology and burden of dengue fever in the United States: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Dengue is currently a global concern. The range of dengue vectors is expanding with climate change, yet United States of America (USA) studies on dengue epidemiology and burden are limited. This systematic review sought to characterize the epidemiology and disease burden of dengue within the USA. METHODS: Studies evaluating travel-related and endemic dengue in US states and territories were identified and qualitatively summarized. Commentaries and studies on ex-US cases were excluded. MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, Latin American and Caribbean Center of Health Sciences Information, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination and Clinicaltrials.gov were searched through January 2022. RESULTS: 116 studies were included. In US states, dengue incidence was generally low, with spikes occurring in recent years in 2013-16 (0.17-0.31 cases/100,000) and peaking in 2019 (0.35 cases/100,000). Most cases (94%, n = 7895, 2010-21) were travel related. Dengue was more common in Puerto Rico (cumulative average: 200 cases/100,000, 1980-2015); in 2010-21, 99.9% of cases were locally acquired. There were <50 severe cases in US states (2010-17); fatal cases were even rarer. Severe cases in Puerto Rico peaked in 1998 (n = 173) and 2021 (n = 76). Besides lower income, risk factors in US states included having birds in residence, suggesting unspecified environmental characteristics favourable to dengue vectors. Commonly reported symptoms included fever, headache and rash; median disease duration was 3.5-11 days. Hospitalization rates increased following 2009 World Health Organization disease classification changes (pre-2009: 0-54%; post-2009: 14-75%); median length of stay was 2.7-8 days (Puerto Rico) and 2-3 days (US states). Hospitalization costs/case (2010 USD) were$14 350 (US states),$1764-$5497 (Puerto Rico) and$4207 (US Virgin Islands). In Puerto Rico, average days missed were 0.2-5.3 (work) and 2.5 (school). CONCLUSIONS: Though dengue risk is ongoing, treatments are limited, and dengue's economic burden is high. There is an urgent need for additional preventive and therapeutic interventions.

Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change Among Vulnerable Populations Globally: An Integrative Review.

Background: Climate change has been shown to be directly linked to multiple physiological sequelae and to impact health consequences. However, the impact of climate change on mental health globally, particularly among vulnerable populations, is less well understood. Objective: To explore the mental health impacts of climate change in vulnerable populations globally. Methods: We performed an integrative literature review to identify published articles that addressed the research question: What are the mental health impacts of climate change among vulnerable populations globally? The Vulnerable Populations Conceptual Model served as a theoretical model during the review process and data synthesis. Findings/Results: One hundred and four articles were selected for inclusion in this review after a comprehensive review of 1828 manuscripts. Articles were diverse in scope and populations addressed. Land-vulnerable persons (either due to occupation or geographic location), Indigenous persons, children, older adults, and climate migrants were among the vulnerable populations whose mental health was most impacted by climate change. The most prevalent mental health responses to climate change included solastalgia, suicidality, depression, anxiety/eco-anxiety, PTSD, substance use, insomnia, and behavioral disturbance. Conclusions: Mental health professionals including physicians, nurses, physician assistants and other healthcare providers have the opportunity to mitigate the mental health impacts of climate change among vulnerable populations through assessment, preventative education and care. An inclusive and trauma-informed response to climate-related disasters, use of validated measures of mental health, and a long-term therapeutic relationship that extends beyond the immediate consequences of climate change-related events are approaches to successful mental health care in a climate-changing world.

Nonlinear El Niño impacts on the global economy under climate change.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a consequential climate phenomenon affecting global extreme weather events often with largescale socioeconomic impacts. To what extent the impact affects the macroeconomy, how long the impact lasts, and how the impact may change in a warming climate are important questions for the field. Using a smooth nonlinear climate-economy model fitted with historical data, here we find a damaging impact from an El Niño which increases for a further three years after initial shock, amounting to multi-trillion US dollars in economic loss; we attribute a loss of US$2.1 T and US$3.9 T globally to the 1997-98 and 2015-16 extreme El Niño events, far greater than that based on tangible losses. We find impacts from La Niña are asymmetric and weaker, and estimate a gain of only US$0.06 T from the 1998-99 extreme La Niña event. Under climate change, economic loss grows exponentially with increased ENSO variability. Under a high-emission scenario, increased ENSO variability causes an additional median loss of US$33 T to the global economy at a 3% discount rate aggregated over the remainder of the 21st century. Thus, exacerbated economic damage from changing ENSO in a warming climate should be considered in assessments of mitigation strategies.

The global costs of extreme weather that are attributable to climate change.

Extreme weather events lead to significant adverse societal costs. Extreme Event Attribution (EEA), a methodology that examines how anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions had changed the occurrence of specific extreme weather events, allows us to quantify the climate change-induced component of these costs. We collect data from all available EEA studies, combine these with data on the socio-economic costs of these events and extrapolate for missing data to arrive at an estimate of the global costs of extreme weather attributable to climate change in the last twenty years. We find that US[Formula: see text] 143 billion per year of the costs of extreme events is attributable to climatic change. The majority (63%), of this is due to human loss of life. Our results suggest that the frequently cited estimates of the economic costs of climate change arrived at by using Integrated Assessment Models may be substantially underestimated.

Effects on child and adolescent health of climate change mitigation policies: A systematic review of modelling studies.

There is a growing body of modelling evidence that demonstrates the potential for immediate and substantial benefits to adult health from greenhouse gas mitigation actions, but the effects on the health of younger age groups is largely unknown. We conducted a systematic review to identify the available published evidence of the modelled effects on child and adolescent health (≤18 years of age) of greenhouse gas mitigation. We searched six databases of peer-reviewed studies published between January 1, 1990 and July 27, 2022, screened 27,282 original papers and included 23 eligible papers. All included studies were set in high- and middle-income countries; and all studies modelled the effects of interventions that could mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality. Most of the available evidence suggests positive benefits for child and adolescent respiratory health from greenhouse gas mitigation actions that simultaneously reduce air pollution (specifically PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide). We found scant evidence on child and adolescent health from regions more vulnerable to climate change, or on mitigation interventions that could affect exposures other than air pollution.

Does green credit promote firm environmental performance? A new perspective of economic growth target constraints.

Green credit encompasses financial instruments and services utilized to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and facilitate adaptation to global climate change. Establishing a long-term stable green credit institution is crucial to promoting carbon abatement goals. This study uses the difference-in-difference (DID) model to discuss the impact of green credit policy (GCP) on environmental performance based on the China industrial enterprise data. Our results show that GCP inhibits the pollution emissions and improve firm environmental performance. This improvement effect is attributed to a reduction in production scale, and financing constraints. Moreover, GCP increases the firms' exit risk from market and promotes the technological innovation of incumbent firms. Economic growth target constraints trigger a positive moderation role in the implementation of GCP. Heterogeneity results show that such improvement effect is more pronounced in state-owned firm, large-scale firms, and high R&D intensity firms. Importantly, our findings also suggest the environmental monitoring effect of green credit is dependent on the institutional quality. Only in a sound market environment can GCP effectively improve firm environmental performance. Finally, we propose to build a systematic incentives and constraints mechanism to achieve the sustainable development. The conclusions of this paper provide empirical evidence and policy implications for the implementation of GCP.

A review of economic assessments of drought risk reduction approaches in agriculture.

Due to climate change, the frequency and intensity of droughts are expected to increase. To improve resilience to droughts, proactive drought management is essential. Economic assessments are typically included to decide on the drought risk-reducing investments to make. The choice of both methods and scope of economic assessments influences the outcome, and thus the investment choice. This paper aims to identify how comprehensively economic assessments are applied in practice. Through a systematic literature review, 14 actual economic assessments are identified and their methods are evaluated based on seven criteria for economic assessments as derived from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The results show that in practice, economic assessments rarely address all criteria. Applying a limited number of criteria reduces the scope and narrows the approach, possibly leading to the underestimation of drought risk reduction approaches' related benefits. Applying the seven criteria in practice will improve the results of economic assessments of drought risk reduction measures, allowing for optimal investment selection. Based on the different criteria, a Framework for Economic Assessments of Drought Risk-Reducing Applications (FEADRRA) is proposed. Applying the criteria of the framework can support decision-makers in drought risk management and in carrying out the most fitting drought interventions.

Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment of Enhanced Rock Weathering: A Case Study from the Midwestern United States.

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) is a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy for combating climate change. The CDR potentials of ERW have been assessed at the process and national/global levels, but the environmental and economic implications of ERW have not been fully quantified for U.S. applications with real-world supply chain considerations. This study develops an optimization-based, integrated life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis framework for ERW, which is demonstrated by a case study applying mining waste to croplands in the Midwestern U.S. The case study explores maximum transportation distances for intermodal transportation at varied mineral CDR yields and costs, informing supply chain design for economically viable ERW. ERW costs (US$45 to 472/tonne of net CO2e captured) and cradle-to-farm gate GHG emissions (41 to 359 kg CO2e/tonne of CO2e captured) are estimated based on a range of CDR yields and by transportation distances to and from two Midwest port destinations: Chicago and Duluth. Our sensitivity analysis identifies CDR yields, and transportation modes and distances as driving factors for result variations. Our study reveals the importance of ERW supply chain design and provides an example of U.S. CDR implementation. Our framework and findings can be applied to other regional ERW projects.

Refined assessment of space-time changes, influencing factors and socio-economic impacts of the terrestrial ecosystem quality: A case study of the GBA.

The terrestrial ecosystem is the cradle of energy and material basis for human survival and development. However, there are large research deficits in accurately and finely depicting the quality of the terrestrial ecosystem (QTE) and assessing its changing triggers' contribution. Here, we summarized three major principles for selecting image sources in remote sensing data fusion. A continuous 30-m net vegetation productivity (NPP) dataset during 2000-2019 for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) was derived by using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford approach model and pre-fused normalized difference vegetation index. The factors' contributions to the QTE changes were quantitatively assessed. The role of the QTE in affecting the socio-economic and its behind mechanisms was quantitatively investigated. The results showed that: (1) High-quality images sources are the preference for spatio-temporal fusion of remote sensing data. Images with close month, the same season and year, and sensors should be then selected. Images of different sensors with similar spectral bandwidth, the ones from adjacent years and seasons, can be alternately considered. (2) Fine-resolution NPP has higher accuracy than coarse-resolution NPP and has marked advantages in finely characterizing the QTE. In the past 20 years, the QTE in the GBA has shown a fluctuating increasing trend (0.20 Tg C/yr). (3) Human activities contributed 54.19% of the QTE changes in the GBA, and dominates the QTE changes in the central rapidly urbanizing areas. Residual factors accounted for an overall contribution ratio of 35.71%. Climate change dominants the peripheral forest variations in the GBA. (4) In the GBA, the improvement of QTE has a significant positive socio-economic impact, it contributes to the GDP increment firstly then the GDP aggregate indirectly. Our results highlight that it is of great urgent to estimate long-term continuous NPP with high spatio-temporal resolution globally. Controlling strategies should be implemented to reduce factitious impacts on QTE. High level of ecological and environmental protection promotes the sustainable development.

Trees, Climate Change, and Health: An Urban Planning, Greening and Implementation Perspective.

The In Conversation: Boundary, Spanners, Thinkers and Policy Actors Round Table Series provides a platform for researchers, policy actors, and implementation experts to elevate discussion on emerging issues, present new and upcoming research, and facilitate conversations around impacts and possible solutions. This brief report, on trees, climate change, and health, reflects a conversation between the authors of this paper, along with supporting literature. It explores the potential of green spaces and trees as a viable strategy to address climate change challenges and simultaneously improve population health, well-being, and health equity. In particular, it highlights the public health benefits of trees and green space, the challenges faced in urban areas, and opportunities for the protection, maintenance and regeneration of urban green space.

Meta-Analysis of Heat-Stressed Transcriptomes Using the Public Gene Expression Database from Human and Mouse Samples.

Climate change has significantly increased the frequency of our exposure to heat, adversely affecting human health and industries. Heat stress is an environmental stress defined as the exposure of organisms and cells to abnormally high temperatures. To comprehensively explain the mechanisms underlying an organism's response to heat stress, it is essential to investigate and analyze genes that have been under-represented or less well-known in previous studies. In this study, we analyzed heat stress-responsive genes using a meta-analysis of numerous gene expression datasets from the public database. We obtained 322 human and 242 mouse pairs as the heat exposure and control data. The meta-analysis of these data identified 76 upregulated and 37 downregulated genes common to both humans and mice. We performed enrichment, protein-protein interaction network, and transcription factor target gene analyses for these genes. Furthermore, we conducted an integrated analysis of these genes using publicly available chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) data for HSF1, HSF2, and PPARGC1A (PGC-1α) as well as gene2pubmed data from the existing literature. The results identified previously overlooked genes, such as ABHD3, ZFAND2A, and USPL1, as commonly upregulated genes. Further functional analysis of these genes can contribute to coping with climate change and potentially lead to technological advancements.

The costs of climate activism for medical professionals: a case study of the USA, the UK, and Germany.

Following calls by medical journals and organisations to assume professional responsibility for climate change, members of the medical profession have engaged in climate activism and advocacy efforts directed at policy makers, medical institutions, colleagues, and patients. The calls for, and discussions of, their engagement have focused on the efficacy of the medical profession to raise awareness and concern regarding the issue of climate change, particularly in light of the social trust placed in doctors. The potential professional and personal costs faced by doctors involved in such efforts, including in their relationships with colleagues and the trust of their patients, have been largely ignored in these discussions. To facilitate and sustain the engagement with climate change by the medical profession, an open and transparent discussion needs to be had regarding the potential consequences of participating in such efforts. Drawing on interviews with medical professionals involved in climate activism across the USA, the UK, and Germany, this Personal View explores the experiences with and concerns regarding these costs and provides suggestions for how to mitigate them.