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Climate change impacts and migration in Bangladesh
Stojanov, Robert ; Ullah, A. ; Duží, Barbora ; Vikhrov, Dmytro
Climate change (variability) is a set of changes in the climatic system and regardless of whether it is caused by natural or anthropogenic infl uence, external or internal factors or mutual combinations, it has serious eff ects on patterns of livelihood activities and the quality of life in many regions around the world. Th is paper explores migration as an adaptation and coping strategy of people living in climate change aff ected areas in South Bangladesh. Th e occurrence of diff erent fl ood types and their impacts on the quality of human life are analysed as well as the various adaptation techniques and activities used to cope with risks of climate change. Th e paper is based on the results of a fi eld survey conducted in localities in South Bangladesh.
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Droughts in the Czech Lands during 18th century
Brázdil, Rudolf ; Řezníčková, Ladislava ; Kotyza, O. ; Valášek, H. ; Dobrovolný, Petr
Th is paper addresses dry episodes and droughts in the Czech Lands during the 18th century. It is based on various types of documentary evidence, including data describing phenomena related to drought patterns, from the occurrence of precipitation (or lack of it) to derived impacts (bad yields, water shortages, drying watercourses, etc.). Th e documentary data include various degrees of detail, but their interpretation allows work at the level of monthly resolution. Dry conditions for at least two consecutive months in a given year were considered as drought for our purposes. A total of 49 years with droughts were derived from documentary data, with the prevailing occurrence of dry months in the summer half-year (April–September: 66.0%) associated with the most severe impacts. Th is shows that probably all the droughts with two-year re-occurrence intervals were identifi ed from the documentary data available. As examples of impacts and their territorial extent, some years with severe droughts in the eastern part of the Czech Lands, Moravia, are described (1718, 1719, 1726, 1746, and 1790). Th e results obtained are an important contribution to the more broadly-oriented study of droughts in the Czech Lands during the past 500 years based on documentary and instrumental data.
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Past hydrometeorological extremes in south-western Moravia (Czech republic) derived from taxation records
Chromá, Kateřina ; Brázdil, Rudolf ; Valášek, H. ; Zahradníček, Pavel ; Dolák, L.
Historical records related to taxation at fi ve landed estates located in the south-western part of Moravia in today’s Czech Republic are employed for the study of hydrological and meteorological extremes during the 1761–1900 period. At that time, the tax system in Moravia allowed farmers to request tax relief if their crops or land were damaged by natural disaster. Th is study disclosed a total of 69 hydrometeorological events resulting in damage in the 1761–1900 period, with the highest concentration of extreme events in 1771–1799 and 1822– 1849 (together 82.6%). Of 113 extremes classifi ed, torrential rains (34.5%) and hailstorms (31.9%) were the most frequent, followed by thunderstorms, fl oods, windstorms and fl ash fl oods. June (30.4%) was the month with the highest occurrence of extreme events and July (31.0%) for classifi able extremes; in both cases their highest frequency occurred in May–August. However, the results obtained are infl uenced by uncertainties related to taxation records, such as temporal and spatial incompleteness or limitation of the vegetation period, as well as by the local occurrence of the phenomena studied, a trend demonstrated by comparison with the results of Dolák et al. (2013). Taxation records constitute a very important source of data for historical climatology and hydrology.
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Energy, carbon and economic balance of Norway spruce moncultures and near-natural forests
Plch, Radek ; Pecháček, O. ; Vala, V. ; Pokorný, Radek ; Bednář, V. ; Cudlín, Pavel
The assessment of energy, carbon and economic balances, completed by environmental load computation using the Life Cycle Assessment method, could be a useful tool for sustainable forest management examination. Th ese methods were used to compare forest stands with diff erent management in the Novohradské Mountains (Czech Republic). For this purpose, one of the main forest management set of stands in the research area was chosen. Th e diff erences between energy and carbon effi ciency were small while the diff erences between economic effi ciency were considerable for all the alternatives. From all the alternatives, higher energy, carbon and economic effi ciency for Norway spruce monoculture were achieved; however, abiotic and biotic disturbances have not been included in the calculation yet. Th e main part of energy inputs and carbon emission consists of silviculture and timber transport.
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Commuting patterns of Czech households exposed to flood risk
Vikhrov, Dmytro ; Stojanov, Robert ; Duží, Barbora ; Jakubínský, Jiří
Using unique data collected in October – December 2012 we estimate the link between commuting to work and the level of household exposure to fl oods. Th e result suggests an empirical puzzle – individuals aff ected by only one fl ood are roughly 10% more likely to engage in commuting, whereas those aff ected by two fl oods are 13% less likely to do so. We explain the result by the fact that individuals commute to work to accumulate resources in order to decrease the household’s vulnerability to fl ood risk, amongst other reasons. When the fl ood risk is high, some households out – migrate, and stayers commute less, probably for similar reasons as why they stay. Further, we fi nd evidence in support of the “network eff ect” hypothesis – an individual with an active commuter in the household is 47% more likely to commence commuting.
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Comparison of corrected and uncorrected model simulations in the perspective of climate change in the area of the Czech Republic
Štěpánek, Petr ; Farda, Aleš ; Zahradníček, Pavel ; Skalák, Petr
In recent years, simulations from various regional climate models became available for the area of the Czech Republic, thanks to several national and international projects (e.g. the EC FP6 projects CECILIA, ENSEMBLES or the national project VaV SP/1a6/108/07). Th e simulations of all the models were performed according to the IPCC A1B emission scenario with various spatial resolutions. Since models suff er from biases, the model outputs were statistically corrected using the quantile approach of M. Déqué. Aft er correction, the RCM outputs were statistically processed and analyzed, especially for air temperature and precipitation, but also for other elements (like relative humidity, wind speed and sunshine duration). In this study, the diff erences between models outputs, as well as the corrected and uncorrected results, are presented.
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Household adaptation strategies to floods.The case study of the Bečva river basin, the Czech Republic
Duží, Barbora ; Vikhrov, Dmytro ; Stojanov, Robert ; Jakubínský, Jiří
Th is paper investigates household adaptation strategies in a region aff ected by repeated fl oods, focused on the period from 1997 to 2012. Th e main research question pay attention to the overall state of household adaptation measures and whether we can discover some progress in response to repeated fl ooding from the various sources of the Bečva river basin. Th e target area is located along the upper and middle parts of the Bečva river basin in the eastern part of the Czech Republic. Th e research was conducted during autumn and winter 2012. In the empirical part, we use a mixed methodology and case study approach. Firstly, we conducted qualitative research through in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders in the region (N=21), to serve as an initial leadup to the issue. Th en we proceeded with quantitative research by conducting door-to-door questionnaires with household residents (N=304) in risk zones in relation to fl ood occurrence, to fi nd out which factors infl uence adaptation strategies. Th e qualitative research revealed that most of the respondents were aware of the limits of regional adaptation measures that have been taken up to now. Quantitative research detected that household adaptation to repeated fl oods has slowly improved. Generally speaking, although regional bodies and households have taken some adaptation measures to fl oods, complex ways of adjusting to climate extremes remain underdeveloped.
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Valutation of ecosystem services provided by habitat on the basis of biodiversity characteristics and the rate and sustainability of selected ecosystem functions
Cudlín, Pavel ; Prokopová, Marcela ; Cudlín, O.
Increasing human impacts on ecosystems result in a continuous decrease in biodiversity; scientists try to estimate the consequences in ecosystem functioning and ecosystem service (ES) provision. A suitable space framework to study this relationship could be the habitat and its relative value expressed by the monetary valuation of a selected fi nal ES. A cross connection of the methods for ecosystem functioning assessment with biodiversity valuation of habitats would enable an estimation of the role of biodiversity in ES provision. It is necessary to identify not only present functioning, described by eff ect traits, but also its sustainability under global environmental change conditions, described by response traits. Th is approach could reveal the resilience and adaptation potential of present habitats to environmental change and subsequently potential changes in ES provision.
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Analysis of temporal variability and spatial characteristics of heat waves in central Europe using extremity index
Lhotka, Ondřej ; Kyselý, Jan
Heat waves have severe consequences on natural environment and society. Th e majority of studies defined heat waves from station data only, so there is a need to examine these events not only from the aspect of point characteristics of air temperature and duration, but also from the view of their spatial extent. In this study, heat waves over Central Europe were analysed using the gridded E-OBS dataset. Th e extremity index of heat waves, which takes into account their spatial extent, duration, and peak temperature, was proposed and used to analyse variability of heat waves over Central Europe from 1950 to present. We delimited 220 hot days and 21 heat waves and computed the extremity index for each heat wave. Th e eight most signifi cant heat waves based on the extremity index were visualized. Temporal variability of hot days and heat waves was analysed and we demonstrate that the number of hot days and the severity of heat waves have been increasing.
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Subseasonal temperature trends in Europe (1961-2000) and their links to atmospheric circulation
Cahynová, Monika ; Pokorná, Lucie
We use daily maximum and minimum temperatures and the daily temperature range from 136 stations in Europe in the period 1961–2000 to precisely locate their seasonal and subseasonal trends within the year. Linear trends are calculated for moving “subseasons” of 10, 20, 30, 60, and 90 days, each shifted by one day. Over most of Europe, the observed warming is greatest in winter. In Iceland and the Mediterranean, a pronounced warming is only present in summer. Significant autumn cooling was found in Eastern and Southeastern Europe for both TX and TN. Other non-warming periods occur in Western and Central Europe in February, April, and late June. Trends of DTR are inconclusive. Changes in the frequency of atmospheric circulation types usually explain a substantial part of the observed climatic trends; however, the influence varies between regions, times of the year, subseason lengths, numbers of circulation types, and input variables for the classification of circulation types.
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