Introduction: Coping with Global Environmental Change in the Anthropocene

The Lack of Alignment among Environmental Research Infrastructures May Impede Scientific Opportunities

“…Data from ERIs are designed to directly contribute to regional monitoring of ecosystem sustainability in order to meet the SDGs. With respect to European environmental policies, climate change is already having an impact on public health, food security, security of water supply, migration, peace and security [28,29]. ERIs are contributing significantly to meeting these political visions and policies.…”

Toward a Sustainable and Resilient Future

“…Particularly in poor rural contexts, short-term coping may be a tradeoff that increases longer-term risks (UNISDR, 2009;Brauch and Oswald Spring, 2011). Adaptation, on the other hand, is often focused on minimizing potential risk to future losses (Oliver-Smith, 2007).…”

“…Human security is realized through the capacity of individuals and communities to respond to threats to their environmental, social, and human rights (GECHS, 2000; . A number of studies have assessed the relationship between climate change and human security, demonstrating that the linkages are often both complex and context-dependent (Barnett, 2003;Barnett and Adger, 2007;Brauch et al, 2008Brauch et al, , 2009Brauch et al, , 2011Buhaug et al, 2008;O'Brien et al, 2010a). Among the most likely human security threats are impacts felt through damage to health, food, water, or soil conditions (Oswald Spring, 2009a, 2011b.…”

“…Studies suggest that most migration will take place internally within individual countries; that in most cases when climatic extremes occur in developing countries they will not lead to net outmigration because people tend to return to re-establish their lives after a disaster; and that while long-term environmental changes may cause more permanent migration this will also tend to be internal (Piguet, 2008;UNDP, 2009). More negatively, forced land abandonment is stressful for migrants whose culture and sense of identity are affected (Mortreux and Barnett, 2009;Brauch and Oswald Spring, 2011). The social dislocation provoked by migration can lead to a breakdown in traditional rural institutions and associated coping mechanisms, for example, in the erosion of traditional community-based water management committees in central and west Asia (Birkenholtz, 2008).…”

“…The concepts, strategies, policies, and measures of the geopolitical and strategic toolkits of the past as well as the short-term interests dominating responses to climate change have been increasingly questioned, while the potential for unprecedented disasters has led to a consideration of the security implications of climate change (UNSC, 2007;EU, 2008;UNGA, 2009;UNSG, 2009). Concerns range from increased needs for humanitarian assistance to concerns over environmental migration, emergent diseases for humans or in food chains, potentials for conflict between nations or localities over resources, and potential for political/ governmental destabilization due to climate-related stresses in combination with other stresses, along with efforts to assign blame (Ahmed 2009;Brauch and Oswald Spring, 2011). …”