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Land cover map of Delaware (U.S.A.): 2016 (Latitude: 38° 27′ N to 39° 50′ N; Longitude: 75° 3′ W to 75° 47′ W) (based on data from (MRLC n.d.)).
Source publication
Delaware’s (DE) Climate Action Plan lays out a pathway to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 26% by 2025 but does not consider soil-based GHG emissions from land conversions. Consequently, DE’s climate action plan fails to account for the contribution of emissions from ongoing land development economic activity to climate change. Sou...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... experienced changes in land use/land cover (LULC) over the 15-year period from 2001 to 2016 (Table 11 and Figure 3), which resulted in GHG emissions from soils. Changes varied by soil order and original LULC classification, with most soil orders experiencing area losses in "low disturbance" LULC classes (e.g., evergreen forest, hay/pasture) while gaining in the areas of "developed" LULC classes. ...
Context 2
... experienced changes in land use/land cover (LULC) over the 15−year period from 2001 to 2016 (Table 11, 12, 13, Figures 3, 4), which resulted in GHG emissions from soils. Changes varied by soil order and original LULC classification, with most soil orders experiencing area losses in "low disturbance" LULC classes (e.g., evergreen forest, hay/pasture) while gaining in the areas of "developed" LULC classes. ...
Context 3
... level rise will have a dramatic impact on many coastal communities in DE (Figure 4b), causing human and infrastructure damages with the forced relocation of both people and infrastructure. The cost of damages associated with sea-level rise will be dramatically higher than the estimated realized social costs of C (Figure 4a) because of the high density of human development in coastal areas (Figure 3). ...
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The question of liability (responsibility) for loss and damage (L&D) associated with climate change often ignores the liability for L&D from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which are the source of climate change-related impacts. New York State (NYS) recognizes its responsibility regarding climate change as documented in the NYS Climate Leadership an...
Conflicts of interest (COI) are an integral part of human society, including their influence on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. Individuals or entities often have multiple interests ranging from financial benefits to reducing climate change-related risks, where choosing one interest may negatively impact other interests and socie...
Citations
... It is important to quantify these past losses in order to understand the magnitude and geospatial distribution of these losses to avoid unsustainable development in the future. This research demonstrated a method to quantify and map these losses, which can be used in climate change attribution science to address loss and damage (L&D) and other issues (e.g., equity, fairness, justice, etc.) [46,47]. ...
Land, including soil resources, makes important contributions to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there are challenges in identifying land/soil measurable information (e.g., indicators, metrics, etc.) to monitor the progress toward achieving these goals. This study examines the role of land/soil in selected SDGs (SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; SDG 13: Climate Action; SDG 15: Life on Land) and provides practical examples on how to use geospatial analysis to track relevant qualitative and quantitative land/soil data using the contiguous United States of America (USA) as a case study. The innovative aspect of this study leverages geospatial technologies to track the intersection of land use/ land cover (LULC) change and soil resources to quantify development trends within the overall land cover matrix to evaluate if these trends are sustainable. Classified land cover data derived from satellite-based remote sensing were used to identify the extent of developed areas in 2016 and the change in development areas since 2011. Most land development through time in the USA has caused losses (area loss of nearly 355,600 km2, with projected midpoint losses of about 5.7 × 1012 kg total soil carbon (TSC) and about $969B (where B = billion = 109, USD) in social costs of carbon dioxide emissions, SC-CO2). All ten soil orders present in the contiguous USA experienced losses from developments, which represents a loss for both biodiversity and soil diversity (pedodiversity). The contiguous USA experienced an increase in land/soil consumption between 2001 and 2016 at the expense of deciduous forest (-3.1%), evergreen forest (-3.0%), emergent herbaceous wetlands (-0.6%), and hay/pasture (-7.9%). These “new” land developments (24,292.2 km2) caused a complete projected midpoint loss of 4.0 × 1011 kg TSC, equivalent to $76.1B SC-CO2. States with the largest developed areas and the highest TSC losses with associated SC-CO2 were Texas and Florida. The proposed methodology used in this study can be applied worldwide, at various spatial scales, to help monitor SDGs over time. With improved tools to monitor SDGs, progress on these SDGs may require linking the SDGs to existing or future international and national legal frameworks.
... According to Baldrich (2021) [36], the relatively new legal science of "attribution science is divided into three types: (1) source attribution, (2) climate attribution, and (3) impact attribution". Mikhailova et al. (2022) [37] demonstrated the importance of source attribution in "detecting and attributing sources of climate change impacts". Using the state of Delaware as an example, Mikhailova et al. (2022) [37] demonstrated a "methodology to determine the source attribution of soil-based GHG emissions linked to land cover change, which could be used for current or future impact attribution". ...
... Mikhailova et al. (2022) [37] demonstrated the importance of source attribution in "detecting and attributing sources of climate change impacts". Using the state of Delaware as an example, Mikhailova et al. (2022) [37] demonstrated a "methodology to determine the source attribution of soil-based GHG emissions linked to land cover change, which could be used for current or future impact attribution". ...
Loss and damage (L&D) from climate change result from past and current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Current definitions of L&D exclude GHG emissions even though they represent L&D to human beings and the environment. This study’s objective was to identify and quantify the L&D from GHG emissions associated with land developments using the state of Florida (FL) in the United States of America (USA) as a case study. All land developments in FL caused various L&D (20,249.6 km2, midpoint 3.0 × 1011 of total soil carbon (TSC) losses with midpoint $50.3B (where B = billion = 109, USD) in social costs of carbon dioxide emissions, SC-CO2), while “new” land developments (1703.7 km2) in the period from 2001 to 2016 caused a complete loss of midpoint 2.8 × 1010 kg of TSC resulting in midpoint $4.5B SC-CO2. These emissions are currently not accounted for in FL’s total carbon footprint (CF). Climate-change-related damages in FL include permanent losses (e.g., land losses), with 47 out of 67 FL’s counties potentially affected by the projected sea-level rise and repairable damages (e.g., destruction from hurricanes). Based on the fixed social cost of carbon (C), there appears to be a disconnect between the value attributed to soil-based emissions and the actual market-driven losses from climate-change-associated costs. The social cost of C could be scaled based on the vulnerability of a particular community and the market-based cost of L&D mitigation. Programs for compensation on the international level should be carefully designed to help people who have suffered climate-related L&D, without creating reverse climate change adaptation (RCCA), where compensation causes people to remain in areas that are vulnerable to climate-related L&D.
