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Abstract. Regional land carbon budgets provide insights on the spatial distribution of the land uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and can be used to evaluate carbon cycle models and to define baselines for land-based additional mitigation efforts. The scientific community has been involved in providing observation-based estimates of regional carbon budgets either by downscaling atmospheric CO2 observations into surface fluxes with atmospheric inversions, by using inventories of carbon stock changes in terrestrial ecosystems, by upscaling local field observations such as flux towers with gridded climate and remote sensing fields or by integrating data-driven or process-oriented terrestrial carbon cycle models. The first coordinated attempt to collect regional carbon budgets for nine regions covering the entire globe in the RECCAP-1 project has delivered estimates for the decade 2000–2009, but these budgets were not comparable between regions, due to different definitions and component fluxes reported or omitted. The recent recognition of lateral fluxes of carbon by human activities and rivers, that connect CO2 uptake in one area with its release in another also requires better definition and protocols to reach harmonized regional budgets that can be summed up to the globe and compared with the atmospheric CO2 growth rate and inversion results. In this study, for the international initiative RECCAP-2 coordinated by the Global Carbon Project, which aims as an update of regional carbon budgets over the last two decades based on observations, for 10 regions covering the globe, with a better harmonization that the precursor project, we provide recommendations for using atmospheric inversions results to match bottom-up carbon accounting and models, and we define the different component fluxes of the net land atmosphere carbon exchange that should be reported by each research group in charge of each region. Special attention is given to lateral fluxes, inland water fluxes and land use fluxes.

This research looked at the state of soils faced with urbanization processes in the Arctic region of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District (YANAO). Soils recently used in agriculture, which are now included in the infrastructure of the cities of Salekhard, Labytnangi, Kharsaim, and Aksarka in the form of various parks and public gardens were studied. Morphological, physico-chemical, and agrochemical studies of selected soils were conducted. Significant differences in fertility parameters between urbanized abandoned agricultural soils and mature soils of the region were revealed. The quality of soil resources was also evaluated in terms of their ecotoxicology condition, namely, the concentrations of trace metals in soils were determined and their current condition was assessed using calculations of various individual and complex soil quality indices.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) brings together geoscientists from all over the world covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. This geoscientific interdisciplinarity is needed to tackle the challenges of the future. One major challenge for humankind is to provide adequate and reliable supplies of affordable energy and other resources in efficient and environmentally sustainable ways. This Energy Procedia issue provides an overview of the contributions of the Division on Energy, Resources & the Environment (ERE) at the EGU General Assembly 2017.

This study examined the potential use of macroalgae epiphytic on mangrove aerial roots as indicators of estuarine contamination. The distribution and abundance of macroalgae was investigated in four estuaries in the vicinity of Sydney, Australia, and compared to water and sediment metal concentrations, nutrient concentrations and physicochemical parameters over four seasonal surveys. Macroalgal diversity and distribution appeared to be highly influenced by the ambient contaminant concentrations, while biomass appeared to be linked with nutrient concentrations. The distribution of the Rhodophyta species, Catenella nipae Zanardini significantly decreased as metal concentrations increased among the estuaries during all seasonal surveys. This species showed strong potential for use as a bioindicator of estuarine contamination.

Is it true that a nuclear technology approach to generate electric energy offers a clean, safe, reliable and affordable, i.e., sustainable option? In principle yes, however a technology impact on the environment strongly depends on the actual implementation bearing residual risks due to technical failures, human factors, or natural catastrophes. A full response is thus difficult and can be given first when the wicked multi-disciplinary issues get well formulated and “resolved”. These problems are lying at the interface between: the necessary R&D effort, the industrial deployment and the technology impact in view of the environmental sustainability including the management of produced hazardous waste. As such, this problem is clearly of multi-dimensional nature. This enormous complexity indicates that just a description of the problem might cause a dilemma. The paper proposes a novel holistic approach applying Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to assess the potential of nuclear energy systems with respect to a sustainable performance. It shows how to establish a multi-level criteria structure tree and examines the trading-off techniques for scoring and ranking of options. The presented framework allows multi-criteria and multi-group treatment. The methodology can be applied to support any pre-decisional process launched in a country to find the best nuclear and/or non-nuclear option according to national preferences and priorities. The approach addresses major aspects of the environmental footprint of nuclear energy systems. As a case study, advanced nuclear fuel cycles are analyzed, which were previously investigated by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA/OECD) expert group WASTEMAN. Sustainability facets of waste management, resource utilization and economics are in focus.

Although nitrogen (N) is the most limiting nutrient for agricultural production, its overuse is associated with environmental pollution, increased concentration of greenhouse gases, and several human and animal health implications. These implications are greatly affected by biochemical transformations and losses of N such as volatilization, leaching, runoff, and denitrification. Half of the globally produced N fertilizers are used to grow three major cereals—rice, wheat, and maize—and their current level of N recovery is approximately 30–50%. The continuously increasing application of N fertilizers, despite lower recovery of cereals, can further intensify the environmental and health implications of leftover N. To address these implications, the improvement in N use efficiency (NUE) by adopting efficient agronomic practices and modern breeding and biotechnological tools for developing N efficient cultivars requires immediate attention. Conventional and marker-assisted selection methods can be used to map quantitative trait loci, and their introgression in elite germplasm leads to the creation of cultivars with better NUE. Moreover, gene-editing technology gives the opportunity to develop high-yielding cultivars with improved N utilization capacity. The most reliable and cheap methods include agronomic practices such as site-specific N management, enhanced use efficiency fertilizers, resource conservation practices, precision farming, and nano-fertilizers that can help farmers to reduce the environmental losses of N from the soil–plant system, thus improving NUE. Our review illuminates insights into recent advances in local and scientific soil and crop management technologies, along with conventional and modern breeding technologies on how to increase NUE that can help reduce linked N pollution and health implications.

Advances in the phenology of organisms are often attributed to climate change, but alternatively, may reflect a publication bias towards advances and may be caused by environmental factors unrelated to climate change. Both factors are investigated using the breeding dates of 25 long-term studied populations of Ficedula flycatchers across Europe. Trends in spring temperature varied markedly between study sites, and across populations the advancement of laying date was stronger in areas where the spring temperatures increased more, giving support to the theory that climate change causally affects breeding date advancement.