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Climate change is dramatically affecting the Mediterranean Sea, which is warming at a rate three times faster (0.41°C per decade) than the world’s average (0.13°C per decade). Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), despite the nature-based solution they offer to support efforts towards climate change adaptation and mitigation, also experience the effects of climate change. In fact, several Mediterranean MPAs are already facing major biodiversity and functional alterations due to climate change, whereas others will likely face them within the next few decades. There is, therefore, an urgency to mitigate these risks and to consider adaptation options, in partnership with local communities, decision-makers, civil society organizations, research bodies, and other socio-economic actors at local, national and regional level. In the framework of the MPA Engage project an harmonized set of tools to address key topics to develop climate change adaptation plans have been developed and tested. These tools include ecological monitoring, vulnerability risk assessments, participatory approaches, citizen science and development of an action plan. MPA Engage is an Interreg Med funded project that seeks to support Mediterranean MPAs to adapt to and mitigate the ongoing climate change effects in the Mediterranean. Within a period of three years, MPA Engage has provided essential support to managers of marine protected areas to fast-track actions against climate change. During this time, MPA managers and climate change experts from 14 entities and 6 different countries, namely Albania, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy and Spain, have been brought together and have evolved into a taskforce with a joint mission to promote MPAs as nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation. This document is a single station document to access to the different tools and materials developed and tested during the project MPA Engage to develop adaptation action plans to face climate change in Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas. The document includes as well a description of the lessons learnt and indicative costs. Overall, this document was specially designed to guide MPA management bodies to design and implement measures in an efficient way to promote marine protected area MPAs as nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation.

The Miño is the most important river in the NW Iberian Peninsula. When it flows through Ourense town (Spain), the attractiveness of the thermal springs hides the importance of the fluvial potholes developed over bedrock. These forms reflect the strength of erosion processes, linked to fluvial incision over time. Potholes have an environmental, didactic, socio-economic and cultural potential. In order to promote their integration within territorial heritage, this research is focused on a place-based knowledge and practice. This study aimed to define the meanings and interests of fluvial potholes, regarding their sustainable uses as georesources and offering fit information for the key social actors to assist territorial development. An inventory of sculpted forms was carried out in an urban reach of the Miño River. After the site diagnosis and form characterisation, a set of fluvial potholes (82 cases) was identified within the thermal area. The assessment of the geomorphological and use/management interests delivered their values as resources for territorial sustainability. Ten potholes, selected from a preliminary list and identified through the methodology, have a potential for education, leisure and recreation. Actions designed to raise awareness of the interests and values of these geodiversity components are also presented. Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481A-2015/410 Universidade de Vigo | Ref. INOU15-02 G501 Deputación de Ourense | Ref. INOU15-02 G501

AbstractEuropean policies can be relevant to protect soils under climate change scenarios and therefore preserve the wide variety of functions and services provided by the soil. The European Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection will require member states to identify areas under risk from various soil threats and establish procedures to achieve sustainability. Five models Terraza, Cervatana, Sierra, Raizal, and Pantanal included in the Mediterranean Land Evaluation Information System decision support system packages were used to identify areas vulnerable to various soil threats under climate change scenarios in the Andalusia region. While Terraza and Cervatana forecast general land use capability for a broad series of possible agricultural uses, the Sierra model predicts forestry land suitability for the presence/absence of 22 typical Mediterranean forest species. Raizal and Pantanal models predict soil erosion vulnerability, contamination, and other processes. Interpretation of results in different scenarios allows quantifying the effects of climate change in terms of agricultural productivity, forestry land suitability, erosion, and contamination risks. The obtained results allow to identify detailed vulnerable areas and formulate site‐specific management plans for soil protection. Climate change is expected to impact crop growth with a higher impact on summer crops (corn, sunflower, and cotton). The results show a potential opportunity for reforestation (Quercus spp.) in future climate scenarios, while other species such as Castanea sativa will not be suitable in the study area by 2070 and 2100. Soil contamination and erosion show only slight differences between the current and future scenario of climate change. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Soot and particulate emissions from the transport sector are a major concern worldwide, given their harmful effects on public health and the environment. On-road vehicles are the main contributing source to this kind of pollution. They are strictly regulated in many countries, with limitations on the number and concentration of released particles, and they must be equipped with particle abatement systems. Wall-flow particulate filters are the most popular and effective devices to reduce particulate emissions from diesel and gasoline vehicles. Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) have been a recurrent research topic since the last century. There are different research studies analysing different aspects of these systems, at different levels, using different methodologies and different approaches. Their results are not always comparable. This work analyses the latest advances and trends in this technology by comparing two relevant performance parameters: their filtration efficiency and pressure drop. The findings of this study suggest that, in order to be competitive, upcoming DPFs should have filtration efficiencies above 80%, and pressure drops below 10 kPa, for space velocities of 1.5·10 h or more at the clean state. They should reach ∼100% efficiency after a short operation period, before the soot load reaches 0.2 g/L. Later, they should keep a low pressure drop for a longer time, with a reference of no more than 13 kPa for 6 g/L of soot load. Based on this analysis, this work proposes some test criteria and suggestions for the main parameters.

Abstract Currently the Energy Industry and Industrial Power Plants are committed to support sustainable development balancing environmental, economic, and social benefits. As the first two aspects are fully covered by environmental lifecycle assessment and life cycle costing, the third one is covered only for the portion regarding human health while other aspects, like local employment, contribution to economic development, supplier’s relationship, are not so easy to be measured. Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is considered a powerful tool to measure and improve a company’s sustainability. Yet there is not a unique way of measuring how a company or even a product is impacting on the well-being of the society. In general, S-LCA is seen as an opportunity to improve a company’s reputation, it can help handling social aspects in the lifecycle of a product or service. S-LCA methodology is evolving since 1996 when first attempt to evaluate the social impact of a product rose and many methodologies and databases are now available; at present the phase of S-LCA development is the research of standardization. A use case of S-LCA application to a gas turbine component will be presented comparing the impact of moving the production of one component from Investment Casting to Additive Manufacturing plus insourcing coating execution: proving the benefit of applying S-LCA to products. The findings allow comparing design and manufacturing alternatives to maximize sustainability of a product manufacturing.

Heavy rain events are expected to be more frequent and intense due to climate change, which will likely increase the vulnerability of the urban area to flood episodes. In this context, it is crucial to identify the areas with a high capacity to retain water and the areas where flood protection is more needed. To address this problem, this work aims to map and assess the flood regulation supply and demand ecosystem services in Vilnius, Lithuania. The results showed that Vilnius has a large area with a flood regulation supply, especially in the northeast and southern areas. The areas with high flood regulation demand were located in the old town and several urbanizations scattered inside the city limits. We used the soil-vegetation adjusted index (SAVI) to validate the flood regulation supply index using linear regression. In contrast, the flood regulation demand index was validated by comparing the historical flood points with the model results. SAVI predicted acceptably (r2 = 0.43), and the flooded points identified were located in the areas with high flood regulation demand index. Both models were mismatched (−0.50. P < 0.001), showing that they have different spatial patterns. These results obtained in this work can help planners and decision-makers better plan the areas with a high capacity to retain water and identify the areas where the demand is high. This work was developed within the Lithuanian National Ecosystem Services Assessment and Mapping (LINESAM), which has received funding from European Social Fund project LINESAM no. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0104 under a grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT). Peer reviewed

While several studies have reported associations of daily exposures to PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 µm) with mortality, few studies have examined the impact of its constituents such as black carbon (BC), which is also a significant contributor to global climate change.We assessed the association between daily concentrations of BC and total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality in two southern Mediterranean cities. Daily averages of BC were collected for 2 years in Barcelona, Spain and Athens, Greece. We used case-crossover analysis and examined single and cumulative lags up to 3 days.We observed associations between BC and all mortality measures. For a 3-day moving average, cardiovascular mortality increased by 4.5% (95% CI 0.7 to 8.5) and 2.0% (95% CI 0 to 4.0) for an interquartile change in BC in Athens and Barcelona, respectively. Considerably higher effects for respiratory mortality and for those above age 65 were observed. In addition, BC exhibited much greater toxicity per microgram than generic PM2.5.Our findings suggest that BC, derived in western industrialised nations primarily from diesel engines and biomass burning, poses a significant burden to public health, particularly in European cities with high-traffic density.