Analyze environmental geography and change

environmental-geographyskillsetup L1★64

What it does

Reason about climate, land use, water, and biodiversity policy

Best for

Identifying which environmental changes (climate vs. land use vs. water stress) dominate risk in a specific region for a specific stakeholder.

Inputs

· climate data
· land use maps
· water availability data
· biodiversity inventories
· policy scenarios

Outputs

· environmental risk assessment
· spatial impact forecast
· policy evaluation

Requires

· IPCC climate models
· satellite land-cover data
· water balance models

Preconditions

Geographic scale, time horizon, and stakeholder specified

Failure modes

Climate projections conflate SSP emissions scenarios with socioeconomic outcomes; land-use change ignores path dependence; desertification blamed on climate when grazing pressure is driver

Trust signals

· Arctic sea ice decline: 13% per decade measured (1979-present)
· Deforestation in Amazon: 4.7 million hectares/year (2010-2020) with carbon/biodiversity feedback quantified
· SSP scenarios span 1.4C-4.4C warming with testable 2100 endpoints