CNH-L: Energy Transitions and Environmental Change in East and Southern Africa's Coupled Human, Terrestrial, and Atmospheric Systems

发展中国家的许多人将木质燃料用作做饭、取暖和小规模工业活动的能源。随着人口的增加，燃烧木材或其他生物质对森林的活力、空气质量以及人类健康或福祉的影响可能会很严重。这个项目调查了这些关注领域之间的动态联系，并评估了可以在未来缓解问题的战略。它考察了人们如何利用森林资源获取能源，以及这些习惯是否因更高效的烹饪炉具和其他新技术的引入而改变。将通过直接测量和建模来检查对森林状况的影响。对空气质量的测量将决定污染水平将如何受到影响。现场地点在马拉维，将扩大结果，以确定东部和南部非洲较大地区可能发生的变化。这项研究有可能改善环境条件严重恶化的地区的森林状况和空气质量，并改善依赖这些资源的大量人的生活质量。该项目的总体目标是调查南部非洲生物质能源的使用与其对人类、陆地和大气系统的双重影响之间的联系。对人类和自然系统的定量和定性实地观测、情景发展以及大气和土地利用变化的模拟将进一步审查这些联系，并量化人类影响的大小。该项目将探讨如何在地方、国家和区域各级加强自然和人类系统的复原力，评估可扩展的家庭能源干预措施的影响。这项研究将陆地和大气系统与人类系统相结合，为人与环境的关系提供了一个新的维度。它还增加了对各种生物质能源使用对土地利用、土地覆盖变化、空气质量和人类福祉的相对影响的新见解。该项目还评估了针对最贫穷和最脆弱家庭的可扩展家庭能源干预措施，并模拟了其在未来情景中对陆地和大气系统的影响。

Wood fuels are used as an energy source for cooking, heating, and small-scale industrial activities by a large number of people in the developing world. As populations increase, the effects of burning wood or other biomass on the vitality of forests, air quality, and human health or well-being can be severe. This project investigates the dynamic connections among these areas of concern and evaluates strategies that can alleviate problems in the future. It examines how people use forest resources for energy and whether these habits are altered by the introduction of more efficient cooking stoves and other new technologies. The effects on forest condition will be examined through direct measurements and modeling. Measurements of air quality will determine how pollution levels will be affected. The field sites are in Malawi and the results will be scaled up to determine the possible changes in the larger regions of eastern and southern Africa. This research has the potential to improve forest condition and air quality in areas at risk of severely declining environmental conditions, and improve the quality of life for large numbers of people who depend upon these resources.The overall goal of this project is to investigate linkages between the use of biomass energy in Southern Africa and its coupled impacts on human, terrestrial, and atmospheric systems. Quantitative and qualitative field observations of both human and natural systems, scenario development, and modeling of both the atmospheric and land-use changes will further examine these linkages and quantify the magnitude of human influence. The project will explore how natural and human system resilience can be enhanced at local, national and regional scales assessing the impact of a scalable household energy intervention. This study couples both terrestrial and atmospheric systems with the human system, providing a new dimension on human-environment relationships. It also adds new insights into the relative effects of a wide array of biomass energy uses on land-use land-cover changes, air quality, and human well-being. The project also evaluates a scalable household energy intervention targeted at the poorest and most vulnerable households, and models its influence on terrestrial and atmospheric systems in future scenarios.