Climate Change Impacts On The Northwestern Andean (NOA) and Western (Cuyo) Andean Regions of Argentina - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 474

Table 21.4. Summary table for climate impacts and mitigation actions.

Climate impact Mitigation action

Heat waves in large cities Reduction of the urban-heat island phenomenon (1)

Rising temperature Prohibition of deforestation and forest degradation (2.a)

Afforestation of water catchments (2.b)
Enhancement of carbon stocks and moisture conservation in
agricultural soils (2.c)
Use of fi rewood instead of fossil fuels (2.d)
Growing jatropha , canola , and sugarcane for producing biofuels
(2.e)

name the most relevant actions (Taha 2011). In view of a plausible future
with less water vegetation cover could be expanded with tree species
adapted to xeric conditions, like Prosopis spp. in the NOA region.
2. Rising temperature. Temperature rise can be abated by either
restraining the emission of GHG and/or removing them (mostly
CO 2 ) from the atmosphere. Physically 7 the increase in 1°C represents
a 7% change in specifi c humidity. Large-scale warming associated
with GHG emissions is a driver of hydrological change. The
result is a modification of the frequency, amount, and intensity
of precipitation with downstream effects including an increased
incidence of extreme dryness, broad-scale increases in soil moisture,
a regime shift in global evapotranspiration, and relatively wet areas
becoming wetter and drier areas becoming drier (Schwalm et al.
2011). On a regional scale it is reasonable to assume the same broad
manifestation of a coupling between the carbon and the water cycles.
The following are some actions intended to decrease the impacts of
global warming.

a. Forbidding practices leading to deforestation of native forests and/
or their degradation will keep those forests as active CO 2 sinks, i.e.,
as absorbers of atmospheric CO 2 , and also avoid CO 2 emissions from
the soil, the burning of harvest waste and frequently the cultivation
of the deforested land. Strict enforcement of the native forests law
and Argentina's adherence to the UN REDD+ program would allow
the provinces of the NOA and Cuyo regions impacting positively
on their respective regional hydrologic cycles.

b. The afforestation of water catchments (mostly in the Yungas ) would
not only increase the quality of water streams but would supply
the service of long-term carbon sequestration. This characteristic
would make these dedicated plantations sources of emission