16,630 research outputs found

    Identifying integrated options for agricultural climate change mitigation

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    Purpose: In order to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions it is essential that all industry sectors have the appropriate knowledge and tools to contribute. This includes agriculture, which is considered to contribute about a third of emissions globally. This paper reports on one such tool: IMPACCT: Integrated Management oPtions for Agricultural Climate Change miTigation. Design/methodology/approach: IMPACCT focuses on greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration and associated mitigation options. However, it also attempts to include information on economic and other environmental impacts in order to provide a more holistic perspective. The model identifies mitigation options, likely economic impacts and any synergies and trade-offs with other environmental objectives. The model has been applied on 22 case study farms in seven member states. Findings: The tool presents some useful concepts for developing carbon calculators in the future. It has highlighted that calculators need to evolve from simply calculating emissions to identifying cost effective and integrated emissions reduction options. Practical implications: IMPACCT has potential to become an effective means of provided targeted guidance, as part of a broader knowledge transfer programme based on an integrated suite of guidance, tools and advice delivered via different media. Originality/value: IMPACCT is a new model that demonstrates how to take a more integrated approach to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions on farms across Europe. It is a holistic carbon calculator that presents mitigation options in the context other environmental and economic objectives in the search for more sustainable methods of food production.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

    A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste by 20 Percent

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    The magnitude of the food waste problem is difficult to comprehend. The U.S. spends $218 billion a year -- 1.3% of GDP -- growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten. The causes of food waste are diverse, ranging from crops that never get harvested, to food left on overfilled plates, to near-expired milk and stale bread. ReFED is a coalition of over 30 business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to building a different future, where food waste prevention, recovery, and recycling are recognized as an untapped opportunity to create jobs, alleviate hunger, and protect the environment -- all while stimulating a new multi-billion dollar market opportunity. ReFED developed A Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste as a data-driven guide to collectively take action to reduce food waste at scale nationwide.This Roadmap report is a guide and a call to action for us to work together to solve this problem. Businesses can save money for themselves and their customers. Policymakers can unleash a new wave of local job creation. Foundations can take a major step in addressing environmental issues and hunger. And innovators across all sectors can launch new products, services, and business models. There will be no losers, only winners, as food finds its way to its highest and best use

    Review of agricultural production systems in eastern Africa in relation to food and nutrition security and climate change

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    The goal of this paper is to provide a unified resource for Eritrea, Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. For each country the review covers the topics of livestock production systems and agroecological zones, food and nutrition security, climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-smart agriculture (CSA) with a focus on the role of, or impact on, livestock systems. Each of these topics is broad and many excellent studies and reviews have been produced covering these topics either at the country level or for the entire East Africa region. It is the goal of this paper to provide an accessible introduction to these topics and to direct readers to the resources that exist for gathering detailed information on livestock production, food nutrition and security, climate change, GHG emissions and climate-smart livestock production in each country

    Disaggregating the dependent variable in policy feedback research: An analysis of the EU Emissions Trading System

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    The literature on policy dynamics has long argued for a better conceptualization and measurement of the dependent variable (“policy”), but this fundamental point has often been neglected in the policy feedback literature. In this paper we explore how far disaggregating policy into different elements (policy instruments, objectives, and settings) addresses this gap. We do so by examining the world’s largest market-based climate policy instrument – emissions trading in the European Union – and reveal a number of valuable new insights. First, even if positive policy feedback locks in a policy instrument, actor contestation does not disappear, but narrows down to the more detailed level of policy settings. Second, feedback may operate differently at each policy level: the policy instrument and its settings may strengthen at the same time as support for broader objectives weakens. Finally, positive feedback may simultaneously strengthen opposing actors’ support for multiple policy elements, leading to a form of “policy stability by stalemate”. These findings highlight the need for a new, interdisciplinary phase of policy feedback research that more fully disaggregates the dependent variable across a wider range of policy areas and policy instrument types. Policy scientists are well equipped to contribute to and benefit from such a debate

    Organic agriculture and climate change mitigation - A report of the Round Table on Organic Agriculture and Climate Change

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    Summary and next steps Participants of the workshop were able to draw from their discussions and from the input of guest speakers and synthesize a set of conclusions that can be used to guide future activities concerning LCAs and other activities that seek to identify and quantify the potential contributions of organic agriculture to climate change mitigation. - LCA is the best tool for measuring GHG emissions related to agricultural products. - There is a risk of oversimplification when focusing on climate change as a single environmental impact category. - Farm production and transport (at least for plant products) are important hotspots for agricultural products. - Studies have shown no remarkable difference in GHG emissions between organic and conventional but, traditionally, soil carbon changes have not been included – which can have a major impact, especially for plant products. - The challenges of LCA of organic products – accounting for carbon sequestration and interactions in farming systems, including the environmental costs of manure – need to be addressed. - Attempts should be made to secure a consistent LCA methodology for agricultural products, including organic products

    Source-tracking cadmium in New Zealand agricultural soils: a stable isotope approach

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    Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal, which is accumulated by plants and animals and therefore enters the human food chain. In New Zealand (NZ), where Cd mainly originates from the application of phosphate fertilisers, stable isotopes can be used to trace the fate of Cd in soils and potentially the wider environment due to the limited number of sources in this setting. Prior to 1997, extraneous Cd added to soils in P fertilisers was essentially limited to a single source, the small pacific island of Nauru. Analysis of Cd isotope ratios (ɛ114/110Cd) in Nauru rock phosphate, pre-1997 superphosphate fertilisers, and Canterbury (Lismore Stony Silt Loam) topsoils (Winchmore Research Farm) has demonstrated their close similarity with respect to ɛ114/110Cd. We report a consistent ɛ114/110Cd signature in fertiliser-derived Cd throughout the latter twentieth century. This finding is useful because it allows the application of mixing models to determine the proportions of fertiliser-derived Cd in the wider environment. We believe this approach has good potential because we also found the ɛ114/110Cd in fertilisers to be distinct from unfertilised Canterbury subsoils. In our analysis of the Winchmore topsoil series (1949-2015), the ɛ114/110Cd remained quite constant following the change from Nauru to other rock phosphate sources in 1997, despite a corresponding shift in fertiliser ɛ114/110Cd at this time. We can conclude that to the present day, the Cd in topsoil at Winchmore still mainly originates from historical phosphate fertilisers. One implication of this finding is that the current applications of P fertiliser are not resulting in further Cd accumulation. We aim to continue our research into Cd fate, mobility and transformations in the NZ environment by applying Cd isotopes in soils and aquatic environments across the country

    Constraints for adopting climate-smart agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Southeast Kenya

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    CONTEXT: Climate uncertainty challenges the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Awareness of climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices and access to climate-smart technologies are key factors in determining the utilization of farm and land management practices that may simultaneously decrease greenhouse gas emissions, increase the adaptive capacity of farmers, and improve food security. OBJECTIVE: Understanding how biophysical and socio-economic constraints affect the adoption of CSA practices and technologies plays an essential role in policy and intervention planning. Our objective was to identify these constraints among smallholder farmers in Taita Taveta County of Southeast Kenya across varying agro-ecological zones. METHODS: We conducted a Climate-Smart Agriculture Rapid Appraisal that consisted of four mostly genderdisaggregated smallholder farmer workshops (102 participants), a household survey (65 participants), key informant interviews (16 informants), and four transect walks. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate a dissonance in the perceived awareness of CSA practices and utilization of CSA technologies between state actors and farmers. State actors emphasize lack of awareness as a barrier to adoption, while farmers express knowledgeability regarding environmental change and climate-smart practices but are confined by limitations and restrictions posed by e.g. market mechanisms, land tenure issues,and lack of resources. These restrictions include e.g. uncertainty in product prices, lack of land ownership, scarcity of arable land, and simply lack of capital or willingness to invest. Farmers are further challenged by the emergence of new pests and human-wildlife conflicts. Our research findings are based on the contextual settings of Taita Taveta County, but the results indicate that adopting CSA practices and utilizing technologies, especially in sub-Saharan regions that are heavily based on subsistence agriculture with heterogenous agro-ecological zones, require localized and gender-responsive solutions in policy formation and planning of both agricultural extension services and development interventions that take into account the agency of the farmers. SIGNIFICANCE: This study contributes to existing climate change adaptation research by increasing our un- derstanding of how physical and socio-economic constraints can affect the adoption of new farm and land management practices, and how CSA-based intervention strategies could be restructured by local stakeholders to be more inclusive.Peer reviewe

    Transition UGent: a bottom-up initiative towards a more sustainable university

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    The vibrant think-tank ‘Transition UGent’ engaged over 250 academics, students and people from the university management in suggesting objectives and actions for the Sustainability Policy of Ghent University (Belgium). Founded in 2012, this bottom-up initiative succeeded to place sustainability high on the policy agenda of our university. Through discussions within 9 working groups and using the transition management method, Transition UGent developed system analyses, sustainability visions and transition paths on 9 fields of Ghent University: mobility, energy, food, waste, nature and green, water, art, education and research. At the moment, many visions and ideas find their way into concrete actions and policies. In our presentation we focused on the broad participative process, on the most remarkable structural results (e.g. a formal and ambitious Sustainability Vision and a student-led Sustainability Office) and on recent actions and experiments (e.g. a sustainability assessment on food supply in student restaurants, artistic COP21 activities, ambitious mobility plans, food leftovers projects, an education network on sustainability controversies, a transdisciplinary platform on Sustainable Cities). We concluded with some recommendations and reflections on this transition approach, on the important role of ‘policy entrepreneurs’ and student involvement, on lock-ins and bottlenecks, and on convincing skeptical leaders
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