Mediterranean agriculture under climate change: adaptive capacity, adaptation, and ethics

In the coming decades, the Mediterranean region is expected to experience various climate impacts with negative consequences on agricultural systems and which will cause uneven reductions in agricultural production. By and large, the impacts of climate change on Mediterranean agriculture will be heavier for southern areas of the region. This unbalanced distribution of negative impacts underscores the significance and role of ethics in such a context of analysis. Consequently, the aim of this article is to justify and develop an ethical approach to agricultural adaptation in the Mediterranean and to derive the consequent implications for adaptation policy in the region. In particular, we define an index of adaptive capacity for the agricultural systems of the Mediterranean region on whose basis it is possible to group its different sub-regions, and we provide an overview of the suitable adaptation actions and policies for the sub-regions identified. We then vindicate and put forward an ethical approach to agricultural adaptation, highlighting the implications for the Mediterranean region and the limitations of such an ethical framework. Finally, we emphasize the broader potential of ethics for agricultural adaptation policy

ICT and the Environment in Developing Countries: an Overview of Opportunities and Developments

Both developed and developing countries face many environmental challenges, including climate change, improving energy efficiency and waste management, addressing air pollution, water quality and scarcity, and loss of natural habitats and biodiversity. Drawing on the existing literature, this paper presents an overview of how the Internet and the ICT and related research communities can help tackle environmental challenges in developing countries. The review focuses on the role of ICTs in climate change mitigation, mitigating other environmental pressures, and climate change adaptation.information and communication technology (ICT), environment, climate change, mitigation, adaptation.

Creating cohesive citizens in England? : exploring the role of diversity, deprivation and democratic climate at school

Over the past decade, cohesion and integration have been a key concern for policymakers in countries across Europe and North America. The rapid increase in immigration, coupled with the perception of rapid social change and instability, is seen to have presented communities and governments with a range of ‘new’ challenges. In the attendant debates, schools are often presented as part of the solution to these challenges, but much remains unknown about the relationship between schools and community cohesion. This article therefore explores the role of schools as a site of socialisation for children and young people and their role in fostering the attitudes, behaviours and norms that are typically associated with citizens in a cohesive society. This article focuses in particular on the role of school demographics and school climate and uses longitudinal data from students in England to examine these relationships

INTEGRATING DIGITAL ECONOMY AND GREEN ECONOMY: OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Digital economy and green economy are the most important subjects on the environmental policy agenda in the last years. The first section of the paper examine the current state of thinking on the environmental impact of digital economy, especially of ICT, while the second section looks at what is known as the green economy and the most recent initiatives in this area. Both are paradigms that have become proeminent in the separate worlds of ITC policy and sustainable development. The integration between them leads to new paradigms and creates opportunities for sustainable development, also for economic recovery in the context of recent crises.green economy, digital economy, sustainable development, green knowledge society.

Report of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing

In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), substantial additional external funding needs to be mobilized. Estimates differ, but a 'ballpark' figure is an annual increase of US$50 billion. This could be achieved by a doubling of official development assistance (ODA). Welcome steps have been made in that direction, but this takes time, and time is of the essence. For this reason alone, it is necessary to consider new sources.In this policy brief, we consider seven new sources:* Global environmental taxes (carbon-use tax)* Tax on currency flows (the 'Tobin tax')* Creation of new Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)* International Finance Facility (IFF)* Increased private donations for development* Global lottery and global premium bond * Increased remittances from emigrants

Evaluating Ecosystem Investments

This report focuses on what was learned about best practices for evaluating the effects of ecosystem investments along with examples of how others are using these practicesin their work.MethodologyThree research questions guided this engagement:What are the new / best practices in evaluating the effects of ecosystem invest­ments?Which organizations are evaluating these investments well? What can they teach us?What relevant outcomes and indicators could Omidyar Network use to evaluate its ecosystem investments?To answer these questions, FSG conducted the following activities, in addition to drawing on our experience supporting strategic learning and evaluation in complex environments. Appendix A includes a complete list of grants reviewed and interviewees.Grants analysis: FSG analyzed Omidyar Network's Initiative Results Architecture frameworks and 23 grants within its ecosystem investment portfolio. These docu­ments helped ground our research in an understanding of the different types of ecosystem investments Omidyar Network is making, as well as how the organiza­tion currently evaluates the impact of its ecosystem investments.Literature review: FSG reviewed more than 60 publications to identify best practices in evaluating ecosystem investments—these publications included both peer-reviewed journal articles and "grey literature" (conference presentations, blog posts) by organizations employing advocacy-type strategies.Interviews: FSG conducted interviews with nine external experts (listed in Appen­dix A) to more deeply understand effective practices in evaluating the effects of eco­system investments and to identify leading organizations in this area. Interviewees were identified to glean best practices from both within and outside the traditional social sector

Evaluation of the Sustainable Employment in a Green US Economy (SEGUE)

The Rockefeller Foundation's Sustainable Employment in a Green US Economy(SEGUE) initiative has been a central player in green job discussions since 2009, andeven earlier through the Foundation's Campaign for American Workers. In its earliestdevelopmental stages, the initiative sought "to maximize the 'green' growth areas ofthe economy while benefiting low- and moderate-income workers" (RockefellerFoundation, 2009b). SEGUE focused on creating jobs by supporting green economicactivities. Initially, the focus was the building energy-retrofit market in the constructionindustry and, later, on water infrastructure and waste management. The demandfor workers became recognized as the bottleneck that needed to be released, in orderto realize the benefits of the green economy.To document and expand upon the learning and exploration that SEGUE has started,the Rockefeller Foundation provided a grant to the research firm, Abt Associates,Inc., in April 2012, to conduct a short-term, developmental evaluation of SEGUE. Theevaluation focused on three areas: learning for the purposes of determining SEGUE'sfuture direction, documenting SEGUE's grant and non-grant outputs for accountabilityneeds, and providing public knowledge on green jobs and evaluations in general.This report provides the results from the evaluation

Using urban foresight techniques in city visioning: lessons from the Reading 2050 vision

The emergence of urban (or city) foresight techniques focuses on the need to create coherent city visions to plan and manage for future long-term change and create opportunities for new investment into the local urban economy. This paper reviews the concepts of ‘co-created’ city visioning and urban foresight, setting this in the context of new and emerging practice and policy in the UK, and elsewhere. The paper critically reviews the development of the vision for a small city (the ‘Reading 2050’ project, linked to the UK Future of Cities Foresight Programme), and the lessons it holds for visioning, foresight and planning, using the ‘quadruple helix’ framework as a conceptual lens for analysis