Space Law and Space Mining, Exploring New Horizons Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

This study analyses the current scenario with COVID-19 affecting the international and Thai space law, and its impacts and corresponding repercussions upon the Thai economy, ASEAN region and then at international level. The methodology adopted for this study is a mixed method with qualitative research tools collected from key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The data analysis involves the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) analysis, which has been integrated with Hierarchical Thematic areas to provide the supporting model for wholesome recommendations through analyzing the findings from the research. The key respondents involved several government officials associated with Thai space agencies and departments, along with judges, lawyers, researchers, academicians, non-government organizations (NGO) officials, and law students. The findings provided the need for adoption of Treaty leading to the creation of a space organization which would be accountable towards setting up a legal framework for commencement of space mining operations. The international space tribunal is to be created under this international space organization to resolve any disputes arising out of space mining. The overall implications of this research would lead to the sharing of the benefits of space mining with both developed and developing countries to enhance sustainable development for all mankind. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-SPER-09 Full Text: PD

Adaptive Governance and Resilience Capacity of Farms: The Fit Between Farmers’ Decisions and Agricultural Policies

Greater resilience is needed for farms to deal with shocks and disturbances originating from economic, environmental, social and institutional challenges, with resilience achieved by adequate adaptive governance. This study focuses on the resilience capacity of farms in the context of multi-level adaptive governance. We define adaptive governance as adjustments in decision-making processes at farm level and policy level, through changes in management practices and policies in response to identified challenges and the delivery of desired functions (e.g. private and public goods) to be attained. The aim of the study is twofold. First, we investigate how adaptive governance processes at farm level and policy level influence the resilience capacity of farms in terms of robustness, adaptability and transformability. Second, we investigate the “fit” between the adaptive governance processes at farm level and policy level to enable resilience. We study primary egg and broiler production in Sweden taking into consideration economic, social and environmental challenges. We use semi-structured interviews with 17 farmers to explain the adaptive processes at farm level and an analysis of policy documents from the Common Agricultural Policy program 2014–2020, to explain the intervention actions taken by the Common Agricultural Policy. Results show that neither the farm level nor policy level adaptive processes on their own have the capacity to fully enable farms to be robust, adaptable and transformable. While farm level adaptive processes are mainly directed toward securing the robustness and adaptability of farms, policy level interventions are targeted at enabling adaptability. The farm- and the policy level adaptive processes do not “fit” for attaining robustness and transformability

A systematic scoping review and content analysis of policy recommendations for climate-resilient agriculture

Climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) is among the top policy priorities for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in their food, agriculture, and forestry sectors. However, the strategies that have been adopted to date have failed to produce positive changes or alter climate change trajectories. Scientific evidence is crucial for evidence-based policy making in this arena and elsewhere. We undertake a scoping review to explore what is known from the existing scientific literature about the policy recommendations for CRA in ASEAN. We follow the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for new systematic reviews. Furthermore, we conduct a content analysis to classify the policy recommendations into eight CRA policy categories and to investigate how the policies identified in the reviewed articles reinforce the climate resilience capacities (CRC) needed for CRA. The synthesis review is based on 47 papers. This research contributes to climate resilience literature, and explains how the results of this study could be applied in policy analysis to build CRC within the agricultural sector. The knowledge generated by this study can support policy design, and therefore support the building of an enabling environment for CRA for ASEAN and elsewhere.Key policy insightsScientific literature on CRA typically recommends policies that support communication and knowledge sharing and advance research and technology development, often in combination with risk management- and/or environmental/climate support.There is insufficient evidence on actual policies enabling CRA. This result may also reflect a lack of research on some of the identified CRA policy categories, such as agricultural production support, investment support, infrastructural support, land use regulation and certification.This synthesis review identifies literature addressing policy capacity to achieve CRA goals. Adaptability and transformability are key dimensions of policy capacity enabling responsive actions to climate change, mainly via social learning, in-depth learning and research and technology development. Literature pays little attention to anticipation and robustness, facilitating proactive ex-ante initiatives and coping for climate change; we argue that these dimensions of capacity merit further research.This synthesis demonstrates key gaps in research and understanding of CRA and related policies targeting capacity building, followed by a need to raise awareness of the importance of such policies. It also points to the need to enable preparation for climate-related crisis planning, through use of anticipatory policies and tools, such as climate predictions to inform planning of robust prevention measures.Last but not least, the synthesis identifies that representation across the ASEAN countries and the type of agricultural systems in is unbalanced; research from Vietnam and Malesia and research on rice production or rice in combination with other crops or shrimp are over-represented. We argue that research on climate change adaptation for other important agricultural production systems, covering the remaining ASEAN countries, is needed to fill this gap