Dedicated versus mainstreaming approaches in local climate plans in Europe

Cities are gaining prominence committing to respond to the threat of climate change, e.g., by developing local climate plans or strategies. However, little is known regarding the approaches and processes of plan development and implementation, or the success and effectiveness of proposed measures. Mainstreaming is regarded as one approach associated with (implementation) success, but the extent of integration of local climate policies and plans in ongoing sectoral and/or development planning is unclear. This paper analyses 885 cities across the 28 European countries to create a first reference baseline on the degree of climate mainstreaming in local climate plans. This will help to compare the benefits of mainstreaming versus dedicated climate plans, looking at policy effectiveness and ultimately delivery of much needed climate change efforts at the city level. All core cities of the European Urban Audit sample were analyzed, and their local climate plans classified as dedicated or mainstreamed in other local policy initiatives. It was found that the degree of mainstreaming is low for mitigation (9% of reviewed cities; 12% of the identified plans) and somewhat higher for adaptation (10% of cities; 29% of plans). In particular horizontal mainstreaming is a major effort for local authorities; an effort that does not necessarily pay off in terms of success of action implementation. This study concludes that climate change issues in local municipalities are best tackled by either, developing a dedicated local climate plan in parallel to a mainstreamed plan or by subsequently developing first the dedicated and later a mainstreaming plan (joint or subsequent “dual track approach”). Cities that currently provide dedicated local climate plans (66% of cities for mitigation; 26% of cities for adaptation) may follow-up with a mainstreaming approach. This promises effective implementation of tangible climate actions as well as subsequent diffusion of climate issues into other local sector policies. The development of only broad sustainability or resilience strategies is seen as critical.We thank the many council representatives that supported the datacollection. Special thanks to Birgit Georgi who helped in setting up this large net work of researchers across the EU-28. We also thank the EU COST Action TU 0902 (ledbyRichardDawson) that established the core research network and the positive engagement and interaction of th emembers of this group. OH is Fellow of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and was funded by the UK EPSRC LC Transforms: Low Carbon Transitions of Fleet Operations in Metropolitan Sites Project (grant number EP/N010612/1). EKL was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Czechia, within the National Sustainability Program I (NPU I) (grant number LO1415). DG ac-knowledges support by the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), Italy ("Departments of Excellence" grant L. 232/2016). HO was supported by the Ministry of Education and Research, Estonia (grantnumberIUT34-17). MO acknowledges funding from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Spain (grant number IJCI-2016-28835). SS acknowledges that CENSE's research is partially funded by the Science Foundation, Portugal (grant number UID/AMB/04085/2019). The paper reflects only the views of the authors. The European Union, the European Environment Agency or other supporting bodies are not liable for any use that may be made of the information that is provided in this manuscript

Types of Corruption in Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) in Ibadan, Nigeria

Corruption is a phenomenon that manifests in various types and forms especially among operators of Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs). Many actions of the operators which constitute corrupt practices often tend to be overlooked in spite of their grave consequences for the success SMEs in Nigeria. The fight against corruption in Nigeria is more concentrated in the formal sector. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate various forms in which corrupt practices are carried out among Small and Micro Enterprises in Ibadan, Nigeria. Business owners, their employees, apprentices and consumers constituted the study population. Primary data were collected using questionnaire administered on 200 business owners, 150 employees and 150 apprentices randomly chosen in five business districts in Ibadan; and the conduct of 10 in-depth interviews with purposively selected participants. Quantitative data were analysed at uni-variate level using simple percentages and frequencies while qualitative data were content analysed. Findings from the study revealed that corrupt practices were rampant among actors in SMEs and the common types of corrupt practices included stealing (60%), deception of customers (78.4%), tax evasion (62%), sale of fake products (76%), sale of expired products (65.2%), tampering with measurement scales (69.6%), bribery (82.4%), and poor service delivery (73%). The study concludes that the level of corruption in SMEs calls for concern and government should extend the fight against corruption to the informal sector in Nigeria

Towards a feasible and representative pan-African research infrastructure network for GHG observations

There is currently a lack of representative, systematic and harmonised greenhouse gas (GHG) observations covering the variety of natural and human-altered biomes that occur in Africa. This impedes the long-term assessment of the drivers of climate change, in addition to their impacts and feedback loops at the continental scale, but also limits our understanding of the contribution of the African continent to the global carbon (C) cycle. Given the current and projected transformation of socio-economic conditions in Africa (i.e. the increasing trend of urbanisation and population growth) and the adverse impacts of climate change, the development of a GHG research infrastructure (RI) is needed to support the design of suitable mitigation and adaptation strategies required to assure food, fuel, nutrition and economic security for the African population. This paper presents the initial results of the EU-African SEACRIFOG project, which aims to design a GHG observation RI for Africa. The first stages of this project included the identification and engagement of key stakeholders, the definition of the conceptual monitoring framework and an assessment of existing infrastructural capacity. Feedback from stakeholder sectors was obtained through three Stakeholder Consultation Workshops held in Kenya, Ghana and Zambia. Main concerns identified were data quality and accessibility, the need for capacity building and networking among the scientific community, and adaptation to climate change, which was confirmed to be a priority for Africa. This feedback in addition to input from experts in the atmospheric, terrestrial and oceanic thematic areas, facilitated the selection of a set of 'essential variables' that need to be measured in the future environmental RI. An inventory of 47 existing and planned networks across the continent allowed for an assessment of the current RIs needs and gaps in Africa. Overall, the development of a harmonised and standardised pan-African RI will serve to address the continent's primary societal and scientific challenges through a potential cross-domain synergy among existing and planned networks at regional, continental and global scales

Sensitivity to Enterocins of Biogenic Amine-Producing Faecal Enterococci from Ostriches and Pheasants

Enterococci are widespread bacteria forming the third largest genus among lactic acid bacteria. Some possess probiotic properties or they can produce beneficial proteinaceous antimicrobial substances called enterocins. On the other hand, some enterococci produce biogenic amines (BAs), so this study is focused on the sensitivity to enterocins of biogenic amine-producing faecal enterococci from ostriches and pheasants. Altogether, 60 enterococci isolated from faeces of ostriches and pheasants were tested for production of BAs. This target of the identified enterococci involved 46 strains selected from 140 ostriches and 17 from 60 pheasants involving the species Enterococcus hirae, E. faecium, E. faecalis, and E. mundtii. Although BAs histamine, cadaverine, putrescine, and tryptamine were not detected in the enterococci tested, in general high BA production by the tested enterococci was noted. The species E. hirae formed the majority of the enterococcal strains from ostrichs faeces (34 strains). High production of tyramine (TYM) was measured with an average amount of 958.16 ± 28.18 mg/ml. Among the enterococci from pheasants, the highest was production of TYM compared to phenylethylamine, spermidine, and spermine. Enterococci featured high BA production; however, they were sensitive to seven enterocins with inhibition activity ranging from 100 up to 25,600 AU/ml. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York.2/0004/14, VEGA, Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV; 2/0006/2017, VEGA, Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAVSlovak Scientific Agency VEGA [2/0004/14, 2/0006/17

CUPESSE: Cultural Pathways to Economic Self-Sufficiency and Entrepreneurship

The CUPESSE data is a survey of young adult residents of 11 European countries and their parents. It focuses on economic self-sufficiency, employability, entrepreneurship, and the family transmission of traits and attitudes that affect such outcomes. The current release of the data includes 11 countries: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and UK. The survey was fielded in all countries in 2016, based on the version 1.2 of the CUPESSE questionnaire. The CUPESSE data was collected in two steps. First, a probability sample of young adults (i.e. individuals of age from 18 to 35 years old) has been generated, and interviewed using the “Youth Questionnaire”. Second, all respondents were asked for the contact of one or both parents, who were interviewed using the “Parental Questionnaire”. The units of observation in the data are the young adults: the information collected from their parents has been used to generate additional variables for the young adult’s observations. 1. Interview with young adults: Topics: youth unemployment as a major problem in the country; competence of different institutions and organisations to reduce youth unemployment; share of employed friends, unemployed friends, and of friends running own business or in education/training; trust in people; voluntarily involvement in charities, environmental organisations, sport clubs, cultural organisations (hours per week); cultural interest and engagement; satisfaction with own financial situation; ability to pay bills by oneself over the last 6 months; income sources; reasons why young adults find it difficult to get a job; willingness to make changes to get a new/better job and kind of changes; important skills and qualities to find a job; employment status; ever had a paid job for one year or more; age when first had a job where earned enough money to be financially independent; number of different paid jobs in the last 5 years; unemployment for a period longer than 6 months; ever started own business or self-employment; exact name or title of current or previous main job (ISCO-08); working hours per week in current or previous job, including any paid or unpaid overtime; kind of contract; match of current (previous) job with overall qualification; self-employment: legal status of own business; starting of the business; reasons to start a business/become self-employed; year when started own business; number of employees; made use of entrepreneur support programmes to start own business; characterisation of the company situation; unemployment: start of unemployment (month, year); activeley looking for a job and kind of activities; reasons why not looking for a job; if currently in education: level of education the respondent will complete; highest level of education (ISCED); probability of finding a new job within the next 6 months and of starting own business within the next three years; skills and competencies to successfully start own business; values: work orientation; important job criteria; willingness to continue work in the case of financial independance; self-assessment of risk-taking; grit (scale). Family relationships: collectivism; health status over the last 3 months (depression tendency, physical health limited daily life, satisfied with life); person whom the respondent considers as his mother respectively father; living alone or together with other household members (household composition); age when first moved out of parents´ home; payment for own housing; ever lived apart from parents; parents´ current employment status; relationship with mother and father; highest level of education of mother and father; cultural activities with one or both of parents when the respondent was about 14 years old; expectations of mother and father concerning the level of education; importance of different people in influencing job, career or education choices; expected future standard of living compared to that of parents. Adolescence: parenting style and relationship with parents when the respondent was about 14; parents lived together; relationship between mother and father at that time; family´s financial situation; parents´ main employment situation. Demography: sex; age; marital status; regular caring responsibilities; children and number of children; number of brothers and sisters; belonging to a religion or denomination; denomination; religiousness; born in country; country of origin; belonging to a minority/ ethnic group; member of which minoriy/ethnic group; country of origin of mother and father; left-right self-placement; personal monthly net income; consent to contact parents. Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country code; weighting factors; pretest interviews (CZ only); NUTS region; wave interview (AT only); interview mode; questionnaire language (CH only). 2. Interview with mother and/or father: Share of employed friends, unemployed friends, and of friends running own business or retired; trust in people; voluntarily involvement in charities, environmental organisations, sport clubs, cultural organisations (hours per week); cultural interest and engagement; relationship with own child; the expected standard of living of the child in comparison to the own; perceived amount of influence on the child´s education and career path; satisfaction with own financial situation; characterisation of the financial situation; income sources; employment status; ever had a paid job for one year or more; age when first had a job where earned enough money to be financially independent; unemployment for a period longer than 6 months; ever started own business/become self-employed; exact name or title of main current or previous job; employment status of parents when the respondent was around 14 years old; values: work orientation; important job criteria; willingness to continue work in the case of financial independance; self-assessment of risk-taking; grit (scale); family relationships: collectivism. Demography: age; sex; highest level of education (ISCED); financial support of child; number of children; belonging to a religion or denomination; denomination; religiousness; left-right self-placement; personal monthly net income. Additonally coded was: mother contacted as first or second; wave interview mothers (AT and HU only); interview mode; father contacted as first or second; wave interview fathers (AT only).Die CUPESSE-Daten sind eine Umfrage unter jungen Erwachsenen aus 11 europäischen Ländern und ihren Eltern. Sie konzentriert sich auf die wirtschaftliche Selbstversorgung, die Beschäftigungsfähigkeit, das Unternehmertum und die Übertragung von Eigenschaften und Einstellungen, die diese Ergebnisse beeinflussen. Die aktuelle Veröffentlichung der Daten umfasst 11 Länder: Österreich, Tschechische Republik, Dänemark, Deutschland, Griechenland, Ungarn, Italien, Spanien, Schweiz, Türkei und Großbritannien. Die Umfrage wurde 2016 in allen Ländern durchgeführt, basierend auf der Version 1.2 des CUPESSE Fragebogens. Die CUPESSE-Daten wurden in zwei Schritten erhoben. Zunächst wurde eine Wahrscheinlichkeitsstichprobe von jungen Erwachsenen (d.h. Personen im Alter von 18 bis 35 Jahren) erstellt und mit Hilfe des "Jugendfragebogens" befragt. Zweitens wurden alle Befragten nach dem Kontakt eines oder beider Elternteile gefragt, die über den "Elternfragebogen" befragt wurden. Die Beobachtungseinheiten in den Daten sind die jungen Erwachsenen: Die von ihren Eltern gesammelten Informationen wurden verwendet, um zusätzliche Variablen für die Beobachtungen der jungen Erwachsenen zu generieren. 1. Interview mit jungen Erwachsenen: Themen: Jugendarbeitslosigkeit als großes Problem im Land; Kompetenz verschiedener Institutionen und Organisationen hinsichtlich Verringerung der Jugendarbeitslosigkeit; Anteil der erwerbstätigen Freunde, der arbeitslosen Freunde und der Freunde, die ein eigenes Geschäft oder eine Ausbildung betreiben; allgemeines Personenvertrauen; freiwilliges Engagement in Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen, Umweltorganisationen, Sportvereinen, kulturellen Organisationen (Stunden pro Woche); kulturelles Interesse und Engagement; Zufriedenheit mit der eigenen finanziellen Situation; Fähigkeit, Rechnungen in den letzten 6 Monaten selbst zu bezahlen; Einkommensquellen; Gründe, warum es jungen Erwachsenen schwer fällt, einen Job zu bekommen; Bereitschaft zu Veränderungen, um einen neuen/besseren Job zu bekommen und Art der Veränderungen; wichtige Fähigkeiten und Qualitäten, um einen Job zu finden; Beschäftigungsstatus; jemals einen bezahlten Job für ein Jahr oder mehr; Alter bei Beginn der ersten Arbeitsstelle mit genügend Geld für finanzielle Unabhängigkeit; Anzahl der verschiedenen bezahlten Jobs in den letzten 5 Jahren; Arbeitslosigkeit für einen Zeitraum von mehr als 6 Monaten; Beginn einer selbständigen Erwerbstätigkeit; genaue Bezeichnung oder Titel der aktuellen oder früheren Haupttätigkeit (ISCO-08); Wochenarbeitszeit in der aktuellen oder früheren Tätigkeit, einschließlich bezahlter oder unbezahlter Überstunden; Art des Vertrags; Übereinstimmung der aktuellen (früheren) Tätigkeit mit der Gesamtqualifikation; Selbständigkeit: Rechtsstellung des eigenen Unternehmens; Unternehmensgründung; Gründe für die Gründung eines Unternehmens; Jahr der Unternehmensgründung; Anzahl der Beschäftigten; Inanspruchnahme von Unternehmerförderprogrammen zur Unternehmensgründung; Charakterisierung der Unternehmenssituation; Arbeitslosigkeit: Beginn der Arbeitslosigkeit (Monat, Jahr); aktive Arbeitssuche und Art der Tätigkeit; Gründe, warum nicht nach einem Arbeitsplatz gesucht wird; falls in Ausbildung: Bildungsstand des Befragten; höchstes Bildungsniveau (ISCED); Wahrscheinlichkeit, innerhalb der nächsten 6 Monate einen neuen Arbeitsplatz zu finden und innerhalb der nächsten 3 Jahre ein eigenes Unternehmen zu gründen; Fähigkeiten und Kompetenzen zur erfolgreichen Unternehmensgründung; Werte: Arbeitsorientierung; wichtige Jobkriterien; Bereitschaft zur Fortsetzung der Arbeit bei finanzieller Unabhängigkeit; Selbsteinschätzung der Risikobereitschaft; Entschlossenheit (Skala). Familienbeziehungen: Kollektivismus; Gesundheitszustand in den letzten 3 Monaten (Depressionstendenz, körperliche Gesundheit eingeschränktes tägliches Leben, zufrieden mit dem Leben); Person, die der Befragte als seine Mutter bzw. seinen Vater betrachtet; allein oder gemeinsamer Haushalt mit anderen Haushaltsmitgliedern (Haushaltszusammensetzung); Alter beim Auszug aus dem Elternhaus; Bezahlung der eigenen Wohnung; jemals getrennt von den Eltern gelebt; aktueller Erwerbsstatus der Eltern; Beziehung zu Mutter und Vater; höchster Bildungsstand von Mutter und Vater; kulturelle Aktivitäten mit einem oder beiden Elternteilen, als der Befragte etwa 14 Jahre alt war; Erwartungen von Mutter und Vater an den Bildungsstand; Bedeutung unterschiedlicher Personen bei der Beeinflussung der Berufs-, Karriere- oder Bildungswahl; erwarteter zukünftiger persönlicher Lebensstandard im Vergleich zu dem der Eltern. Adoleszenz: Erziehungsstil und Beziehung zu den Eltern, als der Befragte etwa 14 Jahre alt war; Eltern lebten zusammen; Beziehung zwischen Mutter und Vater in dieser Zeit; finanzielle Situation der Familie; Hauptbeschäftigungssituation der Eltern. Demographie: Geschlecht; Alter; Familienstand; regelmäßige Betreuungspflichten; Kinder und Anzahl der Kinder; Anzahl der Geschwister; Zugehörigkeit zu einer Religion oder Konfession; Konfession; Religiosität; im Land geboren; Herkunftsland; Zugehörigkeit zu einer Minderheit/ethnischen Gruppe; Minderheit/ethnische Gruppe; Herkunftsland von Mutter und Vater; Links-Rechts-Selbsteinstufung; persönliches Nettoeinkommen; Einwilligung zur Kontaktaufnahme mit den Eltern. Zusätzlich kodiert wurden: Befragten-ID; Ländercode; Gewichtungsfaktoren; Pretestinterviews (nur CZ); NUTS-Region; Welle des Interviews (nur AT); Interviewmodus; Fragebogensprache (nur CH). 2. Interview mit Mutter und/oder Vater: Anteil berufstätiger Freunde, arbeitsloser Freunde und von Freunden, die ein eigenes Unternehmen führen oder im Ruhestand sind; Vertrauen in Menschen; freiwilliges Engagement in Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen, Umweltorganisationen, Sportvereinen, kulturellen Organisationen (Stunden pro Woche); kulturelles Interesse und Engagement; Beziehung zum eigenen Kind; erwarteter Lebensstandard des Kindes im Vergleich zum eigenen; wahrgenommener Einfluss auf den Bildungs- und Karriereweg des Kindes; Zufriedenheit mit der eigenen finanziellen Situation; Charakterisierung der finanziellen Situation; Einkommensquellen; Beschäftigungsstatus; jemals eine bezahlte Arbeitsstelle für ein Jahr oder mehr gehabt; Alter bei Beginn der ersten Arbeitsstelle mit genügend Geld für finanzielle Unabhängigkeit; Arbeitslosigkeit für einen Zeitraum von mehr als 6 Monaten; jemals ein eigenes Unternehmen gegründet; Bezeichnung oder Titel der aktuellen oder früheren Haupttätigkeit; Beschäftigungsstatus der Eltern als der Befragte etwa 14 Jahre alt war; Werte: Arbeitsorientierung; wichtige berufliche Kriterien; Bereitschaft zur Fortsetzung der Arbeit bei finanzieller Unabhängigkeit; Selbsteinschätzung der Risikobereitschaft; Entschlossenheit (Skala); familiäre Beziehungen: Kollektivismus. Demographie: Alter; Geschlecht; höchster Bildungsstand (ISCED); finanzielle Unterstützung des Kindes; Anzahl der Kinder; Zugehörigkeit zu einer Religion oder Konfession; Konfession; Religiosität; Links-Rechts-Selbsteinschätzung; persönliches Nettoeinkommen. Zusätzlich kodiert wurde: Mutter als erste oder zweite Person kontaktiert; Welle Interview Mütter (nur AT und HU); Interview-Modus; Vater als erste oder zweite Person kontaktiert; Welle Interview Väter (nur AT)

The Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services and Resulting Losses and Damages to People and Society

So far, studies of Loss and Damage from climate change have focused primarily on human systems and tended to overlook the mediating role of ecosystems and the services ecosystems provide to society. This is a significant knowledge gap because losses and damages to human systems often result from permanent or temporary disturbances to ecosystems services caused by climatic stressors. This chapter tries to advance understanding of the impacts of climatic stressors on ecosystems and implications for losses and damages to people and society. It introduces a conceptual framework for studying these complex relations and applies this framework to a case study of multi-annual drought in the West-African Sahel. The case study shows that causal links between climate change and a specific event, with subsequent losses and damages, are often complicated. Oversimplification must be avoided and the role of various factors, such as governance or management of natural resources, should be at the centre of future research.</p