Reasoned opinion on the modification of the existing MRLs for cyflufenamid in pome fruits, cucurbits (inedible peel) and gherkins

In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, France, hereafter referred to as the evaluating Member State (EMS), received an application from the company Nisso Chemical Europe GmbH to modify the existing MRLs for the active substance cyflufenamid in pome fruit (quinces, medlar, loquat), cucurbits with inedible peel (pumpkins, watermelons) and gherkins. In order to accommodate for the intended uses of cyflufenamid, France proposed to raise the existing MRLs from the limit of quantification of 0.02 mg/kg to 0.05 mg/kg in pome fruit and gherkins and 0.04 mg/kg in cucurbits with inedible peel. France drafted an evaluation report in accordance with Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, which was submitted to the European Commission and forwarded to EFSA. According to EFSA the data are sufficient to derive a MRL proposal of 0.06 mg/kg for the intended use on quinces, medlar and loquat in France, 0.05 mg/kg for the intended use on pumpkins and watermelons in France and 0.08 mg/kg for the intended use on gherkins in France. Alternatively, the existing MRLs of 0.05 mg/kg on apples and pears and 0.04 mg/kg on melons, which were derived from the same residue data using the previous valid statistically-based calculation method, could be extrapolated to the whole group of pome fruit and cucurbits with inedible peel, respectively. Adequate analytical enforcement methods are available to control the residues of cyflufenamid in the commodities under consideration. Based on the risk assessment results, EFSA concludes that the proposed use of cyflufenamid on quinces, medlar, loquat, pumpkins, watermelons and gherkins will not result in a consumer exposure exceeding the toxicological reference values and therefore is unlikely to pose a public health concern

What determines women's participation in collective action? Evidence from a western Ugandan coffee cooperative

Women smallholders face greater constraints than men in accessing capital and commodity markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Collective action has been promoted to remedy those disadvantages. Using survey data of 421 women members and 210 nonmembers of a coffee producer cooperative in Western Uganda, this study investigates the determinants of women's participation in cooperatives and women's intensity of participation. The results highlight the importance of access to and control over land for women to join the cooperative in the first place. Participation intensity is measured through women's participation in collective coffee marketing and share capital contributions. It is found that duration of membership, access to extension services, more equal intrahousehold power relations, and joint land ownership positively influence women's ability to commit to collective action. These findings demonstrate the embeddedness of collective action in gender relations and the positive value of women's active participation for agricultural-marketing cooperatives

Modern Slavery, Environmental Degradation and Climate Change: Fisheries, Field, Forests and Factories

In this commentary paper, the current state of research on the tightly connected and bi-directional relationships among modern slavery, environmental degradation and climate change is critically assessed and reviewed. An emerging branch of research has begun to conceptualize linkages between slavery and environmental change. Responding to a gap in the extant literature, this paper synthesizes and makes sense of this emerging research base and proposes a future research agenda for exploring the slavery–environment nexus. Through an exploration of 19 key texts which explicitly examine the relationship between slavery and environmental change, spanning across diverse disciplines and spatial scales, we draw out two key arguments that can be adopted in proposing a future research agenda. Firstly, we identify the sectoral emergence of the nexus, forming primarily around four key sectors: (i) Fisheries, (ii) Fields, (iii) Forests and (iv) Factories. The review suggests that a sufficient exploration of slavery–environment linkages needs to transverse these sectoral boundaries. Secondly, the paper highlights the bi-directional interactions among modern slavery, climate change and environmental degradation. Accordingly, we argue for a holistic lens which explores how slavery practices and environmental change are continually shaping one another. Existing research has provided initial understandings of the relationship among modern slavery, environmental destruction and climate change. However, there remains considerable scope for the connections between the three to be further interrogated and unpacked. Based on the review, the paper sets out three key research agendas, highlighting the need to move beyond a spatially and sectorally confined exploration of slavery–environment interactions towards an integrated and sophisticated interrogation of the nexus. Additionally, we propose the future examination of the deep underlying drivers of slavery–environment interactions and to situate these within contemporary capitalist social and economic relations

The unusual wet summer (July) of 2014 in Southern Europe

Southern Europe (Italy and the surrounding countries) experienced an unusual wet summer in 2014. The monthly rainfall in July 2014 was 84% above (more than three standard deviation) normal with respect to the 1982–2013 July climatology. The heavy rainfall damaged agriculture, and affected tourism and overall economy of the region. In this study, we tried to understand the physical mechanisms responsible for such abnormal weather by using model and observed datasets. The anomalously high precipitation over Italy is found to be associated with the positive sea surface temperature (SST) and convective anomalies in the tropical Pacific through the atmospheric teleconnection. Rossby wave activity flux at upper levels shows an anomalous tropospheric quasi-stationary Rossby wave from the Pacific with an anomalous cyclonic phase over southern Europe. This anomalous cyclonic circulation is barotropic in nature and seen extending to lower atmospheric levels, weakening the seasonal high and causing heavy precipitation over the Southern Europe. The hypothesis is verified using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) coupled forecast system model (CFSv2) seasonal forecasts. It is found that two-month lead forecast of CFSv2 was able to capture the wet summer event of 2014 over Southern Europe. The teleconnection pattern from Pacific to Southern Europe was also forecasted realistically by the CFSv2 system

Global mapping of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 and H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4 viruses with spatial cross-validation.

Global disease suitability models are essential tools to inform surveillance systems and enable early detection. We present the first global suitability model of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and demonstrate that reliable predictions can be obtained at global scale. Best predictions are obtained using spatial predictor variables describing host distributions, rather than land use or eco-climatic spatial predictor variables, with a strong association with domestic duck and extensively raised chicken densities. Our results also support a more systematic use of spatial cross-validation in large-scale disease suitability modelling compared to standard random cross-validation that can lead to unreliable measure of extrapolation accuracy. A global suitability model of the H5 clade 2.3.4.4 viruses, a group of viruses that recently spread extensively in Asia and the US, shows in comparison a lower spatial extrapolation capacity than the HPAI H5N1 models, with a stronger association with intensively raised chicken densities and anthropogenic factors

Who’s responsible for food waste? Consumers, retailers and the food waste discourse coalition in the United Kingdom

Drawing on empirical research, including interviews with 38 key informants, this article examines how the challenge of food waste reduction has come to be framed, interpreted and responded to in the United Kingdom, focusing on household food waste and the interface between supermarkets and households. We identify a ‘discourse coalition’ arising from collective actors central to the issue that has achieved discursive hegemony over the framing of food waste as a problem. We analyse this discourse coalition – its core storylines, actors and practices – and the conditions that have enabled its emergence. Critical accounts of sustainable consumption commonly note the ‘responsibilisation of the consumer’: or the reduction of systemic issues to the individualised, behavioural choices of the ‘sovereign consumer’. We find, by contrast, that the ‘responsibilised consumer’ is by no means the discourse coalition’s dominant framing of the problem of household food waste. Instead, its dominant framing is that of distributed responsibility: responsibility distributed throughout the production–consumption system. The article also contributes towards understanding why retailers have embraced household food waste reduction as an object of intervention without framing the issue as one of, primarily, consumer responsibility

Ecosystem services of temporary streams differ between wet and dry phases in regions with contrasting climates and economies

1. Temporary streams are dynamic ecosystems in which mosaics of flowing, ponded and dry habitats support high biodiversity of both aquatic and terrestrial species. Species interact within habitats to perform or facilitate processes that vary in response to changing habitat availability. A natural capital approach recognizes that, through such processes, the ‘natural assets’ of all ecosystems deliver services that benefit people. 2. The ecosystem services of temporary streams remain largely unexplored, in particular those provided during ponded and dry phases. In addition, recent characterizations have focused on dryland systems, and it remains unclear how service provision varies among different climatic regions, or between developed and developing economies. 3. We use evidence from interdisciplinary literature to examine the ecosystem services delivered by temporary streams, including the regulating, provisioning and cultural services provided across the continuum from flowing to dry conditions. We focus on service provision during dry phases and wet–dry transitions, across regions with contrasting climates and economic development. 4. Provision of individual services in temporary streams may be reduced, enhanced or changed by surface water loss. Services enhanced by dry phases include provision of higher‐quality subsurface drinking water and unique opportunities for recreation. Shifts between dry and wet phases enable groundwater recharge that mitigates water scarcity, and grant dry‐phase access to sediments deposited during flowing phases. However, the accessibility and thus perceived value of these and other services varies considerably among regions. In addition, accessing provisioning services requires careful management to promote sustainable resource use and avoid ecological degradation. 5. We highlight the need for environmental managers to recognize temporary streams as aquatic–terrestrial ecosystems, and to take actions promoting their diversity within functional socio‐ecological systems that deliver unique service bundles characterized by variability and differing availability in space and time

Neoliberalism and the revival of agricultural cooperatives: The case of the coffee sector in Uganda

Agricultural cooperatives have seen a comeback in sub‐Saharan Africa. After the collapse of many weakly performing monopolist organizations during the 1980s and 1990s, strengthened cooperatives have emerged since the 2000s. Scholarly knowledge about the state–cooperative relations in which this “revival” takes place remains poor. Based on new evidence from Uganda's coffee sector, this paper discusses the political economy of Africa's cooperative revival. The authors argue that donors' and African governments' renewed support is framed in largely apolitical terms, which obscures the contested political and economic nature of the revival. In the context of neoliberal restructuring processes, state and non‐state institutional support to democratic economic organizations with substantial redistributional agendas remains insufficient. The political–economic context in Uganda—and potentially elsewhere in Africa—contributes to poor terms of trade for agricultural cooperatives while maintaining significant state control over some cooperative activities to protect the status quo interests of big capital and state elites. These conditions are unlikely to produce a conflict‐free, substantial, and sustained revival of cooperatives, which the new promoters of cooperatives suggest is under way