Productive, environmental, and economic shifts of dairy systems by adopting silvo-pastoral systems and improved pastures

In Colombia, milk yield gaps among dairy systems are large and farms with better feed quality and sustainable cattle management practices are more productive. Cattle farming is responsible for about 15% of the Colombian greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), therefore, sustainable mitigation strategies for dairy farms can help to reduce the climate impact. Silvo-pastoral systems (SPS) and improved pastures (IP) are recognised strategies to transform dairy systems by enhancing cattle productivity, reducing climate change impact, and increasing farm profitability. This study aims at assessing the climate change impact of small dairy cattle farms and at identifying how the implementation of SPS and IP as sustainable cattle practices (improvement scenario -IS-) can improve milk yields, farm profitability, and reduce GHGE. The study focuses on four very small dairy farms in the Cauca Department in Colombia and uses a life cycle assessment approach to calculate the carbon footprint (CF) of milk production. GHGE were calculated by applying the 2019 refinement to 2006 IPCC guidelines. The functional units correspond to one kg fat and protein-corrected milk (FPCM) and one kg live weight gain, in a cradle-to-farm-gate approach. A biophysical allocation method was applied for handling co-products leaving the farm. The study found that the milk CF ranged between 2.4 and 3.2 kg CO2-eq kg FPCM-1 in the baseline. On average, in the IS, the area with SPS and IP corresponded to more than 48% of the total farm area. The above allowed a higher availability of high-quality forage in the IS than in the baseline (no adoption of SPS and IS) and led to an increase in milk yields of up to 38% with a subsequent reduction of up to 40% of milk CF (varying from 1.4 and 2.7 kg CO2-eq kg FPCM-1). The IS also increased incomes by milk sales between 33 to 50%. The study provides evidence on the positive influence that the adoption of SSP and IP can have on the transformation and improvement of the sustainability of small dairy systems in Colombia. The findings highlight the importance of sustainable mitigation strategies for dairy farms to reduce their climate impact while improving productivity and profitability

Metal-macrofauna interactions determine microbial community structure and function in copper contaminated sediments

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

State support of the real sector of the economy: Legal regulation

The problem of state support for business is the most important in today’s conditions. The cataclysms that have occurred recently have affected the world economy. The world has ceased to be balanced. Business froze in fear of inevitable bankruptcy, unemployment and ruin. Political changes in Russia, which began in January 2020, the drop in oil prices, the collapse of the ruble, which followed the relative stability of the Russian national currency and reached the pandemic country, negatively affected business in the country. The development of urgent state measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises is the only way to maintain its viability. These measures should be based on a clear regulatory framework that does not allow vague interpretations and legal incidents. Using the comparative legal method, it is necessary to draw the experience of those countries in which there is a state policy in relation to small and medium-sized businesses, which is a system of socio-economic actions built on the principle of ensuring the favorable development of this sector of the economy and to develop measures that can preserve it in conditions of prevailing force majeure. The aim of this work is a comparative analysis of measures taken by the world community and Russia to support small and medium-sized businesses during the economic crisis caused by Covid19. Particular attention is paid to the legislative justification of measures taken in Russia and the identification of shortcomings of the newly adopted normative legal acts

The status of the UN Watercourses Convention: does it still hold water?

When the UN General Assembly adopted the Watercourses Convention in 1997, it was heralded as a major milestone in the evolution of international water law. Yet, more than 20 years later and five years since it came into force, enthusiasm for the instrument appears to have waned. Based on patterns in the UNGA vote and assorted ratifications, and statements of various delegates to the UN’s International Law Committee, Sixth Committee and General Assembly, positions on the convention’s text are explored to uncover possible reasons for its diminishing appeal. Other externalities are also considered in terms of the convention’s viability