Effects of water re-allocation in the Ebro river basin: A multiregional input-output and geographical analysis

The quality and availability of water are affected by numerous variables, through which the evaluation of water uses from different perspectives, and policy proposals to save water have now become essential. This paper aims to study water use and the water footprint from a river basin perspective, taking into account regions, sectors, and municipalities, while considering the physical frontier along with the administrative sectors. To this end, we have constructed a multi-regional input-output table for the Ebro river basin, disaggregating the primary sector into 18 different crops and 6 livestock groups. We pay special attention to crop production because it is the most water-consuming industry. The construction of the multi-regional input-output model represents an important contribution to the literature, in itself, since, to the best of our knowledge, it is the first to be built for this large basin. We extend this multi-regional input-output model to assess the water footprint by sectors and regions within the basin. We use these data to propose two scenarios: reallocating final demand to reduce the blue water footprint (scenario 1), and increasing value added (scenario 2). These scenarios outline the opportunity costs of saving water in socioeconomic terms in the basin. In another application, we downscale the multi-regional input-output model results at the municipal level and depict them using a geographical information system, identifying the hotspots and the areas that would pay for the socioeconomic opportunity costs of saving water. Our results suggest that saving 1 hm 3 of blue water could cost around €41, 500 of value added if we consider the entire basin. However, this water re-allocation implies losses and gains at the municipal level: some municipalities would reduce value added by more than €30, 000, while others would gain more than €85, 000 of value added. These tools and results can be useful for policy makers when considering re-allocating water. The contribution and the novelty of this paper is the construction of the multiregional input-output model for the Ebro river basin, and its link with geographical systems analysis at the municipal level

The burden of premature mortality in Spain using standard expected years of life lost: a population-based study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Measures of premature mortality have been used to guide debates on future health priorities and to monitor the population health status. Standard expected years of life lost (SEYLL) is one of the methods used to assess the time lost due to premature death. This article affords an overview of premature mortality in Spain for the year 2008.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A population-based study was conducted estimating SEYLL by sex and age groups. SEYLL, a key component of the disability-adjusted life years measure of disease burden, was calculated using Princeton West standard life tables with life expectancy at birth fixed at 80 years for males and 82.5 years for females. Population data and specific death records were obtained from the official registers of the National Institute of Statistics. All data were analysed and prepared in GesMor and Epidat software packages.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The burden of premature mortality was estimated at 2.1 million SEYLL when age at death is taken into account. Males lost 60.9% and females lost 39.1% of total SEYLL. Malignant tumors (34.5%) and cardiovascular diseases (24.0%) were the leading categories in terms of SEYLL. Ischaemic heart disease (8.5%) and lung cancers (8.0%) were the most common specific causes of SEYLL followed by cerebrovascular diseases (5.9%), colorectal cancer (4.1%), road traffic accidents (3.5%), Alzheimer and other dementias (2.9%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (2.8%), breast cancer (2.8%) and suicides (2.6%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In Spain, premature mortality was essentially due to chronic non-communicable diseases. Data provided in this study are relevant for a more balanced health agenda aimed at reducing the burden of premature mortality. This study also represents a first step in estimating the overall burden of disease in terms of premature death and disability.</p

Just One of the ‘PIIGS’ or a European Outlier? Studying Irish Emigration from a Comparative Perspective

The return of high levels of emigration has become one of the most debated and sensitive social topics in Ireland in recent years. But Irish emigration continues to be discussed in the singular rather than the plural. This paper compares Irish emigration to other Eurozone states that also encountered serious economic difficulties following the onset of the global financial crisis to highlight international trends and specify national differences. All of the ‘PIIGS’ experienced increased emigration after the crisis. Yet Irish citizens left in much greater numbers per capita than their Eurozone counterparts, with only Portugal bearing any similarities. This was because Irish emigrants possessed valuable transnational human, cultural and social capital that enabled them to access liberal labour markets outside the Eurozone. They possessed skills desired by attractive destination states; they spoke the same language and shared similar cultural traits as their hosts; and they were able to call upon recently renewed Irish networks to further facilitate their move abroad.Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/332409Cities, Migration and Global Interdependenc

A Decade of Lost Growth: Economic Policy in Spain through the Great Recession

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in South European Society and Politics, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13608746.2017.1301065. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 27 June 2018. Keith Salmon, 'A decade of lost growth: economic policy in Spain through the Great Recession', South European Society and Politics, first published online 27 March 2017.In 2008 the Spanish economy sank into recession, returning to growth in 2014. This paper explores the policies that were pursued by two successive governments to escape the recession. It comments on one of the most contentious strategies, that of austerity, and underlines the constraints on policy imposed by membership of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and a decentralised state. The Great Recession and accompanying austerity policy were associated with huge social and economic costs. Policy targets on the debt and deficit were not met. This experience, together with the broader sluggish growth in Europe and the political consequences associated with austerity, pointed to the need for a new policy mix.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

A review of water scarcity and drought indexes in water resources planning and management

Water represents an essential element for the life of all who inhabit our planet. But the random nature of this resource, which is manifested by the alternation of wet periods and dry periods, makes it even more precious. Whatever the approach (water planning, water management, drought, economy), in order to maximise the profit produced by the allocation of water it is necessary an understanding of the relationships between physical variables as precipitation, temperatures, streamflows, reservoir volumes, piezometric levels, water demands and infrastructures management. This paper attends to provide a review of fundamental water scarcity and drought indexes that enables to assess the status of a water exploitation system. With the aim of a better water management and governance under water scarcity conditions., this paper also presents a classification of indexes to help decision makers and stakeholders to select the most appropriate indexes, taking as the starting point the objectives of the analysis and the river basin features.Pedro Monzonis, M.; Solera Solera, A.; Ferrer Polo, FJ.; Estrela Monreal, T.; Paredes Arquiola, J. (2015). A review of water scarcity and drought indexes in water resources planning and management. Journal of Hydrology. (527):482-493. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.05.003S48249352

Mixture-risk-assessment of pesticide residues in retail polyfloral honey

[EN] The presence of even tiny quantities of pesticide residues in honey, a traditional healthy product, is a matter of concern for producers, packers and consumers. This paper aims to quantify pesticides in retail brands of polyfloral honey, and to calculate the mixture risk assessment of honey for consumers according to the results obtained from the analyzed samples. A LC-MS/MS multi-residue method was developed and validated for 13 compounds: 11 pesticides (chlorfenvinphos, coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate, amitraz, which are very common in veterinary treatments, and imidacloprid, acetamiprid, simazine, cyproconazole, tebuconazole, chlorpiryphos-methyl, chlorpiryphos, widely used in agricultural practices), and 2 metabolites of amitraz (2,4-DMA and 2,4-DMF). Results showed that the samples contained pesticide residues at different concentrations; however, the MRL in honey for each of the 11 pesticides was never exceeded. The most common were amitraz (from 1 to 50 ¿Ýg/kg) present in 100% of the samples, and coumaphos (up to 14 ¿Ýg/kg) in 63%. The hazard index (HI) for adults was less than 0.002 in all cases, a long way from 1, the value established as the limit of acceptability. Therefore, commercial honey does not represent any significant risk to health. However, considering that residue levels should be present ¡§as low as reasonably achievable¡¿ it is deemed necessary to make an effort to reduce their presence by appropriate agricultural and, above all, beekeeping practices due to acaridae treatments.This study forms part of a project funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain (Programa Estatal de Investigacion Desarrollo e Innovacion Orientada a los retos de la sociedad; Project number AGL2013-48646-R), for which the authors are grateful.Juan Borrás, MDS.; Doménech Antich, EM.; Escriche Roberto, MI. (2016). Mixture-risk-assessment of pesticide residues in retail polyfloral honey. Food Control. 67:127-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.02.051S1271346

Social times, reproduction and social inequality at work : contrasts and comparative perspectives between countries

Production of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004If the focus is placed specifically on the problem of work and family, the daily life of people and their use of time are a main problem. This time is expressed in both freely available time, which is related to activities, and time of the productive and reproductive sphere. This chapter considers work in a broad sense and takes into account the sexual division of labour. Specifically, this chapter will explore transformations in time use and social inequality in unpaid work. For this purpose, a comparative analysis of time-use surveys will be used, analysing the time spent, and the time dedicated to household chores in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. From an analytical viewpoint, the analysis will place social reproduction at the centre of the socio-economic system, showing that the economic crisis has affected women and men differently, and that in both Europe and Latin America the family pattern is being replaced by a dominant family model of a male provider and a double presence of women. The large-scale incorporation of women into the labour market has emphasised the role that women assume in the domestic sphere perpetuating gender segregation in employment and in domestic and care work

Assessment of the Public Administration Tools for the improvement of the Eco-efficiency of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) face barriers to the implementation and development of eco-efficiency that could be overcome taking advantage of the adequate stimuli and incentives. A previous research and a thorough literature analysis show Public Administration (PA) is a key stakeholder. PA could use better its tools to stimulate SME to improve their ecoefficiency. Among these tools it can be named well known command and control tools like legislation or taxes, but also price policies, green procurement, ecological education, eco-innovation support and others. This paper reviews these tools and how they contribute to overcome barriers to ecoefficiency by offering external and internal incentives for SME. The analysis is focused on the case of Venezuelan public administration and SME but it can be generalized to other case studies. In addition, a panel of experts validates the results and assesses the public administration tools by means of the policy Delphi method. The assessment is based on criteria like: market influence, capability of the public administration for controlling results, tool costs, impact on public administration image, timespan to get results, etc. The assessment, therefore, allows ranking and understanding the tools according to their effectiveness and efficiency to support SME to improve their ecoefficiency. Due to the specific characteristics of the case study: SME of Venezuela, the method shows the best mix of public administration tools includes mainly command and control tools. Also the mix includes certain new-approach tools like advertising about responsible consumption and eco-efficient products, or education/training in environmental responsibility. The method also allows understanding better how the tools will help accomplishing the objectives for ecoefficiency of the public administration. Therefore, this research provides a method for raising information to be used when planning the actions to improve eco-efficiency of the SME.Fernández-Viñé, MB.; Gómez-Navarro, T.; Capuz-Rizo, SF. (2013). Assessment of the Public Administration Tools for the improvement of the Eco-efficiency of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Journal of Cleaner Production. 47:265-273. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.08.026S2652734

Study of the planetary boundary layer height in an urban environment using a combination of microwave radiometer and ceilometer

The Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) is an important part of the atmosphere that is relevant in different atmospheric fields like pollutant dispersion, and weather forecasting. In this study, we analyze four and five-year datasets of measurements gathered with a ceilometer and a microwave radiometer to study the PBL structure respectively, in the mid-latitude urban area of Granada (Spain). The methodologies applied for the PBL Height (PBLH) detection (gradient method for ceilometer and the combination of parcel method and temperature gradient method for microwave radiometer) provided a description in agreement with the literature about the PBL structure under simple scenarios. Then, the PBLH behavior is characterized by a statistical study of the convective and stable situations, so that the PBLH was obtained from microwave radiometer measurements. The analysis of the PBLH statistical study shows some agreement with other PBLH studies such as daily pattern and yearly cycle, and the discrepancies were explained in terms of distinct latitudes, topography and climate conditions. Finally, it was performed a joint long-term analysis of the residual layer (RL) provided by ceilometer and the stable and convective layer heights determined by microwave radiometer, offering a complete picture of the PBL evolution by synergetic combination of remote sensing techniques. The PBL behavior has been used for explaining the daily cycle of Black Carbon (BC) concentration, used as tracer of the pollutants emissions associated to traffic.Grupo de Física de la Atmósfera (RNM119