Editorial: Child protection in the era of multiple emergencies

No Abstract

Executive Compensation, Performance, Board and Ownership Structure: a Simultaneous Equations Approach.

Incentive contracts and monitoring by boards of directors and blockholders are alternative internal mechanisms to ensure that managers act in the interests of shareholders. Most prior research on compensation and performance ignores endogeneity among board, ownership and compensation structure (mix of pay) variables. Ignoring the endogeneity leads to inconsistent parameter estimates. I address the endogeneity problem by using a simultaneous equations model. The three equations in the system are mix of pay, compensation and performance. The results are consistent with efficient contracting. Mix of pay depends on characteristics of the firm and alternative governance mechanisms. The relation between stockholders and debtholders affects the relation between managers and stockholders. Financial leverage has a significant effect on mix of pay. Compensation and performance equations show that mix of pay is endogenous and belongs in both equations as an explanatory variable. Mix of pay is significantly positive in the compensation equation, consistent with the prediction that higher incentive based compensation leads to higher compensation risk and hence higher compensation. Neither mix of pay nor the board and ownership variables is significant in the performance equation, suggesting that firms choose optimal combinations of governance mechanisms. The direct effect of regulation on compensation reported in prior studies is spurious. The evidence provided shows that this effect is caused by omitting mix of pay from the compensation equation

Biophysical and socioeconomic geodatabase for land productivity dynamic assessment in Ethiopia

The purpose of this work is to collect, organize and develop geodatabase of spatial and non spatial data which are relevant to monitor land degradation and assess the major drivers to land degradation in Ethiopia. Accordingly, important time series biophysical (climate, vegetation, hydrology, soil...etc) and socioeconomic data (human population/demography, livestock population, major crops production and productivity....etc) are collected. Geodatabase is developed to facilitate integration and standardization of the collected data and making it suitable to use for further study. The next phase of this work is to find out the cause of land degradation in Ethiopia as human induced or (e.g. poor land management), climate driven (e.g. El Niño induced drought), or a combination of both factors at different spatial and temporal scales. Thus it is possible to devise suitable solutions to sites specific and time dependent problem

Gender assessment for women’s economic empowerment in Doyogena climate-smart landscape in Southern Ethiopia

Agricultural production systems in Ethiopia depend on seasonal rains, which are increasingly becoming variable, affecting the livelihoods of many farmers. Women in rural areas are more vulnerable to climate change and climaterelated risks due to existing social norms and gender inequalities (limited ownership and control over productive assets/resources, decision-making power, access to information, extension services, market etc.) and multidimensional social factors. These gender inequalities affect the ability of women to adapt to climate change. On the other hand, women have unique knowledge and skills that can help create effective and sustainable responses to climate change (Habtezion 2013)

Soil structural degradation and nutrient limitations across land use categories and climatic zones in Southern Africa

Although soil degradation is a major threat to food security and carbon sequestration, our knowledge of the spatial extent of the problem and its drivers is very limited in Southern Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to quantify the risk of soil structural degradation and determine the variation in soil stoichiometry and nutrient limitations with land use categories (LUCs) and climatic zones. Using data on soil clay, silt, organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S) concentrations collected from 4,468 plots on 29 sites across Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, this study presents novel insights into the variations in soil structural degradation and nutrient limitations. The analysis revealed strikingly consistent stoichiometric coupling of total N, P, and S concentrations with SOC across LUCs. The only exception was on crop land where available P was decoupled from SOC. Across sample plots, the probability (φ) of severe soil structural degradation was 0.52. The probability of SOC concentrations falling below the critical value of 1.5% was 0.49. The probabilities of soil total N, available P, and S concentrations falling below their critical values were 0.95, 0.70, and 0.83, respectively. N limitation occurred with greater probability in woodland (φ = .99) and forestland (φ = .97) than in cropland (φ = .92) and grassland (φ = .90) soils. It is concluded that soil structural degradation, low SOC concentrations, and N and S limitations are widespread across Southern Africa. Therefore, significant changes in policies and practices in land management are needed to reverse the rate of soil structural degradation and increase soil carbon storage