The Self-Selection of Democracies into Treaty Design: Insights from International Environmental Agreements

Generally, democratic regime type is positively associated with participating in international environmental agreements. In this context, this study focuses on the legal nature of an agreement, which is linked to audience costs primarily at the domestic level that occur in case of non-compliance and are felt especially by democracies. Eventually, more legalized (\hard-law") treaties make compliance potentially more challenging and democratic leaders may anticipate the corresponding audience costs, which decreases the likelihood that democracies select themselves into such treaties. The empirical implication of our theory follows that environmental agreements with a larger share of democratic members are less likely to be characterized by hard law. This claim is tested using quantitative data on global environmental treaties. The results strongly support our argument, shed new light on the relationship between participation in international agreements and the form of government, and also have implications for the \words-deeds" debate in international environmental policy-making

Challenges to Turkey’s Transition to a Low-Carbon Urban Development: A Roadmap for an Effective Climate Change Policy

Turkey is an emerging economy with a growing gross domestic product, which brings with it a rapid increase in energy consumption. Turkey’s per capita GHG emissions increased from 3.88 tons of CO2eqin 1990 to 6.07 tons of CO2eqin 2015. Furthermore, due to being located in the Mediterranean Basin, Turkey is highly vulnerable to such impacts of climate change as temperature rises, flooding and water shortage. Since the early 2000s, there have been several efforts in developing a climate policy in Turkey. The EU accession negotiations have played a catalyst role in pushing the environmental agenda and climate policy forward. However, the current state of climate policy in Turkey is far from being a sound policy framework. Despite the introduction of several policy documents and institutional reforms, GHGs and climatic vulnerabilities of Turkish cities are increasing. This chapter investigates the current state of climate policy in Turkey so as to underline its shortcoming and weaknesses. Following the discussion on the existing situation, a roadmap is proposed to sidestep the existing shortcomings and develop a sound and internationally valid climate policy. The proposed roadmap is believed to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon urban development in Turkish cities

Postharvest agriculture in changing climates: Its importance to African smallholder farmers

Climate change and variability affect not only the field stages and yields of crops, but also what happens to them after harvest. There has been little discussion of the impacts of climate change on postharvest agriculture, and still less on these impacts in developing countries. Many studies have focused on potential crop yield and pre-harvest implications of different climatic projections, but have omitted an analysis of the need and ability to then protect this increasingly valuable harvest as a vital aspect of food security. Postharvest systems will be affected by changes in temperature, rainfall, humidity, extreme events and the natural and human responses to climate change and variability. This study describes typical grain postharvest systems in east and southern Africa and discusses the likely impacts of different climate change trends on postharvest activities, assets and human well-being outcomes. Adaptation opportunities for creating more climate resilient postharvest agricultural systems and associated livelihoods are identified. Many of these adaptation opportunities are already known and understood by postharvest service providers, highlighting the significant challenge of getting postharvest knowledge into use at a larger scale. A discussion is presented on the factors influencing attempts to strengthen the adaptive capacity of postharvest systems, such as its invisibility, its omission from training curricula, innovation system challenges, the policy bias towards pre-harvest agricultural spending, limited understanding of gender and diversity aspects of postharvest roles, and the dominance of maize in the food system. The study recognises the crucial role of postharvest agriculture in helping communities adapt and cope with change