What is the potential for biogas digesters to improve soil carbon sequestration in Sub-Saharan Africa? Comparison with other uses of organic residues

Acknowledgments We are very grateful to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) New and Emerging Technologies Research Call for funding this work. PS is a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award holder.Peer reviewedPostprin

What is the potential for biogas digesters to improve soil fertility and crop production in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Acknowledgements We are very grateful to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) New and Emerging Technologies Research Call for funding this work. PS is a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award holder.Peer reviewedPostprin

Planetary Boundaries and the Doughnut frameworks: A review of their local operability

The concept of Planetary Boundaries has sparked debate around tipping points and the limits of the Earth System for over a decade. Among the most investigated aspects is how to downscale this global concept to a country level, to make it operative at scales at which decisions are taken and policies applied. Specifically how to achieve applicability locally while keeping global relevance, however, remains unclear. The same is true for the "Doughnut" concept, which builds on the Planetary Boundaries framework and adds a social component to create a "Safe and Just Operating Space" (SJOS) within which humanity should live. This paper reviews these two concepts in detail, focusing on their local operability. Synthesis of the literature reveals that, during the downscaling process, either the global meaning of the Planetary Boundaries or the local characteristics of a country are lost. Further, the SJOS remains a very theoretical concept because a match does not exist between the Planetary Boundaries and the social components of the Doughnut. Identification of this problem therefore suggests that future work should calculate the Planetary Boundaries globally for each ecosystem first, and then downscale them by country. In this way, the global relevance of the Planetary Boundaries would hold, and the framework could apply to local policies. Furthermore, the ecosystem services could link the Planetary Boundaries with the social aspects of the Doughnut, and hence contribute to understanding why a country lies within or outside the SJOS

Global cropland and greenhouse gas impacts of UK food supply are increasingly located overseas

Funding This work was supported by a University of Aberdeen Environment and Food Security Theme/the James Hutton Institute PhD studentship, and contributes to the Scottish Food Security Alliance-Crops and the Belmont Forum supported DEVIL project (NERC fund UK contribution: NE/M021327/1). J.M. and R.B.M. acknowledge funding from the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services, Scottish Government. T.K. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council Grant ERC-263522 (LUISE).Peer reviewedPostprin

Not seeing the carbon for the trees? Why area-based targets for establishing new woodlands can limit or underplay their climate change mitigation benefits

Acknowledgements: The James Hutton Institute is supported by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS). This research was funded through both ClimatexChange and two strategic Research Programs (2011-16 and 2016-21). The authors acknowledge the assistance provided by other staff – Marie Castellazzi, Nikki Baggaley, Allan Lilly (The James Hutton Institute); Jo Smith (University of Aberdeen); Philip Taylor, Duncan Ray (Forest Research).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The relationship between forest cover and diet quality:a case study of rural southern Malawi

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Potential carbon loss from Scottish peatlands under climate change

Open Access via Springer Compact Agreement. Acknowledgements: This work was possible thanks to a Studentship from the Macaulay Development Trust.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Projecting the effect of crop yield increases, dietary change and different price scenarios on land use under two different state security regimes

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