The role of the European small ruminant dairy sector in stabilising global temperatures : lessons from GWP* warming-equivalent emission metrics

Recent calls advocate that a huge reduction in the consumption of animal products (including dairy) is essential to mitigate climate change and stabilise global warming below the 1.5 and 2°C targets. The Paris Agreement states that to stabilise temperatures we must reach a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the second half of this century. Consequently, many countries have adopted overall GHG reduction targets (e.g. EU, at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990). However, using conventional metric-equivalent emissions (CO2-e GWP100) as the basis to account for emissions does not result in capturing the effect on atmospheric warming of changing emission rates from short-lived GHG (e.g. methane: CH4), which are the main source of GHG emissions by small ruminants. This shortcoming could be solved by using warming-equivalent emissions (CO2-we, GWP*), which can accurately link annual GHG emission rates to its warming effect in the atmosphere. In our study, using this GWP* methodology and different modelling approaches, we first examined the historical (1990–2018) contribution of European dairy small ruminant systems to additional atmosphere warming levels and then studied different emission target scenarios for 2100. These scenarios allow us to envision the necessary reduction of GHG emissions from Europe's dairy small ruminants to achieve a stable impact on global temperatures, i.e. to be climatically neutral. Our analysis showed that, using this type of approach, the whole European sheep and goat dairy sector seems not to have contributed to additional warming in the period 1990–2018. Considering each subsector separately, increases in dairy goat production has led to some level of additional warming into the atmosphere, but these have been compensated by larger emission reductions in the dairy sheep sector. The estimations of warming for future scenarios suggest that to achieve climate neutrality, understood as not adding additional warming to the atmosphere, modest GHG reductions of sheep and goat GHG would be required (e.g. via feed additives). This reduction would be even lower if potential soil organic carbon (SOC) from associated pastures is considered.Peer reviewe

Comparable GHG emissions from animals in wildlife and livestock-dominated savannas

Pastoralism in Old World savannas is known to emit a significant share of global livestock-sourced greenhouse gases (GHG). Here, we compare calculated emissions from animals in a wildlife-dominated savanna (14.3 Mg km(-2)), to those in an adjacent land with similar ecological characteristics but under pastoralism (12.8 Mg km(-2)). The similar estimates for both, wildlife and pastoralism (76.2 vs 76.5 Mg CO2-eq km(-2)), point out an intrinsic association of emissions with herbivore ecological niches. Considering natural baseline or natural background emissions in grazing systems has important implications in the analysis of global food systems.Peer reviewe

100 years after the Constitution from Weimar what do we have left?: The controversial heritage of Carl Schmitt

Pocos periodos de la historia moderna resultan tan convulsionados y decisivos como la República de Weimar. Más allá de una crisis particular de la historia alemana, las vicisitudes políticas de Weimar configuran un “nudo gordiano” en el que se entrelazan hilos ideológicos que, de forma intermitente, se mantienen en pugna hasta el presente. En este artículo se examina el aporte del padre del decisionismo contemporáneo: Carl Schmitt. En el artículo se analiza la riqueza de la herencia schmittiana y su vigencia en el siglo XXIFew moments in modern age are as convulsive and decisive like the Weimar Republic. Beyond a particular crisis in German history, the political vicissitudes of Weimar Republic make up a “Gordian knot” in which ideological threads are woven together that, intermittently, they remain valid. In this paper we examine the contribution of the main representative of contemporary decisionism: Carl Schmitt. The document analyzes the richness of the Schmittian heritage and its validity in the 21st centur

Underrated past herbivore densities could lead to misoriented sustainability policies

Knowing the carrying capacity of the Earth’s grazed ecosystems, and the relevance of herbivory, is important for many scientific disciplines, as well as for policy. Current herbivore levels are estimated to be four to five times larger than at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition or the start of the industrial revolution. While this estimate can lead the general public and the scientific community to predict severe, widespread environmental impacts by livestock in terms of deforestation, biodiversity loss and climate change, it ignores the inherent uncertainty of such calculations. We revise the evidence published during the last decade regarding Late Pleistocene herbivore abundance, along with contemporary and some pre-industrial data on herbivore density in grazed ecosystems. Both Late Pleistocene and pre-industrial herbivore levels are likely to be consistently higher than what has generally been assumed, confirming increasing awareness on the importance of herbivory as a widespread ecological process. We therefore call for more refined research in this field to have the reliable baselines currently demanded by society and policy. These baselines should orient sound action towards policies on biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, food systems, and climate change.Peer reviewe

Do Parent–Adolescent Discrepancies in Family Functioning Increase the Risk of Hispanic Adolescent HIV Risk Behaviors?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107542/1/famp12067.pd

Determinación de los usos BIM que satisfacen los principios valorados en proyectos públicos de construcción

La infraestructura pública en Perú posee muchas falencias, desde la decisión sobre en qué se debe invertir el gasto público, hasta los problemas propios de los proyectos de construcción. Estos problemas se agrandan al incluir toda la burocracia presente en los procesos del estado. Estudios señalan que este tipo de proyectos presentan hasta 9000% de aumento en tiempo y hasta 200% de aumento en costo. Una alternativa usada por las entidades públicas para aminorar estos problemas ha sido aplicar algunos usos BIM en ciertos proyectos, al igual que lo hacen países como los pertenecientes al Reino Unido y Singapur, donde es obligatorio usar BIM en proyectos públicos. Desafortunadamente, no se han obtenido los resultados esperados. Esto puede ser consecuencia de una baja capacitación por parte de los funcionarios públicos para entender cómo se usa BIM en los proyectos y, además, de la falta de entendimiento de lo que se valora en este tipo de proyectos. Debido a estos problemas en la implementación BIM a nivel de gobierno en Perú se plantea un esquema de alineamiento entre los usos BIM más importantes, según la literatura, y los principios valorados por parte de los funcionarios públicos peruanos. La recolección de estos principios ha sido por medio lo encontrado en la literatura sobre lo valorado en estos proyectos y luego validado mediante entrevistas semiestructuradas a los directores de infraestructura de 4 ministerios peruanos. Como resultado de esta validación de principios se tiene que el uso de tecnología y la transparencia de la información son los más importantes para estos agentes. Para el esquema de alineamiento entre usos BIM y estos principios se ha explicado cómo estos usos pueden satisfacer estos principios, con el objetivo de agregarle valor a los proyectos públicos. Este esquema descrito corresponde a uno conceptual. Luego se verificó por medio de 3 proyectos públicos del Ministerio del Interior, donde se aplicaron hasta 6 usos BIM en un mismo proyecto, dando como resultado un esquema de alineamiento entre usos BIM y principios valorados ya validado. En conclusión, queda demostrado la necesidad de estos usos BIM para satisfacer estos principios, siendo el uso más importante el de detección de interferencias e incompatibilidades. Además, se proponen futuras investigaciones para reforzar la necesidad de una implementación BIM a nivel de gobierno en Perú.Tesi