Environmental and social consequences of the increase in the demand for superfoods world-wide

1.The search for healthy diets has led to a surge in the demand for functional foods or ‘superfoods’, which have now become popular among the middle- and high- income fractions of the society in developed regions of the world. ‘Superfoods’ are predominantly consumed far from their centres of origin and out of their cul- tural context with different environmental and social effects. 2. Here, we present a series of case studies to provide an overview of the different environmental impacts driven by superfood expansion. 3. We show that if these crops are to follow the path of other global commodities, then strong environmental impacts and large carbon footprints are expected in terms of land clearing, use of agrochemicals and transportation during times of high prices (boom) and social problems as farmers have to abandon their liveli- hoods when prices sink below the cost of production (bust). 4. We also showcase how a combination of management practices, consumer choices and policy changes could help in alleviating the ecological footprint of these crops.Both A.M. and M.J.S. are funded through Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science. Research was also supported by the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation (MDM‐2017‐0714) and the Basque Government BERC Programme

Loss of coherence in double-slit diffraction experiments

By using optical models based on the theory of partially coherent light, and the quantum decoherence model proposed by Joos and Zeh [Z. Phys. B 59, 223 (1985)], we explore incoherence and decoherence in interference phenomena. The problem chosen to study is that of the double-slit diffraction experiment, a paradigmatic example in quantum mechanics. In particular, we perform an analysis of the experiment carried out with cold neutrons by Zeilinger et al. [Rev. Mod. Phys. 60, 1067 (1988).

Nations’ water footprints and virtual water trade of wood products

Several studies addressed the water footprint (WF) of countries and virtual water (VW) trade in agricultural and industrial products, but freshwater use associated with wood products has received little attention. Yet, international trade in wood products has been growing, and forestry competes with other forest ecosystem services over limited freshwater resources. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to assess nations’ WFs of consumption of wood products, the sustainability of these WFs, and the VW flows associated with international trade in wood products. We account nations’ WFs of and VW trade in wood products with a Multi-regional Input-Output model (MRIO-forest) that tracks wood flows along global supply chains (production, processing, trade, and final uses) for the period 1997-2017 and assess the sustainability of the green and blue WF of wood products in 2017. The WF of wood production increased from 8.37 × 1011 m3/y in 1997 to 9.87 × 1011 m3/y in 2017. About 38% (3.76 × 1011 m3/y) of this WF relates to wood products for export (in 2017), which means that VW trade associated with wood products ranks in between agricultural and industrial products in absolute volumes. About 10% (9.9 × 1010 m³/y) of the green WF and 11% (3.4 × 109 m³/y) of the blue WF of wood products in 2017 are unsustainable, meaning that they are located in areas where the total green/blue WF exceeds the maximum sustainable green/blue WF. The unsustainable green WF occurs mainly in Germany, Indonesia, the Czech Republic and the UK, and mainly relates to coniferous sawnwood, paper and paperboard other than newsprint, fibreboard and non-coniferous sawnwood. The unsustainable blue WF, which is much smaller, occurs in the USA, Russia. Nigeria, Canada and India, and mainly relates to fuelwood, paper and paperboard other than newsprint, sawnwood and fibreboard. This study increases our understanding of how forest evaporation flows link to the final consumption of wood products and contributes to the wider debate on the allocation of freshwater resources in the global economy. © 2022BC3 authors thank the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the project Modeling and analysis of low carbon transitions (MALCON, RTI2018-099858-A-I00), and the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation 2018-2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/) and Basque Government BERC 2022-2025 Programme. I. Cazcarro thanks the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (State Research Agency. 2019 Call for R+D+i) PID2019-106822RB-I0 “Multisectoral and multiregional models, innovation and dynamics, for economic, social and environmental sustainability. J.F. Schyns was supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Earth@lternatives project, grant agreement No 834716). This article has been also a parallel study to one developed on land footprints under Letter of Agreement between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, UN-REDD Programme) and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3). BC3 authors thank the staff of the FAO and BC3 for their comments, discussions and suggestions related to forest data and policy. We are especially grateful to Malgorzata Buszko-Briggs and Tina Vahanen (FAO Forestry Department) for their contribution to frame and coordinate the research, and to Salar Tayyib, Daniela Di Filippo, Tomasz Filipczuk (FAO Statistics Division) and Arvydas Lebedys (FAO Forestry Department) for providing datasets and for their discussions and comments on data and methodological issues

Spatial and Annual Temporal Distribution of Ozone Concentrations in the Madrid Basin Using Passive Samplers

Passive samplers are useful tools for helping to describe the ozone distribution in complex terrain situations. They are also a good complement to continuous monitoring stations. This paper discusses the results of a pilot study that used ozone passive samplers to describe the spatial and annual temporal distribution of ozone in several forested areas around the city of Madrid. The ozone concentrations around Madrid were found to be higher on the elevated sites located at a certain distance from the city�s urban zone. A seasonal ozone cycle was observed, with maximum concentrations found in the basin in late spring or summer depending on the location. The information obtained allowed us to group the locations into four classes. Altitude and distance to the city during the summer and winter explained the observed ozone concentrations. However, during the transition periods, especially in early spring and to a lesser extent in autumn, there was not a good correlation between ozone levels and elevation or distance from precursor sources. These data strongly suggest that altitudinal gradients for ozone are not always the case in the Madrid Basin

Component-Resolved in Vitro Diagnosis in Peach-Allergic Patients

BACKGROUND: The in vitro diagnosis of pollen-related food allergy presents low specifi city and reproducibility with many conventional extracts. This can be improved using natural purifi ed allergens, recombinant purifi ed allergens, or both. OBJECTIVE: We compared specifi c immunoglobulin (Ig) E determination (sIgE), the basophil activation test (BAT), the histamine release test (HRT), and the cellular allergen stimulation test (CAST) using natural and recombinant allergens in the diagnosis of peach allergy. METHODS: Thirty-two peach allergic patients were studied. Skin prick tests were performed with commercial peach and extract with Mal d 1, nPru p 3, and profi lin (nPho d 2). sIgE, BAT, CAST, and HRT were determined using rPru p 3, rMal d 3, rBet v 1, rMal d 1, and rMal d 4. RESULTS: Agreement between the techniques was good with all the allergens, except HRT with rMal d 1 and rMal d 4. With rPru p 3, sIgE, CAST, BAT, and HRT showed sensitivity values of 88%, 81%, 72%, and 69% and specifi city values of 100%, 93%, 97%, and 83%, respectively. In patients with systemic symptoms or contact urticaria, the values were 100%, 85%, 81%, and 81%. In patients with oral allergy syndrome, sensitivity to profi lins or homologues of Bet v 1 was detected in 100% of the cases by all the techniques, except by HRT with rMal d 1, which detected 66% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: The use of single allergens in the in vitro diagnosis of peach allergy by specifi c IgE determination, BAT, and CAST offers high specifi city and sensitivity, with better results than the HRT

A new accounting framework for assessing forest footprint of nations

n a tele-coupled and globalized World, understanding the links between demand for wood products and land use is becoming challenging. World's economies are increasingly open and interconnected, and international trade flows of wood products are continuously growing. The increasing resource consumption of humanity is increasingly dependent on international trade. In this context, the study of forest products demand from a global-multi-regional perspective emerges as a critical issue to achieve the goal of sustainable consumption and production. In this paper, we introduce a novel accounting framework for assessing the forest footprint of nations. The method combines Multi-regional Input-Output techniques and detailed data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on production, consumption and bilateral trade of primary, intermediate and final wood products, advancing with respect to existing approaches with these practical distinctions for more accurate computations. The approach tracks resource flows along the global supply chain and provides detailed information on the production, transformation, international trade, and final use of 20 forest products in 223 countries, having also much wider coverage than most previous studies. We test this framework to analyse forest footprint of nations in the year 2014, showing that 22 Million hectares (Mha) of forest were harvested for the extraction of roundwood for global demand, being 9.1 Mha to satisfy the foreign demand of wood products (42% of the total forestland harvested area). Harvested forestland is concentrated in America (32%), Asia (29%) and Europe (28%), representing Africa (7%) and Oceania (4%). More than 50% of the reported forest area harvested worldwide is located in USA (15%), China (14%); Russia (11%) and Canada (8%). In terms of forest footprint, Asia shows the highest share of the total forest footprint (44%), followed by America (25%), Europe (21%), Africa (7%) and Oceania (2%). Country-wise, half is concentrated in China (24%), USA (16%), India (5%), and Russia (5%).This article was developed under Letter of Agreement between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, UN-REDD Programme) and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3). The authors thank the staff of the FAO and BC3 for their comments, discussions and suggestions on this report. We are especially grateful to Malgorzata Buszko-Briggs, Tina Vahanen and Caroline Merle (FAO Forestry Department) for their contribution to frame and coordinate the research, and to Salar Tayyib, Daniela Di Filippo, Tomasz Filipczuk (FAO Statistics Division) and Arvydas Lebedys (FAO Forestry Department) for providing datasets and for their discussions and comments on data and methodological issues. The authors also thank the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, through the project MALCON, RTI 2018-099858-A-I00, the Spanish State Research Agency through María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation 2018–2022 (Ref. MDM-2017-0714), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, the Basque Government BERC 2018-2021 Programme, and the EU H2020 project LOCOMOTION GA no 821105

Una Nueva Política De Recursos Humanos En I+D: El Programa Ramón y Cajal

Publicado en: Economía Industrial, 343 (1): 149-160, 2000Peer reviewe

Field efficacy of acaricides against Varroa destructor

Field trials were conducted in Northeast Spain (Aragón) to evaluate the effectiveness of two acaricides against Varroa destructor. These experiments took into account the season of the year, apiary, colony, and developmental state and strength of the colony. The acaricides used were a synthetic (amitraz, Apivar®) and a natural (formulated from Api Life Var®, thymol oil and thymol alcohol) product. The treatments used in the present study reduce high infestations of V. destructor, although they do not eliminate the infestation. Similar efficacies between treatments were found. Nevertheless, the efficacy of a treatment depends on the apiary where applied. Moreover, the detected variability in the apiary and hive poses a challenge to the identification of the significant factors. Therefore, more field studies to assess efficacies in several apiaries are needed to obtain a better understanding of the effects of the applied treatments

Una Nueva Política De Recursos Humanos En I+D: El Programa Ramón y Cajal

Publicad

Modeling trade-offs across carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, and equity in the distribution of global REDD+ funds

The program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is one of the major attempts to tackle climate change mitigation in developing countries. REDD+ seeks to provide result-based incentives to promote emission reductions and increase carbon sinks in forest land while promoting other cobenefits, such as the conservation of biodiversity. We model different scenarios of international REDD+ funds distribution toward potential recipient countries using 2 carbon emission reduction targets (20% and 50% compared to the baseline scenario, i.e., deforestation and forest degradation without REDD+) by 2030. The model combines the prioritization of environmental outcomes in terms of carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation and social equity, accounting for the equitable distribution of international REDD+ funds. Results highlight the synergy between carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation under alternative fund allocation criteria, especially for scenarios of low carbon emission reduction. Trade-offs increase when distributional equity is considered as an additional criterion, especially under higher equity requirements. The analysis helps to better understand the inherent trade-offs between enhancing distributional equity and meeting environmental targets under alternative REDD+ fund allocation options. (c) 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.I.P. is supported by a grant by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (IJCI-2016–28475). I.P., U.P., and M.J.S. are supported under the Basque Centre for Climate Change “Unit of Excellence” (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; MDM-2017-0714)