Molecular marker-based characterization in candidate plus trees of Pongamia pinnata, a potential biodiesel legume

Molecular marker studies provide valid guidelines for collection, characterization and selective cultivation of elite Pongamia germplasm that can be exploited further for its improvement through breeding and marker assisted selection for improved characters and oil yield towards biodiesel production

Planning and sustainability: Exploring the relationship

Planning and sustainability are extremely challenging concepts in the current development discourse. This paper argues that besides being challenging, they are also closely related in a complementary fashion. To achieve holistic sustainability, efficient planning is inevitable. With this understanding, the article explores ways in which planning and sustainability are intricately linked. The focus is mainly on how planning can enhance the chances of achieving sustainability. Following this, a set of criteria to gauge the efficacy of contemporary plans with regard to achieving sustainability is suggested. A list of substantive and process criteria is presented which plans must adhere to, if transition to a sustainable pattern of existence is to be successfully achieved

Human security for Mongolian herders: evolving risks and opportunities

The Arctic region shares a number of socio-cultural and ecological parallels with Mongolia. Reliance on traditional livelihoods, fast paced changes to the natural climate, conflict with existing industries such as tourism, a rapid mining boom, and remote and sparse population centers are only some of the similarities underlining the Arctic and Mongolian contexts. This chapter applies the lens of human security to unpack tensions underlying Mongolia's development. It provides a robust understanding of how these tensions interact with one another to infiltrate socio-economic and environmental insecurity amongst Mongolia's traditionally pastoralist communities. The chapter argues that Mongolia's ongoing experience in navigating human security risks and opportunities may provide useful pointers to northern Indigenous peoples, including those from the Arctic. To that extent, the chapter highlights a number of important take-home messages that may: (a) not only help pro-actively counter some of the challenges that the Indigenous people of the North may increasingly experience in relation to societal security, but also (b) help build their capacity over the long-term to preserve their cultural and ecological identities

Mining and climate change: current linkages and challenges for the future

This chapter argues that the relationship between a changing natural environment and the mining industry remains strong, but is greatly undervalued. In the absence of robust localised climate modelling and experiential knowledge that can help devise strategic climate management plans, ongoing performance as well as future viability of the mining sector remain under a significant climate threat worldwide. More research is needed to better understand, not only the differentiated nature of impacts from varied climatic changes (from droughts to floods to bush fires) across various stages of the mining lifecycle, but also how these impacts may lead to different consequences across various geographical regions. To this end, I identify five key areas to strengthen the mining industry’s understanding of climate change. First, recognise the complexity and inter-linkages that underlie climate change. Second, recognise that climate is a relative, not an absolute risk. Three, leadership is important in order to promote a behavioural change in both employers and employees. Fourth, develop open and flexible institutions. Finally, begin to develop a repository of knowledge on climate change, its impact on the industry and successful mitigation strategies

Access for adaptation? Reviewing the linkages between energy, disasters, and development in India

Over the years, the energy discourse has tenaciously focused on energy transitions to expedite climate mitigation efforts. This has inadvertently resulted in little attention to the other important link between energy and climate, namely energy access and climate adaptation. In particular, the potential role of reliable, affordable and sustainable modern energy services in strengthening societies’ adaptive capacities to address climate disaster events has been ignored across both policy and practice. This paper probes these links and argues for a critically co-dependent conceptual relationship between energy access, rural development, and climate adaptation and disaster management. It then explores how, if at all, these links may exist in Odisha, one of India's most climate vulnerable states with low socio-economic development. The paper concludes that a deep-seated policy reform is necessary to bring about a shift in how we a) measure ‘successful’ disaster policy, b) understand the role of energy in a disaster context, and c) recognise, and seek greater synergies between energy access, rural development and climate adaptation objectives

Planning for holistic sustainability: a study of the ’process’ in Kerala (India) and Sweden.

Numerous attempts have been undertaken to deliver a common understanding of the concept of sustainability. Most of these attempts however, have remained contested and ineffective. Weak conceptualisation has also affected the process of operationalisation of sustainability. This thesis addresses the above issues by firstly, interpreting sustainability and its underlying principles from a perspective that draws together social, economic, environmental, cultural, and institutional conditions and cross-linkages. Secondly, and more importantly, the research focuses on ‘how’ to operationalise sustainability across different regions. In doing so, the research acknowledges the significance of planning pathways in the process of achieving sustainability. The research has been conducted using two case studies that critically examine the effectiveness of contemporary sustainability planning processes in Kerala (India) and Sweden. A total of 42 in-depth interviews, three focus group discussions and several participant observations have contributed to primary data collection for the two case studies. The research has developed a set of ‘substantive’ and ‘process’ criteria based on which planning efficacy in Kerala and Sweden has been evaluated. By focusing on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ rather than the ‘what’ aspects of the sustainability problematique, the research findings contribute new knowledge that reduces the chasm between theory and practice with regard to operationalising holistic sustainability. The research also demonstrates that despite significant differences between social, economic and environmental settings, planning for sustainability in both Kerala and Sweden largely exhibits similar behavioural patterns. For instance, both regions suggest the importance of public participation and community engagement in achieving sustainability while planning process in both cases suffer from lack of integration between different components, issues and discourses and weak mechanisms of plan evaluation and feedback generation. The research thus argues that the division of the world into the developing South and the developed North does not affect the process of operationalising sustainability in any significant way. Finally, the thesis highlights implications of sustainability planning on policymaking and identifies priorities for governance that better reflect the complexity underlying sustainability operationalisation.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 200

Extractive resource development in a changing climate: learning the lessons from extreme weather events in Queensland, Australia

This report highlights challenges to future industry and local communities in Central Queensland’s coal mining region based on climate-influenced drought and flooding experienced since 2000. ABSTRACT Australia is not only a location of extreme climate variability but is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to anthropogenic climatic changes. The dependence that national and regional economies have on mining-led export earnings combined with the resource sector’s potential to impact significantly on environments and communities during extreme weather events makes the minerals sector an important area of focus for climate adaptation research. This project examines extreme weather events in Queensland and the direct and indirect impacts of these events on the mining industry, governments and dependent communities. The project is funded by NCCARF’s Synthesis and Integrative Research Program. This report presents findings from our research project that investigates the nature and scope of climatic extremes experienced since 2000 in Central Queensland’s coal mining region. It examines the direct and flow-on impacts of extreme events on the mining industry and other stakeholders, and the response mechanisms employed by these stakeholder groups to address key impacts. By doing so, the project’s overarching objective is to highlight both climate-influenced drought (water quantity) and flooding (water quality) challenges relevant to the future viability of the industry and local communities. Key outcomes from this research include: a better understanding of the range of existing barriers and challenges – both within and outside the mining industry – that currently prevent the resources sector from developing a coherent adaptation policy for future climatic events; improved knowledge on how lessons learnt from past experiences can inform future research directions to enhance the resilience and adaptive capacity of the resources sector to address current and future climatic perturbations; and directions for future research on climate adaptation in the resources sector based on lessons learnt from these experiences.  Data for this project has been drawn from a variety of sources, including a systematic review of literature (academic sources, newspaper and other media articles, government and industry reports, and reports published from the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry); targeted interviews with representatives of state and local governments, industry, and peak regional bodies; and a series of workshops with a mix of representatives from relevant stakeholder groups active in the region.Authors: Vigya Sharma, Shashi van de Graaff, Barton Loechel, Daniel Franks

Climate change and mining: a foreign policy perspective

The growing number and impact of extreme weather events has led to increasing awareness in the extractives industries of the potential negative impacts of climate change. The industry has started thinking about its own vulnerabilities and the risks climate change could pose. However, there has been little research and debate that takes a more comprehensive look at the links between climate change and mining. With the report\ua0Climate Change and Mining. A Foreign Policy Perspective,Lukas Rüttinger and Vigya Sharma try to fill this gap by shedding some light on these links and providing an overview of the complex challenges around extractive resources in the context of climate change, highlighting four entry points for foreign policy

Exploring the population-environment nexus: Understanding climate change, environmental degradation and migration in Bangladesh

As one of the most densely populated countries in the world, Bangladesh is expected to face multiple stresses from various environmental disturbances, particularly those which can be both directly and indirectly attributed to changes in local and regional climatic conditions. This paper begins by exploring the link between climate change and population displacement. It then examines climate change impacts currently being experienced in Bangladesh and resulting present and future social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. This is followed by a review of the region's past trends of population movement as a result of environmental degradation and climatic disturbances. In doing so, it identifies a number of ‘hot spots’ in and around the country where the impact of climate change is most likely to lead to population displacement. The findings are expected to contribute knowledge towards improved regional and sub-regional cooperation to guide policymaking for enhanced social, economic and institutional sustainability

Sustainable resource development in Asia: challenges and opportunities

This chapter examines the role that mineral resources and sustainable mining may play in Asia’s future growth and development. Across Asia, several big and small nations are endowed with rich deposits of valuable metals and minerals. While for some of these nations, mining has remained a long-term economic activity, for other smaller nations, minerals development is slowly but surely catching momentum. This chapter has a two fold purpose: firstly, it reflects on the experiences of other resource-rich regions in the world and in doing so, suggests how resource development can provide long-term opportunities to enhance the socio-economic status of Asia’s developing regions. Secondly, it acknowledges the transformational nature of mining from a socio-cultural and ecological standpoint. A key objective of this chapter, therefore, is to understand how Asia’s current and future policymakers might best optimize opportunities provided by mining without succumbing to the many potential challenges – social, environmental, institutional as well as economic – inherent to resource development. The chapter is organized in six parts. The following section ‘Sustainable Resource Development: Principles and Practice’ provides a theoretical underpinning of the key principles and characteristics identified with sustainable resource development. The section ‘Resource Development in Asia: An Intellectual Review’ reviews the state of mining in Asia and identifies the region’s vital resource sector players