Comparative analysis on the communication strategies of the forest owners associations in Europe

This research reports a comparative analysis of the communication strategy that forest owners' associations across Europe use to influence society on one side and the decision-makers on the other, in order to fulfill forest owners' interests. 60% of Europe's forests are privately owned by an estimated number of 16 million forest owners, who are represented by forest owners' associations. One of its main functions is to influence the public perceptions on forests and forestry. In this article it is analyzed how a specific forestry stakeholder fixes its strategies to communicate with and lobby society in order to get acceptability for their proposals/demands. Open-end surveys have been used as a source of information in 2006 and repeated in 2012. Besides of the comparison among countries, a comparison along the time has been also performed. The whole communication frame is analyzed, considering the objectives, the structure, the messages, the channels, and the evaluation. The main conclusions that arise are: first, the temporary comparison (2006 2012) results into an improvement in several issues; second, there is room for improvement of professionalization of communication in forest owners' associations in Europe; third, social research into public perception of forestry might help to define communication strategies.Fabra Crespo, M.; Rojas Briales, E. (2015). Comparative analysis on the communication strategies of the forest owners associations in Europe. Forest Policy and Economics. 50:20-30. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2014.06.004S20305

Energy-saving potential of large housing stocks of listed buildings, case study: l'Eixample of Valencia

[EN] A significant part of the European residential building stock is architectural heritage and is protected by law in different grades. Although these dwellings seldom fulfil the current eco-efficiency requirements, listed buildings are exempt from energy regulations requirements. This paper reviews the constructional characteristics common to 588 multi-storey listed buildings (circa 6000 dwellings) located in l'Eixample district in Valencia (Spain). The poor thermal performance of these buildings proven by this study reveal a significant potential for saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions, particularly when considering the current requirements fixed by the current Spanish building code. Retrofitting measures intended to improve the thermal behaviour of these buildings, while being respectful to their listed nature, are proposed and assessed in terms of energy demand, air pollution and economy.Perez-Garcia, A.; Guardiola, AP.; Gómez-Martínez, F.; Guardiola Villora, AP. (2018). Energy-saving potential of large housing stocks of listed buildings, case study: l'Eixample of Valencia. Sustainable Cities and Society. 42:59-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.06.018S59814

Linking demographic and food‐web models to understand management trade‐offs

Alternatives in ecosystem‐based management often differ with respect to trade‐offs between ecosystem values. Ecosystem or food‐web models and demographic models are typically employed to evaluate alternatives, but the approaches are rarely integrated to uncover conflicts between values. We applied multistate models to a capture–recapture dataset on common guillemots Uria aalge breeding in the Baltic Sea to identify factors influencing survival. The estimated relationships were employed together with Ecopath‐with‐Ecosim food‐web model simulations to project guillemot survival under six future scenarios incorporating climate change. The scenarios were based on management alternatives for eutrophication and cod fisheries, issues considered top priority for regional management, but without known direct effects on the guillemot population. Our demographic models identified prey quantity (abundance and biomass of sprat Sprattus sprattus) as the main factor influencing guillemot survival. Most scenarios resulted in projections of increased survival, in the near (2016–2040) and distant (2060–2085) future. However, in the scenario of reduced nutrient input and precautionary cod fishing, guillemot survival was projected to be lower in both future periods due to lower sprat stocks. Matrix population models suggested a substantial decline of the guillemot population in the near future, 24% per 10 years, and a smaller reduction, 1.1% per 10 years, in the distant future. To date, many stakeholders and Baltic Sea governments have supported reduced nutrient input and precautionary cod fishing and implementation is underway. Negative effects on nonfocal species have previously not been uncovered, but our results show that the scenario is likely to negatively impact the guillemot population. Linking model results allowed identifying trade‐offs associated with management alternatives. This information is critical to thorough evaluation by decision‐makers, but not easily obtained by food‐web models or demographic models in isolation. Appropriate datasets are often available, making it feasible to apply a linked approach for better‐informed decisions in ecosystem‐based management

Assessing the impact of telework enhancing policies for reducing car emissions: Exploring calculation methods for data-missing urban areas: Example of a medium-sized European city (Besançon, France)

International audienceTeleworking has been identified as a potential key lever for reducing air pollution. Yet, evaluating the atmospheric outcomes of teleworking enhancing policies remains difficult, especially when official databases on telework, household equipment and car emissions are incomplete or nonexistent. Here we propose several techniques to efficiently assess the impact of an increase in teleworking rates, and to explore the resulting bias, in a typical medium-sized European metropolitan area where few data are available: Besançon, France. Population and cartographical data are introduced in an individual-based daily mobility simulation model. We then calculate the resulting emissions for twenty atmospheric pollutants, using three different methodologies that aim to compensate, with different precision levels, for the lack of accurate information regarding vehicle fleets. Our results confirms the efficiency of telework for reducing emissions, with an average reduction of −0.42% in emission for an increase of 1% in teleworking rate. The precision level of data used strongly impacts the estimated quantity of air pollutant emissions (up to a factor ten). Failing to correctly account for inequalities in teleworking rate and equipment between socio-occupational categories introduces strong bias in the results which may degrade the correct evaluation of environmental benefits of teleworking enhancing planning policies