Changing Agriculture in a Changing Climate

Changes in weather patterns are going to affect agriculture with impacts differing according to region. The developing countries can reckon with the first effects. The authors look at the role that organic agriculture can play in adaptation. They assess the potential that organic agriculture could have but also look at the contribution that agriculture itself is making to climate change and examine how organic agriculture fares in this respect

Was bringt's? : ein Projekt der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation verspricht mehr Wirkung in der Umweltbildung

Umweltbildner sehen sich vermehrt mit der Frage konfrontiert, was ihre Arbeit bringt. So verlangen beispielsweise Geldgeber, meist Stiftungen oder die öffentliche Hand, immer häufiger Nachweise zur Wirkung ihrer Investitionen. Die vier grossen Anbieter von Umweltweiterbildungen in der Schweiz – Pusch, Sanu, SILVIVA und der WWF – haben sich zusammen mit dem IUNR auf den Weg gemacht, Antworten zu erarbeiten

Schlussevaluation Wirkungsverstärkung Umweltunterricht

Praktischer Umweltschutz Schweiz Pusch bietet an den Volksschulen der Deutschschweiz Umweltunterricht zu den drei Themenbereichen Abfall und Konsum, Energie und Klima sowie Wasser an. Im Rahmen des Projekts «Wirkungsverstärkung Pusch Schulbesuche» überarbeitete Pusch den Umweltunterricht, um mehr Wirkung zu erzielen und unter anderem mess- und sichtbare Umwelthandlungen bei den Schülerinnen und Schülern (SuS) auszulösen. Die Forschungsgruppe Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation der ZHAW unterstützte die Wirkungsorientierungen und evaluierte die Wirkung des Umweltunterrichts. In dieser Schlussevaluation wurden Schulbesuche zwischen dem 15. August und dem 8. Dezember 2017 berücksichtigt. Über alle Unterrichtsstufen konnte eine beeindruckende Wirkung der drei Umweltunterrichtsarten festgestellt werden. Bezogen auf die SuS ist hervorzuheben, dass die Handlungsziele durchwegs erreicht werden konnten. Beispielsweise konnten über 30% der SuS durch Pusch zu konkreten Umwelthandlungen angestossen werden

Éducation à l‘environnement et efficacité : un outil de travail

Au fil des ans, l’éducation à l’environnement a acquis une grande expérience pratique et la qualité des offres est élevée. Avec la diminution des ressources, l’accent est désormais mis davantage sur l’efficacité. La brochure « Éducation à l‘environnement et efficacité » est conçue pour vous aider à identifier, améliorer et mesurer l’efficacité de vos offres de formation

Umweltbildung mit Wirkung : eine Arbeitshilfe

Umweltbildung hat über die Jahre viel Praxiserfahrung aufgebaut, die Qualität der Angebote ist hoch. Mit knapper werdenden Ressourcen rückt nun vermehrt die Wirkung der Umweltbildung ins Blickfeld. Mit einer Arbeitshilfe werden Anbietende dabei unterstützt, die Wirkung Ihrer Angebote benennen zu können, zu steigern und zu messen

Classical biological control: exploiting enemy escape to manage plant invasions

Practitioners of classical biological control of invasive weeds are confronted with a dual expectation: to achieve successful control of plant invaders and to avoid damage to nontarget plants and adverse indirect effects. In this paper we discuss key issues that we consider to be crucial for a safe, efficient, and successful classical biological control project, and that have also caused some recent controversy. These include selection of effective control agents, host specificity of the biological control agents, implications of the genetic population structure of the target populations, and potential impact on native food webs. With regard to improving the success rate of biological control of plant invaders, we first emphasize the importance of a clear a priori definition of success and a more ecosystem-based approach to better document both negative effects of the invasive plant as well as potential positive and negative effects of introducing biological control agents. Secondly, pre-release impact assessment could be improved by better focusing on how to reach high densities of the control agents and by including tolerance to and compensation of herbivory. Thirdly, we advocate a reinforced effort to integrate and combine biological control in combination with existing or potential management options. Finally, we propose various ecological and evolutionary hypotheses in the framework of our topic to document that biological control programmes against plant invaders also offer a great opportunity to gain new insights into basic processes in ecology and evolution

Classical biological control: exploiting enemy escape to manage plant invasions

Practitioners of classical biological control of invasive weeds are confronted with a dual expectation: to achieve successful control of plant invaders and to avoid damage to nontarget plants and adverse indirect effects. In this paper we discuss key issues that we consider to be crucial for a safe, efficient, and successful classical biological control project, and that have also caused some recent controversy. These include selection of effective control agents, host specificity of the biological control agents, implications of the genetic population structure of the target populations, and potential impact on native food webs. With regard to improving the success rate of biological control of plant invaders, we first emphasize the importance of a clear a priori definition of success and a more ecosystem-based approach to better document both negative effects of the invasive plant as well as potential positive and negative effects of introducing biological control agents. Secondly, pre-release impact assessment could be improved by better focusing on how to reach high densities of the control agents and by including tolerance to and compensation of herbivory. Thirdly, we advocate a reinforced effort to integrate and combine biological control in combination with existing or potential management options. Finally, we propose various ecological and evolutionary hypotheses in the framework of our topic to document that biological control programmes against plant invaders also offer a great opportunity to gain new insights into basic processes in ecology and evolutio

Soil carbon sequestration of organic crop and livestock systems and potential for accreditation by carbon markets

During a two-day RTOACC workshop hosted by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), participants discussed the potential for organic agriculture in carbon markets and the need to develop strategies for the role of organic agriculture in climate policy. To move in this direction requires quantifying and raising recognition of the mitigation potential of organic agriculture. Thus the participants also looked at available data and began a process of identifying data gaps. In doing so, they presented the related ongoing work of their organizations and drew conclusions for the further orientation and actions of the RTOACC. The following synthesizes the discussions, reports and outcomes of the workshop

Exerting pressure or leveraging power? The extended chain of corporate social responsibility enforcement in business-to-business supply chains

In face of the increasing attention on issues of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) by the general public and policy makers, companies have put growing emphasis on ensuring CSR along their supply chains. Existing research has produced evidence that companies can increase their suppliers’ CSR engagement by exerting explicit pressure on them, for example, through contractual clauses. Adding to this conventional chain of CSR enforcement, this article conceptualizes and empirically validates a yet-undescribed extended chain of CSR enforcement that also leads to higher levels of CSR engagement by a supplier firm, irrespective and even in absence of explicit pressure by the customer firm. In particular, a customer firm's CSR orientation in interaction with a powerful position in the supply chain leads suppliers to perceive pressure to engage in CSR regardless of factually exerted pressure. As a result, suppliers are likely to increase their CSR engagement in order to be customer oriented or in preemptive obedience. These results entail substantial implications for policy makers as well as marketing academics and managers