Fuel versus Food

Many countries are actively encouraging the supply of biofuels as a low carbon alternative to the use of fossil fuels for transportation. To what extent do these trends imply a reallocation of scarce land away from food to fuel production? This paper critically reviews the small but growing literature in this area. We find that an increase in biofuel production may have a significant effect on food prices and in certain parts of the world, in speeding up deforestation through land conversion. However, more work needs to be done to examine the effect of newer generation biofuel technologies that are less land-intensive as well as the effect of environmental regulation and trade policies on land allocation between fuel and food.agricultural production; biofuel economics; climate policy; environmental regulation; land allocation

Will Biofuel Mandates Raise Food Prices?

Biofuels have received a lot of attention as a substitute for gasoline in transportation. They have also been blamed for recent increases in food prices. Both the United States and the European Union have adopted mandatory blending policies that require a sharp increase in the use of biofuels. In this paper, we examine the effect of these mandates on food prices and carbon emissions. The model we use considers future world population growth and income-driven changes in dietary preferences towards higher meat and dairy consumption as well as heterogenous land quality. We find that food prices increase anyway because of increased demand for food, especially due to the higher consumption of meat products, and scarcity of fertile arable lands. The contribution of the biofuel mandates to food prices is quite small, about 5% at most. However, biofuel mandates actually increase global emissions due to land conversion and terms of trade effects, undermining the main reason for imposing the mandates.agriculture; energy policy; global warming; land quality; renewable fuel standards

Will Biofuel Mandates Raise Food Prices?

Biofuels have received a lot of attention as a substitute for gasoline in transportation. They have also been blamed for recent increases in food prices. Both the United States and the European Union have adopted mandatory blending policies that require a sharp increase in the use of biofuels. In this paper, we examine the effect of these mandates on food prices and carbon emissions. The model we use considers future world population growth and income-driven changes in dietary preferences towards higher meat and dairy consumption as well as heterogenous land quality. We find that food prices increase anyway because of increased demand for food, especially due to the higher consumption of meat products, and scarcity of fertile arable lands. The contribution of the biofuel mandates to food prices is quite small, about 5% at most. However, biofuel mandates actually increase global emissions due to land conversion and terms of trade effects, undermining the main reason for imposing the mandates

The prevalence of psychological consequences of COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

© The Author(s) 2020. A systematic review and a meta-analysis were conducted to examine the overall prevalence of psychological health outcomes during COVID-19. Seven databases were systematically searched to include studies reporting on at least one psychological outcome. The pooled prevalence of primary psychological outcomes was 26% (95%CI: 21–32). Pooled prevalence for symptoms of PTSD was 33% (0–86), anxiety 28% (21–36), stress 27% (14–43), and depression 22% (13–33). The prevalence of psychological outcomes was similar in healthcare workers and in the general population (34% [24–44] and 33% [27–40] respectively). High prevalence figures support the importance of ensuring adequate provision of resources for mental health

Development of Consolidated Sarawak Geotechnical Site Investigation for Sarawak Soil

The development of spatial or non-spatial digitized Consolidated Sarawak Geotechnical Site Investigation (CoGSI) database aims to enable information to be stored in a digital form with the efficient search and fast retrieving data. The CoGSI database for Sarawak Soil is a function of a database management system, which consists of the site information; includes the project name, locations coordinates (division), borehole logs, field and laboratory test results. The main objectives of the project are to collect, store & digitized all verified & approved Geotechnical SI data and the input gathered from the local authority, consultants and contractors. The digitized database would be enormous value for future planning of infrastructure developments; making preliminary design estimates for earthwork/foundation assessment; and future decision making with early identification of potential areas for construction purposes, which will produce an economic and safe design. The SI databases are important resources where the insufficient ground conditions information, will cause either a significantly over-designed or an under-designed solution, which lead to potential failures. In addition, the project is also intended to realize a web-based application to allow users to search borehole, view bore-logs and provides digital downloadable boreholes data of the available ground information in a standard format for analysis. At present most of the SI data are available in the form of hardcopy reports, which is time consuming and often frustrating, especially when the required report or data cannot be found. In summary, the Consolidated Sarawak Geotechnical Site Investigation (CoGSI) database system, which stored in a digital format are deployed as a web-based system. This platform provides exploration of the digital databases, which then can be accessed anywhere and anytime through the desktop & portable computer and smart phones with internet access facility

International Obligations of the Czech Republic in the Field of Human Rights

The Czech Republic emphasizes in its foreign policy strategies the prominent place of the promotion of human rights. In order to be taken seriously, a state using normative argumentation should be credible – i.e. it should practice what it “preaches”. The article reduces the term “human rights credibility of a country” to its domestic performance (how it observes human rights at home), which is well covered by various reports of both governmental and non-governmental organizations, and its willingness to take on international human rights obligations. We quantitatively map how the Czech Republic signs and ratifies international treaties with a relevance to human rights and seek to determine, through comparison with other EU and Visegrad countries, if its self-presentation as a human rights observing and promoting country is credible