The analytical framework of water and armed conflict: a focus on the 2006 Summer War between Israel and Lebanon

This paper develops an analytical framework to investigate the relationship between water and armed conflict, and applies it to the ‘Summer War’ of 2006 between Israel and Lebanon (Hezbollah). The framework broadens and deepens existing classifications by assessing the impact of acts of war as indiscriminate or targeted, and evaluating them in terms of international norms and law, in particular International Humanitarian Law (IHL). In the case at hand, the relationship is characterised by extensive damage in Lebanon to drinking water infrastructure and resources. This is seen as a clear violation of the letter and the spirit of IHL, while the partial destruction of more than 50 public water towers compromises water rights and national development goals. The absence of pre-war environmental baselines makes it difficult to gauge the impact on water resources, suggesting a role for those with first-hand knowledge of the hostilities to develop a more effective response before, during, and after armed conflict

Conflicts about water in Lake Chad: are environmental, vulnerability and security issues linked?

This paper builds on the growing literature that explores the relations between environmental change and non-traditional security, defined as non-military threats that challenge the survival and well-being of peoples and states. The Lake Chad basin in Africa is used as a case study for analysis. Focusing on a set of questions that has dominated recent theoretical debates, the paper investigates if conflicts resulting from water scarcity are as much about the broader vulnerability of the Lake Chad region as they are about changes in the Lake system and its environment. It argues that conflict is a probable outcome only in locations that are already challenged by a multitude of other context-specific factors beside resource scarcity. In the Lake Chad context, the likelihood of scarcity-driven conflict depends on whether vulnerability increases or decreases in the face of a declining water supply. The paper provides perspectives for a nuanced understanding of how the receding Lake Chad has led to conflict and outlines an integrated, forward-looking research agenda for linking environmental change, vulnerability and security issues in integrated human-environment systems

Nutrient density of beverages in relation to climate impact

The food chain contributes to a substantial part of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and growing evidence points to the urgent need to reduce GHGs emissions worldwide. Among suggestions were proposals to alter food consumption patterns by replacing animal foods with more plant-based foods. However, the nutritional dimensions of changing consumption patterns to lower GHG emissions still remains relatively unexplored. This study is the first to estimate the composite nutrient density, expressed as percentage of Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR) for 21 essential nutrients, in relation to cost in GHG emissions of the production from a life cycle perspective, expressed in grams of CO2-equivalents, using an index called the Nutrient Density to Climate Impact (NDCI) index. The NDCI index was calculated for milk, soft drink, orange juice, beer, wine, bottled carbonated water, soy drink, and oat drink. Due to low-nutrient density, the NDCI index was 0 for carbonated water, soft drink, and beer and below 0.1 for red wine and oat drink. The NDCI index was similar for orange juice (0.28) and soy drink (0.25). Due to a very high-nutrient density, the NDCI index for milk was substantially higher (0.54) than for the other beverages. Future discussion on how changes in food consumption patterns might help avert climate change need to take both GHG emission and nutrient density of foods and beverages into account

Green economy: Private sectors’ response to climate change

The focus of this paper is to present a discussion of the role of the private sector in response to the need for climate change adaptations. The study, which was conducted through a literature review, investigates the concept of the green economy and climate change, as well as businesses’ commitment to advance climate actions in ways that build resilience in vulnerable communities in developing countries. The paper calls on companies with national, regional, and/or global reach to adopt or develop strategies that improve resource efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the loss of biodiversity. Businesses can accelerate this transition by aligning their investments with climate change adaptation opportunities, and thus, “green” the economy. In addition, green growth could be achieved through tactical public and private investments in mitigating climate change. The paper concludes that the private sector is a key sector in addressing the challenges of vulnerable communities, and it has much to contribute to the planning, development, and implementation of climate adaptation strategies, including sector-specific expertise, technology, efficiency, financing, and entrepreneurship. Finally, some social conditions and environmental boundaries have been highlighted in this paper to attract the attention of business leaders who are trying to build initiatives and advance climate actions that will reduce socio-community risks from climate change. Also, comprehensive initiatives and strategies have been recommended to private companies seeking to address climate vulnerabilities

Theoretical analysis of biogas potential prediction from agricultural waste

AbstractA simplistic theoretical study of anaerobic digestion in order to predict the biogas amount of agricultural waste is proposed. A wide variety of models exist, but most of them rely on algebraic equations instead of biochemical equations and require many input parameters as well as computation time. This work provides a simplified model that predicts the biogas amount produced and could be applied for agricultural energy feasibility studies for instance dimensioning bioreactors digesting animal waste slurries. The method can be used for other feedstock materials and repeated for other similar applications, in an effort to expand anaerobic digestion systems as a clean energy source

Toolkit for the indicators of resilience in socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes

This toolkit provides practical guidance for making use of the “Indicators of Resilience in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS)” in the field. The indicators are a tool for engaging local communities in adaptive management of the landscapes and seascapes in which they live. By using the tested methods presented in this toolkit, communities can increase their capacity to respond to social, economic, and environmental pressures and shocks, to improve their environmental and economic conditions, thus increasing the social and ecological resilience of their landscapes and seascapes, and ultimately make progress towards realizing a society in harmony with nature. The approach presented here is centred on holding participatory “assessment workshops”. These involve discussion and a scoring process for the set of twenty indicators designed to capture communities’ perceptions of factors affecting the resilience of their landscapes and seascapes. The participants in these workshops are members of the local community and stakeholders in the local area. Their participation allows them to evaluate current conditions across the landscape and identify and reach agreement on priority actions, contributing to enhanced communication among stakeholders and empowered local communities. Workshops may be planned and implemented by people from within or outside the community. The guidance provided in this toolkit is primarily intended for organizers and facilitators of resilience assessment workshops

DiMIZA : a dispersion modeling based impact zone assessment of mercury (Hg) emissions from coal-fired power plants and risk evaluation for inhalation exposure

Coal-fired combined heat and power plants (CHPPs) serving large districts are among the major sources of mercury (Hg) emissions globally, including Central Asia. Most CHPPs reside on the outskirts of urban areas, thus creating risk zones. The impact of atmospheric Hg levels on health is complex to establish due to the site-specific nature of the relationship between CHPP emissions and hotspots (i.e., localized areas where Hg concentrations greatly exceed its background value). However, a methodological identification of "emission impact zones" for atmospheric Hg emissions from CHPPs with potential adverse public health outcomes has not yet been fully studied. The present work suggests an easy-to-use and cost-free impact zone identification method based on HYSPLIT dispersion modeling for atmospheric Hg emissions from CHPPs. The dispersion modeling based impact zone assessment, DiMIZA, merges short-term dispersion runs (e.g., hourly) into long-term emission impacts (e.g., yearly), which allows to identify the source impact zones. To perform a case study using the suggested method, a CHPP plant in Nur-Sultan (capital of Kazakhstan) was selected. First, traditional ad-hoc measurements were performed to identify the level of dispersions at ground level in different atmospheric stability characteristics. Then, HYSPLIT dispersion model was run for the same days and times of those particular periods when the field measurements were performed. The model results were evaluated via a comparison with the ground measurements and assessed for their atmospheric stability and diel conditions. Due to different emission loads in heating and non-heating periods, two separate pairs of impact zone maps were generated, and public Hg exposure health risks (acute and chronic) were assessed