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A focus on land-use and forests as a means to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere has been at the heart of the international climate change debate since the United Nations Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997. This environmental management practice is a process technically referred to as mitigation. These largely technical projects have aimed to provide sustainable development benefits to forest-dependent people, as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, these projects have had limited success in achieving these local development objectives. This article argues that this is due in part to the patriarchal underpinnings of the sustainable development and climate-change policy agendas. The author explores this theory by considering how a climate mitigation project in Bolivia has resulted in different outcomes for women and men, and makes links between the global decision-making process and local effects.

China and India are the world's largest developing economies and also two of the most populous countries. China, which now has more than 1.3 billion people, is expected to grow to more than 1.4 billion by 2050, and India with a population of I billion will overtake China to be the most populous country with about 1.6 billion population. These two countries are home to 37% of the world's population today. In addition, China and India have achieved notable success in their economic development characterised by a high rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the last two decades. Together the two countries account already for almost a fifth of world GDP. The most direct and significant result of economic growth in India and China is the amazing improvement in quality of life (or at least spending power) for an increasing share of the population. The populations of both the countries have experienced a transition from 'poverty' to 'adequate food and clothing',- today growing parts of the population are getting closer to 'well to do lifestyles'. These seLyments of the society are not satisfied any more with enough food and clothes, but are also eager to obtain a quality life of high nutrient food, comfortable living, health care and other quality services. The theme of this paper is to analyse how the major drivers contributed to the environmental consequences in the past, and to take a forward look at the environmental impacts of these driving forces in China and India. The paper identifies population, affluence and technology to be the major drivina forces in environmental pollution for these two countries then applies the simple equation of Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology, or I = PAT to evaluate the effects of changes in these drivers on CO, emissions. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An analysis of the efficiency of wine and grapevine producers in Italy was performed. Data for 2005 and 2010 from the Farm Accountancy Data Network were used; this network records the balance sheets of a representative sample of farms. The data were analyzed using data envelopment analysis, which is a method for estimating the comparative efficiency of a group of farms. We investigated the determinants of the estimated levels of efficiency through an econometric model, aiming to understand which farm and area characteristics affect the differences in efficiency levels. The results indicate that between 2005 and 2010, a reduction in grape prices led to an increase in the efficiency of companies producing wine compared with a significant reduction among companies that are dedicated exclusively to the production of grapes. Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, Tobit model, Italian wine and grapevine production

Along with total radiation received, the proportion of diffuse to direct solar radiation can influence forest photosynthesis and carbon cycling. However, tropical diffuse radiation regimes are poorly described, and to date there are few or no site-based or regional diffuse radiation datasets. The relationship between cloud fraction and diffuse solar radiation was investigated using data from two sites in western and eastern Amazonia. Radiation regimes for diffuse and total radiation were characterised for each site, and the variation in clear sky diffuse radiation fraction between wet and dry season demonstrated and quantified, as well as the dependence of diffuse radiation on cloud amount. Using high frequency measurements of diffuse and total solar radiation data from the two sites, and estimated top of the canopy clear-sky radiation, a number of alternative models to predict diffuse radiation fraction from cloud fraction were formulated and tested. Results showed that cloud fraction can be approximated using the relationship between observed and calculated top of canopy radiation, after which diffuse radiation can then be predicted from cloud fraction. We also demonstrate that satellite cloud data (from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) can be used as inputs to the diffuse radiation model to provide estimates of annual and monthly diffuse radiation proportion.

Livestock farming and its products provide a diverse range of benefits for our day-to-day life. However, the ever-increasing demand for farmed animals has raised concerns about waste management and its impact on the environment. Worldwide, cattle produce enormous amounts of manure, which is detrimental to soil properties if poorly managed. Waste management with insect larvae is considered one of the most efficient techniques for resource recovery from manure. In recent years, the use of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) for resource recovery has emerged as an effective method. Using BSFL has several advantages over traditional methods, as the larvae produce a safe compost and extract trace elements like Cu and Zn. This paper is a comprehensive review of the potential of BSFL for recycling organic wastes from livestock farming, manure bioconversion, parameters affecting the BSFL application on organic farming, and process performance of biomolecule degradation. The last part discusses the economic feasibility, lifecycle assessment, and circular bioeconomy of the BSFL in manure recycling. Moreover, it discusses the future perspectives associated with the application of BSFL. Specifically, this review discusses BSFL cultivation and its impact on the larvae's physiology, gut biochemical physiology, gut microbes and metabolic pathways, nutrient conservation and global warming potential, microbial decomposition of organic nutrients, total and pathogenic microbial dynamics, and recycling of rearing residues as fertilizer.

AbstractEcological footprint (EF) indices estimate the impact of an individual's lifestyle on the planet by converting levels of consumption into the amount of land needed to sustain production levels and lifestyle choices. Several popular organizations (e.g. WWF, Global Footprint Network) now offer personalized EF calculators to help inform consumers of the impacts of their personal consumption habits. In this paper, we evaluate the most popular online EF calculators and find that, even when the most environmentally friendly options are adopted, for the majority of available indices, one still exceeds the planet's biocapacity levels. The absence of options to fully offset one's environmental impacts implicitly suggests that there is no truly sustainable level of consumption at current population levels, even under the most prudent consumer choices. Although all online EF calculators claim to be a tool for education to promote sustainable behaviour, their calculations suggest, to the contrary, that as consumers we may postpone but not necessarily prevent environmental catastrophes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

We argue that an understanding of livestock farming as normative practice clarifies how sustainability is to be understood in livestock farming. The sustainability of livestock farming is first approached by investigating its identity. We argue that the economic aspect qualifies and the formative aspect founds the livestock farming practice. Observing the normativity related to these aspects will be the first task for the livestock farmer. In addition, we can distinguish conditioning norms applicable to the livestock farming practice which should be observed for competent performance of the practice. Failing to do justice to this normativity might affect the practice’s sustainability only in the long term—this is especially the case with conditioning norms. Motives to observe normativity have, therefore, the character of an ultimate conviction regarding the flourishing of the practice. Finally, the sustainability of the livestock farming practice crucially depends on the broader food system of which it is part.