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[EN] It is widely recognised that energy poverty can have serious and detrimental impacts upon multiple aspects of people's well-being and life quality. This paper seeks to provide a multi-dimensional and theoretically-attuned account of the relations between energy poverty and well-being, through the use of the Capabilities Approach and specifically Nussbaum's normative theory of Central Capabilities. Drawing on interviews with 109 households in 4 European countries, we demonstrate how 6 of the 10 Central Capabilities - namely Bodily Health, Emotions, Affiliation, Play, Practical Reason and Senses, Imagination & Thought - can be directly harmed by energy poverty. Our findings strengthen claims that energy poverty should be considered a serious form of (energy) injustice. We conclude by reflecting on the implications of our work for energy poverty research and policy, and the opportunities opened up by adopting the Capabilities Approach. Data collection in Budapest, Gdansk and Skopje received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme [grant number FP7/2007-2013]/ERC grant agreement number 313478. We also acknowledge the COST Action "European Energy Poverty: Agenda Co-Creation and Knowledge Innovation" [ENGAGER 2017-2021, CA16232] supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology - www.cost.eu).This was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades.

AbstractMany Mediterranean coastal areas encounter similar problems and gaps between science, governance, and implementation of sustainable management at local-regional scales. There is often a lack of coordination between management of inland and coastal areas, and a lack of integrated land-sea data and knowledge exchange to support transitions towards sustainable development and synergies between rural and coastal areas. In this paper, we illustrate the main challenges to reach a sustainable development of coastal-rural areas related to data availability, knowledge exchange and governance, which could be tackled by coupling regional and international research infrastructures (RIs) with scientific and stakeholder collaboration networks to facilitate knowledge exchange and co-creation of solutions. We first identified the main challenges in sustainable development of coastal-rural areas followed by a review of major existing RIs, scientific knowledge and collaboration networks that can help support integrated management of Mediterranean coastal zones. Based on this, we developed recommendations for a better integration of RIs and collaboration networks in the management of coastal-rural areas, including (1) the creation of local networks to facilitate periodical meetings between all sectors involved and to connect science and policy actors and (2) setting up local RIs that support the data processing and the use of regional and international RIs by scientists and policy stakeholders.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Romanian migrants have become one of the most significant national groups doing agricultural work in Spain, initially coming via a temporary migration program and later under several different modalities. However, despite their critical importance for the functioning of Europe’s largest agro-industry, the study of this long-term circular mobility is still underdeveloped in migration and agriculture literature. Thanks to extensive fieldwork carried out in the provinces of Huelva and Lleida in Spain and in the counties of Teleorman and Buzău in Romania, this paper has two main objectives: first, to identify some of the most common forms of mobility of these migrants and second, to discuss whether this industrial agriculture, hugely dependent on migrant work, is socially sustainable. The case of Romanian migrants in Spanish agriculture will serve to show how a critical sector for the EU and for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations, operates on an unsustainable model based on precariousness and exploitation.

AbstractPrecipitation extremes are among the most serious consequences of climate change around the world. The observed and projected frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation in some regions will greatly influence the social economy. The frequency of extreme precipitation and the population and economic exposure were quantified for a base period (1986–2005) and future periods (2016–2035 and 2046–2065) based on bias corrected projections of daily precipitation from five global climatic models forced with three representative concentration pathways (RCPs) and projections of population and gross domestic product (GDP) in the shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). The RCP8.5‐SSP3 scenario produces the highest global population exposure for 2046–2065, with nearly 30% of the global population (2.97 × 109 persons) exposed to precipitation extremes >10 days/a. The RCP2.6‐SSP1 scenario produces the highest global GDP exposure for 2046–2065, with a 5.56‐fold increase relative to the base period, of up to (2.29 ± 0.20) × 1015 purchasing power parity $‐days. Socioeconomic effects are the primary contributor to the exposure changes at the global and continental scales. Population and GDP effects account for 64–77% and 78–91% of the total exposure change, respectively. The inequality of exposure indicates that more attention should be given to Asia and Africa due to their rapid increases in population and GDP. However, due to their dense populations and high GDPs, European countries, that is, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands, should also commit to effective adaptation measures.

In Agenda 2063, the African Union focused on making the use of ocean resources a priority in the new frontier of its blue economy. However, most African countries are still lagging in taking the initial steps of identifying and prioritising blue economy sectors and understanding the risk to sea and ocean health. Many have not developed integrated blue economy strategies and road maps, and this delays the progress and vision for an African blue economy envisaged by Agenda 2063 and 2050 Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy. For Africa, however, the blue economy offers greater opportunity beyond the economy and the environment. It presents Africa with a unique opportunity to achieve its national objectives, to improve regional integration, and to exert influence in the global setting. In this review, we agree with Schot and Steinmueller (2018) that we need to develop new framings and begin to experiment with new policy practices to address social and environmental challenges. Furthermore, we maintain that existing theories and knowledge based on innovation studies in Africa may be significant for designing and implementing policies towards climate change mitigation, blue economy governance, and sustainability transitions. Finally, we conclude by highlighting how experimentation is the key feature of transformative innovation policy that Africa has to employ in its blue economy while emphasizing how Africa (and the Global South generally) are in a unique position to develop their own transformation models that are different from those of the Global North.

To gain insights on long-term social-ecological resilience, we examined adaptive responses of small-scale societies to dryland-related hazards in different regions and chronological periods, spanning from the mid-Holocene to the present. Based on evidence from Africa (Sahara and Sahel), Asia (south margin of the Thar desert), and Europe (South Spain), we discuss key traits and coping practices of small-scale societies that are potentially relevant for building resilience. The selected case studies illustrate four main coping mechanisms: mobility and migration, storage, commoning, and collective action driven by religious beliefs. Ultimately, the study of resilience in the context of drylands emphasizes the importance of adaptive traits and practices that are distinctive of small-scale societies: a strong social-ecological coupling, a solid body of traditional ecological knowledge, and a high degree of internal cohesion and self-organization.