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Protected areas (PAs) represent a key global strategy in biodiversity conservation. In tropical developing countries, the management of PAs is a great challenge as many contain resources on which local communities rely. Collection and trading of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is a well-established forest-based livelihood strategy, which has been promoted as a potential means for enhanced conservation and improved rural livelihoods in recent years, even though the sustainability or ecological implications have rarely been tested. We conducted an exploratory survey to understand the role and stakeholder views on conservation prospects and perceived ecological feasibility of NTFPs and harvesting schemes in a northeastern PA of Bangladesh, namely the Satchari National Park. Households (n = 101) were interviewed from three different forest dependency categories, adopting a stratified random sampling approach and using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study identified 13 locally important NTFPs, with fi...

This paper investigates energy transition, energy poverty and energy inequality in Vietnam employing a longitudinal dataset of a nationally representative household survey. We use the data on residential energy expenditure of more than 9,000 households over the period 2004–2016. We find a transition from traditional energy to modern energy but this transition varies across regions, between ethnic and welfare groups and between rural and urban population. The poor and ethnic minority households still rely heavily on traditional energy sources such as coal and biomass to meet their energy demands. Electricity poverty has decreased but energy-cost poverty has increased. In addition, energy inequality tends to decrease at a more significant rate than income and consumption inequalities. We propose a national program for energy poverty alleviation be established to devise policies to lower households’ energy costs. Further assistance to the poor and ethnic minority households is also recommended so that they can afford a higher level of electricity consumption.

The Gaza Strip is one of the world’s most fragile states and faces substantial public health and development challenges. Climate change is intensifying existing environmental problems, including increased water stress. We provide the first published assessment of climate impacts on diarrhoeal disease in Gaza and project future health burdens under climate change scenarios. Over 1 million acute diarrhoea cases presenting to health facilities during 2009–2020 were linked to weekly temperature and rainfall data and associations assessed using time-series regression analysis employing distributed lag non-linear models (DLNMs). Models were applied to climate projections to estimate future burdens of diarrhoeal disease under 2 °C and 1.5 °C global warming scenarios. There was a significantly raised risk of diarrhoeal disease associated with both mean weekly temperature above 19 °C and total weekly rainfall below 6 mm in children 0–3 years. A heat effect was also present in subjects aged > 3 years. Annual diarrhoea cases attributable to heat and low rainfall was 2209.0 and 4070.3, respectively, in 0–3-year-olds. In both age-groups, heat-related cases could rise by over 10% under a 2 °C global warming level compared to baseline, but would be limited to below 2% under a 1.5 °C scenario. Mean rises of 0.9% and 2.7% in diarrhoea cases associated with reduced rainfall are projected for the 1.5 °C and 2 °C scenarios, respectively, in 0–3-year-olds. Climate change impacts will add to the considerable development challenges already faced by the people of Gaza. Substantial health gains could be achieved if global warming is limited to 1.5 °C.

The partial oxidation of ethane to ethanol and acetaldehyde in the H2/O2 fuel cell under mild conditions is reported. The reaction proceeds at the carbon gasdiffusion cathode in the presence of transition metal ions (Fe2+, Cu2+) at ambient pressure and temperature 343 K.

AbstractIn 2021, Bangladesh reached 97% nation‐wide electricity access. With over 4.1 million solar home systems (SHS) installed by 60 Partner Organisations (POs) providing renewable electricity to more than 22 million rural people, SHS and microfinance have been instrumental in bridging and achieving the country's universal access goal. However, a huge gap remains in achieving the country's 100% use of renewable energy by 2050, with only 3.1% of current electricity generation accounted for by renewables. While at centralised level, governmental institutions are struggling to move past the legacy mandate of grid extension to an energy transformation paradigm at decentralised levels, rural Bangladeshi villages are already leading this transformation. Today, 100 solar peer‐to‐peer microgrids, built following the swarm electrification pathway, allow end‐users to run appliances, charge vehicles, and to trade renewable electricity for income. In this paper, we describe the organisational model of the partnership between Grameen Shakti, Bangladesh's largest PO, and climate‐tech start‐up ME SOLshare, the swarm electrification implementer. We assess, using data from the peer‐to‐peer grids, their socio‐economic and environmental impact, and their contribution to the SDG 2030 Agenda. Finally, we give an outlook towards the potential of achieving sustainable energy development through a scale‐up of the swarm electrification approach, including under a scenario of 100% national grid electrification.

In the face of the rapidly dwindling carbon budgets, negative emission technologies are widely suggested as required to stabilize the Earth’s climate. However, finding cost-effective, socially acceptable, and politically achievable means to enable such technologies remains a challenge. We propose solutions based on negative emission technologies to facilitate wealth creation for the stakeholders while helping to mitigate climate change. This paper comes up with suggestions and guidelines on significantly increasing carbon sequestration in coffee farms. A coffee and jackfruit agroforestry-based case study is presented along with an array of technical interventions, having a special focus on bioenergy and biochar, potentially leading to “negative emissions at negative cost.” The strategies for integrating food production with soil and water management, fuel production, adoption of renewable energy systems and timber management are outlined. The emphasis is on combining biological and engineering sciences to devise a practically viable niche that is easy to adopt, adapt and scale up for the communities and regions to achieve net negative emissions. The concerns expressed in the recent literature on the implementation of emission reduction and negative emission technologies are briefly presented. The novel opportunities to alleviate these concerns arising from our proposed interventions are then pointed out. Our analysis indicates that 1 ha coffee jackfruit-based agroforestry can additionally sequester around 10 tonnes of CO2-eq and lead to an income enhancement of up to 3,000–4,000 Euros in comparison to unshaded coffee. Finally, the global outlook for an easily adoptable nature-based approach is presented, suggesting an opportunity to implement revenue-generating negative emission technologies on a gigatonne scale. We anticipate that our approach presented in the paper results in increased attention to the development of practically viable science and technology-based interventions in order to support the speeding up of climate change mitigation efforts.

AbstractLayered transition-metal oxide materials are ideal cathode candidates for sodium-ion batteries due to high specific energy, yet suffer severe interfacial instability and capacity fading owing to strongly nucleophilic surface. In this work, the interfacial stability of layered NaNi1/3Fe1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode was effectively enhanced by electrolyte optimization. And the interfacial chemistry between the cathode and four widely used electrolytes (EC/DMC, EC/EMC, EC/DEC and EC/PC) was elucidated through experiments and theoretical calculations. The Na+ solvation structures at cathode-electrolyte interface in all four electrolytes exhibited enhanced coordination due to high electron density and strong nucleophilicity of oxide surface, which promoted the electrolytes’ decomposition with decreased oxidation stability. Among them, the EC/DMC electrolyte showed the tightest solvation structure due to smaller molecular chains and stable electrochemistry, which derived an even and robust cathode electrolyte interphase. It effectively protected the cathode and facilitated the reversible Na+ transport during long cycles, enabling the batteries with a high capacity retention of 83.3% after 300 cycles. This work provides new insights into the role of electrode surface characteristics in interface chemistry that can guide the design of advanced electrode and electrolyte materials for rechargeable batteries.

Lithium‐ion battery (LIB) cells of the 18650 format are built in‐house with different amounts of an electrolyte. After wetting and prior to subsequent formation, the cells are opened. The electrolyte is regained by centrifuging the entire jelly roll and quantified by a gas chromatography‐flame ionization detector (GC‐FID) and inductively coupled plasma‐optical emission spectroscopy (ICP‐OES). The influence of a filling protocol applying cycles with over‐ and reduced pressure is examined with a focus on the electrolyte composition. No significant difference is found in the ratio of linear (LC) to cyclic carbonates (CCs). Furthermore, extraction by centrifugation is investigated in different scenarios by simulating almost “dry” cells to minimize alterations during the sample preparation. The quantification of these electrolytes indicates a slightly reduced amount of LC in the sample.