• Energy Research
• 1. No poverty close
• MX close
• English close

This paper examines the often under reported and overlooked downsides of biofuel production in the environmental, economic and social sectors. Environmentally speaking, biofuels utilize renewable resources, reduce carbon monoxide emissions from cars and provide alternate forms of energy. However, the positive environmental aspects of biofuels may not counteract the negative impacts. The potential environmental downsides of biofuel production include: loss of forests and biodiversity, food security issues and implications on climate change. Economic wise, biofuels increase exports for productive countries, increase demand for biofuel crops, and increase employment rates. Furthermore, utilizing biofuels provides more affordable vehicles, and contributes to technological growth and sustainability. However, the economic benefits provided by biofuel production may not outweigh the potential downfalls. Biofuels are expensive to produce and cause increased economic losses due to loss of timber and premature cutting. In addition, biofuel plants are often owned by foreign companies who take advantage of prime biofuel productive land in underdeveloped countries. As a result, wealth is rarely distributed fairly between the investor and the local economy. Foreign investment can often lead to clashing incentives for the country and the investor. Other economic issues include: increases in food prices, and food subsidies causing price inelasticity, market instability, and inflation. The social impacts of biofuel production can be beneficial and include: employment opportunities, increased worker skills and increased worker efficiency. However, these social benefits are only ascertained if foreign companies keep biofuel production plants small and within the country. In addition, there are a lack of regulatory guidelines and policies to enforce workers’ rights. Social controversies exist where some reports have claimed that foreign companies treat biofuel workers unfairly. The absence of workers’ unions, along with minimal workers’ rights, harsh working conditions, lack of land rights and displaced farmers provide evidentiary credibility to this claim. Foreign companies tend to hire short-term, highly skilled laborers instead of providing training and opportunities to local workers. Finally, the controversial use of food crops for biofuel and the potential for rising food prices may provide a substantial reason to slow biofuel expansion. Solutions and recommendations are presented in which an alternative shrub (Jatropha) and evergreen tree (Pongamia) can be used as a non-edible alternative to biofuel food crops. Their abilities to withstand drought and marginal lands is also promising, although has limitations in crop production. In addition, burning wood residues like sawdust and wood pellets from deforestation can contribute substantially to heating and electricity. However, there are concerns regarding the carbon offset capabilities, technological capacity and fiscal feasibility of burning wood waste rather than manufacturing wood products. Cellulosic and lignocelluosic ethanol production along with algal oil is also discussed, and may be the future of biofuel production.

This dataset contains all the information at the municipal level from the publication "Energy services' access deprivation in Mexico: A geographic, climatic and social perspective" published in Energy Policy (DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112822). The information contains key categorizations on energy services access at the municipal level in Mexico, classified per climatic zone. It is complemented with key information on population and households at the municipal level. The raw data sources used to produce this secondary data are listed below. A detailed methodological description is available in the primary article (DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112822) and the article "Dataset of household energy services access and socioeconomic variables in Mexico" to be published in Data in Brief. Raw data: 2015 Intercensal Survey: https://www.inegi.org.mx/programas/intercensal/2015/ Poverty Index by Municipality in Mexico 2015: https://www.coneval.org.mx/Medicion/Paginas/PobrezaInicio.aspx Raster Map of Climates: https://www.inegi.org.mx/temas/climatologia/#Mapa The dataset's geographic scope is as follows: City/Town/Region: All municipalities Country: Mexico

Baliwag currently faces various impacts from climate change. Baliwag should focus on adaptation in response to climate change. [Images omitted] The Philippines is a minor cause of climate change, but faces major impacts. Baliwag must focus on adapting to these impacts. This report combines the voices of Baliwag citizens, the strengths of the community, and the authors’ outside perspective to to produce locally relevant adaptation recommendations. Summary of Recommendations Human Health & Security-- Continue livelihood programs in resettlement areas Plant local, non- invasive tree species on the sidewalks and roads for shade Host IECs on heat-related health issues. Food Security--Upgrade and maintain irrigation canals Continue to implement educational programs for farmers Establish a food systems plan and goals for creating food security. Water Sufficiency--Improve water infrastructure maintenance through institutional coordination Pursue water conservation measures through jointly-created IECs. Infrastructure--Continue to prioritize upgrading stormwater drainage infrastructure Identify and protect vulnerable infrastructure Decrease heat island effect through shade creation strategies. Industry--Train businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, and provide resources to be climate adaptive Leverage new and existing corporate social responsibility policies for adaptation. Knowledge & Capacity Building--Build staff and community knowledge on climate change Standardize and increase data collection Increase institutional collaboration with a climate Technical Working Group. These recommended climate adaptations can be taken by all actors in Baliwag, from the municipal staff, to individual businesses. Baliwag is already adapting, and will only continue to become more resilient.

{"references": ["U. Al-Mulali, C.F. Tang and I. Ozturk, \"Estimating the Environment Kuznets Curve hypothesis: Evidence from Latin America and Caribean countries\", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 50, pp. 918-924, 2015.", "A.S. Alshehry and M. Belloumi, \"Energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth: The case of Saudi Arabia;\" Renewable and Sustainble Energy Reviews, vol. 41, pp. 237-247, 2015.", "W. Antweiler, B.R. Copeland and M.S. Taylor, \"Is free trade good for the environment?\", American Economic Review, vol. 91, pp. 877-908, 2001.", "N. Apergism and J.E. Payne, \"CO2 emissions, energy usage, and output in Central America\", Energy Policy, vol. 37, pp. 3282-3286, 2009.", "W. Beckerman, \"Economic growth and the environment: whose growth? Whose environment?\", World Development, vol. 20, pp. 481\u2013496, 1992.", "J.L. Caviglia-Harris, D. Chambers and J.R. Kahn, \"Taking the \"U\" out of Kuznets: A comprehensive analysis of the EKC and environmental degradation\", Ecological Economics, vol. 68, pp. 1149-1159, 2009.", "C.C. Chang, \"A multivariate causality test of carb\u00f3n dioxide emissions, energy consumption and economic growth in China\", Applied Energy, vol. 87, pp. 3533-3537, 2010.", "W.N. Cowan, T. Chang, R. Inglesi-Lotz and R. Gupta (2014), \"The nexus of electricity, economic growth and CO2 emissions in the BRICS countries\", Energy Policy, vol. 66, pp. 359-368, 2014.", "D.A. Dickey and W.A. Fuller, \"Likelihood Ratio Tests for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root\", Econometrica, vol. 49, pp. 1057-1072, 1981.\n[10]\tS. Dinda, \"Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: a survey\", Ecological Economics, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 431\u2013455, 2004.\n[11]\tR.F. Engle and C.W.J. Granger, \"Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing\", Econometrica, vol. 55, pp. 251-276, 1987.\n[12]\tV. Esteve and C. Tamarit, \"Threshold cointegration and nolinear adjustment between CO2 and income: The Environmental Kuznets Curve in Spain, Energy Economics, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 1857-2007, 2012.\n[13]\tS. Farhani, S. Mrizak, A. Chaibi and Chr. Rault, \"The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainability: A panel data analysis\", Energy Policy, vol. 71, pp. 189-198, 2014.\n[14]\tJ. Fosten, B. Morley and T. Taylor, \"Dynamic misspecification in the environmental Kuznets curve: Evidence from CO2 and SO2 emissions in the United Kingdom\", Ecological Economics, vol. 76, pp. 25-33, 2012.\n[15]\tC.W.J Granger, \"Some recent development in a concept of causality\", Journal of Econometrics, vol. 39, pp. 199-211, 1988.\n[16]\tB. Jebli and B. Youssef, \"Economic growth, combustible renewables and waste consumption, and CO2 emissions in North Africa\", Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 22, no. 20, pp. 16022-16030, 2015.\n[17]\tS. Johansen, \"Statistical analysis of co-integration vectors\", Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, vol. 12, pp. 231-254, 1988.\n[18]\tJ. Lee and M. Strazicich, \"Minimum Lagrange Multiplier unit root test with two structural breaks\", Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 85, pp. 1082-1089, 2003\n[19]\tJ. Lee and M. Strazicich, \"Minimum LM unit root test with one structural breaks\", Manuscript, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University, pp. 1-16, 2004.\n[20]\tA. Leit\u00e3o, \"Corruption and the environmental Kuznets Curve: Empirical evidence for sulfur\", Ecological Economics, vol. 69, pp. 2191-2201, 2010.\n[21]\tM. Meng, J. Lee and J.E. Payne, \"RALS-LM unit root test with trend breaks and non-normal errors: application to the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis, Working Paper, Department of Economics, Finance, and Legal Studies, University of Alabama, pp. 1-28.\n[22]\tP.K. Narayan, \"The saving and investment nexus for China: evidence from cointegration test\", Applied Economic, vol. 37, pp. 1979-1990, 2005\n[23]\tN.P. Narayan and S. Narayan, \"Carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth: Panel data evidence from developing countries\", Energy Policy, vol. 38, pp. 661-666, 2010.\n[24]\tS. Nasreen and S. Anwar, \"Causal relationship between trade openness, economic growth and energy consumption: A panel data analysis of Asian countries\", Energy Policy, vol. 69, pp.82-91, 2014\n[25]\tO.A. Onafowora and O. Owoye, \"Bounds testing approch to analysis of the environment Kuznets curve hypothesis\", Energy Economics, vol. 44, pp. 47-62, 2014.\n[26]\tI. Ozturk and A. Acaravci (2013), \"The long-run and causal analysis of energy, growth, openness and financial development on carbon emissions in Turkey\", Energy Economics, vol. 36, pp. 262-267, 2013.\n[27]\tI. Ozturk and U. Al-Mulali, \"Investigating the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Cambodia\", Ecological Indicators, vol. 57, pp. 324-330, 2015.\n[28]\tT. Panayotou, \"Empirical Tests and Policy Analysis of Environmental Degradation at Different Stages of Economic Development\", Working Paper WP238, Technology and Employment Programme, 1993.\n[29]\tH.T. Pao and C.M. Tsai, \"Multivariate Granger causality between CO2 emissions, energy consumption, FDI (foreign direct invest) and GDP (gross domestic product): Evidence from a panel of BRIC (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, and China) countries\", Energy, vol. 36, pp. 685-693, 2011.\n[30]\tM.H. Pesaran, Y. Shin and R. Smith 2001, \"Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships\", Journal of Applied Econometrics, vol. 16, pp. 289-326, 2001.\n[31]\tP.C.B. Phillip and P. Perron, \"Testing for a Unit Roots in a Time Series Regression\", Biometrika, vol. 75, pp. 335-346, 1988.\n[32]\tP. Sephton and J. Mann, \"Further evidence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve in Spain\", Energy Economics, vol. 36, pp. 177-181, 2013.\n[33]\tS. Shafiei and R.A. Salim, \"Non-renewable and renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in OECD countries: A comparative analysis\", Energy Policy, vol. 66, pp. 547-556, 2014.\n[34]\tM.I. Shahbaz, T. Afza, y A. Ali, \"Revisiting environmental Kuznets curve in a global economy\", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 25, pp. 494-502, 2013.\n[35]\tM.N. Shahbaz, M.N. Khraief, G.S. Uddin and I. Ozturk, \"Environmental Kuznets curve in an open economy: A bounds testing and causality analysis for Tunisia\", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 34, pp. 325-336, 2014.\n[36]\tU. Soytas, R. Sari and B.T. Ewing, \"Energy consumption, income, and cabon emissions in the United States\", Ecological Economics, vol. 62, pp. 482-489, 2007.\n[37]\tU. Soytas and R. Sari, \"Energy consumption, economic growth, and carbon emissions: Challenges faced by an EU candidate member\", Ecological Economics, vol. 68, pp. 1667-1675, 2009.\n[38]\tK.M. Wang, \"Modelling the nonlinear relationship between CO2 emissions from oil and economic growth\", Economic Modelling, vol. 29, pp. 1537-1547, 2012.\n[39]\tWorld Bank, 2016. http://datos.bancomundial.org/. Accessed on 19/08/2016.\n[40]\tX.P. Zhang and X.M. Cheng, \"Energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth in China\", Ecological Economics, vol. 68, pp. 2706-2712, 2009."]} This paper analyzes the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis to test the causality relationship between economic activity, trade openness and carbon dioxide emissions in Mexico (1971-2011). The results achieved in this research show that there are three long-run relationships between production, trade openness, energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The EKC hypothesis was not verified in this research. Indeed, it was found evidence of a short-term unidirectional causality from GDP and GDP squared to carbon dioxide emissions, from GDP, GDP squared and TO to EC, and bidirectional causality between TO and GDP. Finally, it was found evidence of long-term unidirectional causality from all variables to carbon emissions. These results suggest that a reduction in energy consumption, economic activity, or an increase in trade openness would reduce pollution.

Tourism is regarded as one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world, with visitor arrivals exceeding the one billion mark for the first time in 2012. The impacts of rapid tourism development, particularly in the developing world, are well documented. Since the 1970s, studies began to critically study the negative costs of tourism on the socio-cultural and biophysical environments on which it depends. These criticisms have led to the integration of sustainability approaches in tourism planning and development. In the past decade, there has been growing interest in the study of governance as a key component of sustainable tourism development. This professional project explores the potential implications of collaborative network governance to tourism development in the case study province of Bulacan in Central Luzon, Philippines. Among the tourism research that has emerged in recent decades, collaborative network governance is seen as a means to ameliorate the fragmented nature of tourism development and provide a structure for problem solving through the understanding of common goals and interests towards sustainable tourism. This preliminary study of Bulacan Province is based on a review of network governance typologies and collaborative governance as defined by Ansell and Gash (2008). At the time of research, the findings uncovered various factors that were not discussed as variables in network governance literature. First, the strong influence of politics in the Philippine context affected the existing tourism network, the Provincial Tourism Council (PTC), to be put on hold. Second, the decentralization and devolution process still poses immense pressures and challenges to the Local Government Units (LGUs) in Bulacan Province. This research recognizes the complexity of these factors on tourism governance and provides practical near-term and long-term recommendations. The results indicate that the collaborative network governance model is not realistic for Bulacan Province to pursue, and instead should consider formulating cooperative and coordinative modes of governance on an informal basis. Additionally, the Provincial Cultural and Tourism Office (PCTO), regarded as a leader among tourism stakeholders, should continue their leadership position to engage stakeholders by prioritizing attainable goals and objectives. Lastly, the need for tourism planning highlights the gaps in tourism development in the Philippines. Bulacan Province’s future tourism potential in cultural-heritage tourism and nature-based tourism depends on the coordinated efforts and resource-sharing actions if effective governance is to lead to a sustainable path.