Search results for "Natural resource"
showing 10 items of 482 documents
Multilevel Governance for Climate Change Adaptation in Food Supply Chains
2019
The vulnerability of food supply chains to climate change is higher compared to other industries due to its dependency on climatic conditions, temperature and water supply. As a robust response to the vulnerability of food supply chains, it is essential to find ways of linking the concepts of sustainable development, climate change adaptation and risk governance into one paradigm. The risk governance of food supply chains is conducted by and across both private and public spheres. Hence, in this chapter, we introduce a dual system of governance to match the objectives of climate change adaptation, and discuss the multiplicity and potential integration of both corporate-led private governanc…
Towards a framework for assessment and management of cumulative human impacts on marine food webs
2015
Effective ecosystem-based management requires understanding ecosystem responses to multiple human threats, rather than focusing on single threats. To understand ecosystem responses to anthropogenic threats holistically, it is necessary to know how threats affect different components within ecosystems and ultimately alter ecosystem functioning. We used a case study of a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) food web and expert knowledge elicitation in an application of the initial steps of a framework for assessment of cumulative human impacts on food webs. We produced a conceptual seagrass food web model, determined the main trophic relationships, identified the main threats to the fo…
Economical evaluation of ecological benefits of the demand side management
2014
Environmental pollution and over-exploitation of non-renewable sources to find energy are current topics for the modern world that is now at having to deal with several issues such as the greenhouse effect, acid rain and climate change. In this study, the economical estimate of the savings in carbon dioxide obtained with a careful management of electrical loads is presented. Four particular scenarios are designed as case studies: Italy, France, United Kingdom and Germany. A comparison is presented with a similar study, made in 2007, when green energies were not yet very developed.
Limits to CO2-Neutrality of Burning Wood. (Review)
2016
Abstract Consumption of wood as a source of energy is discussed with respect to efficiency and restraints to ensure sustainability of the environment on the grounds of a simple analytical model describing dynamics of biomass accumulation in forest stands – a particular case of the well-known empirical Richards’ equation. Amounts of wood harvested under conditions of maximum productivity of forest land are presented in units normalised with respect to the maximum of the mean annual increment and used to determine the limits of CO2-neutrality. The ecological “footprint” defined by the area of growing stands necessary to absorb the excess amount of CO2 annually released from burning biomass is…
Spatially dynamic forest management to sustain biodiversity and economic returns.
2014
Production of marketed commodities and protection of biodiversity in natural systems often conflict and thus the continuously expanding human needs for more goods and benefits from global ecosystems urgently calls for strategies to resolve this conflict. In this paper, we addressed what is the potential of a forest landscape to simultaneously produce habitats for species and economic returns, and how the conflict between habitat availability and timber production varies among taxa. Secondly, we aimed at revealing an optimal combination of management regimes that maximizes habitat availability for given levels of economic returns. We used multi-objective optimization tools to analyze data fr…
Multicriteria evaluation of alternatives for remote monitoring systems of municipal buildings
2014
Abstract Conservation of natural resources drives municipalities to monitor their heat, power and water consumption more accurately. The objective of this study was to evaluate different implementation possibilities for remote monitoring systems for the municipal buildings of two medium-sized municipalities, Hollola and Nastola in Southern Finland. Four different alternatives were considered: (1) a system by an external service provider, (2) a system provided by the local energy distribution company, (3) a system built by the municipalities themselves, and (4) using the current manual system but with more frequent data collection. The alternatives were evaluated in terms of multiple functio…
Does corn market uncertainty impact the US ethanol prices?
2018
The growing interest in biofuel as a green energy source has intensified the linkages between corn and ethanol markets, especially in the United States that represents the largest producing and exporting country for ethanol in the world. In this study, we examine the effect of corn market uncertainty on the price changes of US ethanol applying a set of GARCH-jump models. We find that the US ethanol price changes react positively to the corn market volatility shocks after controlling for the effect of oil price uncertainty. In addition, we document that the impact of corn price volatility on the US ethanol prices appears to be asymmetric. Specifically, only the positive corn market volatilit…
L'espace de liberté comme mesure synthétique du développement territorial durable
2011
By discussing the concept of development itself, authors propose two synthetic indexes relying on estimation of potential: Development Space Value and Development Space Creation Under the weak hypothesis that any successful development improves future possibilities, changes in potential are a good development measure. In their path, authors show how development space is tied with freedom: a shrink in it results mechanically in indexes fall. So, "sustainable" and "economic" become two sides of same piece rather than enemies. Reliable in simulations, the approach is to be tested in real conditions, to verify full data availability and to secure calculating methods.
Pathways for the amplification of agroecology in African sustainable urban agriculture
2020
A growing awareness that highly intensified agricultural systems have made a substantial worldwide contribution to the worsening of the resilience capacity of natural ecosystems has, over the last twenty years, brought general attention to agroecological management models. This aspect is even more evident in industrial agriculture, which is based on the use of multiple chemical products derived from non-natural synthesis. In more developed countries, a new idea of ecology linked to agricultural production has been increasingly developed and, for this reason, there has been a greater diffusion of differentiated agricultural models taking into consideration the environmental impact of product…
The price of safety: food deprivation in early life influences the efficacy of chemical defence in an aposematic moth
2018
Aposematism is the combination of a primary signal with a secondary defence that predators must learn to associate with one another. However, variation in the level of defence, both within and between species, is very common. As secondary defences influence individual fitness, this variation in quality and quantity requires an evolutionary explanation, particularly as it may or may not correlate with variation in primary signals. The costs of defence production are expected to play a considerable role in generating this variation, yet studies of the cost of chemical defence have focused on species that sequester their defences, while studies in species that produce them de novo are scarce. …