Search results for "natural resource"

The Physical Economy of France (1830–2015). The History of a Parasite?

2019

Abstract This article explores long-term trends and patterns of material use in France for a 185-year period. It is the first long-term study of material flows for France with national and yearly data for most of the period. Based on a material flow analysis (MFA) that is fully consistent with current standards of economy-wide MFAs and covers domestic extraction, imports, and exports of materials, we investigated the evolution of the French metabolism from industrialization to financialized capitalism. Over the whole period, there is a 9-fold increase in domestic material consumption, an expansion of material use per capita, and a spectacular addition of abiotic resources (fossil fuels and …

Optimal contract length for biodiversity conservation under conservation budget constraint

2014

We examine the optimal length of a contract period in a conservation program with payments for ecosystem services aiming at protecting biodiversity on privately owned forests. The government chooses the number of stands and the length of contracts so as to maximize biodiversity benefits under a binding conservation budget. We examine the implication of two alternative budgets: a separate budget for each period (periodic budget) or one budget that to be used in all periods (intertemporal budget). The impact of the budget type shows up in the fact that with intertemporal budget choice set is larger and more high quality stands are available for contracting. Based on theoretical characterizati…

Special Issue: Water Management Strategies in Irrigated Areas

2016

The 2015 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report highlighted that ‘water is at the core of sustainable development’. Water has upgraded the quality of human life, and any progress to achieve a more sustainable world will deal with the maintenance and/or the improvement of water management. Water demand has grown at more than twice the population rate in the XX century. By 2025, it is estimated that about 1.8 billion people will live in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions.

The plants of the future. : genome editing in biotechnology

2021

The evolution of life has led to the formation of complex systems where plants are essentials. Homo sapiens’ success is based on its ability to obtain food. In what remains of this century, the world population will increase by a quarter of the current total, reaching 10 billion people. This is itself a major challenge, amplified by the environmental conditions resulting from global change and the threat to sustainability derived from the use of the planet’s natural resources. Thus, we wonder if we will be able to respond to this challenge and, to that end, how the plants of the future should look. Recent advances in sequencing techniques allow us to identify genomes at a low cost, and geno…

Territorial Connection and Cohesion - The Case of Agrigento Inland Area

2014

The Europe 2020 strategy and the Horizon 2020 program can begin a real path about the role that the city will be able play for a new development. Usually, it is in the cities that are intensifying tangible and intangible social relations and, given that they focused almost 70% of the world population, it is clear that the city must begin to start any development scenario: the problems / opportunities related to the management of natural resources, energy to move. The culture is a «primary factor of urban creativity (...), the city's identity that has its roots the program schedule of history and extends its branches in the future» [4], awaiting a new model of development local self-sustaina…

Regulating Internet Trade in CITES Species

2013

International trade in species that are or may be endangered by collection from the wild is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) for 176 member States (Parties). Internet commerce is a relatively new route for such trade. In 2007, the CITES Secretariat asked Parties to collect information on internet wildlife trade and report problems and implemented regulations. The reports indicated it was difficult to even approximate the influence of e-commerce on CITES-listed species (CITES Secretariat 2009). We report a case study in which we quantified international transactions over an internet auction site of CITES-listed cacti …

Biopiracy of medicinal plants: Finding fair solutions for the use of natural resources.

2019

Predicting shifting sustainability trade-offs in marine finfish aquaculture under climate change

2018

Defining sustainability goals is a crucial but difficult task because it often involves the quantification of multiple interrelated and sometimes conflicting components. This complexity may be exacerbated by climate change, which will increase environmental vulnerability in aquaculture and potentially compromise the ability to meet the needs of a growing human population. Here, we developed an approach to inform sustainable aquaculture by quantifying spatio-temporal shifts in critical trade-offs between environmental costs and benefits using the time to reach the commercial size as a possible proxy of economic implications of aquaculture under climate change. Our results indicate that optim…

Fleurey-sur-Ouche (Côte-d’Or). Lotissement la Velle, rue de la gare [notice archéologique]

2019

Le village de Fleurey-sur-Ouche, situé à une quinzaine de kilomètres au N-O de Dijon, a connu plusieurs interventions archéologiques depuis 2015 dans un même secteur au cœur du bourg. Un diagnostic conduit en 2016 avait mis au jour plusieurs occupations successives s’échelonnant du Xe au XVIe s. sur la parcelle concernée par la construction d’un futur lotissement. La fouille menée sur une surface de 3 320 m2 a permis de confirmer cette occupation diachronique [...]

Long-term impacts of increased timber harvests on ecosystem services and biodiversity: A scenario study based on national forest inventory data

2020

Abstract The transition to a climate-neutral economy is expected to increase future timber demands and endanger the multifunctionality of forests. National scenario analyses are needed to determine long-term forest management impacts and support forest policy making in defining guidelines for the sustainable provision of forests’ ecosystem services and biodiversity (ESB). Using national forestry inventory data, the forest management model MASSIMO and a model to estimate harvesting costs, we simulated forest development in Switzerland under five politically relevant timber harvesting scenarios until 2106 (business as usual and four increased timber mobilisation scenarios). Model results were…