Evaluating Ecocide: Invaluable Or Invalid?
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Assessing Resource Depletion in LCA: a Review of Methods and Methodological Issues
Assessing resource depletion in LCA: a review of methods and methodological issues Serenella Sala www.jrc.ec.europa.eu Serving society Stimulating innovation Supporting legislation Outline Sustainability and resources Key concepts and perspectives Review on current impact assessment methodologies for Resources 27 November 2012 2 Resources and sustainability -1 One of the father of the definition of “sustainability” was Hans Carl von Carlowitz. The concept was founded in forestry and was strictly resource-based and stayed so for centuries (Carlowitz 1713, Cotta 1828). The concept was developed by foresters because timber had been excessively overused and become a very scarce resource in the process of the industrial revolution and urbanisation. Carlowitz HC (1713)Sylvicultura oeconomica, oder haußwirthliche Nachricht und Naturmäßige Anweisung zur wilden Baum-Zucht 27 November 2012 3 Resources and sustainability _2 Around 1700, the mining industry and livelihood of thousands was threatened in Saxony. It was not that the mines had been exhausted of their ores, the problem was an acute scarcity of timber. The mining industry and smelting of ores had consumed whole forests. In the vicinity of places of mining activity the old growth forests had disappeared completely. Trees had been cut at unsustainable rates for decades without efforts to restore the forests. First, the river systems in the Erzgebirge was engineered, so logs could be transported from ever more distant forest areas, but these measures only postponed the crisis. The prices for timber rose ever more, which led to bankruptcy and closure of parts of the mining industry. 27 November 2012 4 Resources and sustainability _3 • Environmental as well as economic and social dimension • Interplay between socio-economic drivers, environmental and socio economic impacts Should resources be included in LCIA? Scientific debate For sure they should be part of the impact assessment in LCSA…. -
How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly?
4/30/2020 How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly? How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly? ••• Updated March 10, 2018 By Milton Kazmeyer While extinction of animal species is part of the natural process of evolution, the expansion of the human species has led to significant increases in the extinction rate. Because humans share ecosystems with endangered species, our quality of life and our survival is linked to them. Habitat destruction, climate change, resource depletion and other factors have increased the extinction rate by a factor of 1,000, putting substantial pressure on thousands of the most vulnerable creatures on the planet. American Bison One example of how the depletion of a species affected humans is what occurred after the American bison nearly vanished in the 19th century. Originally, the bison was a common animal on the central plains, with an estimated population of 15 million, and the Native Americans of the region depended on the animal for food, leather, fur and many https://sciencing.com/extinctions-other-creatures-affect-humans-directly-20692.html 1/11 4/30/2020 How Do the Extinctions of Other Creatures Affect Humans Directly? other goods vital to a nomadic lifestyle. By 1890, however, there were only a few thousand bison left in America. Tribal hunters were able to kill more of the animals with the aid of firearms, and in some cases the United States government encouraged the widespread slaughter of bison herds. The vanishing species forced tribes dependent on the animal to move to new lands in search of food, and eventually those tribes could no longer support themselves and had to deal with the United States government for survival. -
Plight, Plunder, and Political Ecology
1 Plight, Plunder, and Political Ecology CIVIL STRIFE in the developing world represents perhaps the greatest international security challenge of the early twenty-first century.1 Three-quarters of all wars since 1945 have been within countries rather than between them, and the vast majority of these conflicts have oc curred in the world’s poorest nations.2 Wars and other violent conflicts have killed some 40 million people since 1945, and as many people may have died as a result of civil strife since 1980 as were killed in the First World War.3 Although the number of internal wars peaked in the early 1990s and has been declining slowly ever since, they remain a scourge on humanity. Armed conflicts have crippled the prospect for a better life in many developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, by destroying essential infrastructure, deci mating social trust, encouraging human and capital flight, exacerbat ing food shortages, spreading disease, and diverting precious financial resources toward military spending.4 Compounding matters further, the damaging effects of civil strife rarely remain confined within the afflicted countries. In the past de cade alone tens of millions of refugees have spilled across borders, pro ducing significant socioeconomic and health problems in neighboring areas. Instability has also rippled outward as a consequence of cross- border incursions by rebel groups, trafficking in arms and persons, dis ruptions in trade, and damage done to the reputation of entire regions in the eyes of investors. Globally, war-torn countries have become ha vens and recruiting grounds for international terrorist networks, orga nized crime, and drug traffickers.5 Indeed, the events of September 11, 2001, illustrate how small the world has become and how vulnerable even superpowers are to rising grievances and instabilities in the de veloping world. -
Dairy Cows 1.6
DAIRY COWS 1.6 DAIRY COWS ͵ ECONOMIC PRODUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Jacqueline S. Rowarth Waikato Management School, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton 3240 ABSTRACT: New Zealand’s history of settlement and economic development has been tied to dairy production. Over the last two decades, a tipping point of public understanding has been reached, and increasing research has been directed towards understanding the economic impact of the dairy industry, both in terms of the export economy and the environment. This chapter outlines the development of the dairy industry, its current state, and New Zealand’s economic dependency on dairy exports. Environmental impact is discussed and the cost and implications of attempting to regulate water quality emphasised. Key words: carbon, dairy, production, food safety, nitrogen, water quality. INTRODUCTION that would yield milk of the best quality; ‘in fact, nothing but Cows have been milked in New Zealand since 1814 when New intense farming will pay in the future applied to every branch’, South Wales Governor Lachlan Macquarie gave animals from the (New Zealand Year Book 1900). The message of intensifi cation Crown Herd to missionary Samuel Marsden. They were short- (as it was understood then) was taken on board. In 1890, dairy horns – useful draught animals, with what was then considered products formed 7% of total exports, the bulk going to Britain to be ‘good milk and excellent meat’ and the ideal multi-purpose and Australia. By 1920, the proportion was 22% of total exports, animal for missionary stations. In addition, butter, which was less increasing to 42% by 1930. -
Using Game Theory to Develop Sustainability Strategies in an Era
ering & ine M g a n n E a Seifi and Crowther, Ind Eng Manage 2018, 7:1 l g a i e r m t Industrial Engineering & DOI: 10.4172/2169-0316.1000240 s e u n d t n I Management ISSN: 2169-0316 Research Article Open Access Using Game Theory to Develop Sustainability Strategies in an Era of Resource Depletion Shahla Seifi and David Crowther* Faculty of Business and Law, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK *Corresponding author: David Crowther, Faculty of Business and Law, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, UK, Tel: +44(0)7971629198; Fax: +44(0)1332720660; E-mail: [email protected] Received date: 02 November 2017; Accepted date: 07 March 2018; Published date: 14 March 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Seifi S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Objective: Sustainability is recognized as an important objective in business planning and is of equal relevance to policy makers. It is equally accepted, almost universally, that the resources of the planet are finite and are being over consumed on an annual basis. The prognosis therefore is that resources are being depleted and competition for access to remaining resources must ensue, as countries seek to grow and develop. This will have the effect of increasing the transaction costs of business activity as they find greater difficulty in seeking restricted supply of resources. -
Dairy Farmers' Responses to Water Quality
Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis. Permission is given for a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and private study only. The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without the permission of the Author. Dairy Farmers’ Responses to Water Quality Interventions: A Case Study in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of New Zealand –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Agriculture and Environment Palmerston North, New Zealand Heather Mildred Collins 2018 Abstract Abstract New Zealand freshwater quality has declined, and dairy farming is one identified contributor to this decline. This research provides insight into dairy farmers responses to the water quality interventions introduced to mitigate diffuse pollution, and the socio-cultural dynamics that shaped their responses. Putnam’s (2000) social capital theory was the theoretical framework used to explore how and why New Zealand dairy farmers responded to water quality interventions and the role of social capital in shaping dairy farmers’ responses. A single qualitative case-study research design was undertaken in one Water Management Zone of the Manawatu-Wanganui Region. Data was drawn from semi-structured interviews with dairy farmers and key informants, and from documents. Farmer response is identified as a multi-dimensional rather than a uni-dimensional phenomenon. The dairy farmers responded to water quality interventions as individuals and collectively, and these responses were linked and interwoven. Individual farmer awareness and understanding, emotion and behaviour changed. Collectively, resistance, social learning, formation of a farmer- led action group and changes in accepted farming practices occurred. -
Milk Or Water? a Discussion of Legal and Social Mechanisms Confronting the Tension Between Economics and the Environment in the Otago Region’S Dairying Industry
Milk or Water? A Discussion of Legal and Social Mechanisms Confronting the Tension between Economics and the Environment in the Otago Region’s Dairying Industry Prateek Gupta 8758303 Submitted to Ms. Nicola Wheen For Completion of LAWS 480 at the University of Otago Submitted on October 9, 2015 Table of Contents I: Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3 A) The Tension between Viable Dairy Farming and Effective Water Management ............. 3 II: Legislation as the Solution to Resolve the Tension ............................................................. 4 A) The Current Culture of Water Management ..................................................................... 4 1. The Resource Management Act and Regional Plans ...................................................... 4 2. The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and its Implementation in Otago .................................................................................................................................. 6 B) The State of Otago’s Environmental Protections .............................................................. 7 1. Addressing the Dairy Industry at Large: Existing Legislative Framework .................... 8 2. Addressing the Dairy Industry at Large: The Water Management Culture ................. 10 3. Addressing the Dairy Industry at Large: Implementation of Recommendations ......... 12 4. Addressing the Individual Offenders ........................................................................... -
Evaluating the Economic Impact of Water Scarcity in a Changing World
ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22194-0 OPEN Evaluating the economic impact of water scarcity in a changing world ✉ Flannery Dolan 1 , Jonathan Lamontagne 1, Robert Link2, Mohamad Hejazi3,4, Patrick Reed 5 & Jae Edmonds 3 Water scarcity is dynamic and complex, emerging from the combined influences of climate change, basin-level water resources, and managed systems’ adaptive capacities. Beyond 1234567890():,; geophysical stressors and responses, it is critical to also consider how multi-sector, multi- scale economic teleconnections mitigate or exacerbate water shortages. Here, we contribute a global-to-basin-scale exploratory analysis of potential water scarcity impacts by linking a global human-Earth system model, a global hydrologic model, and a metric for the loss of economic surplus due to resource shortages. We find that, dependent on scenario assumptions, major hydrologic basins can experience strongly positive or strongly negative economic impacts due to global trade dynamics and market adaptations to regional scarcity. In many cases, market adaptation profoundly magnifies economic uncertainty relative to hydrologic uncertainty. Our analysis finds that impactful scenarios are often combinations of standard scenarios, showcasing that planners cannot presume drivers of uncertainty in complex adaptive systems. 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA. 2 Department of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA. 3 Joint Global Change Research Institute, -
Narratives of Scarcity: Understanding the 'Global Resource Grab'
Working Paper Working Narratives of scarcity: understanding the ‘global resource grab’ Ian Scoones, Rebecca Smalley, Ruth Hall, Dzodzi Tsikata February 2014 Working Paper 076 www.future-agricultures.org Abstract Global resource scarcity has become a central policy concern, with predictions of rising populations, natural resource depletion and hunger. Resulting narratives of scarcity drive behaviour and justify actions to harness resources considered ‘under-utilised’, leading to contestations over rights and entitlements and producing new scarcities. Yet scarcity is contingent, contextual and above all political. We present an analysis of three framings – absolute scarcity, relative scarcity and political scarcity – associated with the intellectual traditions of Malthus, Ricardo and Marx, respectively. A review of 134 global and Africa-specific policy and related sources produced over the past six years demonstrates how diverse framings of scarcity – what it is, its causes and what is to be done – are evident in competing narratives that animate debates about the future of food and farming in Africa and globally. We argue that current mainstream narratives emphasise absolute and relative scarcity, while ignoring political scarcity. We suggest a more political framing of scarcity requires paying attention to how resources are distributed between different needs and uses, and so different people and social classes. This requires, we argue, a policy emphasis for land and resource issues on rights and access, and distributional issues, centred on equity and justice. Working Paper 076 2 www.future-agricultures.org 1. Introduction agribusiness and civil society material concerning agriculture, natural resources, food availability and the global land rush? We considered material that addresses Understandings of what has been called the ‘global these issues at a global level, as well as material that resource grab’ – the large-scale acquisition of land and focuses on sub-Saharan Africa. -
The Depletion of the World's Natural Resources
The Depletion of the World’s Natural Resources Is Population the Problem? FRED MAGDOFF Environmentalists and scientists often refer to the two different ends of the environmental problem as sources and sinks. Thus the environmen- tal limits to economic growth manifest themselves as either: (1) shortages in the “sources” or “taps” of raw materials/natural resources, and thus a problem of depletion, or (2) as a lack of sufficient “sinks,” to absorb wastes from industrial pollution, which “overflow” and cause harm to the environment.1 The original 1972 Limits to Growth study emphasized the problem of sources in the form of shortages of raw materials, such as fossil fuels, basic minerals, topsoil, freshwater, and forests.2 Today the focus of environmental concern has shifted more to sinks, as repre- sented by climate change, ocean acidification, and production of toxics. Nevertheless, the problem of the depletion of resources used in produc- tion remains critical, as can be seen in discussions of such issues as: declining freshwater resources, peak (crude) oil, loss of soil fertility, and shortages of crucial minerals like zinc, copper, and phosphorus. In conventional environmental analysis the issue of a shortage or depletion of natural resources has often been seen through a Malthusian lens as principally a problem of overpopulation. Thomas Malthus raised the issue in the late eighteenth century of what he saw as inevitable shortages of food in relation to population growth. This was later trans- formed by twentieth-century environmental theorists into an argument that current or future shortages of natural resources resulted from a pop- ulation explosion overshooting the carrying capacity of the earth.3 The following analysis will address the environmental problem from the source or tap end, and its relation to population growth. -
Dairy Farming, Landscape and Community Change
Lincoln University Digital Thesis Copyright Statement The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). This thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: you will use the copy only for the purposes of research or private study you will recognise the author's right to be identified as the author of the thesis and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate you will obtain the author's permission before publishing any material from the thesis. The influence of the Black and White tide: Dairy farming, landscape and community change A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Social Science at Lincoln University by Philippa Jane Rawlinson Lincoln University 2011 i Abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Social Science. Abstract The influence of the black and white tide: Dairy farming, landscape and community change by Philippa Jane Rawlinson In Austen, a part of Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand, pastoral and arable communities have been centrally important to the rural economy, community, and landscape for multiple generations. Recently, these multi-generational land uses have been replaced by intensive dairy farms. The change has been dramatic. Sheep flocks and arable crops have been replaced by luscious swathes of green pasture and herds of dairy cows. Dairy farmers and their employees have replaced farming families, many of whom have been in the community for multiple generations. -
Responses to Water Scarcity: Social Adaptive Capacity and the Role of Environmental Information. a Case Study from Taõiz, Yemen
RESPONSES TO WATER SCARCITY: SOCIAL ADAPTIVE CAPACITY AND THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION. A CASE STUDY FROM TAÕIZ, YEMEN. by: Yasir Mohieldeen [email protected] Occasional Paper No. 23 Water Issues Study Group School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) September 1999 1 ABSTRACT The main purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance of the social aspects (dynamics) of water in the highly political process of water policy formulation and implementation. A second purpose is to illustrate the potential usefulness of one type of data in the enhancement of the mutual adaptive capacity of governments and local communities in developing safe and sustainable water allocation and management practices. The type of data used were derived from remotely sensed imagery and have been integrated into geographical information systems. The data enabled rural water use to be detected in the 1980s and in the 1990s. The social dynamics of water scarcity are exceptionally complex. Societies have different abilities to cope with water deficits, which are referred to in the study as 'first order scarcity'. Ohlsson (1999) calls the ability to cope with water deficits the 'adaptive capacity' of a society. Lack of 'adaptive capacity' can be considered as a 'second order scarcity'. A recently developed framework by Turton (1999a) emphasises that it is the 'adaptive capacity' of the society that determines its water development trajectory. The experience of competing water users in the Ta'iz region of Yemen in the 1960-1996 period provides empirical evidence on a number of technical, informational and social factors which contributed to the 'closure' of a groundwater resource.